Podere Sabbioni is one of those Italian wine jewels that are poised right on the verge of stardom, more or less in the same position where companies such as Trediberri and Tiberio were also located a decade ago. Massimo Carletti is not only passionate and hardworking, but he is smart enough to listen and change his mindset when he realizes he was wrong (and that in itself is a virtual guarantee that he will succeed in almost anything he chooses to do). , not just wine). Many years ago he was not as passionate about the Maceratino grape and Ribona wine as he is today, but his wife certainly was. She took him to a tasting of old vintages of Ribona and it can be said that his eyes were opened: until that fateful evening, he had not yet realized how much wines produced with Maceratino grapes could age. Maceratino wines differ from those made with Verdicchio (the other superstar grape from the Marche region but much better known all over the world), because Maceratino wines have a slightly less evident fruitiness and a more elegant austere personality, but certainly the two grapes share a temperament for age. Suffice it to say that since then Carletti has supported Maceratino and it is Ribona wine, and now it is no longer so probably the best producer of these wines in the region. And when it comes to its flagship wine, the Ribona della Famiglia, then we are talking about one of the fifty best white wines in Italy.
The Podere Sabbioni 2022 Ribona della Famiglia is the best that the company has ever produced. It may very well be the best wine Podere Sabbioni has ever produced, but since I have only tasted samples of this wine when it had not yet been officially put on sale (hence my score in parentheses) I will avoid throwing myself off the proverbial limb and look forward to tasting it again next April when I visit the winery. For now what I can tell you is that it has a very nice, bright light straw yellow color, enlivened by green reflections. The inviting nose offers penetrating aromas of orchard fruits, lime, mint, crushed stone, white flowers and chamomile. In the mouth it is fresh and vibrant, with a subtle concentration, but with remarkable elegance and complexity in its white fruit and mineral flavors. The finish is tapered and long, boasting uncommon clarity and cut. A wonderful wine of rare precision, I can’t wait to taste it again in early spring. Drinking window: 2025-2032.
