Italy · Castelli di Jesi — Verdicchio Classic Zone

Terre Cortesi Moncaro

A Marche cooperative farming three appellations across 1,600 hectares, with organic roots stretching back to 1980 and a separate cellar logic for each wine zone.

The producer

Moncaro is a wine cooperative headquartered in Montecarotto, a hill town in the Marche region of central Italy. Its member-growers farm roughly 1,600 hectares across three geographically separate wineries, each built around a different appellation and a different grape: Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico at Montecarotto, Montepulciano-based reds at Camerano on the Conero promontory, and a Montepulciano-Sangiovese blend at Acquaviva Picena in the Piceno hills. The cooperative trades under two names: Moncaro is the institution; Terre Cortesi, coined in 1995 when the cooperative acquired the Conero winery, labels the wines Moncaro considers most significant.

The detail that sets this cooperative apart is not its scale but its timing. Moncaro began experimenting with organic vine cultivation in 1980, when certified organic wine barely existed as a commercial category. By 2016, sixty hectares were fully certified and 175 more were mid-conversion. Equalitas sustainability certification followed in January 2021. Each winery runs its own cellar protocol: pneumatic pressing and lees contact at Montecarotto for texture and freshness in the Verdicchio; shallow, wide fermentation tanks at Camerano to maximise cap contact and extract colour and body from Montepulciano; and altitude-grown fruit at Acquaviva Picena, where hillside sites between 200 and 400 metres give the Piceno blend more natural acidity than the coastal plain allows.

Known for

Organic Verdicchio, Conero Montepulciano, and Rosso Piceno Superiore across three distinct Marche appellations

Notable facts

The story

Forty Years Before the Market

In 1980, Moncaro's winemakers began their first experiments with organic vine cultivation under EEC directives. The decision had no commercial logic behind it: certified organic wine barely existed as a category, and the Italian market had no particular appetite for it. For the next three decades the cooperative kept converting parcels, training growers, and gathering certified hectares in near-silence. By 2016, sixty hectares were fully certified and 175 more were mid-conversion. In 2019, the cooperative joined the Vitinnova project with the Polytechnic University of Marche to investigate chitosan as a substitute for copper in organic vineyard treatments. The Equalitas sustainability certification came in January 2021. Forty years separated the first experiment from the full certification, and the commitment was already there before anyone was watching.

From the atlas

Terre Cortesi Moncaro

At A Glance

Type: Cooperative Region: Marche, central Italy Wineries: Montecarotto, Camerano (Conero), Acquaviva Picena Key appellations: Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico, Rosso Conero DOC, Conero DOCG, Rosso Piceno Superiore Key grapes: Verdicchio, Montepulciano, Sangiovese, Pecorino, Passerina Organic: Experimenting from 1980; large-scale conversion from 2016; Equalitas certified 2021 Brand note: Terre Cortesi is the label for the cooperative's most significant wines

The Producer

Moncaro is a wine cooperative headquartered in the hill town of Montecarotto, in the Marche region of central Italy. Its member-growers farm roughly 1,600 hectares across three geographically separate wineries, each built around a different appellation and a different grape. The operation is large by any regional measure, yet the detail that defines it is not scale but timing: Moncaro began experimenting with organic viticulture in 1980, decades before organic farming became a commercial expectation in Italian wine.

The cooperative trades under two names. Moncaro is the umbrella: the institution, the membership, the three wineries. Terre Cortesi is the quality signal. The phrase, which translates loosely as "the courtly lands," was coined in 1995 when Moncaro expanded beyond its Montecarotto base and acquired the Conero winery on the Adriatic coast. From that acquisition onward, Terre Cortesi has labelled the wines the cooperative considers its most significant.

Place

Marche runs down the central Adriatic coast of Italy, bounded by the Apennines to the west and the sea to the east. The region is not one wine zone but several, and Moncaro's three wineries mark three of the most important.

At Montecarotto, in the inland hills of the Castelli di Jesi zone, the appellation is Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico. Verdicchio is the dominant white grape of central Marche: thick-skinned, high-acid, and capable of considerable texture when handled carefully. The Classico designation marks the oldest and most established part of the appellation's territory.

At Camerano, on the Conero promontory just south of Ancona, the appellations are Rosso Conero DOC and Conero DOCG. Both are built almost entirely from Montepulciano, a variety. Montepulciano develops deep colour and firm body when grown on the volcanic and calcareous soils of the headland.

At Acquaviva Picena, further south in the Piceno hills close to the coast, the appellation is Rosso Piceno Superiore. Vineyards here sit between 200 and 400 metres above sea level on sheltered hillside sites. The red wines blend Montepulciano with Sangiovese, and the winery also works with Pecorino and Passerina as white varieties.

Soil And Site

The three wineries sit on distinct geology. The Castelli di Jesi hills around Montecarotto are composed largely of clay and limestone, which gives Verdicchio its characteristic freshness and capacity for lees-driven texture. The Conero promontory at Camerano is a limestone and chalk headland projecting into the Adriatic, one of the few outcrops of hard rock along this stretch of coast, giving Montepulciano a firmer frame than it finds in the flatter Piceno vineyards to the south. At Acquaviva Picena, the higher elevations and hillside shelter moderate temperatures and extend the growing season, which supports the Montepulciano and Sangiovese blend with more acidity than the coastal plain allows.

Story

The cooperative was founded by a group of local winemakers who wanted to improve their own production and strengthen the standing of the surrounding area. Construction of the Montecarotto winery began in 1970, and the first harvest through the cooperative's own facility followed shortly after. The winery took the name Moncaro in 1987, a contraction of Montecarotto that embedded the founding location in the brand.

The organic thread runs through the whole arc. In 1980, the cooperative began its first experiments with organic vine cultivation under EEC directives. That was not a market calculation; certified organic wine was not yet a meaningful commercial category. By 2016, Moncaro was converting 175 additional hectares to organic farming, on top of 60 hectares already certified. In January 2021, the cooperative obtained Equalitas certification, a sustainability standard that covers environmental, social, and economic dimensions across the supply chain.

Growth came through acquisition. In 1995, Moncaro bought the Conero winery at Camerano and created the Terre Cortesi name to mark the wines produced across its expanding lands. In 1999, a collaboration with the Acquaviva Picena winery led to that operation's acquisition, completing the three-winery arrangement that defines Moncaro today.

Vineyards And Cellar

Each winery runs its own cellar protocol, matched to the grape and the appellation.

At Montecarotto, the focus is freshness. Grapes from the 450 hectares of Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico are processed separately by soil origin, then pressed with pneumatic presses that apply gentle, even pressure to limit oxidation and bitterness. Temperature control holds the ferment cool. Oxygen protection continues through the winemaking process, and extended lees contact after fermentation builds texture and weight in the finished wine without sacrificing the acidity that defines the grape.

At Camerano, the priority is extraction. Montepulciano is a thick-skinned variety, and the cellar uses shallow, wide fermentation tanks designed to increase contact between the grape cap and the fermenting must. More cap contact means more colour, more tannin, and more of the dark fruit character that Conero Montepulciano is known for.

At Acquaviva Picena, the Montepulciano and Sangiovese grown at higher elevations arrive with more natural acidity than lowland Piceno fruit. The cellar blends the two varieties, balancing Montepulciano's depth with Sangiovese's grip and freshness.

Wines

The range maps directly onto the three wineries and their appellations.

Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico covers the whites from Montecarotto. These wines carry the bright acidity and faintly bitter almond finish that Verdicchio produces on limestone and clay. Lees contact adds a creamy mid-palate weight. The wines range from fresh entry-level bottles to more substantial cuvées that develop further complexity with a year or two of age.

Rosso Conero DOC and Conero DOCG cover the reds from Camerano. Montepulciano here gives wines with deep ruby colour, plum and dark berry fruit, firm tannins from the cap-contact extraction, and a full body that can carry some time in bottle. The DOCG tier requires longer ageing than the DOC and produces wines with more concentration and a longer finish.

Rosso Piceno Superiore from Acquaviva Picena blends Montepulciano and Sangiovese. These wines tend toward a medium-to-full body, with red and dark fruit, brighter acidity from the Sangiovese contribution, and a finish that is less tannic than the Conero reds. The Piceno winery also produces whites from Pecorino and Passerina, aromatic varieties with good natural acidity.

Under the Terre Cortesi label, Moncaro groups the wines it considers most representative of each site.

In The Glass

The Verdicchio from Montecarotto opens with green apple, white citrus, and a faint herbal note. In the mouth it is medium-bodied, with bright acidity that keeps the wine feeling light even when lees contact has added some roundness to the mid-palate. The finish is clean and slightly bitter, the characteristic closing note of the grape.

The Conero reds are darker in both colour and flavour: blackberry, plum, violet, and a grip of dry tannin that fills the mouth. The shallow tank extraction gives them density. They are built for food, with the body to stand alongside lamb or cured meat.

The Piceno reds, blending Montepulciano and Sangiovese, sit between the two poles. Gio Rosso Piceno 2025 gives dark cherry, violet, raspberry, blueberry, and a note of chocolate and sage on the nose. In the mouth the fruit is youthful and direct, with moderate oak, a medium body, and enough acidity from the Sangiovese to keep the finish clean.

A Bottle To Understand It

Gio Rosso Piceno 2025 is the right first bottle. It is a Montepulciano and Sangiovese blend from the Acquaviva Picena vineyards, grown on hillside sites between 200 and 400 metres above sea level. The nose is generous and clear: dark cherry, blueberry, violet, a touch of raspberry, chocolate, and sage. The palate is medium-bodied and fruit-forward, with moderate oak and enough acidity to keep it from feeling heavy. It is not a long, structured wine, but it covers the Piceno appellation honestly and gives a clear picture of what Moncaro does with the region's two main red grapes grown at altitude. Start here, then move to the Conero reds if you want more weight, or to the Verdicchio if you want to understand the other half of the cooperative's range.

Anecdote

In 1980, Moncaro's winemakers began their first experiments with organic vine cultivation under EEC directives. The decision was not prompted by market demand: certified organic wine barely existed as a commercial category. For the next three and a half decades, the cooperative kept converting parcels, training growers, and gathering certified hectares without the market reward that would eventually follow. By 2016, 60 hectares were fully certified, and 175 more were mid-conversion. In 2019, the cooperative joined the Vitinnova project with the Polytechnic University of Marche to investigate chitosan as a substitute for copper in organic vineyard treatments. The Equalitas sustainability certification came in January 2021. Forty years passed between the first experiment and the full certification. The commitment preceded the market by a generation.

Final Word

Moncaro built something unusual for Italian wine: a cooperative that moves between three distinct appellations with separate cellar logic for each, and that began its organic conversion before organic farming was a selling point. The Terre Cortesi label marks where the cooperative's ambition concentrates. The range is wide, but the architecture is legible: Verdicchio from the inland hills, Montepulciano from the Conero coast, and a Montepulciano-Sangiovese blend from the Piceno south. Each bottle points back to a specific place and a specific set of choices made in that place's cellar.

Sources

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