Trebbiano di Lugana from Cesari in the Lombardy region

I've been attending the Italian Wine Specialist Certification program with NASA (North American Sommelier Association) in Boston starting this past weekend and am completely immersed in the world of Italian wine. I have lots to share over the next few weeks and am excited about the information and wines I'll be presenting to you. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Back in 2009 I visited the region of Lombardy and stayed in the small town of Salionze at the pleasant Agriturismo Le Sigalette, nearby to Lake Garda. I had a memorable dinner at a local restaurant, Per Bacco, and visited a great town on Lake Garda called Sirmione. It's a long peninsula where you can enter the old town by crossing over the moat at the Castello Scaligero that had a wonderful view over the town of Sirmione. I would love to return to Lake Garda to explore it further and travel around the whole lake. 

Me @ Agriturismo Le Sigalette

About Lombardy
The Lombardy region is the financial capital of Italy and is where Milan is located. The region has limited production and exportation, but the wine that is produced here is focused strongly focused on quality wines. This region has suffered hardships over the years in vineyard development and winemaking. Vineyards had been abandoned a number of times throughout history due to the Lombards taking over after the Roman Empire, but they lacked the knowledge to develop the vineyards. In addition, phylloxera, a disease that attacked the vines, had taken over at one point as well as the industrial revolution driving folks to more urban areas cause abandonment of the vineyards.

Sirmione ~ Lake Garda

The wines of Lugana
Today I'm sharing a wine from Lugana. Lugana is at the southern border of Lake Garda and borders both the regions of Lombardy and the Veneto. Some great wines are produced in this area due to the volcanic soils, known as morainic soils, in addition to the micro-climates of the lakes. The wine I sampled comes from the Lugana DOC, which houses the most important still white wine of Lombardy. Ninety percent of the grapes here are trebbiano di lugana.

I sampled the 2013 Cesari Cento Filari Lugana DOC from the Lombardy, or Lombardia, wine region of Italy. This particular wine comes from the Cesari cru vineyard site, Cento Filari, meaning a hundred rows. It's a wine made 95% from the trebbiano di lugana grape and 5% chardonnay. This wine is produced on the southern part of Lake Garda near the towns of Pozzolengo and Peschiera del Garda. This wine was a straw color with an herbaceous nose of cut grass, tomato leaves and tropical fruit including guava and banana. On the palate it was dry with some saltiness and minerality. It had medium body and balance with some peach on the finish. Averaging about $18.

I'll be covering all twenty regions over the next few weeks as I go through this program so make sure to check back weekly for lots of fun information.

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