Lugana: a wine that emphasize the union of tradition and environment
Loris Scagliarini, President, WineCountry.IT - November 21, 2005
Winemaking Italy includes a great number of enological pearls, rarities which in recent years have seen growing interest and appreciation from the people in the trade, as well as from Italian wine buffs and consumers. Now is the time to reach across the national borders and spread information about these vines and the unique wines that they produce, which are as much the result of the grape variety as they are an expression of the soil where the vines grow and the local traditions that have preserved them over long years of market disinterest in favor of international grape varieties.
 One of these pearls is the Lugana, a white wine linked indissolubly to its DOC production area, Lugana. This is a small, precious wine zone on the southern shores of Lake Garda which encompasses the municipality of Peschiera del Garda in the Lombardy region, as well as the municipalities of Sirmione, Desenzano del Garda, Pozzolengo and Lonato in the province of Brescia. A small area across Lombardy and Veneto that displays a sequence of vineyards, hotels, wineries, and tourist destinations. In long gone, almost forgotten times, the area was known as Selva Lucana (Lucana Wood), a marshy forest inhabited by wild boars, white tail and fallow deer, as well as a great variety of birds.
These days, the characteristics of this stretch of land, a combination of mostly calcareous clay rich in mineral salts, gives life to grapes that are made into unique wines. The Lugana wine is sapid and has great structure, the harmony of its perfume and its brilliant, straw yellow color with greenish or golden highlights, melt together and conquer the senses with their intensity and character.
"A red (wine) disguised as a white," to say it with the articulate words of journalist, Angelo Peretti, "in which the evidence of the female fragrance of the white (wine) hides within the character and virile structure of the red."
Another great expert of Italian flavor, the late lamented Luigi Veronelli, has defined this exceptional wine with great appreciation, highlighting its particularly long life, which is a precious quality in white wines. "Drink the Lugana young and you'll enjoy its freshness. Drink it when it is two or three years old and you'll enjoy its completeness. Drink it when it's ten years old, you'll be nonplussed by its compounded confidence."
"The Luganas," further said Veronelli, "have an extraordinary identity that is difficult to forget,.and this is a rare quality in wines. You drink a Lugana and, if you are a good taster, you cannot forget it"
These wines, which are available in three types, Lugana, Lugana Superiore, (aged for at least one year) and Lugana Spumante (sparkling, made according to the Classic, or Charmat method), have another amazing characteristic: they are at home in many different situations and can be paired with a wide range of foods. Intriguing as aperitifs, the Lugana wines are priceless when paired with Italian-style hors d'oeuvres and with lake fish recipes, but they are also perfect with fine, delicate dishes of any kind and excellent with sweet cheeses and cold cuts.
The Lugana was the first DOC wine registered in Lombardy and was among the the very first in Italy. Despite the fact that the DOC denomination refers to the grape used as Trebbiano di Soave, locally known as Trebbiano di Lugana, recent research has found that the genoma of the vine from which the Lugana is made is different from both the Trebbiano Veronese and the one used to make Verdicchio in the Marche region. Thus, according to the Università degli Studi di Milano (Milan University), this is a native vine grown exclusively in this wine zone.
The historic denomination of this vine, selected during centuries of agriculture by the local vintners, is Turbiana, a name whose roots are lost in the past in the area known as Lugana. based upon these facts, the President of the Consorzio Tutela Lugana DOC (Consortium for the Protection of the Lugana DOC), Paolo Fabiani, have asked for the formal recognition of the vine, its addition to the Catalogo Nazionale delle Varietà (National Register of Vine Varieties), and the selection of authorized clones.
 The Lugana has seen its name recognition grow gradually outside its production area starting in the 1970s, gaining little by little market share in places far away from its native Lake Garda shores, and becoming a well appreciated white in the Italian wine world.
The Consorzio Tutela Lugana DOC, with headquarters at Sirmione, on the southern shores of the Lake Garda, is doing a great job of preserving the identity of this enological product, working hard to emphasize its character, personality and uniqueness. In fact, the consortium checks the production of the about 100 member wineries and decides on the forms of communication and promotions, as well as on the trade shows at which the wines are presented.
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