The vineyards of Tommasi wines on the southern shores of Lake Garda, Italy
Sooner or later, wine drinkers seeking to get to know Italian wine, in all its diverse flavours and styles, always come to hear of the renowned Tommasi family. Their history speaks for itself: after Giacomo Tommasi purchased a small parcel of land in Valpolicella Classica in 1902, the firm gradually expanded to all corners of the peninsula. Today, on the southern shores of Lake Garda, Tommasi produces Le Fornaci Lugana, yet another jewel in the family’s viticultural crown.
The dynamic Lugana DOC is the birthplace of some of Italy’s most intriguing and distinctive dry whites. Turbiana, the area’s traditional grape, has won many fans with its orchard and tropical-fruit flavours, fine structure and vibrant freshness. It should come as no surprise that the Tommasi family, consummate professionals with over a century of winemaking experience producing site-specific, authentic wines across the whole of Italy, took note of the potential of both the variety and the region’s distinctive terroir.
Giancarlo Tommasi, head winemaker at Tommasi Family Estates
A special terroir
Yet quality winegrowing is anything but straightforward. It requires a magical combination of terroir, climate and tradition – a union between the plant, the winemaker and the landscape. Lugana, sitting in the far east of Lombardy, on the border with Veneto, is a place where this special combination can be found. With a relatively small
