I am sure you already have your favourite Italian wine … maybe a deep, velvety Barolo for special occasions; a chewy Chianti for accompanying steak, a light Soave as an aperitif and of course a glass or two of prosecco to celebrate a big occasion or the end of the working week! You may also already know that Prosecco has overtaken Champagne as the fizz of choice in the UK. However you might not know that Italian wines in general have surpassed French wine sales to make Italy the world’s largest wine producer. Our familiarity with the wines I have listed above from the more northern regions of Italy, belies the fact that Puglia is actually Italy’s largest wine producing region yet there are no familiar, big-hitting names to be seen! The good news is this is already starting to change. While much of Puglia’s wine has generally not left Italy until recently, as the rest of Europe looks to find a wider variety of wines and to find bottles of something they may have enjoyed on their travels, we can expect to find more and more Puglian wines in shops and restaurants in the UK.

On my recent trip to my treasured Puglia, I wanted to learn more about what we have been missing out on and why we should all be seeking out the seriously good wines of the region.

Cantine Carpentiere – passionate and progressive

*The vines and cantine of Cantine Carpentiere, with Castel del Monte in the background*

Meeting Luigi Carpentiere at his cantine in the heart of the Alta Murgia National Park, under the gaze of the Castel del Monte, was a real breath of fresh air. His small, family run, operation, producing around 60,000-70,000 bottles per year, is all about producing unique, quality wines using traditional Puglian grapes and making the most of the vineyards’ position 500m above sea level, within sight of the coastline. Buying up surrounding vines, nearly centuries old, which had been worked literally by one man and his dog, and growing grapes alongside the most beautiful roses and cherries (so many gorgeous jewel-like cherries like I’ve never seen before!), Luigi and his brother Enzo rely on the natural terroir to produce organic wines full of character and life.

The creative and distinctive bottle labels are even designed by an old school friend of Luigi’s and the history of the land on which the vineyard sits is fascinating. It was once an ancient ‘jazzo’ – a technically brilliant summer hotel for sheep when, through history, they were brought south to avoid the winter’s snow in the north of Italy and to avoid paying taxes during the reign of Emperor Frederick II in the 13th century. So much thought seems to go into everything at Cantine Carpentiere – the jazzo and its ancient dwellings have been lovingly restored and are an important part of any visitor’s tour of the place. The grounds are beautifully kept; Luigi is clearly very proud of his Puglian heritage and of living in the Alta Murgia with all its nature and history. This passion is transferred to his wines and the cantine – he won’t sell to supermarkets (or host weddings!), he wants to purely focus on the wine and he takes such delight in sharing the traditions and history of the region.

We had had the pleasure of enjoying Cantine Carpentiere’s most unique wine, Come d’Incanto, a few times before – it’s a white wine made from the Nero di Troia (RED!) grapes. There is nothing I like more than drinking a wine which tastes unlike anything else I’ve ever tasted – a complete surprise of textured citrusy richness but still with a mineral freshness. And with my favourite wine label ever!

We really enjoyed drinking more rose on this trip to Puglia and the Bombino Nero DOCG, produced from these traditional Puglian grapes from vines which are over 70 years old, is deliciously light with hints of cherry. Though with only 4,000 bottles produced per year, you would be lucky to find a bottle outside of Puglia! If you love your reds fruity and fresh, look out for wines made from the Nero di Troia grape. Cantine Carpentiere produces two excellent varieties; Colle dei Grillai DOC, named after the local birds of prey which have watched over the hills of the Alta Murgia since ancient times, blended with Merlot grapes to produce a wine which tastes like a summer pudding and the Pietra dei Lupi, an aged pure Nero di Troia wine, the grapes harvested at the end of October ensuring perfect ripeness to produce a wonderfully elegant wine with aroma and taste of roses, which I loved! Again, the name of the wine is tied to the location of the vines –referring to the stones (pietra) which kept the wolves (lupi) from entering the aforementioned jazzo and attacking the sheep.

*All the wines and their imaginative labels!*

It was such a pleasure to spend several hours with Luigi in the Puglian sunshine and a great introduction to Puglian grape varieties. You can read and view more about Cantine Carpentiere on their website here: http://www.cantinecarpentiere.it/

Cantine I Pàstini – tradition and modernity

*Looking from Locorotondo towards Martina Franca - Cantine I Pàstini is there somewhere!*

Our next stop was in the heart of the Valle d’Itria, slap bang between the stunning cities of Martina Franca and Locorotondo (blog post to come on these two beauties!), where we met Gianni Carparelli, owner of Cantine I Pàstini. History and tradition is also rooted in this family run winery, with even the name taken from the Latin word Pastinum for hoe which of course was a vital tool for planting vines in times gone by. There is also a trulli farm house complex dating back to the 16th century which is a very charming part of the vineyard tour, crossing the local railway line to do so which is fun!

Gianni studied viticulture in Florence for five years before returning to his home town to use modern wine making techniques to produce wines from ancient vines, with first production in 2003. He has converted an old store room into a gorgeous wine tasting ‘chapel’, shading visitors from the Puglian sunshine and providing a small stage for him to show off his delicious wines. It was a delight to try a Puglian sparkling wine, a Spumante Classico made from Verdeca grapes, which was fresh and floral and very drinkable! Verdeca is a grape which is native to Puglia, although probably imported from Greece (like many things in the region) hundreds of years ago. It is a popular grape for making white wines in Puglia and I Pàstini also produces a Verdeca white wine called Faraone which is very dry, again with floral notes and would be great with fresh seafood. The limestone soil in the local area is great for growing white grapes. Similarly to Cantine Carpentiere, the height of the land here too (resulting in more windy conditions) means there are very few insects therefore the vines do not require any nasty chemicals which is always good to hear. Gianni also continues to grow fava beans (a Puglian staple, more to follow on this in a post about local food) amongst his vines as they act as a natural fertilizer, putting helpful nutrients back into the soil. As in earlier times, they hand pick their grapes at harvest time at I Pàstini which ensures the selection of only the best, most ripe grapes – a long process considering they produce around 100,000 bottles per year!

*Gianni in his tasting room with a ‘pastinum’*

Gianni is proud that I Pàstini was the first vineyard to produce a wine with the ancient Minutolo grape, which grows only in the Valle d’Itria region and at one point was almost completely extinct. Rampone is a delicious white wine with a lychee/peach aroma and quite an imposing, acidic taste – really quite unusual and if in these parts you see a bottle of Minutolo on a wine list – try it! Another unusual grape variety, used to make the wine Verso Sud (Sud indicating the more southerly vineyards where this grape is grown) is the Susumaniello. These vines originally came from Dalmatia, where they were given the Italian name for donkey because the young vines produce a lot of fruit and are heavily laden, like a donkey! I thought this red wine was really quite unusual; almost a smoky/tobacco taste (probably due to 6 months aging in an oak barrel) and with a dark fruit aroma.

I Pàstini is another vineyard run by a passionate family and steeped in tradition and history – using ancient vines and techniques combined with modern ideas and motivation. You can arrange your own guided tour and tasting and learn more about the vineyard at their website: http://www.ipastini.it/

Cantine San Marzano – innovative, important and impressive

*Grape pickers in 1936 (Photo from Cantine San Marzano)*

Having travelled further south into the Salento region of Puglia, we could hardly believe we were at the right place when we approached Cantine San Marzano – huge wine vats and thousands of bottles towered about us and, after visiting the previous two wineries, where the settings were picturesque and very different, I have to admit we were a little disappointed. HOWEVER, once inside and talking with Luca Maruffa, San Marzano’s Communication Manager, we learnt (not for the first time, especially in Italy), not to judge a book by its cover! San Marzano was set up in 1962 as a cooperative whereby 19 local wine growing familiesclubbed together to jointly produce wine from their grapes, thus saving time, effort and meaning they could actually make money from their vines. This continues today and well over 1,000 of the very best vine growers in the D.O.P. area of Primitivo di Manduria send their grapes for processing at Cantine San Marzano, combining to produce around 11million bottles per year; around 20% of the wine produced in the D.O.P of Manduria, which are sent all around the world. This has enabled San Marzano to really open new markets for the small wine producers of this region and they have played a huge part in slowly starting to put Puglian wines on the international map. Yes, they have a team of internationally experienced scientists who work to produce the best wines possible, yes they have a huge processing area and barrels larger than I have ever seen and yes their tasting room was more like a chemistry lab but at its heart, this is a young and dynamic operation which is working for the good of the local community, to promote the best of Puglian wine on a world stage.

And wow, the wines are amazing! We had been lucky enough to actually have one of their signature bottles, F, served as the red wine at our wedding three years ago, so we knew the standard on offer! The F is a real walloper of a red wine – jammy, rich, full of tannins – they call it a meditation wine, which it certainly is! It is made from the Negroamaro grape and if you like your red wines deep and strong, do look out for wines made from this grape – they are slowly creeping into shops and restaurants in the UK. We tried a rose wine called Tramari, made from Primitivo grapes, which was absolutely delicious – light, strawberry aroma, elegant and just perfect as an aperitif in the sun. It is not traditional to make ‘rosato’ from Primitivo grapes but they have created a high quality wine which is so drinkable and we actually preferred it to the Primitivo reds.

The Primitivo red is certainly the Puglian grape most well established in the UK market, which San Marzano has definitely played its part in achieving, being from the heart of the Primitivo producing region. Primitivi are normally lighter, fruity, easier drinking red wines and which this area of Puglia is renowned. The vines pictured above are over 60 years old and were used to make the Sessantanni, (sixty years in Italian if you didn’t know!) a Primitivo di Manduria DOP, created for San Marzano’s sixtieth birthday. You can see how red the earth is; this is characteristic of this DOP region due to the iron oxides present, creating a wine which is clean, fruity and elegant.

Finally, we tasted a very unusual wine called Edda (the Salentino word for Lei or She), which had the most beautiful label and was created in 2015 to high acclaim. It is a new style of Puglian wine, a mixture of traditionally Puglian and well known grapes, created using a popular method and the mix of grapes changes each year to create a unique balance; the bottles for 2016 have 60% Chardonnay, 15% Moscatello Selvatico, 15% Minutolo and 10% Passulara, a very unusual Italian grape variety. It is like a clean chardonnay; floral and even herby with an elegant and mineral taste.

*The Edda bottle – striking and feminine*

Visiting Cantine San Marzano was fascinating and taught me a lot. They really care about the wines of Puglia and about creating excellent, world-standard wines, the sale of which in turn will help to raise the profile of all wines from the region. You can read more about Cantine San Marzano and its wines here: http://www.cantinesanmarzano.com/

I hope you have gained a flavour of the wonderful wines of Puglia and have a sense of the passion and pride all of these winemakers have for the history and traditions of this region of Italy. They very much want to make the world take notice of their world-class wines; whether they are centuries old recipes, old vines used to made imaginative and unique wines or something new altogether. I hope you will be inspired to seek out Puglian wines in the future and do let me know what you think!