2022 La Staffa - Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Rinrocca (750ml)

La Staffa was founded in 1994 by the Baldi family in Staffolo, a hill town in the northern Marche whose very name, meaning "stirrup," reflects its old ties to horses and the surrounding stables. Riccardo Baldi, born in 1990, took over the small family winery as a young man and has since built it into one of the region's most closely watched addresses for Verdicchio, farming roughly twelve hectares organically, including vines planted as far back as the early 1970s.

Rincrocca comes from a single vineyard in the Castellaretta area of Staffolo, planted in 1972 with five different clones of Verdicchio, two of which no longer exist anywhere else. The site sits in view of an old stable where horses were once trained, a detail tied directly to the estate's name. Grapes are hand-picked into small boxes, pressed immediately, and fermented spontaneously with indigenous yeast in cement tanks, then aged roughly a year in cement followed by at least another year in bottle before release.

The wine shows a pale straw color with greenish hues and an intense, refined bouquet of yellow flowers, minerality, and almond. The palate is dry and elegant, with fresh acidity and a velvety finish of quince and almond, sometimes touched by crushed chalk and sea salt. It's lovely as an aperitif and pairs beautifully with seafood or roast chicken.