Lugana DOC, the wine that made our land and our Ca’ dei Frati winery famous. After thirty years of work between the vineyard and the winery, it was in 1967 that people started talking about Lugana, the year the denomination was born – among other things the first Lombard DOC to be born in the region.
The Dal Cero family of Ca’ dei Frati has Venetian origins, when great-grandfather Felice and great-grandmother Edvige moved to the southern shores of Lake Garda in search of fortune after the First World War. They bought the estate here in 1939 and continued to do what they do best, with foresight: wine. His son Pietro then participated in the birth of the Lugana DOC in 1967, starting to bottle his first label of Lugana Casa dei Frati starting just two years later, in 1969. A look to the past and always one to the future, this is the secret of the 85 years of history of the Ca’ dei Frati winery and of our DOC.
But now let’s see what territory we are talking about. Lake Garda is an unusual corner of the Mediterranean nestled between the Lombardy-Veneto Prealps: a calcareous, clayey and silty soil, combined with the wind and the mild climate contribute in a fundamental way to the production of Lugana DOC, this wine so exclusive and typical of our beloved area. It is precisely this combination of elements that allows us to obtain elegant and long-lived wines, with great mineral expression. Once upon a time the entire area was covered with woods and marshes: it was the Silva Lucana (hence the name Lugana, which also takes our hotel), populated by deer, fallow deer and wild boars. Thanks to the mild climate, today the area has a totally different appearance: in addition to the vine, olive trees, lemon trees, cedars, almond trees, agaves and palm trees flourish. The mild climate of Lake Garda is what gives life to such exclusive wines, such as Lugana DOC. The wind also plays a decisive role. In particular, the Pelér, which blows from north to south, generates temperature variations that allow for the production of grapes with great varietal expression; but also the Luganott, the wind that takes its name from the bay of Lugana. The lake essentially acts as a thermoregulator, creating an ideal microclimate, despite the territory being predominantly flat, with some vineyards even on the morainic hills with sandier soils. It is precisely in these areas that vines are grown with care and dedication.
The grape variety used, Turbiana, is the native vine of the area and is part of the large family of Italian Trebbiano, a relative of Trebbiano di Soave and also of Verdicchio. Once vinified, this wine is fresh, linear, vertical and direct in its youth, endowed with great finesse and elegance with delicate notes of white flowers, white-fleshed fruit and hints of apricot. Originally conceived to be consumed in the vintage, it expresses its best part years after bottling: time allows it to evolve with greater determination the mineral notes, thus acquiring its complexity with hints of iodine, spices and candied fruit. This is what Ca ‘dei Frati offers with the name “Privilegio di Famiglia”.
In the mouth it is capable of enveloping the entire palate thanks to an important savoury essence accompanied by lively and exuberant acidity. Lugana DOC is therefore perfect with cold or warm appetizers, but delicate, and accompanies steamed and grilled fish dishes. If Lugana DOC is a young wine that should be consumed within the year, which remains on fine yeasts for at least 6 months and is refined in the bottle for another 2, Lugana DOC Privilegio di Famiglia, on the other hand, is another expression of Lugana over time. This wine is refined in the bottle for 5 years and before that for at least 12 months on fine yeasts.