Cantine Belisario Cambrugiano Verdicchio di Matelica Riserva 2022

Cantine Belisario Cambrugiano Verdicchio di Matelica Riserva

Region: Marche, Italy

Vintage: 2022

Bottle size: 75cl

Grape: Verdicchio

ABV: 13.5%

Pale gold in colour, this wine opens with complex aromas of vanilla, honey and fresh floral notes. Full and rounded on the palate with stone fruit flavours and light touches of spiced honey and vanilla on the long finish. An elegantly structured wine with great balance.

The vineyards are south-facing, located outside Matelica, in the Cambrugiano and Cabraccio areas of the Marche region. 100% planted with the Verdicchio clone Matelicese, which is unique for its semi-loose clusters, the vines range from 26 to 46 years of age and are situated on hilly, well-drained soils at around 400 metres above sea level. Vine density ranges from 1,666 to 2,200 vines per hectare, trained to a double Guyot system with spacing of 3×2 metres.

The grapes were harvested into 200-kilogram bins and placed in cold storage at −10 °C for 24 hours before vinification. Cryomaceration followed at around 0 °C for four hours, prior to a cold fermentation lasting approximately 22 days at 16 °C using selected yeasts. The wine was aged for two years, with 95% matured for 12 months in temperature-controlled 300-hectolitre stainless steel tanks and 5% aged for 12 months in toasted 225-litre oak barriques, followed by a further eight months of bottle ageing before release.

Cantine Belisario is a 300-hectare cooperative winery in the Matelica DOC, Marche, founded in 1971, where the only permitted grape is Verdicchio. The co-op owns 24 hectares of organically farmed vineyards, inland from the Castelli di Jesi DOC, where the climate is more continental. Here, the combination of warm days and cool nights extend the growing season, allowing the grape's aromatics to develop. As a result, harvest occurs as late as the second half of October. These vines are the source of Cantine Belisario’s organic ‘Vigneti B’ Verdicchio.