Italy · Ascoli Piceno & Southern Marche

Tenuta San Lazzaro

Family estate in Offida, Marche, growing native white grapes Passerina and Pecorino alongside Montepulciano, Sangiovese and Grenache from 9.5 organic hectares on a 290-metre hilltop above the Adriatic-Apennine corridor.

The producer

Poderi San Lazzaro sits on a single hilltop above the town of Offida in the Marche region of central Italy, 290 metres above sea level and equidistant between the Adriatic coast and the Apennine foothills. Paolo Capriotti and his wife Elisetta run the estate. Paolo's father Lorenzo founded it, buying a farm in the Offida hills after years of work, planting Montepulciano, Sangiovese and Passerina, and building a cellar inside an ancient cottage on the property. Paolo and Elisetta took over in 2003 and rebuilt the project around them: they added Pecorino and Grenache to the vineyard, expanded the Passerina plantings, moved the whole estate to organic farming, and in 2012 replaced the cottage cellar with a purpose-built winery on the same hilltop.

The 9.5 hectares span plots between 15 and 60 years old, with south, southwest and northwest exposures across the hill. The range covers both Offida DOCGs for white grapes, Corolla from Passerina and Pistillo from 100 percent Pecorino, alongside the Rosso Piceno Superiore DOC red Podere 72, a Montepulciano and Sangiovese blend named for the estate parcel. Passerina and Pecorino are native Marche white grapes, relatively unknown outside Italy, and they are the clearest argument for why Offida is worth attention.

Known for

Native Marche white grapes, Passerina and Pecorino, under the Offida DOCG, alongside Rosso Piceno Superiore DOC reds from Montepulciano and Sangiovese.

Notable facts

The story

The Thousand-Year Cellar

For the first generation of Poderi San Lazzaro, the winery was a cottage. Paolo Capriotti's father Lorenzo had built a cellar inside an ancient cottage on the hilltop property, a building the family estimates as roughly a thousand years old. The vintages that established the estate came out of that room: thick walls, low light, a space designed for storage rather than production. When Paolo and Elisetta took over in 2003 they kept working within it while they rebuilt the rest of the farm around them, adding new grape varieties, expanding the Passerina plantings, moving the whole estate to organic farming. The cottage stayed the cellar until 2012, when the family built a modern winemaking facility on the same hilltop. The old cottage is still on the property.

From the atlas

Tenuta San Lazzaro

At A Glance

Producer: Poderi San Lazzaro Village / Town: Offida, Ascoli Piceno Region: Marche, central Italy Appellations: Offida Passerina DOCG, Offida Pecorino DOCG, Rosso Piceno Superiore DOC Grapes: Passerina, Pecorino, Montepulciano, Sangiovese, Grenache Farming: Organic Hectares: 9.5

The Producer

Poderi San Lazzaro sits on a hilltop 290 metres above the town of Offida in the Marche region of central Italy. The estate farms 9.5 hectares of vines across south, southwest and northwest-facing parcels, with plots that range from 15 to 60 years old. The grape lineup covers both the native white grapes of the Marche coast, Passerina and Pecorino, and the red DOC varieties Montepulciano and Sangiovese, with Grenache added to a parcel near the winery.

Paolo Capriotti and his wife Elisetta run the estate. Paolo's father Lorenzo founded it, buying a farm in the Offida hills after years of hard work, planting Montepulciano, Sangiovese and Passerina from the start. Paolo and Elisetta took over in 2003 and changed nearly everything except the hilltop.

Place

Offida is a small town in the province of Ascoli Piceno, in the southern part of Marche. The estate sits 15 kilometres from the Adriatic Sea and 25 kilometres from the Apennines, a position that shapes the climate directly: maritime air moves inland from the coast while the hills moderate the heat that builds against the Apennine foothills. The resulting growing conditions lean toward good natural acidity in the whites and steady ripening in the reds.

The Offida appellation carries two DOCG designations for white grapes, Offida Passerina DOCG and Offida Pecorino DOCG, both named for native varieties grown in and around the town. The red framework is the Rosso Piceno Superiore DOC, one of the older appellations in Marche, which requires a blend of Montepulciano and Sangiovese grown in the Ascoli Piceno hills. Both layers of classification appear in the Poderi San Lazzaro range.

Soil And Site

The vineyards occupy a single hilltop at 290 metres above sea level, with parcels spread across three aspects: south, southwest and northwest. The south and southwest parcels receive maximum sun through the growing season; the northwest plots develop more slowly and contribute freshness to the harvest. The estate also manages two hectares of olive trees and two hectares of forest on the same property.

Soil composition is not documented in available sources.

Story

Lorenzo Capriotti bought the farm in the hills of Offida after years of saving and planted the first vines himself: Montepulciano, Sangiovese and Passerina. The cellar he worked from was an ancient cottage on the property, a cottage the family describes as a thousand-year-old building.

When Paolo and Elisetta took over in 2003, they inherited that cellar, those vineyards, and the DOC red framework Lorenzo had worked within. Over the following years they expanded the white grape plantings, adding Pecorino to the existing Passerina and putting in a Grenache parcel near the winery. The move to organic farming changed how every parcel was managed. Then in 2012 they built a modern winemaking facility on the same hilltop, replacing the cottage cellar with a purpose-built space. The winery stayed; what came out of it changed.

Vineyards And Cellar

The 9.5 hectares span plots aged between 15 and 60 years. The oldest parcels contribute concentration and vine depth; the younger blocks, planted by Paolo and Elisetta after 2003, include the Pecorino and Grenache additions.

Organic practices govern both vineyard and cellar work across the estate. The most detailed cellar information available covers Pistillo, the varietal Pecorino: it ferments at 15 degrees Celsius over two weeks, a cool, slow fermentation that preserves aromatic clarity in the grape, then the wine is racked and transferred to oak barrels for ageing. The oak adds body and a degree of texture to a grape that can otherwise run lean and citrus-edged.

Wines

The range has five confirmed bottles. Corolla is the Offida Passerina DOCG white, made from Passerina, a native Marche grape that tends toward light body, lemon and apple fruit, and firm acidity. Pistillo is the Offida Pecorino DOCG white, a varietal wine from 100 percent Pecorino, fermented cool and aged in oak. Pecorino is a different grape from Passerina: fuller in body, with herbal and stone-fruit character alongside the acidity that marks most Marche whites.

Podere 72 is the Rosso Piceno Superiore DOC red, a blend of Montepulciano and Sangiovese named for the estate parcel. Montepulciano in the Marche tends toward dark cherry, firm tannin and good colour; Sangiovese brings acidity and savouriness to the blend. Two further wines, Grifola and Polesio, appear in the range but their grape composition and appellations are not confirmed in available sources.

In The Glass

Across the white wines, the high elevation and maritime air keep acidity firm and the fruit relatively focused. Corolla, from Passerina, runs lighter and brighter: citrus peel, green apple, a clean finish with no weight in the mid-palate. Pistillo, from Pecorino, opens differently. The cool fermentation keeps the aromatics fresh, with white peach, fennel and a faint herbal edge, while the oak ageing adds a richer texture than Corolla carries. The finish is longer and the mid-palate more substantial.

Podere 72, the Rosso Piceno Superiore, moves into darker territory: dark cherry from the Montepulciano, dried herb and a savoury edge from the Sangiovese, tannin that is firm without being coarse, and enough acidity to hold the blend upright across the table.

A Bottle To Understand It

Pistillo, the Offida Pecorino DOCG, is the right first bottle. Pecorino is one of the native Marche white grapes that most buyers outside Italy have not yet tried, and Pistillo shows what the grape does when handled carefully: cool fermentation at 15 degrees Celsius over two weeks, followed by oak ageing that adds body without burying the fruit. Pistillo is made from 100 percent Pecorino, ferments at 15 degrees Celsius for two weeks, and is aged in oak barrels. It is a grape worth knowing, and this is a clean introduction to it.

Anecdote

For the first generation of Poderi San Lazzaro, the winery was a cottage. Paolo Capriotti's father Lorenzo had built a cellar inside an ancient cottage on the hilltop property, a building the family estimates as roughly a thousand years old. The vintages that established the estate came out of that room: thick walls, low light, a space designed for storage rather than production. When Paolo and Elisetta took over in 2003 they kept working within it while they rebuilt the rest of the farm around them, adding new grape varieties, expanding the Passerina plantings, moving the whole estate to organic farming. The cottage stayed the cellar until 2012, when the family built a modern winemaking facility on the same hilltop. The old cottage is still on the property.

Final Word

Poderi San Lazzaro is a compact family estate doing something specific and unhurried: growing native Marche white grapes on a high hilltop above Offida, farming organically, and building a range around varieties that most wine buyers outside central Italy are still learning. Passerina and Pecorino are the grapes that define the estate's white wines, and Pistillo is where to start.

Sources

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