
Giusti, Luigi
Cantina Luigi Giusti has has roots that go back to 1903, when Filippo Giusti returned to Italy from the United States and bought a piece of property near his hometown. His family grew along with a passion for the land and, since the 1930s, for the cultivation of the vine. In the 1950s, Filippo’s son Luigi and daughter-in-law Maria, acquired the historic cellar of the Cantina Castelferretti. The winery began a long agricultural project focusing on the cultivation of the Lacrima varietal. While the Castelferretti cellar is still used for the sale and aging of bottled wines, in 1997 Luigi ’s son Piergiovanni Giusti, with the help of his wife Elena, bought a new cellar in Montignano, within the Lacrima di Morro d’Alba DOC boundaries. In 2000 they enlisted the assistance of enologist Giancarlo Soverchia, a specialist in the traditional grapes of the Marche. Today Piergiovanni continues his parent’s vision – to produce quality wines from the native grape of the Marche which are a distinct expression of the land and the indigenous Lacrima di Morro d’Alba.
Lacrima di Morro d’Alba is so ancient in the Marche that its origins remain a mystery. Lacrima (Italian for tear) is believed by some to come from the tear-like shape of either the cluster or the berry itself, while others claim its name comes from the fact that the berry bursts easily, and thus seems to be crying. Lacrima di Morro d’Alba was nearing extinction in the early eighties, as demand for the wine was rapidly losing ground to the more popular Montepulciano-based wines of the Marche, but all this changed with the arrival of DOC recognition. Lacrima vines are currently planted in just over 100 hectares in the Morro d’Alba DOC.