2023 Ottella Le Creete Lugana 750 ml

When one TINY-production Italian white wine stands out among 5,000 others 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, this aromatic, lemon-kissed Lugana was unforgettable. Add in the stellar member-ratings every year from the Wine Access faithful, and you’ve got one of the most exceptional white-wine deals going, with one review proclaiming, “This wine delivers in every vintage."

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—vivid and mineral Chardonnays from Chablis or exceptionally dry and crisp Bordeaux Blancs—and delivers a memorable experience in every sip, every time, at an everyday price. 

Quite simply, there’s nothing out there like Lugana, and the Ottella La Creete is an outstanding bottle for both everyday and special-occasion drinking.