History
Family origins and foundation, 1956
The Brunori family came from nearby Cupramontana and had an established tradition of making wine from Verdicchio. In 1956, Mario Brunori and his son Giorgio founded their own winery in the village of San Paolo di Jesi. They concentrated on bottled wine at a time when a bottled local product was still comparatively unusual, and the business soon became associated with this form of production.
The same year, the family opened a direct-sales outlet in Jesi. Conceived before the modern specialist wine-shop model had become commonplace, it provided a showcase for wine in a city then undergoing rapid industrial expansion.
A purpose-built cellar, 1970
Mario Brunori constructed the present winery in 1970. Its underground level was arranged for vinification and ageing, including vitrified-cement vessels whose appearance recalls the cement vats of the 1950s. Bottling and packaging were placed in climate-controlled rooms on the upper level.
The first cru, 1975–1976
The 1975 harvest produced Brunori’s first cru. It entered the market in 1976 and was subsequently named San Nicolò after the contrada containing both the eponymous vineyard and the winery.
San Nicolò represented a deliberate change in the presentation and positioning of Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi DOC Classico Superiore. Verdicchio was then widely associated with an amphora-shaped bottle and a readily approachable, early-drinking style. Brunori instead presented the cru in a Bordeaux-shaped bottle, articulating a more ambitious interpretation of the variety and its capacity for distinction by site.
Recognition and Luigi Veronelli
Journalist and wine-and-food writer Luigi Veronelli was among the early advocates of San Nicolò and the broader potential of Verdicchio. He established an ongoing correspondence with the Brunori family, praised its work publicly and in wine guides, and helped communicate Verdicchio’s significance to a national audience. San Nicolò remains the family’s flagship label.
Expansion in 1980
Giorgio Brunori enlarged the winery in 1980, extending the cellar built by his father ten years earlier.
The family business today
The original Jesi sales outlet gradually developed into a broadly stocked enoteca through the personal research of Giorgio and his children Carlo and Cristina, both expert sommeliers. Alongside Brunori’s production, it now offers Italian regional wines, international selections, grappas and other distillates.
The winery continues to operate as a family business, with direct control of the production chain presented as a central value. Its recently renovated second-floor tasting area combines an indoor room with a panoramic terrace whose view reaches toward the sea.
Terroir
The vineyards lie in San Paolo di Jesi in the Vallesina, Province of Ancona, within the Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico and Superiore area. The landscape occupies the hills between the mountains and the sea. San Paolo di Jesi stands on the right bank of the nearby Esino River and retains a close connection to vineyards, wine production and rural traditions.
The 6.5 ha of vineyards occupy mid-slope ground at an average elevation of 200 m above sea level. Their soils combine clay and sand, contain limestone and are rich in potassium. Mineral-salt-rich water veins are also present in the area. These conditions are associated with body, aroma and savoury character in the resulting wines.
The vines face south and south-west. This exposure balances sunlight with ventilation and supports even grape ripening. As autumn approaches during the pre-harvest period, day-to-night temperature variation encourages aromatic development in the grapes. The local Marche climate is linked to wines capable of retaining their varietal identity and organoleptic character over time.
Winemaking
Vineyard management is designed around biodiversity, soil organic matter and direct control of grape quality. Fertilisation is exclusively organic, weeds are controlled mechanically, and green manure is used to maintain a high proportion of organic matter in the soil.
Yield management begins with short pruning. Bunches are thinned during summer when necessary, allowing the family to monitor and regulate production per hectare, although no numerical yield is given. Harvesting is manual and staggered, permitting grapes to be collected through successive passes according to ripeness. Fruit is taken to the cellar for immediate gentle pressing.
These practices are presented as an agronomically sustainable system, but no organic, biodynamic or other third-party vineyard certification is identified.
Cellar layout
The present cellar was built by Mario Brunori in 1970 and enlarged by Giorgio Brunori in 1980. Its underground section is dedicated to vinification and maturation and contains cement vessels with a characteristic mid-20th-century appearance. The upper section houses bottling and packaging in climate-controlled rooms.
From harvest to pressing
Grapes are picked by hand in staggered passes after vineyard yields have been managed through short pruning and summer bunch thinning. They are pressed gently immediately upon arrival at the winery.
Fermentation, maturation and clarification
Fermentation and maturation take place in vitrified-cement vessels. These vessels facilitate natural static settling of both must and finished wine, substantially reducing reliance on clarifying agents. The wines are allowed to follow their natural maturation times rather than being forced through an accelerated schedule.
Bottling and packaging
Bottling and packaging are carried out in climate-controlled rooms on the cellar’s upper level.
Philosophy
Brunori defines its family scale as a deliberate choice of values rather than merely a business structure. Its central objective is direct control of the complete production chain, beginning with vineyard yields and continuing through vinification, bottling and packaging.
Respect for nature, the local territory and biodiversity guides vineyard management. Exclusively organic fertilisation, mechanical weed control and green manure are intended to sustain soil organic matter and reduce environmental pressure. In the cellar, solar electricity from a modern photovoltaic installation and thermal insulation made entirely from natural materials are used to lower the environmental impact of production.
Verdicchio is the core of the estate’s identity. The family’s interpretation seeks to retain the variety’s defining acidity, savoury character, persistence, light bitter finish and almond-like notes. Its production philosophy favours gentle handling, natural static settling, limited use of clarifying agents and maturation governed by the wine’s own pace.
The creation of San Nicolò also reflects a long-standing conviction that Verdicchio can express individual vineyard character and develop beyond the once-common image of a simple, early-drinking wine.