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Azienda Agricola Le Manzane

Third-generation family estate in the Prosecco Superiore hills of Conegliano Valdobbiadene, farming over 70 hectares of Glera on steep morainic slopes and producing approximately one million bottles annually for over 30 countries.

The producer

Le Manzane sits in San Pietro di Feletto, a commune in the steep hillside arc between Conegliano and Valdobbiadene in northeastern Italy. Osvaldo Balbinot started the business in 1958 with his wife Elsa, his son Ernesto joined within a few years, and the estate grew from a local wine operation into a full export business reaching more than 30 countries. Today Ernesto and his wife Silvana work alongside their children Marco and Anna, who together manage every stage of production on more than 70 hectares of Glera-dominant vineyard inside the Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG.

The core range is Glera-based sparkling wine in Brut and Extra Dry expressions, light in body, low in alcohol, and built around the clean apple and white pear character that the DOCG hillside produces. In 2026 the third generation revived Bianchetta, a native Veneto white grape that had largely disappeared from commercial production in the region, bottling it in lighter glass made from 77% recycled content. The Merlot Fuscato, a still red with black cherry, cocoa, and round tannins, completes a range that now runs from the estate's sparkling core to two native-variety still wines that look back toward the pre-Prosecco farming history of these hills.

Known for

Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG from Glera on steep morainic slopes in San Pietro di Feletto, with native-variety still wines including the revived Bianchetta.

Notable facts

The story

The Grape That Came Back

In 2026, Marco and Anna Balbinot announced that Le Manzane would revive Bianchetta, a native Veneto white grape that had largely disappeared from commercial production in the Conegliano Valdobbiadene hills over the preceding decades. The variety had a long local history but had lost ground to Glera as Prosecco became a global category, and by the time the third generation took on a larger role at the estate it survived mainly in old mixed plantings. The Balbinots chose it as the centrepiece of a return-to-roots project, and they chose a specific bottle for it: lighter glass made from 77% recycled content. An ancient local grape in a container made partly from old glass. The Bianchetta launched alongside two other still wines, all three in that lighter format, and the variety is back in commercial production in San Pietro di Feletto.

The Grape That Came Back

In 2026, Marco and Anna Balbinot announced that Le Manzane would revive Bianchetta, a native Veneto white grape that had largely disappeared from commercial production in the Conegliano Valdobbiadene hills over the preceding decades. The variety had a long local history but had lost ground to Glera as Prosecco became a global category, and by the time the third generation took on a larger role at the estate it survived mainly in old mixed plantings. The Balbinots chose it as the centrepiece of a return-to-roots project, and they chose a specific bottle for it: lighter glass made from 77% recycled content. An ancient local grape in a container made partly from old glass. The Bianchetta launched alongside two other still wines, all three in that lighter format, and the variety is back in commercial production in San Pietro di Feletto.

From the atlas

Azienda Agricola Le Manzane

At A Glance

The Producer

Le Manzane sits in San Pietro di Feletto, a commune tucked into the steep hillside arc between Conegliano and Valdobbiadene in northeastern Italy. The estate farms more than 70 hectares of Glera-dominant vineyard inside the Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG, the appellation that occupies this corridor of Veneto hills, and produces approximately one million bottles a year distributed to over 30 countries. Those numbers belong to a serious mid-to-large sparkling house. The family running it is three generations deep and still manages every stage of production in house.

Osvaldo Balbinot started the business in 1958 with his wife Elsa. His son Ernesto joined within a few years, and the estate expanded from a local operation into a full export business. Today Ernesto and his wife Silvana work alongside their children Marco and Anna. The family has not sold, not fragmented, and not handed production to a cooperative. At one million bottles, that is an unusual combination.

Place

The Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG covers a band of morainic and clay hills in the Treviso province of Veneto, running roughly 15 kilometres between its two named towns. San Pietro di Feletto, where Le Manzane is based, sits in the eastern part of this corridor, closer to Conegliano. The terrain here is steep enough that mechanised farming is difficult on the most exposed slopes, and the vineyard parcels are broken by woodland, hedgerow, and dramatic changes in aspect. In 2019 the area received UNESCO World Heritage Site designation, recognising the working landscape itself as a cultural artifact.

The appellation divides into two tiers. Prosecco DOC covers a wider zone across several provinces. Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG is the more specific tier, drawing only from this defined hillside corridor and requiring higher minimum standards. Le Manzane holds vineyards under both appellations, with the DOCG hills providing the estate's primary focus.

Soil And Site

The soils across the Conegliano Valdobbiadene hills are predominantly morainal deposits left by glacial retreat, with clay subsoils and a mix of limestone and loam on the steeper faces. The gradient forces vines to root deep and limits yields naturally. San Pietro di Feletto sits at elevations where diurnal temperature variation during ripening preserves the bright acidity that defines the sparkling wines made here. Glera performs well in these conditions: its thin skin and loose bunch make it well suited to a cool, humid autumn, and its natural freshness translates directly into the light, low-alcohol sparkling wines that the appellation is built around.

Story

When Osvaldo Balbinot began selling wine from San Pietro di Feletto in 1958, Prosecco was a local product with no appellation framework behind it. The DOCG did not exist until 2009. What Osvaldo built in those early decades was a supply chain and a farming base. His son Ernesto joined the business and began pushing it toward export markets, eventually building a distribution network that now reaches more than 30 countries.

The third generation, Marco and Anna, arrived in a different moment for the estate and for the appellation. Prosecco Superiore had become a global category. Le Manzane's response was not to expand again but to look backward. In 2026 the estate launched three new still wines under the banner of a return to roots, reviving Bianchetta, a native Veneto white grape that had largely disappeared from commercial production in the region. The same launch brought in a new bottle format: lighter glass made from 77% recycled content, reducing the weight of each bottle and the carbon cost of a million-bottle distribution run. The decision to revive a nearly forgotten local variety and tie it to a concrete environmental commitment is the kind of move that takes a generation with something to prove.

Vineyards And Cellar

Le Manzane farms more than 70 hectares across the San Pietro di Feletto hillside and surrounding DOCG parcels. The steep gradient on many parcels requires hand work and limits what mechanisation can achieve, keeping vine density and canopy management labour-intensive. Glera is the dominant variety, grown for the Prosecco Superiore DOCG sparkling range. Bianchetta, the recovered native white, is farmed in separate parcels selected for the 2026 still wine project.

The Bianchetta vines are bottled in lighter recycled-glass containers, a packaging choice that reduces the per-bottle carbon footprint across the estate's full annual output. The Merlot Fuscato, the estate's still red, is fermented at controlled temperatures and aged in oak, producing a round, deeply coloured red that reads differently from the sparkling range and draws on a different part of the estate's farming capability.

Wines

The range divides into two clear halves. The sparkling wines, made from Glera under the Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG and the broader Prosecco DOC, form the core of production. These include Brut and Extra Dry expressions. Prosecco Superiore DOCG Brut is dry relative to the Extra Dry style, with the lower dosage bringing Glera's apple and white pear character forward against a clean, slightly saline finish. Extra Dry carries a touch more residual sweetness, softening the acidity and making the wine more immediately approachable. Both are light in body, low in alcohol relative to still wines, and built for early drinking.

The 2026 still wine additions shift the register considerably. Bianchetta is a native white grape variety with a long history in this part of Veneto that had dropped out of commercial use before Le Manzane revived it. As a still white it carries the freshness and light body of the local climate but without the mousse of Prosecco. The Merlot Fuscato is the estate's still red: deep garnet, aromas of black cherry, morello cherry, cocoa, and spice, with a soft, harmonious palate and round tannins. It is the heaviest wine in the range and the furthest from the estate's sparkling range.

In The Glass

The Prosecco Superiore DOCG Brut opens with apple blossom and white pear on the nose, with a faint almond note underneath. On the palate the mousse is fine and persistent, the body is light, and the acidity is clean and forward. The finish is short and slightly saline, without lingering sweetness. Extra Dry shows a similar aromatic profile but the additional dosage rounds the mid-palate and softens the acid line, making the sweetness more present on the finish without becoming heavy.

The Merlot Fuscato moves in a different direction entirely. The nose gives deep garnet fruit: black cherry, morello cherry, and a cocoa and spice undercurrent. In the mouth the tannins are round rather than gripping, the body is full, and the finish carries the dark fruit forward with warmth. It drinks approachably young.

Bianchetta, revived from near-obscurity, is the wildcard. As a native Veneto white fermented and bottled still, it reads as a fresher, more angular counterpart to the Prosecco range: lighter, drier, with the bright acidity the hillside climate produces in abundance.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG Brut. It is the wine the estate was built on and the one that shows what the San Pietro di Feletto hillside produces when Glera is farmed carefully and kept light. The apple and pear aromatics are clean and uncluttered. The mousse is fine. The acidity is present but not sharp, and the finish closes dry with a hint of salinity that comes from the soil and the altitude. There is no oak, no residual sweetness, and no weight. It is Prosecco as the appellation intended: a light sparkling wine made from a single native grape grown on steep hillside parcels in a specific DOCG corridor. At approximately one million bottles a year from a single family-owned estate, it is also one of the more honest expressions of scale in the appellation.

Anecdote

In 2026, Marco and Anna Balbinot announced that Le Manzane would revive Bianchetta, a native Veneto white grape that had largely disappeared from commercial production in the Conegliano Valdobbiadene hills over the preceding decades. The variety had a long local history but had lost ground to Glera as Prosecco became a global category, and by the time the third generation took on a larger role at the estate, it survived mainly in old mixed plantings. The Balbinots chose it as the centrepiece of a return-to-roots project, and they chose a specific bottle for it: lighter glass made from 77% recycled content. An ancient local grape, a new container made partly from old glass. The Bianchetta launched alongside two other still wines, all three packaged in that lighter format. The grape is back in commercial production in San Pietro di Feletto.

Final Word

Le Manzane is a Prosecco estate that has grown without losing its address. The family has farmed San Pietro di Feletto for three generations, built a million-bottle export business from a single hillside commune, and responded to that scale by reviving a variety that the category had largely abandoned. The DOCG Brut is the place to start: light, dry, and specific to the Conegliano Valdobbiadene hills that the Balbinot family has farmed since 1958.

Sources

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