Verdicchio

Verdicchio is the best white grape of the Marche, on Italy's Adriatic coast, and one of the few Italian whites that genuinely improves with age. The name comes from verde, green, for the colour that stays in the skins and in the wine. Genetic work has shown it to be the same variety as Trebbiano di Soave and Trebbiano di Lugana in the north.

Two zones make it. Castelli di Jesi is the larger and warmer, closer to the sea, and gives a rounder, more open wine. Matelica is a narrow inland valley running the wrong way for the coastal breeze, and its greater temperature swing gives a tighter, higher acid version with more length. Both share the grape's signature: citrus and green almond, a firm line of acidity, and a faintly bitter almond note on the finish that is a feature and not a fault.

Its reputation suffered from its own packaging. For decades the wine was sold in a green amphora shaped bottle aimed at tourists, and the contents matched the gimmick. Serious growers abandoned the bottle, cut yields and started ageing the wine, and the best Riserva bottlings now hold ten years easily.