Written by Ylenia Sambati, Travel Designer
Puglia, the “heel” of the boot of peninsular Italy is a southern Italian paradise set apart from the rest of the country. This is a land which rightly enjoys the reputation of being a place of great history, warm people and stunning food and wine.
It goes straight to the heart with its suggestive scenery, beautiful white uncontaminated sandy beaches, magical atmosphere, centenarian olive groves, old stones and colorful local people. Nature in this area will immediately strike you: infinite sights of olive trees, light blue sea, an impressive countryside and the characteristic white color of the homes in old towns. Because of the incredible climate here all year long, the grapes ripen giving wine a very high sugar content, thus creating a phenomenon that occurs naturally in Puglia.
For those who love visiting Churches and Castles, Puglia reveals incredible stories of art and battles through a number of churches, striking frescoes, fascinating ornamental patterned reliefs, watch towers by the seashore and a list of more cultural sites. And wine in this region is no doubt a top theme.
Very few people know that Puglia produces more wine than any other region in Italy. For many years most of the region’s grapes have been exported to “famous wine places” to be used to cut all those wonderfully smooth wines we think of as being typically “terroir”, especially weaker ones with a lower alcohol content.
More than 60% of the production of wine in Puglia is red wine: it is home to the famous Primitivo red robust wine. There’s an increasing interest in the potential of Puglia wines – probably also due to its unique flavor and bouquet of elegant aromas.
Only in recent years Pugliesi winegrowers have realized their crops’ potential to produce finer wines and have finally obtained recognition amongst the panels of international experts: quality is up and the results are definitely putting Puglia on the wine map, with a wine philosophy that shifts from quantitative production to qualitative.
The region can be ideally divided into three main wine areas, corresponding to three different provinces: Foggia in the north, Bari and Taranto in the middle and Brindisi and Lecce in the south.
Primitivo is considered as a far cousin of the California’s Zinfandel grape: it is strong in structure, heavy and dark red.
Negromaro (black bitter) is characterized by a deep ruby red color, a pleasant full perfume and harmonious, velvety flavor. It is used to produce some of the region’s best wines, giving the wines the right amount of alcohol and strong body.
Negroamaro, is grown almost exclusively in Puglia and particularly in Salento, mecca to the round reds together with Castel del Monte. Wines made from Negroamaro tend to be very rustic in character, combining perfume with an earthy bitterness. The Salento reds are mostly dominated by Negroamaro, which is cut by Sangiovese and the highly scented Malvasia Nera, as in the case of the Salice Salentino.
Negroamaro is more commonly used as the dominant component of a blend including such varieties as Malvasia Nera, Sangiovese or Montepulciano.
More Puglia grapes are: Uva di Troia (the name comes from the region’s Ancient Greek influence), a secondary red grape used in the Foggia province to make the famous “Castel del Monte” wines, the fruity rosés from Gioia del Colle, the crisp whites from Locorotondo.
But Puglia also makes some delicious light white wines with the Bombino Bianco and Verdeca grapes (with some barrel fermented Chardonnays).
More and more rosés of Puglia (made of Negroamaro) are surprisingly successful and are seducing the wine world.
The sweet grapes, among which Primitivo, Moscato and Aleatico, produce interesting dessert wines whose natural sugars set the alcohol content between 15% or even 17%.
Puglia’s terroir performance is relevant: the hot climate and sunshine and sea breeze make it for a perfect environment for viticulture. Puglia boasts 26 different DOC and 6 IGT areas: it is the land where harvest is still carried out by hand.
All the secrets of Puglia can be seen with a local expert: YLTOUR PR designs wine tours for wine lovers: itineraries cover the most important vineyards, including tastings at the very top wine estates, finest hotels and restaurants.