Biography
On an international scale, it is not a large winery, but by Italian standard sit Umani Ronchi of Osimo, with 500 acres of proprietary vineyards, 75 under lease, and an annual production of four million bottles, is of industrial dimensions. Industrial wineries normally do not produce fine wine, but this winery in the Marches has succeeded, and for a certain period of time, in overturning this image. How has it been accomplished? With constant high quality and at least three thoroughbred wines. One is Plinio, a Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi as full-bodied as its name suggests, the second, Cumaro, a Rosso Conero Riserva which is supple, harmonious, and balanced, but the third is Pelago, an unusual blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Montepulciano, and Merlot, powerful and elegant and rather unexpected in an area known for its Verdicchio-based wines. The anomaly of Umani Ronchi is that it enjoys all of the advantages of scale of an industrial winery without succumbing to the temptation of reasoning strictly in terms of numbers, perhaps because it is still a family winery: the director of production, until now, has been Massimo Bernetti, who currently shares the tiller of command with his son Michele, sales director and responsible for foreign markets, while his uncle Stefano is in charge of the Italian market. Why does the house not bear their name? Simple: it was founded in the 1950’s at Cupramontana by Gino Umani Ronchi. But it took off only when, a few years later, the company was joined by engineer Roberto Bianchi who, in 1970, purchased total control and then passed it on to son-in-law Massimo Bernetti after moving the winery to Osimo, where it is currently headquartered. Success, according to the Bernetti, is due to three decisions: diversification in a region where mono-product firms are the rule; exports, which absorb 80% of the total production; quality, i.e. rigorous selection of the grapes, low yields per hectare, continuous controls in the laboratory, but above all constant research in the vineyards and cellar. To select clones, varieties, and training systems the Bernetti have an experimental vineyard at Villa Bianchi, the center at Moie di Maiolati where they receive guests, created by agreements with the environmental and agricultural Biotechnology Department of the University of Ancona.