La Gioiosa

The story

The Canal on the Estate

The Brentella Canal has run through the La Gioiosa estate for centuries, an old irrigation channel that the Treviso region depended on long before the winery existed. For most of its time on the property it was a feature of the landscape, moving water and nothing else. In 2017, when the Moretti Polegato family launched the La Gioiosa for Life environmental programme, they fitted the canal with a hydropower installation. The water that had previously just flowed past now turned a turbine, and the company said it covered around 20% of the winery's power requirement. It was old infrastructure repurposed rather than replaced, and concrete enough to put a number on. The canal still runs through the estate, and the turbine still turns.

From the atlas

La Gioiosa

At A Glance

The Producer

La Gioiosa is a Prosecco house run by the Moretti Polegato family from its base in Crocetta del Montello, a town on the edge of the Montello hills in the Treviso province of Veneto. The winery sits at Via Erizzo 113/a in the hamlet of Crocetta-Nogaré, with the Brentella Canal cutting through the estate. The family has been making wine here across several generations.

The name lifts directly from medieval history. The province of Treviso was once known as "Marca gioiosa et amorosa" (the joyful and loving march), and the winery drew "gioiosa" from that designation. It is an old piece of local geography embedded in every label.

The operation is built on a grower-network model. Six hundred grape growers supply fruit to the winery, and they have done so for decades. In-house agronomists and oenologists monitor the vineyards continuously, and the winery requires its key supply partners to follow the same environmental and quality standards it applies internally.

Place

Crocetta del Montello sits at the southern edge of the Treviso hills, outside the DOCG zones that climb toward Valdobbiadene and Asolo to the north. La Gioiosa sources across this wider geography: base wines for the Prosecco DOC range come from the Treviso subzone of the broad DOC, while the DOCG wines draw from Valdobbiadene and Asolo, both of which sit higher, on steeper slopes, and carry more restrictive appellation rules.

The Prosecco DOC is the largest designation in the hierarchy, covering a wide swath of Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia and producing wines that tend toward lighter body and approachable fizz. The DOCG designations are smaller and geographically tighter. Valdobbiadene DOCG, the older and more established of the two, produces Glera on steep hillsides above the Piave valley. Asolo DOCG covers the rolling hills around the town of Asolo, southwest of Valdobbiadene, with a reputation for rounder wines. A La Gioiosa bottle's label tells you exactly where in this hierarchy the wine sits.

Soil And Site

The Prosecco DOC Biologico Brut is grown on medium-to-alluvial soils within the Prosecco DOC zone. The alluvial soils common to the Treviso plain are deep and free-draining, suited to Glera's tendency toward high yields and bright acidity. The DOCG zones to the north sit on steeper slopes with a mix of clay, limestone, and morainic deposits that concentrate the fruit more and produce wines with more grip. La Gioiosa does not own named vineyards in those territories; it draws from its grower network across both zones.

Story

The Moretti Polegato family has farmed and made wine in the Treviso area across multiple generations, building the business around the broad Prosecco DOC and the more prestigious DOCG territories to the north. For most of its history, the winery operated as a sourcing and production house: assembling fruit from a wide grower base, vinifying centrally, and distributing across export markets.

The environmental work became the company's defining public move. In 2017, the family formalised years of incremental sustainability steps into a single named programme, La Gioiosa for Life. The Brentella Canal, a medieval waterway that has run through the estate for centuries, became the centrepiece. The winery fitted a hydropower installation on the canal that now supplies around 20% of its electrical requirement. Old infrastructure was put to new use, and the programme gave the company a concrete, place-specific claim rather than a generic sustainability pledge.

The certifications followed the same logic. Biodiversity Friend certification from the World Biodiversity Association recognised the winery's low-impact viticultural practices. Vegan certification from The Vegan Society was applied to the Prosecco range. The organic Brut brought certified organic viticulture into the portfolio. Each credential added a verifiable layer to the environmental position the family had staked out.

Vineyards And Cellar

La Gioiosa does not farm its own vineyards in the conventional estate sense. The 600 growers in its network cultivate fruit across the DOC and DOCG zones, with winery agronomists visiting regularly to monitor canopy management, harvest timing, and yields. The winery sets its sourcing standards and requires growers to farm in ways that align with its environmental requirements, including the low-impact practices that underpin the Biodiversity Friend certification.

In the cellar, the dominant method is Charmat, also called the Martinotti method, in which the secondary fermentation that produces the wine's bubbles happens in pressurised tanks rather than individual bottles. This approach preserves the fresh floral and fruit character of Glera, keeps costs manageable across a large volume, and produces the clean, consistent fizz that defines mass-market Prosecco. The organic Brut rests on lees before release, which adds a faint yeasty breadth to the wine's otherwise fruit-forward profile.

Wines

The range is built in tiers that follow the Prosecco appellation hierarchy. At the base, the Prosecco DOC Treviso Brut is sourced from the Treviso subzone, vinified in tank, and released at brut dosage: clean, light, and direct, with the green apple and white flower character typical of young Glera.

The Prosecco DOC Biologico Brut sits alongside the Treviso Brut but carries organic certification and a slightly more complex grape blend: 85% Glera with 15% Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio. The Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio add a small amount of body and stone-fruit weight to the base Glera brightness. Analytical figures are 14 g/l residual sugar and 5.8 g/l total acidity, placing it on the fuller side of brut and giving the wine a rounded, approachable feel rather than a lean, dry finish. After lees rest, the nose picks up a faint breadth behind the primary pear and floral notes.

The Prosecco Rosé DOC Millesimato brings Pinot Nero into the blend, vintage-dated under the Rosé DOC rules. The Pinot Nero contributes the pale copper-pink colour and a strawberry and red-fruit note that lifts the wine away from the all-Glera whites in the range.

The DOCG wines step up in density and appellation specificity. The Prosecco DOCG Valdobbiadene draws from the steep hillsides above the Piave valley, where yields are lower and the fruit has more concentration. The Prosecco DOCG Asolo Extra Dry Biodiversity Friend comes from the Asolo DOCG, a compact territory south of Valdobbiadene with rounder, slightly softer wines, and carries the Biodiversity Friend certification.

In The Glass

Across the La Gioiosa range, Glera sets the tone: fresh, floral, and light-bodied, with fine mousse from the Charmat method and acidity that keeps the wines from feeling heavy even at the higher residual sugar levels of extra dry and demi-sec expressions.

The Treviso Brut opens with white pear, green apple, and a hint of acacia blossom. In the mouth it is light and clean, with a relatively short finish and a slight sweetness on the close. The organic Brut repeats that profile but adds a touch of stone fruit and a mild yeasty note from the lees rest, with the acidity at 5.8 g/l providing just enough cut to keep the 14 g/l sugar from reading as sweet.

The Rosé offers a different register: pale berry fruit, a faint cream note from the Glera base, and a short but vivid red-fruit finish from the Pinot Nero. It drinks lighter than a still rosé and finishes quickly, which is the point for an aperitif wine.

The DOCG bottlings show more density at mid-palate. Valdobbiadene fruit, grown on steeper slopes, gives a tighter bead and more concentrated pear and mineral note. The Asolo Extra Dry is a degree rounder, with slightly more residual sugar lending weight without losing the lift that Charmat method provides.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the Prosecco DOC Biologico Brut. It is 85% Glera with 15% Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio, grown on organic-certified parcels in the DOC zone and rested on lees before release. The nose is floral and pear-forward with a faint breadth from the lees contact. In the mouth it is rounded but not heavy, with the 14 g/l residual sugar balanced by enough acidity to keep it fresh. The bubbles are fine and persistent from the Charmat method. It is the bottle with the clearest grape breakdown in the range, the most production detail available, and the one that shows how La Gioiosa uses its environmental certifications to differentiate within a competitive category. It is also priced at the accessible end of the range, which makes it easy to open without a specific occasion.

Anecdote

The Brentella Canal has cut through the La Gioiosa estate for centuries, an old irrigation channel that the medieval Treviso region depended on for its fields. For most of its existence on the property it was a feature of the landscape rather than an asset. In 2017, when the Moretti Polegato family launched the La Gioiosa for Life environmental programme, they fitted the canal with a hydropower installation. The canal that had previously just moved water now also generated electricity, and the company said it covered around 20% of the winery's power requirement. It was a practical decision framed as an environmental one: old infrastructure repurposed rather than replaced, and concrete enough to put a number on. The canal still runs through the estate, and the turbine still turns.

Final Word

La Gioiosa is a large, reliable Prosecco house with a clear environmental position and a range that climbs methodically from base DOC to DOCG Valdobbiadene and Asolo. The family has worked with the same grower network for decades, the certifications are independently verified, and the organic Brut gives the range a concrete differentiator at an approachable price. It is not a small-estate wine, and it does not try to be.

Sources

• https://www.lagioiosa.co.uk/about-us
• https://www.prosecco.it/en/scheda-cantina/la-gioiosa/
• https://www.ethicawines.com/la-gioiosa-prosecco-doc/
• https://www.lagioiosa.co.uk/wines
• https://www.lagioiosa.it/en/prodotto/prosecco-doc-biologico-brut/
• https://no1beverages.se/restaurang/p/la-gioiosa-prosecco-brut-organic
• https://www.lagioiosa.it/prodotto/prosecco-doc-treviso-brut/
• https://www.lagioiosa.co.uk/prosecco-rose-doc-millesimato
• https://www.lagioiosa.it/prodotti/