The Marche lies along Italy's Adriatic coast, just south of Emilia-Romagna, east of Umbria, and barely bordering Tuscany on its northwestern shoulder. The climate here is agreeable, moderated by breezes coming off the Adriatic or down from the Apennine mountain range. Historically, the Marche is most famous for the production of Verdicchio, a crisp white wine that made a distinctive impression outside of Italy when it arrived in a green amphora bottle often further elaborated, in a truly cheesy fashion, to resemble   More

The Marche lies along Italy's Adriatic coast, just south of Emilia-Romagna, east of Umbria, and barely bordering Tuscany on its northwestern shoulder. The climate here is agreeable, moderated by breezes coming off the Adriatic or down from the Apennine mountain range. Historically, the Marche is most famous for the production of Verdicchio, a crisp white wine that made a distinctive impression outside of Italy when it arrived in a green amphora bottle often further elaborated, in a truly cheesy fashion, to resemble a fish, complete with "scales" covering most of the surface. Producers in recent years have worked hard to revitalize Verdicchio's image by focusing on reaching top levels of quality.

Reds here seem at times to get short shrift, a pity as the Rosso Conero and Rosso Piceno, both elaborated from blends of Montepulciano and Sangiovese, can be quite rich and robust, delivering lots of character and personality at a (usually) very fair price.   Less