Azienda Agricola Le Tende

The story

Two Families, One Lake Shore

When the Fortuna and Lucillini families agreed in the 1990s to build a wine estate together on the eastern shore of Lake Garda, they divided the work in a way that most small Italian estates would not think to formalize. Mauro Fortuna would run the land and the cellar. Franco Lucillini, who had spent his working life as an entrepreneur and designer, would design the labels. It was a clean split: the agricultural decisions and the aesthetic decisions would be owned by different people. Franco's designs went onto every bottle Le Tende has ever released, from the Bardolino Classico to the Chiaretto Spumante. A small Bardolino estate with a full-time in-house designer is unusual enough to notice, and the labels carry it: they do not look like the cooperative bottles or the château pastiche that crowds the zone. The bottle and the wine have always had different authors, and both families have held their side of that arrangement since the beginning.

From the atlas

Azienda Agricola Le Tende

At A Glance

The Producer

Le Tende makes Bardolino on the eastern shore of Lake Garda, where the soils are sandy and heavily calcareous and the lake moderates what would otherwise be a cooler inland climate. The estate spans 14 hectares between the villages of Colà di Lazise and Cavaion Veronese, in the Bardolino Classico zone, a designation reserved for vineyards on the original, historically mapped stretch of Bardolino country.

Two families run it. The Fortuna family, led by Mauro, directs the vineyard and the cellar. The Lucillini family contributes Franco, an entrepreneur and designer who creates the labels. That split is deliberate and visible: the bottle you pick up has been farmed by one family and designed by another. Le Tende produces around 100,000 bottles a year across Bardolino Classico, Bardolino Classico Superiore, Bardolino Chiaretto, and Custoza, a white wine DOC to the south.

Organic farming is not a recent conversion here. The estate farmed without synthetic chemicals from the beginning; ICEA certification followed in 2012, formalizing what had already been years of practice.

Place

Bardolino sits on the eastern shore of Lake Garda, the large glacial lake that separates Veneto from Lombardy in northern Italy. The Bardolino Classico zone covers the oldest, best-defined vineyards in the appellation, running roughly between Lazise and Bardolino along the lake's edge. Soils here are sandy and strongly calcareous, lighter and more freely draining than the clay-richer soils of Valpolicella to the northeast. That lightness reaches the wine directly: Bardolino is one of the most immediate reds in the Veneto, with low tannin, a bright acid line, and a colour closer to deep rosé than to the dense ruby of its neighbours.

The lake itself is large enough to behave as a thermal buffer. Winters are mild for the latitude; summers are warm but not extreme. Grapes ripen reliably without losing the acidity that keeps Bardolino's character as a wine of the table rather than a wine of weight.

Custoza DOC, where Le Tende makes its white wines, lies just south of the Bardolino zone, on similarly light soils. The appellation runs Garganega alongside Trebbiano varieties and produces pale, aromatic whites.

Soil And Site

Le Tende's vineyards sit on the sandy, calcareous soils characteristic of the Bardolino Classico zone. The calcium content is high, and the texture is loose enough to drain freely after rain. The estate attributes the aromatic lift and mineral character of its wines to this soil type: calcareous soils tend to give wines a stony, sometimes saline edge on the finish, and they force vine roots to work for water, which concentrates fruit rather than diluting it. The sandy component keeps yields in check and contributes to the pale colour and light body typical of Bardolino Classico.

Story

The Fortuna and Lucillini families came together in the 1990s with a shared aim: organic wine from a single Lake Garda estate. That was not an obvious commercial position for Bardolino at the time. The zone was better known for high-volume, inexpensive red than for considered estate production. Le Tende chose a smaller, more deliberate scale: 14 hectares, organic from the start, with the Bardolino Classico designation as the baseline rather than a broader, less specific label.

The decision to farm organically before certification existed as a formal option in Italy says something about the founding philosophy. When ICEA certification became available and the estate formalized it in 2012, it was acknowledging a practice already embedded in how the vineyards were run. The range has since expanded to include Chiaretto and a sparkling Chiaretto alongside the Custoza white, but Corvina and Rondinella remain on calcareous sand, without synthetic inputs, in the Classico zone.

Vineyards And Cellar

The 14 hectares cover two appellations: Bardolino Classico and Bardolino Classico Superiore in the reds, and Custoza in the whites. Organic farming means no synthetic herbicides, pesticides, or fertilizers; vine health depends on cover crops, copper and sulphur treatments, and careful canopy management. On sandy soils, which offer less natural protection against heat and drought than clay, that requires attention to vine stress through the summer.

Corvina, the dominant red grape, is a variety known for thin skins, moderate tannin, and high acidity. In Bardolino, where it is blended with Rondinella, Bardolino uses both grapes. The Classico Superiore carries a higher ageing requirement and draws more concentration from the fruit. White wines under Custoza DOC blend Garganega, the grape also central to Soave, with Trebbiano varieties and Cortese, giving a light, aromatic white with enough body to carry food.

Wines

Le Tende produces five bottlings across four appellations.

Bardolino Classico DOC is the entry red, built from Corvina and Rondinella on the estate's sandy calcareous parcels. It is pale, light-bodied, and aromatic, with the cherry-skin fruit and fresh acidity typical of the appellation at its best. Low tannin and early drinkability are part of the design.

Bardolino Classico Superiore DOCG raises the bar within the same geographic zone. The Superiore designation requires longer ageing and selects fruit that can hold more concentration. The wine is fuller in the mouth than the Classico, with more grip and length, while staying within Bardolino's characteristic lightness.

Bardolino Chiaretto DOC is a rosé from the same Corvina and Rondinella blend. Pressed early and briefly macerated, it runs from pale copper to pale salmon in colour, with delicate red fruit on the nose and a dry, clean finish.

Bardolino Chiaretto Spumante adds a sparkling version of the Chiaretto, where the mousse lifts the aromatics and the acidity carries the bubble through a short, crisp finish.

Custoza DOC is the white, led by Garganega and filled out with Trebbiano, Trebbianello, and Cortese. The wine is pale, moderately aromatic, with enough texture to work at the table alongside fish and vegetable dishes.

In The Glass

Bardolino Classico from Le Tende opens with cherry, dried herb, and a faint lakeside mineral note. In the mouth, the body is deliberately light: Corvina on sandy calcareous soil does not produce weight, and the wine does not reach for it. Tannin is minimal. Acidity is present and clean, giving the wine movement across the palate without sharpness. The finish is short and fresh, leaving a trace of that mineral stone quality from the soil.

The Superiore sits a register higher. The same cherry and herb character is there but more concentrated, with a slightly firmer edge in the mid-palate and a longer finish. It stays pale in colour and light in body, but the added ageing and fruit selection give it enough substance to hold through a meal.

Chiaretto runs dry and delicate, with strawberry and white pepper on the nose and a clean, acid-driven close. The Custoza white is aromatic, light-bodied, and fresh, with peach and citrus fruit and a faint herbal note from the Trebbianello.

A Bottle To Understand It

Bardolino Classico Superiore DOCG is the bottle to open first. It carries the same Corvina and Rondinella blend as the Classico but with more concentration and ageing time behind it. The wine is pale ruby, lightly aromatic, with cherry and dried herb on the nose and a mid-palate that has more grip and definition than the entry bottling. The finish is clean and mineral. Tannin is low; acidity carries it. The wine is made from Corvina and Rondinella. Serve it lightly chilled.

Anecdote

When the Fortuna and Lucillini families agreed in the 1990s to build a wine estate together on the eastern shore of Lake Garda, they divided the work in a way that most small Italian estates would not think to formalize. Mauro Fortuna would run the land and the cellar. Franco Lucillini, who had spent his working life as an entrepreneur and designer, would design the labels. It was a clean split: the agricultural decisions and the aesthetic decisions would be owned by different people. Franco's designs went onto every bottle Le Tende has ever released, from the Bardolino Classico to the Chiaretto Spumante. A small Bardolino estate with a full-time in-house designer is unusual enough to notice, and the labels carry it: they do not look like the cooperative bottles or the château pastiche that crowds the zone. The bottle and the wine have always had different authors, and both families have held their side of that arrangement since the beginning.

Final Word

Le Tende is an honest Lake Garda estate: organic, modest in scale, clear about what Bardolino is and what it is not. The calcareous sandy soils give the wines their freshness and mineral edge. Mauro Fortuna directs the vineyard and cellar, while Franco Lucillini creates the labels. The Superiore is the bottle worth finding.

Sources

• https://www.letende.it/en/
• https://letende.it/en/info/winery
• https://www.vinetia.it/azienda/le-tende
• https://consorziobardolino.it/en/wineries/azienda-agricola-le-tende-di-fortuna-e-lucillini-s-s/
• https://www.systembolaget.se/produkt/vin/le-tende-7048001/
• https://www.systembolaget.se/produkt/vin/le-tende-7548201/