La Staffa 2022 Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico Superiore

The Wine

Young winemaker/ower, Riccardo Baldi, ferments this wine in casks made of of accacia wood as well as cement tanks, where indigenous fermentations occur and the finished wine relaxes on its lees for several months. This technique results in a wine of beautiful freshness and a fuller mouthfeel than many Verdicchio wines. 

The wine shows fruity aromas with notes of flint and straw. Drink it now to fully enjoy its youthful self, though the wine will also age for many years to come, developing darker color and rounder caramel notes on top of its foundation of distinctive lemon. 

The Winery

If you ever get an opportunity to attend the wild wine circus that is VinItaly, know that you could spend a week of solid (foot-killing, back-breaking) days in the pavillions and still not get as much accomplished as you would at the after parties. That's where real connections are made and great wines curated and shared.

And that's where I met Riccardo Baldi earlier this year. He happenedLa Staffa Verd Baldi in Vyrd to be sitting across from me and we quickly hit it off - within a few minutes he was enthusiastically and patiently interpreting not just what was said, but its context and politics and the gossip behind it. Long before he knew I was a U.S. retailer or I knew he was a producer, he became my advisor on all things Italian. 

As the party wound down and we went our separate ways, I promised to visit his booth and taste his wines. I finally found the time to do so near the end of my week in Verona and to say I was impressed is an understatement. This is just one of three Verdicchio wines he produces, and each one is impressive in its own right. 

Young Baldi earned the moniker "King of Verdicchio" when his first vintage (at the young age of 20) earned high praise from Europe's wine press - Gambero Rosso. Now in his 13th vintage, he focuses exclusively on Verdicchio from his organic vineyards in the Castelli di Jesi (cass-TEL-lee dee YES-ee) DOC of the often-overlooked Marche (mar-kay) region of Italy. If you like Verdicchio wines, buying one from this DOC helps identify a wine of quality.