Ottella: ambassadors of Lugana in the world

The name Ottella is inextricably linked to the small, clay-soiled amphitheatre on the southern shores of Italy’s Lake Garda where the Lugana DOC, a rising star in the world of fine Italian white wines, has its home.

We are in Peschiera del Garda, in the district of Ottella, within the province of Verona. The connection with wine is so deep in this part of Italy that even Catullus, great poet of classical times, talks of the “fine wines” of the area.

The Ottella company has always been a leading player in the region’s winemaking history, and is referred to as “the only producer of Lugana in the region of Verona” by G. B. Perez, the author of a treatise on Veronese wines at the end of the 19th century.

The modern Ottella company was started by Lodovico Montresor, father of Francesco and Michele, currently at the helm of the estate. A passionate art collector and agricultural entrepreneur with a strong belief in the values of the land, Lodovico breathed new life to his family farming tradition.

It was Lodovico who helped to map out the denomination of Lugana in 1964 – although it took another three years for official recognition to be granted, in 1967.

The years that followed saw Ottella carve its space as an iconic producer of the new denomination of Lugana, making wines with the Trebbiano di Lugana grape, now renamed Turbiana.

The company’s rapid growth made it necessary to acquire a new site in 2013. Ottella built a new cellar which is now the epicentre of a modern enterprise that still embodies the company’s core values: love for the vineyards and a meeting between art and landscape – wine accompanied by paintings and sculptures is a key part of the family tradition.

Today, Ottella has 90 hectares of prime wine-producing land in Lugana and is acknowledged on the international stage for the quality of its wines. Its refined and elegant range bear the hallmarks of expert production and the accurate synthesis of terroir and varietal expressiveness.