2020 Bisci Verdicchio di Matelica DOC Marche Italy 750 ml

When it comes to complex, mineral Verdicchio, Bisci is king.

Top sommeliers know it. They’ve put Bisci on the tables of Michelin-starred restaurants like The French Laundry and Eleven Madison Park, where the bottles go for up to $85.

The critics know it. Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate has called Bisci’s Verdicchio one of the finest they’ve tasted, saying “Verdicchio is one of the joys of Italian oenology that rarely gets the respect it deserves, and few producers do it better than Bisci.”

Most importantly, we know it, and so do Wine Access members. We’ve been big fans of Bisci ever since we discovered their dazzling white wines a decade ago, and this 2020 shows all the crisp energy and tension that has made their wines member-favorites that we just can’t keep in stock. 

This wine’s homeland, the tiny appellation of Verdicchio di Matelica, is a sight to behold: emerald-green hills draped in sunlight and hidden by limestone-laced mountains that block sea breezes. In 2020, this unique spot in Italy’s Marche region turned out a deceptively weighty, crisp, and intricate bottle. It’s one of the most mouthwatering Italian whites we’ve tasted in a long time—at any price.  

“The baseline quality level of the Marche’s wines is among the highest in Italy,” according to Vinous, but this is far from a baseline wine. It’s a front-runner, a limit-pusher, the kind of bottle that led Antonio Galloni to say Bisci “redefines the heights this indigenous variety is capable of reaching.” 

While the Verdicchio from neighboring Castelli di Jesi is born of sunny coasts and maritime influence, the smaller Verdicchio di Matelica zone sits in an inland valley at a much higher altitude, producing wines of greater brightness and mineral character. 

Bisci is “very faithful to the Matelica terroir,” says Vinous, and that faithfulness shines through in this bottle. The aromas emerge as if borne on the region’s mountain air—green apple, melon, white peach, and lemon peel, accented by white flowers and wet stone. The palate shows fantastic fruit purity and stark minerality, and we’re overjoyed to have a small allocation of this wine for Wine Access members.

In the 1980s, Verdicchio was little more than an afterthought for Italian-wine enthusiasts, largely because few producers had the means to invest in temperature-controlled cellars. But beginning in the early 1990s, cellars were modernized as growers raised the bar in the vines. Verdicchio became a sensation—one of Italy’s defining white wines—and in the hands of Giuseppe Bisci and his brilliant agronomist-enologist Aroldo Bellelli, Bisci rose to the top.

To understand why Bisci has emerged as a Verdicchio heavyweight, do as we do: Grab a few Maine Lobsters and crack open a cool bottle of the 2020 Bisci Verdicchio di Matelica. Life doesn’t get much better.