The Mother & the Daughter

The story of Azienda Agricola Lusenti is a story of three generations and one tide — a family that has always gone against it. The estate was founded in the early 1900s by Pietro Lusenti, who purchased a farm in Vicobarone, Val Tidone, dedicated to growing table grapes. In the 1960s, his son Gaetano expanded the vineyard by acquiring additional land and planting new grape varieties, converting the property into a true winery. The family cultivated the Casa Piccioni estate for generations, building a foundation that would one day support one of the most distinctive natural wine estates in Emilia-Romagna.

The true transformation began with Lodovica Lusenti, Pietro's granddaughter, who took the reins and infused the estate with her determination, motivation, and feminine touch. Under her leadership, the winery was fully converted to organic cultivation and obtained certification in 2010. But Lodovica was not content to follow the regional script. In 2009, she did something that was considered sacrilege in the Colli Piacentini: she bottled the first single-variety, cloudy, bottle-fermented wine — Emiliana, a fragrant and cloudy elixir of Malvasia di Candia Aromatica. At a time when companies preferred the clean, clear Charmat method, Lodovica went against the tide, creating a "well-executed novelty" that would become the estate's signature.

In 2017, Lodovica's daughter Martina joined the company, bringing with her a wave of creative oenological ideas. The recovery of what has been "abandoned" has always fascinated her — old vineyards, stoneware amphorae, expanded bottle-fermented wines. She is her mother's daughter, "afflicted" by the same gift of going against the tide. In 2023, mother and daughter made a bold decision: they split the Lusenti label into two distinct lines to provide more clarity for their customers. As Martina explains, quoting Heraclitus: "Reality is composed of opposite elements; no element exists without its opposite, and each defines the other, making them inextricably linked and dependent on one another." The two lines are distinct and separate, but they coexist because they are interconnected.

Lodovica's line is traditional, wise, and reflective — a drink suitable for everyday life that harkens back to their roots. Imagine it as a moment spent in front of the fireplace, dressed elegantly, enjoying pleasant conversation accompanied by the notes of a jazz song. Martina's line is experimental, contemporary, and pop — evoking the image of sipping a fresh bottle by the sea at sunset, surrounded by happy friends and an infectious soundtrack. Together, they hope to combine the experiences of the past with the dreams of the present to create the wines of the future. After all, they are Lusenti, and they like to go against the tide.

The guiding philosophy of Azienda Agricola Lusenti is expressed in three words: authenticity, evolution, and opposition. Lodovica and Martina are committed to winemaking that is in constant evolution but above all in continuous pursuit — a framework that allows them to combine the experiences of the past with the dreams of the present to create the wines of the future. This is not a reaction against modernity; it is a deeper application of it: if the soil is clayey and calcareous, the grapes are healthy, and the process is clean, nothing needs to be added. The wines are not manufactured; they are shepherded — each line with its own voice, its own vision, and its own truth.

The methodology is deliberately split yet fundamentally unified. All grapes are hand-harvested across the 20 hectares, and transported immediately to the cellar. Fermentation is spontaneous in both lines — initiated by the indigenous yeasts that live on the grape skins and in the cellar air of Val Tidone. Neither Lodovica nor Martina inoculates with cultured yeasts, adjusts temperatures aggressively, or forces the wine into a predetermined shape. The traditional line ferments and ages in a combination of stainless steel and oak barrels, with a focus on clarity, elegance, and bottle-fermented sparkling wines. The experimental line ferments and ages in stoneware amphorae, with extended maceration, skin contact, and a focus on texture, colour, and the recovery of old vineyards.

The additives protocol is minimal across both lines: no sulfur during fermentation. The goal is to allow the entire native yeast flora to fully unfold during winemaking — it stabilises and preserves the wine naturally, a strength that comes from within. The wines are bottled with minimal or no sulfur, unfiltered where possible, preserving their natural turbidity, their living yeasts, and their evolving texture. The bottle-fermented wines — the estate's signature — are bottled with residual sugar that continues fermentation in the bottle, creating natural sparkle, natural haze, and a living, evolving wine. This demands absolute cleanliness in the cellar, perfect grape health in the vineyard, and a willingness to accept that each bottle will be slightly different from the next.

The cellar is not a technological facility; it is a two-headed space where two generations work side by side. There is no temperature-controlled tank farm dictating additions, no consultant recommending corrective enzymes, no recipe that overrides the vintage. There is only Lodovica, Martina, the grapes, the amphorae, the barrels, and the patience to let the wine take the time it needs. The result is a portfolio of wines that are honest, spontaneous, and alive — wines that change in the glass, that evolve in the bottle, and that carry the unmistakable signature of a family that has been going against the tide for over a century. As Martina puts it: "We hope to combine the experiences of the past with the dreams of the present to create the wines of the future. After all, we are Lusenti, and we like to go against the tide."

To understand Azienda Agricola Lusenti, one must understand that it is not merely a winery; it is a mother-daughter manifesto, a two-headed phoenix, and a proof that going against the tide is a gift. The identity of the project is defined by the feminine touch — Lodovica's determination and motivation transmitted into every bottle, Martina's creative oenological ideas and recovery of the abandoned, and the collective elegance that distinguishes their wines from the stereotypes of Piacenza. The identity is also defined by opposition — the two lines that are distinct and separate but coexist because they are interconnected, like Heraclitus's elements that define each other.

The identity is also defined by family — three generations of Lusentis who have cultivated the Casa Piccioni estate, from Pietro's table grapes to Gaetano's winery to Lodovica's organic revolution to Martina's experimental amphorae. The estate is not a monoculture; it is a home. The result is a portfolio of wines that are not merely products but expressions of a lineage — each bottle a testament to the conviction that wine should be authentic, elegant, and full of feminine touch. The wines are made for the curious drinker, the natural wine bar, and the believer that wine should be both reflective and joyful — both jazz by the fireplace and pop by the sea.

The future of Azienda Agricola Lusenti is tied to the continued health of their 20 hectares of clay and calcareous vineyards, the deepening of organic practices, and the gradual expansion of a portfolio that already spans white, red, rosé, orange, sparkling, and sweet. Lodovica and Martina are eager to go further — to experiment with longer macerations, to explore new expressions of Gotturnio and Malvasia, and to obtain ever more natural, textural expressions from the fruit of their own Val Tidone soils. The Emiliana will continue to be the flagship, the cloudy, bottle-fermented revolution that started it all. The Ciaomare will continue to be the experimental, seaside rosé. And the Rorippa will continue to remind us that skin contact and amphorae are not trends but traditions in the making.

In an age of increasing industrialisation in wine — of global varieties, engineered yeasts, and corporate consolidation — Azienda Agricola Lusenti stands as a compelling alternative, not because it rejects modernity but because it has embraced a deeper modernity: one that values organic certification over chemical convenience, indigenous yeasts over inoculation, bottle-refermentation over Charmat method, cloudy wines over cosmetic clarity, stoneware amphorae over stainless steel uniformity, old-vine recovery over new plantings, the feminine touch over the patriarchal norm, the two-line split over the single-brand homogeny, and the specific voice of Val Tidone over the standardised replication of a global style. Lodovica and Martina Lusenti are not merely making wine; they are proving that a mother and daughter can split a label and strengthen it, that a 20-hectare estate in Emilia-Romagna can produce wines of international recognition, that a wine with nothing added but authenticity can possess the most profound identity, and that the simplest philosophy — we like to go against the tide — is often the most profound. From the first cloudy bottle in 2009 to the 2024 release: all united in two lines, one family, one unanswerable argument for the possibility of authentic, organic, bottle-fermented, amphora-aged, hand-made, passionately honest wine from the clay and calcareous heart of Val Tidone.