​Roman and Medieval Cupramontana 
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By the Roman era (IV BC – IV AD), in the territory of the old Cupra Montana, the cultivation of grape vines were already well developed. The same toponym Cuprais testimony to this, evoking a divinity inherent in the fertility of the earth, as well as the existence of a bas-relief from the same period, showing a cherub and cornucopia with grapes and other fruits.
With the continued presence of monks from the ninth to the thirteenth centuries throughout the territory, agriculture and consequently the cultivation of vines increased considerably, both in the vicinity of the monasteries and beyond.
The first Cadaster of 1471 attests that out of 1010 hectares of land, 596 were “field land”, i.e. cultivated grains; 87.7 constituted forests for firewood, 85.7 were grasslands for cattle breeding; 46.7 hectares were planted with vines and 41 hectares with olive trees.
In 1471 – 1474, a relevant number of people from Lombardy responded to an invitation made by the municipality of Jesi to come and occupy empty houses and land abandoned due to a plague that had decimated the castle of Santa Maria Nuova as well as entire areas of the Esino Valley.Many were farmers, artisans and small entrepreneurs who found a home not only in the city but spread throughout all the castles of the countryside. They are most likely responsible for the introduction of Verdicchio, the grape variety named so from the first decades of the sixteenth century, later discovered to be genetically Trebbiano di Soave.

​Capital of Verdicchio

In the land registers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries an increase in vineyard land had been recorded in the Cupramontana countryside under the category “tree lands with vines”: referring to a cultivation technique, a vine coupled with the field maple, commonly called arbulu, noted in the districts of Barchio-Esinante and Alvareto in the land register of 1544. It is a growing technique that progressively established itself from the sixteenth century onwards. Verdicchio at this time coexisted with other varieties contributing to the abundance of wine that was recorded in the area during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
 
Between the end of nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century Verdicchio was found to produce a wine of excellent quality and value, and thus began the extensive planting of the grape variety. 
 
In 1939 Cupramontana was named “capital of Verdicchio” rightly so for its consolidated winemaking tradition, reinforced by the Sagra dell’Uva, the now famous grape festival started in 1928, and above all by the passion the farmers put into the growing of vines and making wine.
In the first post-war period and then in the 1950s, some landowners began intensive cultivation of Verdicchio. Vines were trained low to the ground, densely packed while no mechanization existed. Along with Verdicchio there were different varieties of Trebbiano, Malvasia and Albanella. Verdicchio was used as a varietal wine, like most of the white wines of central Italy.
The vinification process started with a brief maceration on the skins to initiate fermentation. After taking away the skins, the must went into large oak barrels where it rested until spring. The wines were acidic, the climate being much colder than it is today. The harvest typically began after the grape festival (the first Sunday of October) and continued until All Saints Day (Nov. 2). Often a few clusters were left in the vineyard until Christmas, which once harvested, were pressed and added to the must to strengthen the alcohol and aromas.

The amphora and the "Denominazione di Origine"

With the success of the famous amphora-shaped bottle and the industrial Verdicchio of the sixties, the farmer model gradually entered into crisis. Cupramontana saw the "boom" of Verdicchio, which is often a mediocre wine and more often yet a carbonated sparkling wine. In those years there were a dozen wineries. Few invested in quality, and many suffered the collapse of pricing and struggled to stay in the market. 
The vineyards became larger and more productive. The cellars equipped themselves with new technologies.
 And in 1968, the DOC “Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi” was born.