2024 Umani Ronchi Casal di Serra Verdicchio, Marche

A ripe, floral nose with baked apples and lemons, pressed flowers and a hint of ginger-tinged honey, turning immediately vivid and intense on the medium-bodied palate and driving through the long, tightly packed finish. Yet, it remains a well-proportioned verdicchio with a lovely, silky texture. From organically grown grapes. Fun to drink now. 

92 points jamessuckling.com

Verdicchio has long been one of Italy’s great white wine treasures and Umani Ronchi has played a major role in elevating its reputation beyond simple seaside drinking. Founded in the 1950s and now guided by the Bianchi Bernetti family, the winery works across some of Marche’s most prized hillside vineyards where Adriatic breezes and limestone rich soils shape wines of both generosity and finesse. Casal di Serra comes from select parcels that allow Verdicchio to show its fuller, more textural side while still retaining the variety’s hallmark freshness and gentle almond tinged complexity.

A luminous straw gold hue catches the light with quiet confidence. Aromas unfold with ripe pear, yellow apple and white peach layered alongside chamomile, fennel and a subtle mineral note that hints at crushed shells and warm stone. There is an inviting depth here that feels both Mediterranean and refined. The palate is medium bodied and beautifully balanced, orchard fruit and citrus gliding across a softly creamy texture before tightening into a savoury, gently phenolic finish. Hints of almond, grapefruit pith and dried herbs linger long, giving the wine shape and quiet persistence.

This is the sort of white that seems to slow the world down a little. Picture a long table outdoors as the late afternoon light turns golden, plates of grilled fish, olives and good bread being passed around while laughter drifts on the breeze. Or perhaps a quieter moment at home, something simple simmering on the stove and a glass of this within easy reach. It drinks beautifully now with its layered charm yet will evolve gracefully over five to eight years, gaining honeyed nuance and deeper savoury complexity. A soulful and authentic Verdicchio that captures the rhythm and warmth of coastal Marche.