2024 Tenuta dell’Ugolino Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi 'Le Piaole'

100% organic Verdicchio from vineyards in Castelplanio, San Michele (Cupramontana) and Montecarotto. Stainless steel fermentation with lees contact over winter; bottled after a period of bottle rest before release. 

In the glass, Le Piaole often presents a pale straw with soft green highlights and a fresh, inviting bouquet of lemon zest, green apple, pear, and white peach, with floral hints and mineral undertones that speak to its hillside origins. On the palate, crisp citrus and vibrant acidity meet chalky minerality, delicate herbal notes, and a lingering saline twist that keeps your palate engaged and eager for more. 

Tenuta dell’Ugolino is a family-run estate planted in the rolling hills of Castelplanio, right in the heart of the Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi DOC area. The Petrini family started in agriculture back in 1980, and over the years it evolved into a dedicated winemaking operation driven by respect for land, tradition, and quality.  Today, the estate manages about 8 hectares of vineyards, most of which are planted to Verdicchio - reflecting the region’s singular commitment to this native variety. Vineyard holdings extend across three communes in the Castelli di Jesi zone: 8 hectares at the estate in Castelplanio itself, where south-southwest facing limestone and marl soils give wines structure and salinity, 4 hectares in the high-altitude San Michele vineyard in Cupramontana - around 1,650 feet up - where calcareous clays and elevation accentuate aromatic depth and freshness, 2 hectares in Montecarotto, facing west on clay-rich soils that bring weight and nuance.  The name Castelli di Jesi - the “castles of Jesi” - evokes this ancient viticultural zone’s fortified hill towns stretching toward the Adriatic, a landscape shaped by history as much as by limestone and sea breeze.  Le Piaole isn’t a boutique microcru — it’s the estate’s core wine, sourced from all these sites and designed to show what quality Verdicchio can do when handled with respect and intention. Production is generous — around 6,000 cases annually — but the care in the vineyard and cellar holds its ground against much pricier competition.