Bucci Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico Riserva Villa Bucci 

BY IAN D'AGATA | MAY 8, 2018 

The Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Villa Bucci Riserva is one of Italy’s top white wines, and also ages splendidly. It’s also a bottling of significant historic importance – the first to reveal the huge potential of the Verdicchio grape and its wines to Italy and the world.

Ampelio Bucci worked for more than 20 years in Milan’s highly competitive and glitzy fashion industry as a consultant in design direction and marketing. Until two years ago, he also taught this subject at the Domus Academy in Milan and at one of the city’s universities, the Libera Università di Lingue e Comunicazione (IULM). As if all that wasn’t enough for his resumé, Bucci also happens to make two of Italy’s best white wines, including the Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Villa Bucci Riserva.

The Bucci vineyard

The Bucci Estate

The Bucci family has owned their estate in the Marche, near the town of Montecarotto where the family has its origins, since the 18th century. But it was Ampelio Bucci who first began making outstanding Verdicchio wines in 1982. The estate comprises 300 hectares in the western part of the Marche region, including 31 hectares under vine – 25 planted to Verdicchio and 6 to Montepulciano and Sangiovese. In addition to wine, Bucci produces other staples including durum wheat, peas, sugar beets, olives and sunflowers.

The estate has been officially certified for practicing organic agriculture for over 25 years, but like many of the great wine estates of Italy, Bucci doesn’t boast about that fact. Bucci currently produces about 120,000 bottles a year, most of which is their two Verdicchio wines. From the start, Bucci has been assisted by the now-legendary enologist Giorgio Grai, who has been responsible for some of Italy’s greatest white wines.