2024 Ca dei Frati Lugana I Frati

Product Description

The Ca’ dei Frati company has been renowned since 1782, as confirmed by a document that refers to “a house with a cellar located in Lugana in the Sermion district known as the place of the Friars”. In 1939, Felice Dal Cero, son of Domenico, formerly a wine grower in Montecchia di Crosara near Verona, moved to that very house in Lugana di Sirmione, immediately realising the area’s potential for vine cultivation. After thirty years working in the vineyard and the cellar, his son Pietro took part in the creation of the DOC in 1969, bottling his first wine with the label Lugana Casa dei Frati, later named Ca’ dei Frati. In 2012, Pietro Dal Cero passed away, leaving the cultural legacy to his wife Santa Rosa and children Igino, Gian Franco and Anna Maria, who run the company with the same passion and determination.

The grapes of every vineyard are vinified separately in order to gain a clearer vision of the expressions of our “terroir”. The processes take place with the utmost respect for the raw material through an innovative technique refined over the years that enables us to obtain full-bodied wines with great longevity. The bond and the continuous collaboration with our friend Gino Veronelli has helped us to create and plan our wines over time.

Our wines are produced through the painstaking observation of the land and the behaviour of the vines, conducted by four generations of winemakers. Our wine begins with the reawakening of the vegetative cycle of the plant: for this reason, every day of the year has a fundamental role and is an important element in achieving our goal.

This is the jewel in the crown, the wine that got us known and continues to be the image of the company. A direct thread can be traced back to its variety, the Turbiana, our native vine. Intended to be consumed as a vintage, it expresses the best of itself many years after bottling. When young, it is fresh, linear and furnished with great sophistication and elegance with delicate hints of white flowers, balsamic notes and traces of apricot. Time enables it to evolve, allowing the mineral notes to be expressed with greater determination, thereby acquiring its complexity with traces of iodates, spices and candied fruit. In the mouth, it is capable of enveloping the whole palate thanks to a significant savoury essence, accompanied by strong, exuberant acidity. When young, a serving temperature of around 10 degrees is preferable, with cold or warm – but delicate – starters and to accompany fish dishes, boiled, steamed or grilled.