Umani Ronchi of the Bernetti family is the “Winery of the Year” for Gambero Rosso

A business and family history of absolute success, which coincides in good part with that of the success of the wine of Marche, and its most important oenological souls, Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi and Rosso Conero, but also of Abruzzo, with its Montepulciano. It is that of Umani Ronchi, a winery led by the Bernetti family, with Michele taking the reins from his father Massimo, and which is now named “Winery of the Year” by Gambero Rosso’s “Guida Vini d’Italia 2024”, the most important in the wine market (to be officially presented on October 15, in Rome), as WineNews is able to anticipate.
Yet another milestone in a relatively recent history, that of Umani Ronchi, but one full of success. It was founded, in 1957, by Gino Umani Ronchi, in Cupramontana. Then in 1968, it was taken over by Roberto Bianchi and his son-in-law Massimo Bernetti: it was he, in 1973, who began to invest in foreign markets, as an absolute pioneer. And today, Umani Ronchi’s wines, more than 3 million bottles, which come from 240 hectares of vineyards between Marche and Abruzzo, between the hills and the Adriatic Sea, all under organic regimes, end up on the tables of restaurants all over the world. A “plural” winery (there are actually three wineries, the one in Osimo, the one in Castelbellino, focused on Verdicchio, and the one in Montepagano, where the protagonist is Montepulciano d’Abruzzo) as, moreover, the Marche region itself is, capable of expressing itself at the highest levels with both white and red wines. Such as Pelago, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and other native Conero grapes, born in 1994, thanks to the collaboration with the genius of one of the fathers of Italian enology Giacomo Tachis, which in 1997 was named the best red wine in the world at the prestigious International “Wine Challenge” in London. Or like Verdicchio “Vecchie Vigne”, which, with the 2009 vintage, was awarded “White Wine of the Year” in 2012 by Gambero Rosso itself. And now, therefore, for the reality led by Michele Bernetti (who is also president of the Istituto Marchigiano di Tutela Vini, ed.) also comes the recognition of “Winery of the Year”, marking another milestone in the path of the Bernetti family and Umani Ronchi (which today has as super consultant, the enologist Giuseppe Caviola, ed.), a winery that is the history, present and future of the Marche region and also of the Abruzzo wine region.