Your cellar, your trips, and the wines you've been tracking are right where you left them.
New here?
Free, always. Education first, we'll never sell you anything you didn't ask to see.
Already have an account?
Enter the email you signed up with and we'll send a link to choose a new password.
Azienda Agricola Ottella
Ottella's Molceo is the estate's flagship Lugana Riserva: 100% Turbiana from parcels by Lake Garda, aged 18 months on the lees. Citrus, white flowers and flinty minerality lead a rich, saline palate built to age. A Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri white.
Ottella's own notes and the Vivino drinker consensus agree on a Turbiana of citrus, white flowers and flinty minerality, layered over ripe peach and a saline, lees-built palate.
Intense gold in the glass, with Ottella's signature citrus and white-flower lift over flint and wet-stone minerality. Vivino drinkers add ripe peach and apricot, with a touch of honey as the wine opens.
Grapefruit
Lemon
Orange blossom
Apricot
Peach
Flint
Wet stones
Almond
HoneyRich and structured, with a saline, mineral core and the flinty, lightly petrol note that aged Turbiana develops. Eighteen months on the fine lees, part in cask and barrique, give a creamy, almond-tinged texture under fresh 13% acidity.
Long and persistent, closing on saline minerality and stone fruit rather than oak. It is the kind of finish that lets Molceo carry rich dishes.
A serious, age-worthy Lugana Riserva and Ottella's flagship white, rated 4.2 across 2,711 Vivino ratings with the 2018 among the world's top 1%. One for drinkers who want structure, salinity and cellar potential, not a simple aperitivo Lugana.
Molceo sits at the top of the Lugana ladder, tracked here around £33 to £44 for the 2021 vintage across specialist UK merchants.
A structured, age-worthy Turbiana that shines at the table and as an occasion white, priced at the upper end of its appellation.
High acidity, salinity and a lees-built body make Molceo one of the most food-flexible whites in northern Italy, from shellfish to roast white meats.
A perennial Tre Bicchieri and Wine Enthusiast 93-point white, Molceo is the estate's flagship and a confident choice for an occasion.
Built for longevity on 18 months of lees; older vintages like the top-1% 2018 still show well, supporting five to eight years of cellaring.
At £33 to £44 it is priced at the top of Lugana, but its Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri pedigree and ageing make the quality-to-price ratio sound.
Scoring is rule-based and deterministic. The model and weightings are documented in our Wine Fit Score methodology.
A compact view of what the Lugana denomination actually requires, and how this bottle sits inside it. Pulled from the official Italian disciplinare.
Compare tracked offers from verified retailers at a glance. Stock is shown only where the retailer exposes it. Logos, sale pricing, and the strongest offer are surfaced first.
The 2021 comes from a cooler, balanced Garda season that kept Turbiana fresh. Built on 18 months of lees ageing, Molceo rewards patience: the 2018 ranks among Vivino's global top 1%.
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 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.
A near-permanent Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri and a Wine Enthusiast 93-point white, Molceo is made only from estate Turbiana in the heartland of the Lugana denomination.
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.
Lugana falls within Lombardy , covering Lombardy · Veneto.
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.
Long lees ageing plus a portion in botte and barrique ties up the wine and cellar space for around 1.5 years and adds barrel cost, unlike steel-only Lugana released within months.
Gentle whole-cluster pressing and a partial malolactic are slower, lower-yield Riserva choices that lift quality and the cost per bottle.
A near-permanent Tre Bicchieri and a 93-point Wine Enthusiast score let Molceo command a premium over unrated Lugana, supporting its £33 to £44 UK shelf price.
UK excise on still wine up to 15% ABV is £2.67 a bottle at 2026 rates, and 20% VAT adds about £6.70 on a £40 wine, so close to £9 is tax before the retailer's margin.
Lugana's sizeable, well-organised Garda production base keeps base fruit costs below rarer single-estate appellations, partly offsetting the Riserva premium.
Dishes that complement this wine
Molceo's saline minerality, fresh acidity and lees-built body carry it from Lake Garda fish and seafood risotto to roast white meats and aged hard cheese.
Molceo's bright acidity and saline, mineral core mirror the brine of shellfish and freshwater fish, lifting sweet flesh without overwhelming it. The lees-built texture stands up to richer preparations where a lean white would fade.
Try with: Grilled prawns · Mussels · Crab · Oysters · More pairings →
The wine's 13% body and creamy lees texture match the starchy richness of risotto, while its acidity keeps each forkful fresh. Salinity bridges to seafood and brodo-based primi in particular.
Try with: Squid ink risotto · Porcini mushroom risotto · Risotto alla Milanese · Pumpkin risotto · More pairings →
Acidity and a saline 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 →
The flinty salinity and nutty, almond-tinged lees character echo the crystalline savour of aged hard cheese, while 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 →
Citrus, salinity and a clean mineral line make Molceo a bridge from Italian crudo to Japanese raw fish, where 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 →
Capsaicin heat amplifies the wine's 13% alcohol and tramples its delicate minerality, 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 →
With its lees structure and a track record across more than a decade of Tre Bicchieri vintages, Molceo holds and improves for five to eight years. Store it cool and serve around 10C.
Peak around 2027. Best in the years above; holds without falling over either side.
A short splash decant softens the first-pour edge and opens the aromatics.
Built for longevity on 18 months of lees; older vintages like the top-1% 2018 still show well, supporting five to eight years of cellaring.
£33.48 is the lowest tracked offer for the current vintage and we have no signal of further discounting.
Read directly from each retailer’s public product page once a day. Last refresh: 28 Jul 2026, 20:46 BST. We do not hold stock and we do not accept payment for placement.
Confidence · HighDrawn from what drinkers consistently report on Vivino and Wine-Searcher, summarised in our own words. A crowd read across many tasters, not a single critic.
Confidence · MediumFrom the official Italian disciplinare for this denomination, cross-checked against the Ministry of Agriculture register.
Confidence · HighOur 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 · MediumStyle guidance for this kind of wine at this price point. Treat it as advice, not a forecast for the bottle in your hand.
Confidence · MediumA single-vineyard Lugana, often a Riserva, from Ottella on the southern shore of Lake Garda, made from Turbiana.
Citrus, white peach, almond and a saline, mineral 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.
3 retailers
Lugana
3 retailers
£19.70
£21.18
2 retailers
Lugana
2 retailers
£15.90
£18.49
2 retailers
Lugana
2 retailers
£40.20
2 retailers
Lugana
2 retailers
£19.72
Affiliate disclosure. Some links above are affiliate links. If you buy through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Editorial coverage, ratings and tasting notes are written independently and a retailer cannot pay to be listed or to be ranked higher.
How retailer prices are sourced.
Prices and stock are read from each retailer’s public product page once a day. Outbound buy links carry rel="nofollow sponsored noopener". The list is sorted by price; we do not accept payment for placement.
What we will never do. Imply we tasted a bottle when we didn’t. Imply stock when a retailer is out. Imply independence on links that are paid affiliate links.
Verified retailers
Price comparison
Updated daily
