Wineries in Marche Region-From Urbino as Base
 

Hello everyone, I'm glad to be back here. Can't believe I've forgotten to use this as my number one source since arriving in Europe 9 months ago!
I"ve read some of your responses on Urbino and the area, but am specifically looking for those who have visited wineries. If you have visited wineries with fresh, aromatic, dry white wines in Marche region please do comment here!

As for me, I've just arrived in the Marche region after driving from Tuscany (where I was house-sitting and dog-sitting in a tiny village-will post on that later) to take a much needed 3 day break from the badly behaved dog I was sitting with (140 pounds of jumping, clawing, and disobedient male recently neutered dog!). This is the first time I've had a car in my 9 months of traveling as it's just not feasibly on my solo traveler budget on such a long term trip. And my god is driving in Italy expensive!? Yes. The tolls alone are a shocker. Similar to France. No wonder so many people use ride shares these days.

So I want to use my car, and I"m based in Urbino. I want to see some wineries, but I've also been convinced by those on other threads here, to see San Marino, and of course I'll go see the Palazzo Ducale since I'm in Urbino (thought I'm a couple miles outside the center-oh the joys of budget lodging! but seriously it's pretty nice for how little I'm paying and the difference is significant from the cheapest decent place in center)

Chime in if you've got stories, ideas, suggestions.... or if you just want to give me some tips on how to avoid parking fees everywhere, or a great restaurant or enoteca I should hit.... !

thank you in advance

We love that area of Italy - if you click on my name or do a search for Bikerscott you will get all of our trip reports - there are 4.

We usually stay between Piobbico and Urbania.

You can see our photos here:
https://flickr.com/photos/[email protected]

A couple of wineries we really like are (both are east of Urbino but a reasonable drive):

Guerrieri http://www.aziendaguerrieri.it/en/

Terracruda http://www.terracruda.it/en/

They both do tastings in English.

Enjoy!

Verdicchio is probably exactly the dry white aromatic wine you're looking for. I live in the Verdicchio region, but, apart from the fact that we aren't wine drinkers, it wouldn't occur to me to take a winery tour, since we know many people who have Verdicchio vineyards. Nobody around here has anything good to say about Bianchello del Metauro, Jamikins!

This Verdicchio vineyard (really two different vineyards) has tours that sound good:

http://www.pievalta.it/en/cellarandvineyards/

Verdicchio grapes are grown almost exclusively in Le Marche. There are two Verdicchio zones, Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi, and Verdicchio di Matelica. I'm told that the Castelli di Jesi zone produces the best wines, but since that's where I live, there may be some bias there. The tour I linked above is in the Castelli di Jesi zone.

There is also a dessert wine called Verdicchio passito, which is made with overripe grapes.

There's not a lot of tourism in Le Marche, and vineyard tours are something that only tourists do, so they're nowhere near as thick on the ground as in Tuscany.

If you go to the Verdicchio area, you'll pass a lot of pretty little towns; I would recommend especially Mondavio, which has an impressive medieval fortress; and Corinaldo, a beautiful town which has the best-preserved medieval walls in the region. Corinaldo has several times been voted (but the Italian auto club) as one of the five most beautiful towns in Italy. I think once it came in second or third.

There are also some very charming tiny castle towns nearby, such as Piticchio and Loretello. The 8th century hermitage of Fonte Avellana, in a beautiful spot on the slopes of Mount Catria is worth a detour. They don't have tours in English, but they'll give you a written script in English so that you can follow the tour. Finally, the upper town of Frontone has a beautiful view, and a restaurant, with a big open fireplace in which they grill the meat.

Nearer to Urbino, I recommend a visit to the Gola di Furlo, a river gorge surrounded by cliffs. There is a tunnel there carved in the rock by the ancient Romans. I don't know if cars still pass through it, but they did until a few years ago. Then there was a devastating flood that washed out the 20th century road, but did no damage at all to the 2000-year-old tunnel. The last time I was there, you had to park your car and walk on the road. In a way it's better, because we saw many beautiful viewpoints we had never noticed before.

On the same road, the ancient Roman Via Flaminia, you can stop to see an old 8th century church of San Vicenzo, which is always open although there is no attendent. It's on the edge of a park where you can also see some ancient Roman flood control works. (Maybe the 20th century engineers could have learned some lessons from them.) Further along is the town of Acqualagna, a regional truffle capital. The season for the prized white truffles is over, but the black winter truffles are still in season.

Finally, one of the vineyards signaled by Jamikins is in or near the town of Fratterosa, which is a center of traditional pottery making. The style of pottery is much simpler (and more pleasing to me) than the Deruta-style pottery you see in Urbania and other parts of Le Marche. There are several potteries there that will demonstrate their work. This is one I've visited and bought things from:

http://www.ascompesaro.it/main/apps/...zi-fratte-rosa

They don't seem to have their own web page, nor anything in English.

~Nobody around here has anything good to say about Bianchello del Metauro, Jamikins!~

Haha bvlenci - no wonder if you live in the Verdicchio area. We have driven through the area around Jesi but have yet to stop for any tastings, it is on the list for next time!!

We found the wines at the wineries we went to quite yummy (but hey, we aren't 'that' picky hehehe).

Another vote for Gola di Furlo!!!

~Nobody around here has anything good to say about Bianchello del Metauro, Jamikins!~>>

no-one round here has anything good to say about Camborne but that doesn't mean it's not a good place!

The closer the place, the greater the rivalry.

enjoying this very much and storing up the info for a trip to Le Marche sooner or later.

[we are finally getting to Sicily in September so Le Marche is moving up the list!]

I am following your Sicily information as well annhig!!! We appear to plan opposite trips, which makes it fun to do research!

Seriously, though, I think the wine experts are agreed that Verdicchio is a finer wine than Bianchello.

Another wine (red) that is unique to Le Marche is Lacrima di Morro d'Alba, made from the Lacrima grape.

http://www.wine-searcher.com/regions...rro+d'alba

It's little know outside of Le Marche, but an American colleague of mine, who considers himself a wine expert, said that in his opinion it could stand with the best wines of Chianti. As I said, I'm no wine expert, but this is one of the few wines that I do drink occasionally. (The other is Rosso Conero.)

http://www.wine-searcher.com/regions-rosso+conero

I forgot to mention the name of the restaurant in the upper town of Frontone. It's La Taverna della Rocca; the "rocca" is the medieval castle around which the upper town is clustered. The castle is privately owned, and is used for exhibits, weddings, and the like, but has limited public visiting hours. (My daughter and I once snuck in once when it was being renovated, but other than that, I've never been in the area when it was open.)

Annhig, let me know when you're ready to see Le Marche. In case I leave Fodors, which I'm often tempted to do, I have an email account in the same name as my screen name, at the server of a famous search engine. Based on your trip reports, I'm sure you would love this region. I hope you enjoy Sicily. It's still on my list, and I hope to get there some day.

Bvlenci thank you for your great information!!! I am filing this away for our next trip your way. I have no doubt the wine is fabulous. We went to those 2 wineries due to their proximity to where we were staying and it was fine wine for drinking on our patio in the sun. No doubt there are (more) delicious options around!

that's very kind, bvl, and I will contact you when [not if] we manage to finalise a trip to Le Marche.

Just too much to see and not enough time to see it in.

I know that all too well!

bvlenci yes I would agree re: verdicchio. I've been in the wine industry 14 years and have tasted almost all major wines from all major regions in every European country many times over.

Thanks for the suggestions. I was hoping to catch a non super touristy tour winery (like drive by and walk in and grab a taste and buy a bottle or two even if it's in a shed). I do speak a moderate level of Italian so maybe this will be possible

Question for you: I did San Leo today (soooo pretty and very glad I went) but now I only have one full day and night left for Urbino (where I'm staying) and somewhere else. I'm thinking to spend the morning in Urbino tomorrow (I did a little walking around this evening so I think I only need another hour and a half to sit and have a coffee and enjoy the Palazzo Ducale and then I can drive off somewhere else nearby for lunch.

are Mondavio and Corinaldo under an hour from Urbino?

and yes I can see there's not as much tourism in this region which I'm loving (not to mention it's winter which makes it even more dead and I pretty much own the cities I visit!) and makes me wish I had more time. But I couldn't afford more time driving and eating out in Italy. My god it's gotten so expensive for everything here.

So, back to the subject! I've tasted quite a few Marche wines in my time, but I just haven't physically been in the Marche region. Now I am so I like to go to the source! :)

Jamikins thanks for the suggestions!

Corinaldo is just about an hour from Urbino, and Mondavio is on the way. If you have to choose one, I'd skip Mondavio and press on to Corinaldo. However, Mondavio can be seen in less time than Corinaldo.

This is supposed to be one of the finest Verdicchio of Jesi wines, the Villa Bucci Riserva. The winery is in Ostra Vetere, just about 15 minutes south of Corinaldo, just off the SP360.

http://www.villabucci.com/wine.aspx?id=4&qid=44

It doesn't say anything about visits or tours, but you could contact them:

Azienda Agricola F.lli BUCCI
Via Cona, 30
60010 Ostra Vetere (AN)
e-mail [email protected]
tel./fax 071-964179

P.S bvlenci the winery Villa Bucci was closed up and no one on site

That's too bad, did you find something else? I hope you didn't go far out of your way. Maybe you should have called first. Wineries in Le Marche are really not geared up for tourism, and once the vendemmia is over, and the wines are ageing, they may just come in occasionally.

Great info here.

Brooke, I may have time to visit this area in June and would be interested in any additional impressions you have from a tourist's point-of-view. How is the driving, are you finding enough to do without making really long drives, is Urbino a good base, are the drives scenic, etc.?

Did you see Mondavio or Corinaldo?

Leely2- of course!

I thought Urbino was a nice base, personally. Though be aware you cannot park inside the walled center and will have to pay for parking around the walls and arrange to take your car temporarily up to you hotel with your baggage with some sort of temporary pass from the hotel (I stayed outside walls a couple kilometers away which was inconvenient though and I'd recommend just staying in historic center as it's so much easier to access food and entertainment and it's a great walking city

It's definitely a lot of driving to see the nice places in the area, including a lot of steep and windy roads so the petrol will get used up fairly quickly. However, there's really not other option to get around these types of areas.

I loved San Leo, I thought it was just stunning, and so small and seemingly isolated, but just my type of place. There's a panneria place there that's also a ristorante that had some great, reasonably priced lunch fare. I had some heavenly gnocchi with cinghiale and a glass of red wine for a total of 11 Euros

bvlenci-I did get to Corinaldo, but i must say it didn't do much for me. Perhaps I've just been in too many similar places, or perhaps, compared to Urbino and San Leo it was just really not anything exciting... don't know. But I was also traveling in Winter.

I did drive to the Gorge tunnel and walked through it. Cool, but again I'm not sure I would do it again. I would choose something else to do with my time.

I wish I had done some wineries but no one was around anywhere to taste with or even talk to so it wasn't possible.

All in all a lovely area with some stunning drives. DEfinitely a place you must drive and probably drive quite a bit, but like anywhere else, if you pick a couple spots to focus on and just stay there and get to know the (Urbino for instance) it's much nicer than trying to see too many things.

I found a good wine shop in Urbino that I bought a selection of Marche wines from, called Raffaelo something (I'll look for my bag) including an interesting white made from a grape called famoso that I didn't know existed (there are hundreds of these crazy grapes no one has ever heard in Italy-even we wine professionals can't keep up!)

One bright side to traveling in winter was that I could always chill my wines outside my window...:)