DOC White

Ottella Molceo Lugana Riserva

Azienda Agricola Ottella

Grape
Turbiana
Denomination
Lugana DOC
Region
Veneto
ABV
13%

Ottella's Molceo is its flagship Lugana Riserva: 100% Turbiana from parcels by Lake Garda, aged 18 months on spent yeast. Citrus, white flowers and a flinty, stony edge lead a rich, salty palate built to age. A Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri white.

Best price
£28.00

2023 · 75cl · checked 27 Oct · Delivery usually £16.90, free on 5 bottles

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Vintages 2023 2021

Prices read daily from 5 UK retailers. We earn a commission on some links; it never changes the order.

Where to buy Ottella Lugana Riserva Molceo

£28.00 best price · 4 retailers in stock · checked 28 Oct 2026

Stock is shown where the retailer publishes it, offers are sorted by price, and unavailable offers can’t be clicked.

Vino.com Best price 2023 · 75cl · checked 27 Oct · Delivery usually £16.90, free on 5 bottles Code WINE6R8T: £17 off your first wine order with £180 minimum spend, until 13 Jan 2028
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£28.00 £37.33/L
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Great Wines Direct Best price 2021 · 75cl · checked 27 Oct · Delivery £7.95, min 6 bottles
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£33.48 £44.64/L
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The Great Wine Co. Best price Save 14% 2021 · 75cl · checked 25 Oct · Delivery £8, free on 3 bottles
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£38.00 was regular price £44.00 £50.67/L
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Majestic Best price 2021 · 75cl · checked 22 Oct · Delivery £7.95, free on 3 bottles
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£45.00 £60.00/L
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Unavailable (1)
XtraWine Best price 2023 · 75cl · checked 28 Oct · Delivery charge shown at checkout
Out of stock
£28.00 £37.33/L
Out of stock

Stock status is read from each retailer’s page once a day and may lag.

Tasting Notes

Flint, citrus and saline depth in Ottella's Molceo

Citrus, white flowers and a flinty, stony edge, layered over ripe peach and a salty palate built on its spent yeast: Ottella's Turbiana at its most serious.

Tasted by
ItalianWines editorial
Tasted on
19 June 2026
Source
Drinker consensus · confidence Medium
Typical of Turbiana
Body Light / Full
Tannins Smooth / Grippy
Sweetness Dry / Sweet
Acidity Soft / Crisp
Nose

Intense gold in the glass, with Ottella's signature citrus and white-flower lift over flint and wet stone. Ripe peach and apricot follow, with a touch of honey as the wine opens.

GrapefruitGrapefruit
LemonLemon
Orange blossomOrange blossom
ApricotApricot
PeachPeach
FlintFlint
Wet stonesWet stones
AlmondAlmond
HoneyHoney
Palate

Rich and structured, with a salty, stony core and the flinty, lightly petrol note that aged Turbiana develops. Eighteen months on the fine spent yeast, part in cask and small barrels, give a creamy, almond-tinged texture under fresh 13% acidity.

Finish

Long and persistent, closing on saltiness and stone fruit rather than oak. It is the kind of finish that lets Molceo carry rich dishes.

Overall

A serious, age-worthy Lugana Riserva and Ottella's flagship white. Drinkers like it, year after year, the 2018 above all. One for drinkers who want structure, saltiness and cellar potential, not a simple aperitivo Lugana.

Drink now Best by 2031
Live UK pricing

Buying Molceo, a premium Lugana Riserva

Molceo sits at the top of the Lugana ladder, tracked here around £33 to £44 for the 2021 vintage across specialist UK merchants.

Best price · 75 cl · 2023 £28.00 at Vino.com
75cl · 2023 available from Vino.com £28.00, in stock
Vintages live 2023 · 2021 Current release: 2023
Per-litre (75cl · 2023 basis) £37.33 Lowest current 75cl · 2023 offer
Last checked 27 Oct 2026 Refreshed once every 24 hours
Other vintages and formats: 1 price line

75cl · 2021: £33.48 - £45.00, 3 UK retailers

Wine fit score

How Molceo scores as an Italian wine

A structured, age-worthy Turbiana that shines at the table and as an occasion white, priced at the upper end of its denomination.

Best with food 8.6/10

High acidity, saltiness and a body built on spent yeast make Molceo one of the most food-flexible whites in northern Italy. It runs from shellfish to roast white meats.

Best for an occasion 8.0/10

A perennial Tre Bicchieri and Wine Enthusiast 93-point white, Molceo is the estate's flagship and a confident choice for an occasion.

Best for cellar 7.4/10

Built for longevity on 18 months of spent-yeast ageing; older vintages like the 2018 still show well, supporting five to eight years of cellaring.

Best value 7.0/10

At £33 to £44 it is priced at the top of Lugana. Its Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri pedigree and ageing make the quality-to-price ratio sound.

Best intro to this style 5.5/10

Indigenous Turbiana is approachable, but the flinty, petrol-tinged, partly oaked Riserva style suits curious drinkers more than outright beginners.

Best everyday bottle 3.0/10

A structured, premium-priced Riserva rather than a midweek pour; the price and seriousness push it toward special meals.

Scoring is rule-based and deterministic. The model and weightings are documented in our Wine Fit Score methodology.

Denomination Compliance Snapshot

Lugana in five fields

A compact view of what the Lugana denomination actually requires, and how this bottle sits inside it. Pulled from the official Italian disciplinare.

Allowed grapes
1 varieties listed
This bottle: Turbiana.
Minimum ageing
No statutory minimum
Producers release on their own schedule; 4 to 6 months in steel is typical.
Region / area
A band of glacial clay south of Lake Garda across Sirmione, Desenzano, Lonato and Pozzolengo in Brescia province, plus Peschiera del Garda in Verona
Source: Disciplinare.
Style
DOC · Lugana
Minimum ABV at this colour: 11.0%.
Classification
DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata)
What that means →
Vintages

The 2021 Molceo and how it ages

The 2021 comes from a cooler, balanced Garda season that kept Turbiana fresh. Built on 18 months of ageing on its spent yeast, Molceo rewards patience: the 2018 still shows well.

2023 Current release
Best price
£28.00
Retailers
1 in stock
2021 Previous release
Best price
£33.48
Retailers
3 in stock
ABV
13.0%
Window
Drink now through 2031

2021 was a cooler, well-balanced season around Lake Garda, giving Molceo the fresh acidity to carry its long lees ageing. It is drinking well now and has the structure to develop through the late 2020s.

2021 Previous release
Best price
£33.48
Retailers
3 in stock
ABV
13.0%
Window
Drink now through 2031

2021 was a cooler, well-balanced season around Lake Garda, giving Molceo the fresh acidity to carry its long lees ageing. It is drinking well now and has the structure to develop through the late 2020s.

Drink-now / hold guidance reflects general style cues for this wine, not a forecast for a specific bottle. Where vintage-level editorial notes exist, they appear above.

The disciplinare, the place, the label

Why Molceo earns its Lugana Riserva billing

A near-permanent Tre Bicchieri and a Wine Enthusiast 93-point white. Molceo is made only from estate Turbiana in the heartland of the Lugana denomination.

01

DOC, DOCG, IGT: what the badges mean

Italian wine law sorts bottles into a pyramid. DOCG sits at the top: tightly drawn boundaries, prescribed grapes, mandatory ageing, government tasting before release. DOC is the same idea with looser thresholds. IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) is broader still, requiring only that 85% of the grapes come from the named territory.

Lugana is in the DOC tier. That is not a quality verdict, it is a description of how much freedom the producer has at vinification and ageing.

02

The denomination rules, in detail

  • Allowed grapes. 1 varieties listed in the disciplinare
  • Yield ceiling. 12.5 tonnes per hectare
  • Minimum ABV. 11.0% vol
  • Minimum ageing. No statutory minimum - producers release on their own schedule
  • Tasting panel. No mandatory pre-release tasting
03

Region and area context

Lugana falls within Lombardy, covering A band of glacial clay south of Lake Garda across Sirmione, Desenzano, Lonato and Pozzolengo in Brescia province, plus Peschiera del Garda in Verona.

Lugana DOC zone The producer

Made at Azienda Agricola Ottella, San Benedetto di Lugana Peschiera del Garda. Directions

04

Reading the label

  • Azienda Agricola OttellaProducer / estate
  • TurbianaGrape varieties
  • Lugana DOCGeographic indication and quality tier
  • 2023Vintage (year of harvest)
  • Imbottigliato all’origineEstate-bottled
05

What sits behind the price of Ottella Lugana Riserva Molceo

Tracked from
£28.00
Direction
Mostly cost up
Drivers
5 up / 1 down
Main factor
Estate Turbiana from prime Lugana parcels, hand-picked in late October
  1. 01

    Estate Turbiana from prime Lugana parcels, hand-picked in late October

    Cost up

    Fruit comes from owned plots in San Benedetto, Sirmione, Pozzolengo and Desenzano, hand-harvested into 17 kg crates. Low-yield estate selection costs far more than bulk Lugana fruit.

  2. 02

    Eighteen months on the fine lees, part in cask and barrique

    Cost up

    Long ageing on spent yeast, plus a portion in large cask and small barrels, ties up the wine and cellar space for around 1.5 years. That adds barrel cost, unlike steel-only Lugana released within months.

  3. 03

    Whole-bunch pressing and partial malolactic

    Cost up

    Gentle whole-cluster pressing and a partial malolactic are slower, lower-yield Riserva choices that lift quality and the cost per bottle.

  4. 04

    Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri and Wine Enthusiast 93 pedigree

    Cost up

    A near-permanent Tre Bicchieri and a 93-point Wine Enthusiast score let Molceo command a premium over unrated Lugana. That supports its £33 to £44 UK shelf price.

  5. 05

    UK duty and VAT

    Cost up

    UK excise on still wine up to 15% ABV is £2.67 a bottle at 2026 rates. Then 20% VAT adds about £6.70 on a £40 wine, so close to £9 is tax before the retailer's margin.

  6. 06

    Lugana is an established DOC, not a rare DOCG

    Cost down

    Lugana's sizeable, well-organised Garda production base keeps base fruit costs below rarer single-estate zones, partly offsetting the Riserva premium.

01

Estate Turbiana from prime Lugana parcels, hand-picked in late October

Cost up

Fruit comes from owned plots in San Benedetto, Sirmione, Pozzolengo and Desenzano, hand-harvested into 17 kg crates. Low-yield estate selection costs far more than bulk Lugana fruit.

Perfect Pairings

Dishes that go with this wine

Radicchio risotto, plated

Radicchio risotto
Polenta e schie on stoneware bowl with Garlic, Olive Oil, Parsley

Polenta e schie
Risotto alla Milanese on stoneware bowl with Beef Broth, Butter, Onion

Risotto alla Milanese
Food Pairing

Turbiana salinity and freshness: dishes that fit Molceo

Molceo's salty, stony edge, fresh acidity and yeast-built body carry it from Lake Garda fish and seafood risotto to roast white meats and aged hard cheese.

Acidity matching Strong match

Lake Garda fish and shellfish

Molceo's bright acidity and salty, stony core mirror the brine of shellfish and freshwater fish, lifting sweet flesh without overwhelming it. The yeast-built texture stands up to richer preparations where a lean white would fade.

Try with: Grilled prawns · Mussels · Crab · Oysters · More pairings →

Body matching Strong match

Seafood risotto and lees-rich primi

The wine's 13% body and creamy, yeast-built texture match the starchy richness of risotto, while its acidity keeps each forkful fresh. Saltiness bridges to seafood and brodo-based primi in particular.

Try with: Squid ink risotto · Porcini mushroom risotto · Risotto alla Milanese · Pumpkin risotto · More pairings →

Fat cutting Good match

Roast white meats

Acidity and a salty finish cut through the fat of roast chicken, pork and duck, the carni bianche that Italian drinkers reach for with Lugana. There is enough structure here to handle crisp skin and pan juices.

Try with: Roast chicken · Roast pork · Pork belly · Duck breast · More pairings →

Salt balance Good match

Aged and hard cheeses

The flinty saltiness and nutty, almond-tinged yeast character echo the crystalline savour of aged hard cheese. Acidity resets the palate between bites. A natural with Grana Padano and alpine styles.

Try with: Cheese board · Blue cheese · aged Grana Padano · pecorino · More pairings →

Aromatic bridge Good match

Crudo, sushi and raw fish

Citrus, saltiness and a clean stony line make Molceo a bridge from Italian crudo to Japanese raw fish. Its freshness flatters delicate flesh and its texture handles soy and rice. A more interesting choice than a neutral white.

Try with: Sashimi · Nigiri Sushi · Ceviche · Crudo · More pairings →

Avoid Clash

Fiery chilli heat

Capsaicin heat amplifies the wine's 13% alcohol and tramples its delicate stony character, leaving Molceo hot and hollow. Save it for subtler dishes and reach for an off-dry Alto Adige Gewurztraminer with the chilli instead.

Skip with: Vindaloo · Szechuan hotpot · extra-hot green curry · bird's-eye chilli stir-fry · Pairing guide →

Drinking + cellar

Cellaring Ottella Molceo

Its structure comes from long ageing on spent yeast, and its track record spans more than a decade of Tre Bicchieri vintages. Molceo holds and improves for five to eight years. Store it cool and serve around 10C.

Decanting
Not needed

Pour it straight from the bottle.

Serving temperature
8-12°C

Aim for the cooler end on a warm day; warmer end opens up more aromatics.

Cellar potential
High

Built for longevity on 18 months of spent-yeast ageing; older vintages like the 2018 still show well, supporting five to eight years of cellaring.

Buy now or wait?
Buy now

£28.00 for a 75cl bottle of the 2023, at Vino.com, is the best price we track, and we have no signal of further discounting.

Sources & trust

Sources behind this Molceo page

Prices & stock

Read directly from each retailer’s public product page once a day. Last refresh: 27 Oct 2026, 03:22 BST. We do not hold stock and we do not accept payment for placement.

Confidence · High
Tasting notes

Drawn from what drinkers consistently report on Vivino, summarised in our own words. A crowd read across many tasters, not a single critic. Drinkers score it 4.2 out of 5 from 2,711 ratings on Vivino.

Confidence · Medium
Appellation rules & ageing

From the official Italian disciplinare for this denomination, cross-checked against the Ministry of Agriculture register.

Confidence · High
Why it costs what it costs

Our reading of the price, drawn from the disciplinare, public UK duty rates, and typical landed-cost benchmarks. Not a quote from the producer or a retailer.

Confidence · Medium
Drink window & cellar potential

Style guidance for this kind of wine at this price point. Treat it as advice, not a forecast for the bottle in your hand.

Confidence · Medium
Related

Explore Lugana, Turbiana and Ottella

Producer
Azienda Agricola Ottella Veneto
Grapes
Turbiana
Denomination
Lugana DOC
Region
Veneto Region guide
Cuisine
Italian Cuisine 3 dishes paired

Common Questions

A single-vineyard Lugana, often a Riserva, from Ottella on the southern shore of Lake Garda, made from Turbiana.

Citrus, white peach, almond and a salty, stony edge with more depth and texture than entry-level Lugana.

Lake and sea fish, risotto, white meats and fresh cheeses.

Lugana of this level can develop for several years, gaining nutty, honeyed complexity.

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Ottella Lugana Riserva Molceo
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