Villa Bucci, pearl of Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi, in the hands of the Veronesi family

As anticipated by WineNews, in recent days, the Veronesi family officially acquired Villa Bucci, one of the most distinguished and historic entities in the world of wine in Italy and abroad, founded by Ampelio Bucci, a pioneering and visionary producer who passed 88 years of age.
“Villa Bucci represents a pillar in the history of Verdicchio: founded by Ampelio Bucci, the winery has contributed significantly to the evolution of Verdicchio, granting a native grape variety from an almost unknown area its reputation as an icon of white wine in Italy and the world. Its grapes, which are very versatile in winemaking, grow in the hills inside the province of Ancona and fully represent the regional viticulture of the Marche region, being typically rich, austere, long-lived and therefore with great aging potential”. “For us, it will be an honor and a great commitment to carry on what Ampelio Bucci has managed to build to date. Although “native” from a different sector, we have espoused the desire to promote and invest in a serious and important way in the Italian wine world that certainly needs novelty and a lot of energy. In this wide-ranging project, which includes a series of other wineries in a context of excellence, Villa Bucci represents a jewel that we will be careful to make shine, more and more”, explains Federico Veronesi, who, to WineNews, adds, “it will be a path in continuity, at the production level we will not change things, while with our consumer know-how, we will work to enhance and tell even more the story of a reality like Villa Bucci that has brought to the highest levels a grape variety like Verdicchio and a region like Marche, too often undervalued”. Ampelio Bucci will remain in the company, in fact, as an external adviser, and, together with him, all the historic staff that will support the new management also remains. The wines, of course, also remain the same, and some are already being aged for the next few years, such as the Villa Bucci Riserva 2021 (now resting, already bottled). The wines from which Villa Bucci Riserva 2023 will be born have already been selected. Great attention will be given to the old vintages of the Vintage Collection. In 2021, Villa Bucci’s 2019 Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico Superiore earned second place in “The Enthusiast 100: The Best Wines of 2021” world ranking, establishing itself as the world’s finest Italian white wine.
“I am selling because I want Villa Bucci to continue to represent an excellent example of made in Italy in the wine sector: it is a path that must necessarily evolve”, comments Ampelio Bucci, “to adapt to the future, with all the changes that this entails. We have sold our wine division to one of the most dynamic and innovative Italian groups in various areas of made in Italy, ranging from fashion - in all its facets - to the great industrial craftsmanship of a cutting-edge brand in the nautical sector, to the food and wine sectors. We are talking about the Veronesi family, which heads the Oniverse Group (formerly Calzedonia, and which also controls the Signorvino wine chain, ed.), which already owns some excellent wineries: La Giuva in Valpolicella, Podere Guardia Grande in Sardinia, Tenimenti Leone in Lazio and a future new Trentodoc project at high altitude”.
“I was convinced that Verdicchio, being a nonaromatic grape, could produce wines that are all the more interesting the longer you wait for them over time, when they develop so-called tertiary scents”, the philosophy of visionary Ampelio Bucci, who accomplished a revolution by taking Verdicchio to its fullest potential: thus we went from considering it a wine sold at a low price, with low alcohol content and little complexity, to be consumed young within the year, to a work of extraction, grading and aging that has made it a symbol of Italian wine in the world. Villa Bucci’s Verdicchio del Castelli di Jesi Doc vineyards cover 25 hectares in the Doc Classica zone, plus 6 hectares of red Montepulciano and Sangiovese grapes that fall under the Rosso Piceno Doc. Villa Bucci produces 700 to 800 quintals of Verdicchio per year and 300 quintals of Rosso, exclusively with grapes from its own vineyards.
This is a new step in the Veronesi family’s journey in wine production: “a path that started a bit by chance but in which we are very passionate and in which we believe a lot, just as we believe a lot in an artisanal approach for all our wineries”, Federico Veronesi explains, again to WineNews.