Azienda Morandin (Lentico)

Valdobbiadene, Prosecco, Italy

Azienda Morandin is a small, independent estate located in the hills near Conegliano in the wider Prosecco area. The project is run by Gigi and Lilia Giacometti, a couple in their seventies who have lived on the property for more than thirty years. The vineyards themselves have a much longer history: Lilia’s father farmed vines here before them, and the site has been continuously planted for well over a century.

Although Gigi Giacometti studied oenology locally, his professional life took a different direction. Together with Lilia, he spent decades running restaurants where they were already serving natural wines as early as the late 1980s. Their approach to farming and food has long been rooted in the same philosophy: organic cultivation, respect for tradition, and a strong connection to the land. They still grow much of their own food on the property, surrounded by fruit trees and vegetable gardens integrated among the vines.

The current vineyard was replanted in 2013, starting entirely from scratch, though the land itself has never been treated with chemicals. The vines sit between 250 and 350 metres above sea level on rocky, limestone-rich soils with very little topsoil and a southwest exposure. Around 70% of the plantings are Glera on a flatter section of the site, while the remaining parcels are terraced into wooded slopes and planted to the historic local varieties Perera, Bianchetta, and Verdiso: grapes that Lilia’s father always cultivated and which the couple felt strongly about preserving.

Their single wine, Lentico, is made in a traditional colfondo style: an unfiltered sparkling wine that undergoes secondary fermentation in bottle and remains on its lees. The first vintage was bottled in 2017, with annual production typically ranging between 3,000 and 9,000 bottles. Fermentations take place in stainless steel with native yeasts, usually including a short maceration on skins for 3-7 days depending on the year. The wine is then bottled during the first moon after Easter with fresh must from the same harvest to kickstart the second fermentation naturally (no added sugar, no added yeasts).

Although their blend often contains enough Glera to qualify for the DOC, Azienda Morandin chooses to remain outside the appellation. Prosecco regulations do not allow the historic varieties to be named on the label, and for the Giacomettis those grapes are an essential part of the wine’s identity.

The name Lentico was suggested by their grandson when he was seven years old, and is a combination of ‘lento’ and ‘antico’, meaning “slow” and “ancient.” By coincidence, it also echoes the historic name of the area where the vineyard lies, making it a fitting description of a wine shaped by patience, tradition, and a lifetime connection to place.