Hill country between the Apennines and the Adriatic, organised since the Middle Ages around the castelli — the fortified villages that ring the town of Jesi, each with its vineyards spread below the walls. That medieval geography survives in the region's most famous name, Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi, a white that ages with the assurance of a fine Burgundy.
The reds belong to montepulciano and sangiovese, blended in Rosso Conero on the limestone mountain above Ancona and in Rosso Piceno further south. The Marche has long been Italy's quiet over-performer: consistently well made, modestly priced, and forever described as the next region to be discovered — a prediction renewed by every generation of critics.