Vertical of the iconic Verdicchio Villa Bucci (2)

To make the vertical tasting of this great wine complete, we thought we would complete Vignadelmar’s narrative and update the iconic vertical of Verdicchio Villa Bucci with successive vintages.

From yesterday’s story from 2012, we were left right here. As soon as I arrive at the winery, Ampelio Bucci takes me on a tour of the winery, on the hillside, from where, below, we can see the fields cultivated with the method of crop rotation, not to impoverish them, not to let them die.
He complains about the price of grain being kept low by a U.S. lobby of traders, that the cost of organic production is hardly given to you, and that in order to be able to get it you have to work hard at Create small economic communities of farmers and users, trying to baipass the voracious middlemen.
It cares a great deal about the activity of the Fivi (Italian Federation of Independent Winemakers)., of which he is a councilor.

The cellar is a brick building from the 1920s-30s, perfectly preserved.
It is on two levels.
On the lower one, which is naturally cooler, are the steel vats where all the wines will ferment and where most of the wooden barrels rest, of various sizes, but let’s say on average 50 hectoliters.
They are all 80 years old and have never moved from that position.
Upstairs more large barrels for the reds and a large work area. Everything is very clean and simple, I would say quietly functional.
He walks me through the various stages of processing and we start tapping the 2011 Verdicchio from the different barrels.
Each one contains the product of a very specific vineyard, only later, before going into the bottle, with the indispensable help of the very talented oenologist Giorgio Grai (sadly passed away, ed.), the final blending will take place.
This is a very delicate phase, especially for what will later become reserve, the Villa Bucci.

Grai is a true master: with very accurate and very long sensory analysis he always manages to bring to life something that was not there until a few minutes before. Ampelio knows this and lets him, indulges him in everything, he is sure that only the best possible will come out of so much work.
Which then, let’s face it, is this being a cuvée, from various vineyards of different ages and geographical locations, allows the wines, the great wines, to express themselves with notes of intriguing complexity.

Conversion to organic

When he planted some new vineyards decades ago, Ampelio decided to install them on chalky soils and only later decided to convert them entirely to organic, not so much to make a better wine, but only to be able to conserve the environment better.
Infatti, quando gli ho chiesto se la certificata conversione al biologico (1999) avesse apportato un deciso miglioramento alla qualità dei suoi vini mi ha risposto sicuro di no.
Eccezion fatta, forse, per una maggiore ed further centering of the organoleptic profile. But back to the 2011, resting in barrels.
Each barrel contains a wine that is very different from the others.
The way things are now, the 2011 Villa Bucci will not be there.
However, sometimes, the very old barrels, when they hear Ampelio say these things, get nervous and by way of defiance pull some great quality turns on him.
For my part, I can say that if Villa Bucci is not made, the simple basic Verdicchio will be truly remarkable.
We shall see.

In two barrels rests very recently the Villa Bucci 2010.
Fra qualche mese verrà imbottigliato.
È molto buono già ora, non mi sbilancerei più di tanto ma confermo trattarsi di un’annata mediamente buonissima e si prospetta un Villa Bucci Powerful, full, satisfying but as usual very elegant.
I Verdicchio di Bucci sono molto giocati su sentori di frutta bianca e spiccate note verdi, intese come di erba, erbette aromatiche e mediterranee; parzialmente di agrumi.
Mentre sono quasi in secondo piano i sentori tropicali e anche quelli floreali hanno un profilo molto limitato.

We enrich Vignadelmar’s iconic vertical tasting and tastings with an update of the latest vintages.