sartarelli
Patrizio Chiacchierini (foreground) & son Tomasso (background)
Poggio San Marcello
Ancona - Marche - italy
story…
The Sartarelli estate was founded in 1972 by Ferruccio Sartarelli, a skilled and successful baker turned entrepreneur. Originally Ferruccio had dreamt of moving to Argentina and investing in land there, but his wife was not a fan of this idea, so he decided to take his land investment plan and apply it to his local are in the Marche. Specifically deciding to dedicate his time, effort, and money in championing the local white variety, Verdicchio. In fact Sartarelli is quite unique in the landscape of wine in Italy, they only propagate and produce wine from one single grape variety, Verdicchio. The estate is based around a century old country house in Poggio San Marcello on the left bank of the Esino River, consisting of 55 hectares of vines, 6 hectares of olive groves, and 2 hectares of trees.
Today the estate is run by Donatella Sartarelli, Ferruccio’s daughter, and her husband Patrizio Chiacchierini along with their children; Caterina who runs the marketing, export and sales for the estate & Tomasso who heads up winemaking and oenology. The family’s dedication to the Verdicchio grape and the wines produced from it has never waivered. In fact they continue to be a leading estate in the Marche region and all this dedication has put them at the very top of Verdicchio producers, as well as cemented them as one of the top white wine producers in all of Italy.
Rooted in tradition but never satisfied with staying still they continue to innovate and evolve. In 1994 they produced a new bottling of Verdicchio from the Balciana district (vineyard) produced in a very unique way. The wine is late harvested and due to the very specific micro-climate of their plot on the hill it is prone to botrytis. Patrizio decided to keep this botrytized fruit in tact but allow the wine to ferment entirely to dryness. Thus producing a wildly complex and intense wine that has since gone on to be recognized as one of the greatest white wines in all of Italy. With their Balciana bottling they have brought to fruition the vision that Ferruccio had in the 70’s, to produce world class Verdicchio and bring international attention to this ancient, indigenous variety of the Marche.
In 2013 they began a certification project, now called Sartarelli.ZERO, to ensure that their were no residual synthetic chemicals found in any of their vineyards, grapes, and resulting wines. This certification was made official in February of 2020, thus certifying that every wine from the state from the 2020 vintage on is 100% synthetic chemical free from start to finish.
philosophy…
Farming on the estate is done through a mix of methods, but as a whole they follow strict sustainable practices. There are no synthetic chemicals or sprays used on the vines and the employ native grass cover crops in between the rows. All vineyard maintenance; budding, pruning, & green harvesting is carried out by hand; although they do some hedge trimming with machine. The fruit is all harvested by hand and the top two cuvée’s are put in small bins to further protect the fruit and retain the delicate flavors and aromas. Worth noting that two top cuvée’s are harvested later than their entry level bottlings, thus making the berries softer and more likely to burst under pressure.
Fermentation & aging is as simple as it comes for any estate. All of the bottling are fermented in the same way, the fruit is brought in and gently pressed in horizontal membrane presses. The must is then pumped into stainless steel and left on the lees for 15-20 days before being seperated for fermentation. All ferments are done with selected, neutral yeasts strains. The fermented juice is this racked a few times for clarity, the wines are never fined and only ever gently filtered prior to bottling. The two wines that have different production methods are their Brut & Passito bottlings. The Brut is produced in the Charmat method for secondary fermentation. The Passito is the most unique in that the grapes are left to dry on racks for about month before beginning their long fermentation process which lasts around 35-40 days. So2 use is on the moderate to minimal level and is never above 100 ppm total added SO2.
Vineyards…
Of their 55 hectares of vineyards there are two parcels that are prized above the rest, Tralivio & Balciana. They produce single site bottlings from both of these vineyards/contrada and are their top two cuvée’s in their line-up.
