Award-winning white wine from Lake Garda. Tastes of elderflower, ginger, guava and grapefruit

“Elderflower and tropical fruit aromas lift out of the glass. On the juicy, medium-bodied palate, tangy acidity accompanies ripe white peach, grapefruit and mature honeydew.” – Kerin O’Keefe, Wine Enthusiast.

This is a light and refreshing white wine packed with floral and tropical flavours. Although it’s not the most expensive one, it could easily be the best Lugana DOC wine we tasted this side of Lake Garda. It comes from the Le Morette winery located a few hundred yards away from the southern coast of the lake. This family-owned winery is recommended by Ian D’Agata in his encyclopaedia “Native wine grapes of Italy” if you’re looking to taste wines made from the Turbiana grape – a clone of Trebbiano di Soave, which is native to this part of Veneto.

Winemaking

The delicate Turbiana grapes are harvested by hand, in the third week of September. This is relatively early, and Fabio Zenato – the owner and winemaker at Le Morette, harvests early to achieve higher acidity and create the light and refreshing style. The grapes are fermented in large stainless steel tanks for fifteen days at a temperature of 16°C. After the fermentation is finished, the wine spends three more months in stainless steel tanks “sur lie” with stirring of the lees. This process helps it to develop more complex flavours and vibrant texture. The wine doesn’t undergo malolactic fermentation, which means it keeps all its natural acids to maximise the fresh sensation in the mouth.

Tasting notes

In the glass, Mandolara has the purest pale lemon colour. This Turbiana wine is beautifully complex and offers a range of flavours, starting from elderflower, guava and peach, underpinned by a sweet note of honeysuckle and a touch of bitterness from ginger and yellow grapefruit. Although Mandolara has a visible note of honeyed sweetness, it is dry, with only 4.1% residual sugar. The wine has high acidity, a light body and leaves you with a long lingering finish of ginger and grapefruit.

Awards

Decanter World Wine Awards 2021 – Silver Medal (2020 vintage) | Wine Enthusiast – 91 points (2020 vintage) | James Suckling – 90 points (2020 vintage) | Falstaff – Trophy “I Bianchi del Garda” 90 points (2020 vintage) | Gambero Rosso 2020 – Two Glasses (2019 vintage) | The WineHunter – Rosso (2019 vintage) | I Vini Di Veronelli – 2 stars (2019 vintage) | International Wine Challenge 2019 – Bronze Medal (2018 vintage)