Published by Jeremy.
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Out of all of the obscure grapes we've tried over the years, Turbiana from the Lake Garda region of northern Italy holds a special place in our heart as one of our favorites.
One of the first bottles featuring this grape we tried was Ca dei Frati's Brolettino, which, in our opinion at least, was quite the stellar bottle with everything we look for in a delicious white wine.
So when we saw their I Frati bottle, also featuring Turbiana at a more appropriate price point, we picked it up. Although we ultimately thought this one was lacking the intensity and concentration of the Brolettino, we're still glad we tried this one because we really like this grape!
A More Straight Forward Turbiana
This Turbiana was pale lemon in color with medium aromas of lemon, pear, wet stone, peach skin, lemon, lime, grapefruit, and light beeswax notes.
On the palate, it was dry with high acidity, medium alcohol, body, and flavor intensity, plus a medium(+) finish. We had simpler flavors very comparable to the aromas of lemon, lime, pear, grapefruit, peach, wet stone, and beeswax as well.
Although this one had a light phenolic characteristic that we always enjoy in white wines, the overall simple flavors and lighter intensity made us wanting just a bit more in this particular bottle.
Turbiana Food Pairing – Pasta with Ricotta Cream Sauce and Mushroom
We paired this Turbiana with a pasta with a ricotta cream sauce and mushrooms, as we thought the brighter acidity and vibrant flavors would make for a nice offset of a bit more rich and earthy cream-based pasta.
As expected, we had more pear notes in the wine while minimizing a bit more of the simpler lemon and lime notes. But perhaps more surprisingly here is that we had also more notable waxy characteristics pop with the pairing beyond what we had when drinking the wine alone (which, admittedly, makes it more in line with what we prefer).
So a pretty good pairing all around!
Score: 2 / 5
We're okay on this one.
While we do admit that this was a pretty decent bottle of wine, we have to admit, we quite prefer Ca dei Frati's Brolettino for a more intense representation of the Turbiana grape. As such, while we are okay on this one, we will stick to that bottle instead in the future.
Ca dei Frati is located at Via Frati, 22, 25019 Sirmione BS on the shores of Lake Garda, Italy. We purchased this bottle locally and enjoyed it in 2025. This bottle was available at Wine.com at the time of publication.
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