The La Marca di San Michele estate in Cupramontana is run by the sibling team of Alessandro Bonci, Beatrice Bonci, and Daniela Quaresima. They are light years ahead of most of their neighbors in growing their six hectares of Verdicchio vines entirely organically, vinifying with minimal SO2, aging some cuvees in large botte, and bottling unfiltered. Cupramontana is the historical birthplace of Verdicchio production in Le Marchethe regions first vineyards were registered in the land office here in 1471. Camaldolite monks began viticulture here many centuries earlier in 1186, in the area of San Michele, a rural frazione bordering Cupramontana. La Marca refers to a border district. All of these rural territories were united to form the region of Le Marche, the only Italian region that takes the plural.