Winemaker Notes
Straw yellow with golden reflections. The nose has typical almond notes and vivid varietal hints ranging from hay to anise to white fruit. The palate composed with a marked sapidity.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
San Paolo Riserva is well known for its restraint. In 2020, a generous vintage, it persists on a lime peel character, with sage, spring flower freshness and assertive youthfulness. Bone-dry on the attack, with firm acidity as expected from a great Verdicchio, it's then tightly woven with fruit in a chalky, mineral finish. This is a wine you have to wait for, which I like! From sandstone and limestone soil at 400m, this Verdicchio is fermented with indigenous yeast in concrete then aged in big oak vessels.
One of central Italy’s classic white grapes, Verdicchio thrives in two distinct zones of the Marche. The best vineyards of Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi adorn hillsides a mere 20 miles from the Adriatic Sea. The vineyards of the smaller, more inland Verdicchio di Matelica, are at higher elevation. Somm Secret—Recent genetic discoveries have proven that the Verdicchio grape is identical to Trebbiano di Soave, Trebbiano di Lugana and Trebbiano Veltenesi.
Stretching along Italy’s eastern coast with neighbors, Umbria to its west and Abruzzo to its south, Marche is a region with a varying climate from north to south. Its coastal plains roll into hills that become the Apennine Mountains, which run the length of the country. The Marche's best red wines come from the grapes, Montepulciano and Sangiovese; the local Verdicchio makes refreshing, crisp and light whites.