La Valle del Sole Offida Pecorino DOCG '22

The Marche region of Italy is full of discoveries, with many small family estates relatively undiscovered. There is a reason for that. When you are a small family business, often times you don’t have the time to market and travel. Such is the case with La Valle del Sole, a winery introduced to me by our friend Alberto Taddei of Selvagrossa.

Hailing from 11 hectares of certified-organic vineyards in historic Offida, La Valle del Sole is a fourth-generation family estate led by Silvano di Nicolò and his daughters Alessia and Valeria. Alongside of Alessia is her husband, Alessandro d’Angelo, who you can often find working in their beautiful vineyards. 

Cultivating native varieties like Pecorino, Passerina, and Montepulciano with vines aged between 20 and 60 years, they’ve honed an approach rooted in listening to the land—organic, hands-on farming that started in earnest in 1990.

I’m excited to offer the newest release, the 2022 Offida Pecorino. Grown on clay-sandy soils at nearly 300 m elevation, gently harvested, cold-fermented, and aged six months on the lees in concrete, followed by at least six months in bottle. 

The result is a white wine of clarity and tension—with lifted citrus, delicate herbs, saline mineral tones, and a lively, energetic finish that carries the story of Marche’s embrace of terroir and tradition. Pair this with one of my favorite pasta dishes, Spaghetti alle vongole.