2022 Tenuta Grimaldi Verdicchio di Matelica DOC 750 ml

There are parts of Le Marche that most wine travelers never find—not the hilltop towns or the Adriatic coastline, but the interior, where the Apennines push up against the sky and Verdicchio di Matelica occupies a high, narrow valley that feels genuinely remote. This is where Tenuta Grimaldi sits, just outside the town of Matelica itself, at between 450 and 550 meters above sea level.

That elevation matters. While the better-known Verdicchio from neighboring Castelli di Jesi is shaped by sunny coastal lowlands and maritime breezes, Matelica’s surrounding mountains create cooler temperatures and sharper diurnal swings that preserve acidity in ways the warmer zones can’t match. The result is a style of Verdicchio that is tighter, more mineral, and more energetic than what most people picture when they think of the grape.

We found our way to Tenuta Grimaldi the way we find many of our best producers: through another winemaker we trust. Fabio Marchionni of Colle Stefano, a longtime Matelica producer in our portfolio, made the introduction. Grimaldi is a close neighbor—about 15 minutes up the road, at slightly higher elevation, with rockier, sandier soils and vineyards oriented to the east and northeast.

The estate farms organically, harvests by hand into small boxes, and works with four distinct Verdicchio clones. Whole bunches are pressed, the juice settled and fermented in stainless steel and large wooden barrels—the latter used to build texture and complexity without imparting oak flavor. Winemaker Mirko Mattana is also experimenting with both indigenous and selected yeasts, a detail that points to a producer still actively exploring what this site can become.

Verdicchio, done well, is one of Italy’s great underrated whites. In the hands of Tenuta Grimaldi, working organically in one of the appellation’s highest sites, the 2022 makes a strong case for why this particular corner of Le Marche deserves far more attention.