Lugana Best Wines of 1999 Selected at Palace Hotel Villa Cortine

There could be no more suitable and prestigious venue than the Palace Hotel Villa Cortine in Sirmione for the proclamation ceremony of the best Lugana from the 1999 harvest, which will accompany the 2000 social vintage of the Gran Priorato del Lugana. A difficult and laborious choice for the jury members, composed of enology experts, restaurateurs, and industry journalists, who had to taste 53 wines from about thirty wineries: 38 still wines and 15 sparkling wines in both production styles, classic and charmat.

Inexplicably, the newly established Lugana Superiore was not involved in the selection. After the first examination, 11 Lugana Doc still wines scored over 80/100 were chosen, along with 2 sparkling wines. Prior to the gala dinner, the confreres selected their preferred among the three samples that had previously received the highest scores.

With 17 votes, the Lugana Santa Cristina from the Zenato agricultural company in Peschiera prevailed, followed in points by Zerbio Pietro e Figli from Desenzano and the Palvarini «Corte Anna» farm in Sirmione. As for the sparkling Lugana, the «Classico» from Pilandro in Lavelli was chosen, and for the Charmat, the Zenato Valerio winery.

The other Luganas rated as «excellent» belonged to the following farms: Bruno Bulgarini (Pozzolengo), Capuzza di Formentini, Gabriele Prospero, Provenza di Contato, Zenato di San Benedetto, Vincenzo Marsadri, and Visconti Cantine del Garda.

At the evening event, besides the entire Chapter (executive committee) presided over by Renzo Furlanis, there was also the president of the Consorzio Tutela Lugana Doc, Francesco Ghiraldi. As always, the cuisine offered by the chef was highly appreciated by the 160 guests, including the four new «priori» (or members). They are Giovanni Avanzi, Roberto Capra, Paolo Catterina, and Ezio Vigani.