2020 Ottella Le Creete Lugana

When one tiny-production Italian white wine stands out among some 5,000 competing wines at a major global wine-tasting event, we jump on it—and that’s exactly what we did after discovering Ottella Le Creete Lugana at Vinitaly, Italy’s legendary wine fair, a few years ago. 

Even after tasting through some of Italy’s top wines, the aromatic, lemon-kissed Lugana was unforgettable—and that’s exactly how the critics are finding the 2020. It earned a staggering 95 points from Decanter AND a spot in Wine Enthusiast’s Enthusiast 100. Add in the 4.33-star average that Ottella has earned from Wine Access members, and you’ve got one of the most exceptional white-wine deals going.

Le Creete comes from the Lugana DOC, an appellation that straddles the border between Lombardy and the Veneto. With vineyards on the southern shores of Lake Garda set amidst castles and buildings from the Middle Ages, it’s easily one of the most beautiful places we’ve ever set eyes on. There, Lugana is the everyday white of choice, a crisp, citrus-scented wine that rivals top French and Italian whites in just about every category—and steals the show in the price department. 

The variety behind this aromatic, lemon-kissed white is known locally as Turbiana. Long thought to be Trebbiano—indeed, the more common name in Lombardy for the grape is Trebbiano di Lugana—then Verdicchio, Turbiana turned out to be sui generis, genetically distinct from the others. 

Le Creete possesses the stylistic similarities of the world’s great whites—the vivid and mineral Chardonnays from Chablis or the exceptionally dry, mineral, and crisp Bordeaux Blancs—and it delivers a memorable experience in every sip, every time.

• Fruit Intensity
• Oak Intensity
• Body
• Sweetness
• Acidity

• ABV 13.00%
• Enjoy right away
• Drink Up
• % Lugana
• Serving temperature – 48°
• Cork