DOC White

Ca dei Frati I Frati Lugana

Azienda Agricola Ca’ dei Frati
Grape
Turbiana
Denomination
Lugana DOC
Region
Lombardy
ABV
13%
Body
Medium
Drink
Now–2030

The Dal Cero family's benchmark Lugana from Sirmione: 100% Turbiana off glacial clay, six months on fine lees in steel. White flowers, apricot and lemon over lively, savoury freshness. James Suckling gave the current 2025 92 points, per xtrawine.

Best price
£14.40

2025 · 75cl · checked 12 Sep

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

Where to buy Ca dei Frati I Frati Lugana

£14.40 best price · 4 retailers in stock · checked 13 Sep 2026

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

Xtrawine Best price 2025 · Half bottle 37.5cl · checked 12 Sep
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£10.10 £26.93/L
8wines Best price 2025 · 75cl · checked 12 Sep
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£14.40 £19.20/L
Xtrawine Best price 2025 · 75cl · checked 12 Sep
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£16.50 £22.00/L
Vino Best price 2025 · 75cl · checked 13 Sep
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£19.80 £26.40/L
Noblegreenwines Best price 2025 · 75cl · checked 13 Sep
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£26.50 £35.33/L
Xtrawine Best price 2025 · Magnum 150cl · checked 12 Sep
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£35.00 £23.33/L
Unavailable (1)
Vinissimus Best price 2024 · 75cl · checked 13 Sep
Out of stock
£24.05 £32.07/L
Out of stock

Stock status is read from each retailer’s page once a day and may lag. Case and magnum listings show a per-bottle or per-litre equivalent and sit outside the best-price figure.

Tasting Notes

White flowers, apricot and lake-fresh salt: tasting I Frati

The producer's sheet promises white flowers, balsamic notes and apricot when young, turning mineral with age. 5,594 Vivino taste reviews add peach, apple and ripe lemon.

Tasted by
ItalianWines editorial (drinker consensus)
Tasted on
22 August 2026
Source
Drinker consensus · confidence Medium
Taste profile
Body Light / Full
Tannins Smooth / Grippy
Sweetness Dry / Sweet
Acidity Soft / Crisp
Nose

White flowers and apricot lead: they are the markers Ca' dei Frati's own sheet gives for a young I Frati. The peach, apple and ripe lemon that 5,594 Vivino reviews log most follow behind. Karadar's Italian sheet adds a thread of almond.

LemonLemon
AppleApple
ApricotApricot
PeachPeach
Wet stonesWet stones
AlmondAlmond
HoneyHoney
Palate

Fuller than most crisp whites at 13%: the producer calls its savoury core significant and its acidity strong and exuberant, and both show in the glass. Six months on fine lees in steel add flesh without a trace of oak.

Finish

Salty-fresh, citrus-edged and long; with a few years it moves towards iodine, spice and candied fruit, exactly as the estate describes.

Overall

The wine most people meet Lugana through, and still the reference: 4.2 across 5,594 Vivino taste reviews, 92 from James Suckling for the 2025 per xtrawine, and a Wine Enthusiast 91 on the 2019. Drink it at release or let it deepen; the Dal Cero family builds it for both.

Drink now Best by 2030
Live UK pricing

Where the UK sells I Frati, and what a fair price looks like

Three UK merchants carry the 2025: £16.50 at xtrawine, £18.83 at 8wines and £19.90 on sale at vino.com. Italian shops charge about 15 euros, so under £18 here is fair.

Best price · 37.5 cl £10.10 at xtrawine
Price spread £10.10 - £35.00 Across 4 UK retailers tracked
Retailers tracked 4UK 6 in stock
Vintages live 2025 Current release: 2025
Per-litre (37.5 cl basis) £26.93 Per-litre price for the lowest current offer
Last checked 13 Sep 2026 Refreshed once every 24 hours
Wine fit score

How I Frati scores as a buy

The scores reflect a 13% steel-raised white that covers aperitif to main course, priced £16.50 to £21.63 in the UK today.

Best with food 8.8/10

From delicate starters to steamed fish, saffron risotto and mature cheese, it covers more of a menu than most whites; only big meat dishes defeat it.

Best intro to this style 8.5/10

Friendly peach-and-apple fruit, no oak and a modest 13%: an easy first Lugana, though a step above impulse pricing.

Best value 7.8/10

UK prices run £16.50 to £21.63 while Italy pays about 15 euros; a 92-point white under £17 at xtrawine is honest value.

Best everyday bottle 7.5/10

Under £17 if you shop around, and it flatters weeknight fish; the £21.63 end is more of a Friday bottle.

Best for an occasion 5.5/10

The reference Lugana with a 92-point current vintage: smart enough to open a dinner party, without trophy-bottle pricing.

Best for cellar 4.5/10

Made to drink young but built to improve: the estate says it shows its best years after bottling, and 10,000 drinkers still rate the 2019 at 4.2.

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)
Vintages

The 2025 in the glass, and why older I Frati is worth chasing

The current 2025 is producer-listed at 13% and took 92 points from James Suckling, per xtrawine. Vivino's crowd scores the 2024, 2022 and 2019 all at 4.2, and the 2019 carries a Wine Enthusiast 91.

2025 Current release
Lowest price
£10.10
Retailers
6 in stock
ABV
13.0%
Window
Drink now through 2030

Producer-listed at 13% on the 2025 technical sheet. James Suckling scored it 92, per xtrawine; drink it now for flowers and apricot, or hold three to five years for the mineral side the estate promises.

2024 Sold through
Lowest price
not listed
Retailers
0 in stock
Window
Drink now through 2029

Vivino's crowd rates the 2024 at 4.2 from nearly 5,000 reviews, level with every recent year of I Frati. Drink it through about 2029; the estate builds this wine to gain depth rather than fade.

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

Ca' dei Frati: the Dal Cero family benchmark for Lugana

From Via Frati in Lugana di Sirmione, the Dal Cero family has made I Frati the bottle most drinkers meet Lugana through. The DOC itself is a narrow band of glacial clay south of Lake Garda, shared between Brescia and Verona provinces.

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 Wine route in the zone

Made at Azienda Agricola Ca’ dei Frati, Lugana di Sirmione. Directions

Wine route in the zone: Strada dei Vini del Garda.

04

Reading the label

  • Azienda Agricola Ca’ dei FratiProducer / estate
  • TurbianaGrape varieties
  • Lugana DOCGeographic indication and quality tier
  • 2025Vintage (year of harvest)
  • 13.0% vol · 75 clAlcohol by volume and bottle size
05

What sits behind the price of Ca dei Frati I Frati Lugana

Tracked from
£10.10
Direction
Mostly cost up
Drivers
3 up / 1 down
Main factor
UK duty and VAT on a 13% bottle
  1. 01

    Estate Turbiana from Lugana di Sirmione

    Cost up

    The Dal Cero family grows its own fruit at Via Frati in Lugana di Sirmione, a run xtrawine puts at eighty-five years. Estate fruit from one small DOC zone costs more than bought-in grapes.

  2. 02

    Six months on fine lees, then bottle rest

    Cost up

    The wine sits in steel on its fine lees for at least six months, then rests two to three more in bottle. Most of a year of cellar time is priced in.

  3. 03

    Steel only, no oak programme

    Cost down

    Fermentation and ageing happen in steel tanks; there is no barrel bill to recover in the price.

  4. 04

    UK duty and VAT on a 13% bottle

    Cost up

    UK duty on a 13% 75cl bottle is £2.99 since February 2026, and VAT adds about £3.32 at vino.com's £19.90, so roughly £6.30 of that price never touches the wine.

01

Estate Turbiana from Lugana di Sirmione

Cost up

The Dal Cero family grows its own fruit at Via Frati in Lugana di Sirmione, a run xtrawine puts at eighty-five years. Estate fruit from one small DOC zone costs more than bought-in grapes.

Perfect Pairings

Dishes that go with this wine

Food Pairing

Boiled, steamed or grilled fish: the producer's own serving brief

Ca' dei Frati pours young I Frati at about 10 degrees with delicate starters and fish. Vivino's crowd adds shellfish, pasta and mature cheese.

Acidity matching Strong match

Shellfish and lake fish with lemon

The producer calls the acidity strong and exuberant, and it works like the lemon wedge: it brightens shellfish and cuts through lake fish. The salty side of the wine echoes the brine.

Try with: Mussels · Grilled prawns · Oysters · Lake Garda whitefish

Body matching Strong match

Saffron risotto and creamy rice

I Frati carries more weight than most crisp whites, so creamy rice does not flatten it. A Lombard wine beside Lombardy's saffron risotto is the home match.

Try with: Risotto alla Milanese · Seafood risotto · Prawn risotto

Fat cutting Good match

Richer fish and butter sauces

Butter and oily fish coat the mouth; this wine's fresh acidity and savoury core rinse it clean. The producer's brief runs to grilled fish, and the weight here handles the richer end.

Try with: Miso Black Cod · Roast sea bream · Trout with butter and sage

Aromatic bridge Good match

Delicate starters, served cool

Ca' dei Frati pours young I Frati at about 10 degrees with cold or warm starters that stay delicate. White flowers and apricot in the glass lift mozzarella, melon and raw vegetables.

Try with: Insalata Caprese · Prosciutto e melone · Warm vegetable antipasti

Salt balance Good match

Mature cheeses and salty bites

Salt makes a fruity white taste rounder, and Vivino's crowd files mature and hard cheese with this wine. The wine's own savoury edge keeps the match from turning sweet.

Try with: Grana Padano · Parmigiano Reggiano · Anchovy crostini

Avoid Clash

Fierce chilli and heavy braises

Hot chilli burns off the white flowers and apricot and makes 13% feel hotter, while long-braised meat outweighs a white built for fish. Pour a structured red instead.

Skip with: Vindaloo · Sichuan hotpot · Oxtail stew · Brasato al Barolo · Pairing guide →

Drinking + cellar

I Frati ages, and the market knows it

The estate says the wine shows its best years after bottling, moving into iodine, spice and candied fruit. Vivino lists the 2022 at a 31.90 euro average against 15.70 for the current release, and 10,520 drinkers still rate the 2019 at 4.2.

Drinking window
2026 → 2030

Best in the years above; holds without falling over either side.

Decanting
0

A short splash decant softens the first-pour edge and opens the aromatics.

Cellar potential
Medium

Made to drink young but built to improve: the estate says it shows its best years after bottling, and 10,000 drinkers still rate the 2019 at 4.2.

Buy now or wait?
Buy now

£10.10 is the lowest tracked offer for the current vintage and we have no signal of further discounting.

Sources & trust

Sources for this I Frati page

Prices & stock

Read directly from each retailer’s public product page once a day. Last refresh: 13 Sep 2026, 01:35 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 and Wine-Searcher, summarised in our own words. A crowd read across many tasters, not a single critic.

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

Common Questions

100% Turbiana, the Lugana DOC grape also sold as Trebbiano di Lugana. Ca' dei Frati grows it on the glacial clay south of Lake Garda. The wine ferments in steel and rests at least six months before a short spell in bottle.

Young, it is fresh and linear: white flowers, balsamic notes and apricot, with the peach, apple and ripe lemon Vivino drinkers log most. Give it a few years and the producer says it turns mineral, with iodine, spice and candied fruit.

Fish is the producer's own brief: boiled, steamed or grilled, plus delicate cold or warm starters at about 10 degrees. Vivino's crowd adds shellfish, pasta and mature cheese, and its savoury freshness suits saffron risotto too.

Yes. Ca' dei Frati says it shows its best years after bottling, and Karadar lists ageing potential beyond five years. Drinkers agree: the 2019 still averages 4.2 on Vivino from more than 10,000 ratings.

The 2025 sits between £16.50 and £21.63 across xtrawine, 8wines and vino.com right now, with sale prices dipping lower. Italian shops charge about 15 euros, so anything under £18 here is a fair deal.

You May Also Appreciate

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.

Ca dei Frati I Frati Lugana