Tenuta di Tavignano
The estate was founded in 1992 and owns 230 hectares in total of which farms about 29ha under vine (16 of Verdicchio). In-house winemaker Giulio Piazzini (with the winemaking consultant help of Pierluigi Lorenzetti) likes to make fresh wines and carries out his fermentations in stainless steel; neither the Verdicchio Classico nor the Riserva see any wood. Like others in the region, Piazzini believes that Verdicchio can give wines that are structured enough on their own and do not need oak. The estate and its vineyards are located in the territory of Cingoli, near Staffolo (an area known for broad, large-scale Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi wines), where the Verdicchio vines grow in mostly clay-limestone soils at roughly 300 meters above sea level in a windy, sunny environment. Verdicchio here tends to give rather savory, broad wines that are already flavorful and forward at a young age, quite unlike Cupramontana’s wines, which are more mineral and reserved in their youth. IAN D'AGATA, www.vinousmedia.com