Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2020 Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico Balciana is incredibly airy and fresh with a perfumed blend of dusty yellow flowers, confectionary peach and hints of cardamom. The balance of richness and sweet orchard fruits is compelling, to say the least, accelerated by zesty acids and honeyed inner florals toward the close that seal the deal. For all of its size and richness, the 2020 finishes tense, lightly structured, fresh and literally salty in nature. A beauty.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Named after the nine-hectare vineyard that sources the fruit, the Sartarelli 2020 Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico Superiore Balciana is a broad and rich expression with an open-knit approach, fleshed-out fruit and a powerful 15.5% alcohol content. Aged in stainless steel only, the wine is made with late harvest fruit (that normally comes off the vines between October and November). This wine is opulent and soft with sweet peach and poached pear.
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.