La Distesa Bianco Nur 2022

La Distesa is one of the benchmark natural wine estates in Italy's Marche region. Founded by Corrado Dottori in the early 2000s, the winery became influential for challenging the industrial style that had come to dominate verdicchio production around Jesi. Dottori farms small hillside parcels and focuses on wines that emphasize texture, salinity, and vineyard character rather than simple fruitiness. Among sommeliers and independent wine shops, La Distesa has earned a reputation for thoughtful, terroir driven wines that remain distinctly Marche in character.

The estate is farmed organically and biodynamically, with a strong emphasis on soil health and biodiversity. Vineyards are worked without synthetic herbicides or pesticides, grapes are harvested by hand, and fermentations rely on native yeasts. In the cellar, intervention is kept to a minimum, with modest sulfur additions and little or no fining or filtration depending on the cuvée. The goal is not a flashy natural wine style, but rather wines with transparency, energy, and aging potential.

Bianco Nur 2022 is a skin contact white made primarily from verdicchio, with small amounts of other local varieties depending on the vintage. The grapes spend an extended period fermenting on their skins before aging in a combination of concrete and large neutral vessels. The skin contact gives the wine a deep golden color, gentle tannic grip, and far more structure than a typical verdicchio. Bottled with minimal intervention, it sits stylistically between an orange wine and a traditional Italian white.

The 2022 vintage is savory and complex, showing notes of dried citrus, apricot, chamomile, tea leaf, almond, and Mediterranean herbs. On the palate it combines bright acidity with a lightly grippy texture and a pronounced saline finish that reflects the limestone rich soils of the region. It is especially compelling with seafood, grilled vegetables, mushrooms, and richer pasta dishes, and it rewards a little air in the glass.