Wines
The sunrise light that comes from the Adriatic Sea wakes Contrada San Michele up while colouring it with golden and red shades. The sun, the sea breeze that meets with the Apennines winds, the late afternoon light, the winter snow, the autumn rains, a soil with a Mediterranean memory, limestone and clay, the smell of wildflowers and the sound of bees and birds. Our is just an attempt to preserve this magical harmony. We are thrilled with the idea that our wines have deep roots and at the same time, they look beyond borders. Salinity, Minerality, Acidity are the three main elements.
Our optimal production is around 30,000 bottles from our vineyards located in Contrada San Michele. 15,000 bottles of CAPOVOLTO (Doc), 7,000 bottles of PASSOLENTO (Docg), 4,000 bottles of BASTIANCONTRARIO (Igp), 4000 bottles of LA FUGA and 2,500 bottles of Metodo Classico. We employ photovoltaic panels for our electricity supply and we use rainwater in order to be environmentally friendly. To give our small contribution to the reduction of CO2 emissions we use light bottles that are below 400gr and corks to support cork workers.
Passolento
Castelli di Jesi, Verdicchio Riserva.
DOCG Classico. 100% Verdicchio grapes.
It ferments in big oak barrels where it matures for 12 months on its fine lees, than it ages for additional 12 months in bottle.
::: Passolento embodies the depth and structure that a fully matured Verdicchio can offer. It also reflects the patience required in the winemaking and aging of this wine. It ferments and ages slowly in 10-hectoliter Slavonian oak barrels. It requires an equally long period of rest in the bottle to harmonize complexity and finesse, fullness and freshness.
::: The name of this wine was chosen for its evolutionary characteristics. It matures in its own time and without any kind of control other than taste. It evolves very well over the years, calmly, with its own ‘SLOW STEP’ that has little to do with the winemakers of our lands who are always busy and usually not very patient.
Capovolto
Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi.
DOC, Classico Superiore. 100% Verdicchio grapes.
It ferments in steel where it remains on its fine lees for 7/8 months.
::: The Capovolto embodies the essence of Verdicchio. It is made from Verdicchio grapes grown in the San Michele district of Cupramontana. The winemaking process is carried out with the utmost respect for the grape variety’s tipical charateristics, both during fermentation and during aging on the finest lees. The nose is intense, fruity and mineral. On the palate, it reveals all the depth and structure of San Michele.
::: The name of the wine was taken from the ‘CAPOVOLTO’ method of vine cultivation used extensively by the vine growers of our grandparents’ generation in times of poverty and scarcity when the vine plant was required to produce as many grapes as possible. The shoot (CAPO) was curved into an arch (VOLTO) to have more surface area, more buds and therefore more grapes. This is the red thread that links us to that generation.
Bastiancontrario
Marche Rosso IGP.
It ferments and macerates for 48/72 hours in steel where it remains for additional 12 months.
It ages in bottle for 12 months.
::: Bastiancontrario knows it’s a red wine, but deep down it would rather be a white. The Montepulciano grapes are harvested and subjected to very gentle crushing. Maceration on the skins is limited to the first few days, in an effort to extract only what is necessary. It has a nose of black berries and on the palate it has body but few tannins.
::: The name comes from the fact of planting a Montepulciano grape vineyard in an area with a clear predominance of white grapes, in the midst of DOC and DOCG wines almost as if to challenge them and make room for themselves. It stems from a bet we made, believing the elders of the town, according to whom San Michele is an area suited to reds.
La Fuga
Vino Rosato.
It ferments in steel where it remains for 5 months.
::: La Fuga is a rosé that “breaks free” from the stereotypes surrounding rosés from central Italy. Made by gently pressing Montepulciano grapes and selecting only the first press (“the flower”), La Fuga is a wine that is as refined as it is approachable
::: The name comes from the fact to have planted the vineyard it in 2011 together with Jan Alì Baiquiri, a 16-year-old Afghan refugee who worked with us for a few years, fleeing war-torn Afghanistan.
Dosaggio Zero
Vino Spumante, Extra Brut, Sur lies.
The wine is not disgorged and remains sur lies for 36 months in the bottle.
::: Cupramontana has always been, and remains, ideally suited for the production of sparkling wines. In our climate, harvesting Verdicchio before full ripeness maximizes acidity without compromising aromatic expression. After several months of aging, the wine is transferred to bottles for secondary fermentation, and once corked (with cork), it retains all its fine lees—essential for its flavor and aromatic development—until opened.
::: Another attempt (From Number Zero to Number Seven) to get to the roots of the Verdicchio grape. For us, our Dosaggio Zero is this, the search for its backbone.
