COBUE

Cobue is a family winery in Pozzolengo, among the moraine hills south of Lake Garda. The land has been farmed since the early 1800s. The farmhouse has two buildings around a wide courtyard with a centuries-old horse chestnut tree, and the north facade of the main building still shows the rose window and lunette of a small former convent.

Since 1971 the estate has belonged to the Gettuli family. Today Laura runs it with her husband Aurelio Castoldi and their children Simona and Gilberto. Their approach is simple: care for the land, hard work and honest wines that express the territory.

Visitors can tour the cellar and taste the wines, also among the vines or by the pool in the warmer months. Where the old barn once stood, the family built a modern wooden guest house designed for energy saving and low environmental impact. It has six apartments, each named after one of the estate's wines, a swimming pool in a garden of 8,000 square metres, and a spa with a Finnish sauna, a Turkish bath, a salt room and an outdoor pool. It is a quiet base for exploring Lake Garda and its wine country.

The estate covers 25 hectares, with more than 17 hectares of vineyards on gentle hillsides with calcareous and clay soils. Most grapes are native varieties. The vines are tended with reduced pruning and less invasive treatments, and the harvest is done by hand. All wines are made in the estate cellar, in temperature-controlled steel tanks, in wooden barrels for the most important wines, and in the bottle for the sparkling wines.

Lugana is the main white. Monte Lupo is 100% Trebbiano di Lugana, floral and citrusy with notes of peach and apricot, while CAMP8 is a more complex cru from vineyard plot number 8. Campolivi is a San Martino della Battaglia DOC from Tuchì, the historic local grape, with chamomile, white flowers and an almond finish. Getulio is made as a fresh white and as a red with blackberry, dried plum and spicy notes.

Among the reds, Il Poggio is a Riviera del Garda Classico from Groppello Gentile, Sangiovese, Marzemino and Barbera, and Dolce Colle is a pure Marzemino with berry and almond notes.

The Metodo Classico sparkling wines rest a long time on the lees. Mille Brut and Zero are Blanc de Blancs from Chardonnay with 36 months on the lees, while Albis and Roseo are made from Groppello. The sweet wines are 31 Ottobre, a late-harvest Lugana, and PASSVM, made from Tuchì grapes left to dry on the vine.