Lugana Wines in Luca Maroni’s 1998 Guide Highlighting Quality and Recognition
As at every year-end, the Italian and international book markets are welcoming the new Guides to Wines 1998. A very extensive editorial landscape that allows wine enthusiasts everywhere to know, according to authoritative authors, which are the best wines on the market.
This judgment, expressed in these volumes, is highly personal and remains solely the opinion of those who have conducted the tastings. It must not be forgotten that the best wine is the one that pleases us.
The first of these guides, which will appear from now until early 1999, is that of Luca Maroni, a young Roman wine expert who, in a few years, has managed to establish himself in the relatively narrow panorama of industry experts. Two of his volumes freshly published are: Annual of the Best Italian Wines and Guide to Italian Wines.
Evaluations and Selections by Luca Maroni
Maroni assigns a rating and a score to each wine after tasting. To be included in the guide, a product must have received a score above 60/100 during the tasting process.
Regarding Lugana DOC wines, in this edition, 25 have been selected and marked among the 17 companies that submitted samples. Maroni, consistently and rigorously, indicates these alongside the date of tasting.
Excellent results, with scores above 74/100, are also achieved by 2 sweet or dessert wines, both from Lugana: Sol Dorà and Tre Filer. These are worthy of appearing, for the first time, among the top 40. An Italian fruit-vine, representing a significant improvement over the previous edition, which listed 21 wines from 12 companies.
Perspectives and Quality of Lugana Wines
This is a sign of the ongoing professionalism demonstrated by the producers themselves, who, once achieving a certain stability in quality, are now mostly dedicated to improving quality.
This is a correct path that rewards the efforts of individual producers, with a continuous increase in demand and orders from around the world.
Every year, new markets open for Lugana DOC wines, markets that perhaps seemed unattainable until recently, rewarding both the winemakers and the Consorzio di Tutela, increasingly committed to promoting and enhancing the product in its different varieties: still and sparkling.
The New Product and Certifications
Great attention is now given to the new product, authorized by the recently approved disciplinary and published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale, which concerns the cru of Lugana, namely the Lugana Superiore. This requires at least one year of aging and maturation starting from October 1 of the year of grape harvest.
