Marches

DOC for dry white wine in the Marches region in Italy. The zone includes 25 communes (including San Paolo di Jesi, from which the name is taken) in the province of Ancona, and two communes in the province of Macerata, with a total vineyard area of 3000 hectares. Wines grown in the oldest part of the wine-growing zone may also state the additional designation Classico on the label, this area accounts for around 90% of the total. The Fazi-Battaglia wine estate (350 ha vineyard area), which is still the leading producer, introduced the characteristic green amphora bottle with the scroll on the neck in 1950. Together with fish nets, this became one of the essential ingredients of décor in Italian restaurants, and helped to make the wine known outside of Italy (today it is bottled in this packaging only as a tourist attraction). The yellow wine with green tinges is dry, and is made from Verdicchio (85-100%), as well as optionally from other permitted white varieties (up to 15%). Other wines produced are a high-alcohol Passito, a Riserva that is matured for two years, a Spumante and a Spumante Riserva. There is a second, much smaller Verdicchio DOC zone in the Marches region called Verdicchio di Matelica.