Ottella’s Le Creete, a single-vineyard Lugana from the white clay of Lake Garda, has been our best-selling Italian white since the day we opened. The 2025 lands this week. The 2024 earned 93 points from Decanter and 92 from Wine Enthusiast.

A Personal Note

Dear Artisans,

When we opened our doors seventeen years ago, Ottella’s Le Creete was on the shelf. It has been our best-selling Italian white every year since. It is the house white for many of our clients, as well as some man named Larry Ellison.

It was also the best seller at our Mastrojanni tasting earlier this month.

The 2025 lands this week. Only a few hundred cases are imported, and when a new vintage arrives, it sells out quickly.

White Clay On Lake Garda

Lugana, which Decanter calls a “boutique white wine region,” sits on the shores of Lake Garda, spanning the border between Lombardy and Veneto. Its wines are made from a local grape, Turbiana, which Decanter calls “a bit of a chameleon; delicately fruit-forward on its own, but with enough structural complexity to give winemakers endless room to play with different styles.”

Ottella has been here since 1905. In 1964, the grandfather of today’s chief winemaker, Lodovico, designed a map of the Lugana denomination based on its unique clay soils. That clay is the whole story. Decanter again: it “naturally tames the vigour of the bounteous Turbiana grape, resulting in whites that boast impressive weight, concentration, and a hallmark longevity that punches far above their casual ‘summer-sipper’ weight.”

Le Creete is named for it. In Veronese dialect, creete means clay, and this wine comes from 30- to 40-year-old vines in soil high in white clay.

In The Glass

Le Creete is extremely fragrant, like blossoms cut fresh from the garden. Grown lakeside, it bursts with floral, citrus and mineral notes, and it has the balance of ripe fruit and mouthwatering acidity that is Ottella’s calling card.

The 2025 is too new for the critics; its reviews will not be out for a while. The 2024 earned 93 points from Decanter, which named it one of “Four Lugana to change your mind,” and 92 from Wine Enthusiast. The 2020 vintage was No. 75 on Wine Enthusiast’s Top 100. Knowing this estate, I expect the 2025 to score even higher.

Open A Bottle When You…

James Tran

Artisan Wine & Spirits

Why This Matters

The Wine · The 2025 Vintage

Ottella Le Creete Lugana.

Our #1-selling Italian white, seventeen years running.

Ottella “Le Creete” Lugana 2025

Lugana DOC · Veneto, Italy

On The 2024 Vintage

The estate’s tasting note: golden straw in color, with exotic hints of pineapple and grapefruit and a savory trace, and a fleshy texture that is full bodied and persistent, with good minerality. The 2025 is too new to have been reviewed, so the two reviews below are for the 2024.

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The Bottom Line

The Italian white our customers buy most, seventeen years running.

Join the devotees who have made Le Creete our best-selling Italian white every year since we opened. The 2025 is $27.99 a bottle, $25.99 by the case, and it lands this week.

Only a few hundred cases are imported, and they go quickly. Reserve yours now and we will have it waiting.

Ciao!

— James Tran

Artisan Wine & Spirits

Further reading: Decanter on why Lugana is more than a lakeside sipper →

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