2019 CA dei Frati Lugana I Frati 

2019 CA dei Frati Lugana I Frati

2019 CA dei Frati Lugana I Frati, Verdicchio from Lombardy, Lugana, Italy

Grape Varietal: Verdicchio

Ca Dei Frati’s flagship wine which has made their reputation, and continues to represent the image of the winery. Its production reflects the value they place on local traditions and practices. It is made from grapes grown on 10 to 35 year old vines, planted on calcareous and clay soil. The nose is clean, delicate and fragrant, with perfumes of fresh white flowers and nettles, apricots and almonds. An attractive acidity gives it an elegant finish and makes it particularly easy to drink. It is a perfect match for cold starters, vegetable soups and steamed or grilled fish. It ages well and acquires after several years in bottle notes of spices and candied fruit, as well as complexity.

Lugana is a picturesque, white wine-specific viticultural region in northern Italy. The vineyard area straddles the regional border between Lombardy  in the west and Veneto in the east. It sits at the southern end of Lake Garda, the vines providing a relatively new addition to the landscape of fishing villages and castle-topped towns.  The name Lugana is thought to come from the Latin lacus lucanus (lake in the woods); until the 12th century, the area’s dense woodlands extended right up to the lake edge. Monastic influence from the Middle Ages is evident in town names such as San Benedetto di Lugana, San Vigilie di Lugana and San Martino di Lugana

Verdicchio is a white wine grape variety that has been cultivated for hundreds of years in the Marche region of central Italy. It is a versatile variety, used both for light, easy-drinking table wines, and for more complex, ageworthy examples. It is commonly lauded by critics as being one of Italy’s best white wine grape varieties, and is found in vineyards across the country.

The use of Verdicchio has been documented in the Marche since the 14th Century, but there is suggestion that the variety could have originated in Veneto, where it is known as Trebbiano di Soave. Historians believe that Venetians migrated to the Marche area after the plague, bringing animals and plants, and it is thought that Verdicchio was among these. The variety adapted well to Marche’s terroir and, nowadays, Verdicchio’s spiritual home is in the hills along the Adriatic coast.