Organic Lugana from Lake Garda

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What is Lugana?

Lugana is a white wine appellation on the southern shore of Lake Garda, on the border between Lombardy and Veneto. The appellation extends across five communes — Sirmione, Desenzano, Pozzolengo, Lonato and Peschiera del Garda — and encompasses around 2,500 hectares of vineyard.

The only permitted grape variety is Turbiana, a local variant of Trebbiano. Turbiana is thin-skinned, late-ripening and develops a distinctive minerality on the region’s calcareous clay soils that distinguishes Lugana from other Italian white wines.

Lake Garda functions as a natural thermostat: mild winters, cool breezes in summer. The result is wines with vibrant acidity and a freshness one wouldn’t expect at this latitude. The finest Lugana wines can easily age for ten years and longer — an ageing potential that surprises many.

Currently there are 116 Lugana producers. Most produce pleasant, uncomplicated terrace wine. The few who take Lugana seriously make something quite different from it.

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Marangona Estate — Alessandro Cutolo

What sets Marangona apart from most of the 115 other Lugana producers: One of only eight organically certified estates in the entire appellation. Certified since 2017, experimenting since 2012. In a region dominated by conventional viticulture, that’s a statement.

100,000 bottles per year, exclusively from estate-grown grapes. Gambero Rosso awarded its highest accolade in 2025 — Tre Bicchieri — for the Cemento. Antonio Galloni and Decanter gave top ratings. Marangona is no longer an insider tip, but one of the most exciting addresses at Lake Garda.

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Concrete, Clay and the Art of Omission

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The Wines of Marangona

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The Marangona Tasting Case

Once across Marangona — six bottles, four wines:

• 2× Marangona Lugana 2025 — the entry point, saline minerality for €13
• 1× Cemento Lugana 2024 — the Tre Bicchieri winner, skin contact in concrete
• 1× TreCampane Lugana 2024 — the principal wine, 94 points Decanter
• 2× Chiaretto 2025 — organic rosé from four Lake Garda varieties, only 4,000 bottles/year

Order tasting case
6 bottles · approx. €96

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Organic viticulture at Lake Garda — why this is the exception

Of 116 Lugana producers, only eight are organically certified. This is no coincidence: the region around Lake Garda, with its humid microclimate and calcareous clay soil, presents particular challenges for organic winegrowers. Fungal pressure is high, conventional neighbours spray next door, and the economic pressure in an appellation that primarily produces volume is enormous.

Marangona experimented with organic methods from 2012 and received certification in 2017. The conversion was not a marketing decision, but a consequence of Alessandro’s conviction that the soil — not the cellar — defines the wine.

What this means in practice: wildflowers between the vine rows instead of herbicides. Natural ground cover instead of bare earth. Compost and green manure instead of synthetic fertiliser. The biodiversity in the vineyard is measurably higher — from insects to grasses to the microorganisms in the soil that give the wines their saline minerality.

The calcareous clay between Pozzolengo and Sirmione is the foundation. Formed from deposits of a prehistoric lake, it contains finely distributed limestone that gives the Turbiana vines their characteristic tension. Added to this is the thermal regulation from Lake Garda: mild winters (rarely below 0°C), cool breezes in summer (the Ora from the lake), and a long, even ripening period that gives the grapes time to develop aromas without losing acidity.

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Lugana with which food?

Lugana is one of Italy’s most versatile food companions — from light starters to substantial fish dishes. Here are four recommendations with the matching Marangona wines.

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Frequently Asked Questions about Lugana and Organic Lugana