Your favorite white wine you haven't tried, yet...

This Spring I was introduced to a wine I had never experienced.  Though I've traveled through most wine regions in Italy I had never experienced the sunshine of a tasty LUGANA.  Sandwiched between the Lombardy and Veneto, but more importantly on the southern shore of Lake Garda between Verona and Brescia, this very small region is producing a very small harvest of utterly delicious and unique white wine.

The wine comes from the unique Turbiana grape. For decades Italian wine makers have labeled it as a relative to more mass produced fruit, but DNA testing has now proved it has it's own family tree.  The earth in the region is packed with clay, and the constant lake breeze makes this grape very unique.

The flavor is packed with fruit- peaches, apricots, pears and even a little grapefruit.  The texture of the wine is like soft velvet, almost peach fuzz.  For an American palette I would say it offers more fruit and body than a rich New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, but less heft and more fruit than a California Chardonnay.  The finish is fairly brief, but very clean and moderately dry.  

Every bottle I've tasted has been so delicious I really wanted to enjoy it without food, which is not usually my MO. However, I caved and assembled a simple Italian antipasto platter and loved the combination of lighter cheeses- burrata and fresh pecorino; prosciutto and capocollo; and blackberries and pears with this unique sip.  I also plan to pair it with a variety of preparations of seafood and fish.  

This wine was a wonderful surprise to me, and has become my favorite white sipper of the Summer. Here are a couple vintner's whose LUGANA I enjoyed.

1.  LUGANA, 2014, Otella, Italy, $16
2. VIGNE DE CATULLO, 2014, Tenuta Roveglia, Italy, $19

TRACK DOWN A BOTTLE TODAY!