Le Marche –The Italian wine and food destination on the Adriatic Sea

— Sun, sea, and a whole lot of interesting wines. And the most incredible gastronomic speciality that we have so far tasted: stuffed and deep-fried olives! This small region in the centre of Italy, splendidly located on the Adriatic Sea, with impressively high mountains in the hinterland. The cuisine has a lot of fish and other delicacies from the sea and also meat and high-quality charcuteries, like dry-cured sausages and hams. The wines are still relatively unknown internationally. But in Italy, they are highly prized. Be among the first to discover this amazing food and wine destination region.

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The next wine tour to Le Marche:

• Contact Us!

This is a sample program, an example. Every wine and food tour that we organise is different and specially adapted for the season and the circumstances. Details in the program, e.g. which producers we visit, will be different each time.

• This tour is sometimes available on our scheduled wine and food tour program: “Our Tours > Scheduled Tours”, or
• It can be designed specifically for you as a custom made private wine tour.

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They make a lot of wine in Le Marche, or The Marches if you prefer. Much of it is made from Sangiovese and Trebbiano. Climate, soil and landscape make you think of Tuscany. Le Marche is known for its white wines made from the Verdicchio grape, maybe Italy’s very best white grape. Locals drink these wines with fish. The most exclusive is Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi, often made in a fruity, elegant style and always with a certain body.

Other great discoveries are the white Pecorino grape and of course the Montepulciano, which is blended with Sangiovese to make Rosso Piceno. Rosso Conero is a quality grape often used in splendid isolation.

We have the city of Ancona as a base during this trip. Ancona is the capital of the Le Marche region. The population is just over 100,000 and the location is beautiful, on the Adriatic. Ancona is an important port city with ferry connections to Croatia, Greece and Turkey. It is a town with a charm that more and more tourists are discovering, not only those who stop here with their cruise ship.

It is a pleasant and lively city, the harbour district not least, where you will find plenty of cafes and restaurants. In the beautiful medieval centre, you will find a surprising number of small churches. The largest of them, the Cathedral of San Ciriaco, is on a hill above the town. It is a masterpiece of Romanesque and Gothic styles and was completed in 1189. Once up there you will have a magnificent view of the city and the blue sea.

We meet in Ancona; you get there on your own. Perhaps you want to start with exploring the amazing sandy beaches that the Le Marche Coast offers? On Thursday morning our bus will pick us up at the hotel and we begin our journey of discovery.

The tour is led by one of BKWine’s wine and travel expert guides.

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More travel information

Here are some useful pages and guides about this travel destination:

• Italy FAQ: tipping, restaurants, transport, shopping

Even more info

We have written a lot about Italy and about wine touring in the region, what to do and what to expect.

Here you can find more about travelling in Italy.

You can also find more information on Italian wines on BKWine Magazine.

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Program — wine tour in Le Marche, The Marches

This is a sample program, an example. Every wine and food tour that we organise is different and specially adapted for the season and the circumstances. Details in the program, e.g. which producers we visit, will be different each time.

Preliminary program

For more details, contact BKWine.

• Day 1 Wednesday — Arrival in Ancona
• Day 2, Thursday — Rosso Conero and Rosso Piceno
• Day 3, Friday — Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi
• Day 4, Saturday — Colli Pesaresi
• Day 5, Sunday — Return home

Day 1, Wednesday — Arrival in Ancona

Arrival in Ancona (or earlier if you wish) and check-in to our 4-star hotel. Located on the waterfront but also near the centre, the hotel has a nice garden and swimming pool and a great view.

You arrive according to your own plans anytime during the day. The evening is free for your own activities.

Perhaps the cathedral high up on the hill, the Emperor Trajan’s impressive Roman triumphal arch, or maybe some of the Renaissance palaces might tempt you? If you want to stretch your legs you can walk all the way up to the Cathedral. From there you have magnificent views of the harbour, even on the way up.

Our hotel is located in the modern part of the city with views out over the sea.

A walk along the avenue Viale della Vittoria takes you into the Old Town, or why not try one of the amazing electric buses?

Take a stroll in town or go to the harbour and watch the boats. Take an espresso or a glass of wine at one of the many side-walk cafes and watch the world go by. And then the best thing of the day: choosing a restaurant for dinner! We stay in the same hotel in Ancona all four nights.

Thursday, day 2 — Rosso Conero & Rosso Piceno

Today we go south from Ancona. We will visit some of the best producers making among other things the famous Rosso Conero.

Just south of Ancona the impressively high Monte Conero Mountain rises steeply up from the sandy beaches. It is a dramatic landscape. This is where you find the small appellation, denominazione, of Rosso Conero. The grape is Montepulciano but some producers blend it with some Sangiovese. In recent years there has been a huge improvement in the quality here in Cònero, thanks to lower yields and improved winemaking techniques.

The wine producers in this region have great ambitions and this is not least thanks to Alessandro and Serenella Moroder. This winemaking couple was among the first to produce high-quality Rosso Cònero. Today you find concentrated wines here with intense and long-lasting flavours. On the palate, you will find aromas of cherry and Mediterranean herbs.

We will visit Moroder, the first wine producer here to receive the prestigious three glasses – tre bicchieri – from Gambero Rosso, the all-important Italian wine guide, for its Rosso Cònero. We will enjoy a delicious lunch at their restaurant called Aiòn. The chef uses local products, sometimes from their own farm. He will present us with a typical, local cuisine and to this, we taste the estate’s own wines.

If Cònero is small the same cannot be said about Piceno. It is the largest district of Le Marche.

This is also a region where the wines are improving rapidly. One example is Boccadigabbia that makes some of the area’s best Rosso Piceno but also an exceptional cabernet sauvignon called Akronte, and a fun blend of Syrah, Merlot and Montepulciano

Another interesting winery is Fattoria Le Terrazze in Numana at the foot of Monte Cònero.

Here they are very fond of the local Montepulciano grape but they also make other exciting wines blends, for example, the IGT Marche Chaos made from Montepulciano, Syrah and Merlot.

Late afternoon we drive back towards Ancona. The evening is free for your own explorations in town. Maybe you’re yearning for an excellent piece of meat? Many restaurants will have on the menu Tournedos Rossini. The great composer, who gave his name to this, was born in Le Marche.

Friday, day 3 — Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi

Yesterday we had mainly red wines on the program. Today, we will also taste some of Italy’s best whites, and even sparkling.

The most famous grape in Le Marche is white and is called Verdicchio. It is in many ways the most important grape, the one who put The Marches on the wine map.

The most famous Verdicchio comes from Castelli di Jesi, a few tens of kilometres inland from Ancona. The wine region is dotted with small medieval villages surrounded by city-walls, the Castelli.

Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi is a dry wine with delicate aromas and a slight bitterness in the finish. That’s what makes it such a great food wine. It is also very good to keep for some years, something that is otherwise an unusual feature of white Italian wines.

Among the interesting visits we will do during the day, one is at Umani Ronchi in Osimo. He is known both for his Verdicchio and his Rosso Cònero. He has made a lot of experiments, both in the vineyard and in the cellar and is a pioneer in using new technology.

In order to improve the concentration of the wines, he has, among other things, increased planting density and chosen better clones. He puts a lot of attention to planting the right grape in the right soil. Limestone for the red grapes, heavier clay soil for the whites.

The Moncaro winery is also innovative. Together with various universities, they do research on the local yeast and on various old clones of Verdicchio. In the beautiful cellar, they have both oak barrels and pupitres for spumante. At Moncaro we will enjoy a delicious lunch at their excellent Ristorante Erard. The speciality is fresh fish.

After our three visits, we return late afternoon to Ancona. The evening is free for new discoveries. Maybe some restaurant tempts you with suckling pig, a great speciality of the region. Preferably stuffed. They love to stuff things in Le Marche. Even small olives.

Saturday, day 4 — Colli Pesaresi

Today we head north, towards the towns of Pesaro and Fano. The journey will take us about an hour along the Adriatic coast.

Colli Pesaresi is the northernmost DOC in Le Marche. Up here in the north, they grow Bianchello del Metauro, an unusual white grape with elegant character and a long history.

We will visit, among others, Claudio Morelli whose winery on top of a sandy hill has 20 hectares of vines and 500 olive trees. In addition to Bianchello del Metauro, he also has Sangiovese, Montepulciano, Cabernet, Merlot and especially Vernaccia Rossa, another very local grape. According to Claudio Morelli, his wines have a nice freshness, both the whites and the reds, thanks to the cool breezes from the Adriatic Sea and the light sandy soil. A very interesting winery.

During lunch, which is just outside Pesaro, we will get another opportunity to enjoy the pleasures of The Marches cuisine. Not least the delicious charcuteries – coppa, salame lardellato, prosciutto Montefeltro and more – and the Pecorino sheep cheese in different variations.

At the Guerrieri winery, we start with a walk in the vineyard. Maybe the harvest is in full swing! Guerrieri also has an experimental vineyard with 27 different local Le Marche grape varieties. Going out in the vineyard and learning more about the work in the field is one of the most important things on a wine tour. Though perhaps a tasting of the wines are just as important!

After the afternoon visit in the hills, we start on our way back down to Ancona for the last overnight stay. The evening is free for your own activities. If you haven’t already tasted brodetta all’anconitana, Ancona’s own fish soup, tonight is the night. Tradition has that it should be made with 13 different types of fish.

Sunday, day 5 — Heading back home

The tour ends after breakfast. Departure.

The program may be subject to minor modifications.

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Tour Details — wine tour to Le Marche

Dates: This is a sample program. Look in the menu “Our Tours > Scheduled Tours” to check what scheduled tours are currently on the program or contact us to discuss a custom made private wine tour.

Price per person: This is a sample program. Look in the menu “Our Tours > Scheduled Tours” to check what scheduled tours are currently on the program or contact us to discuss a custom made private wine tour.

Included in the price:

• 4 hotel nights, double occupancy, including breakfast, in a four-star hotel in  Ancona
• Meals as described in the program above (*):
  • 3 gastronomic Italian multi-course lunches with local specialities, including wines, as guest at wineries
• Start and end point: Ancona
• Bus transport during the whole trip
• All vineyard and winery visits
• Private, high quality tastings at wineries, approx. 3 per day
• Translation to English as needed. Most visits will be in English.
• Wine guiding and wine tutoring by an expert BKWine guide

(*) See below for more important information on our meals.

Not included:

• Travel (flights) to the destination and back from your home location.

You organise your travel to Ancona yourself. If you want assistance with organising your flight tickets etc, please contact us.

We warmly recommend that you plan a few extra days here if you have the time! It is a very interesting place and well worth some “non-wine” tourism too! We can assist you with booking additional hotel nights if you want.

For this trip to take place we must have a minimum of 4 participants registered at the “book before” date. Maximum number of travel guests: 8.