Puglia

The wine cellar of Europe.

Apulia is a long extended region deep in the southeast of Italy at the Adriatic coast and forms with the Gargano mountains the spur and the peninsula Salento the heel of the boot. Due to the warm climate in the fertile plains, Apulia is also an excellent wine-growing region. harvests of up to 900 million litres (decades ago even more), gave the region its nickname "Wine cellar of Europe" one. For a long time, mainly dark red blended wines were produced here, which were sold in tankers to other regions or even other countries. Fortunately, this has changed over the last twenty years. Today the powerful wines are popular all over the world. Negroamaro, Salice Salentino, Nero di Troia or Primitivo are now on many good wine lists.

The name of the region goes back to the Apuli, a tribe of the Osker. Already 3000 years ago the Phoenicians and later the Greeks planted vines here. The "Place of eternal spring"As the Roman poet Horace Apulia described it, Puglia is less mountainous than the rest of Italy, dominated by plateaus and flat land that slopes gently down to the coasts. It is dry and very hot in summer, but always windy with sea breezes. The loamy to sandy soils are richly interspersed with limestone, which, despite the often powerful density, also makes finesse and elegance possible.

Almost 25,000 hectares are classified for DOP-origin wine.

There are now 4 DOCG and 28 DOC regions. However, this is still only about 8% of Apulia's total production. Even today, a large part of the grapes harvested in Apulia are used for the distillation of industrial alcohol and the production of mass wines. But a thorough change in the industry is noticeable. Irrigation, the planting of low-bearing but high-quality grape varieties (including classic French) and the move away from buscher education (Alberello) towards modern wire frame systems have long since led to new wines that make wine connoisseurs sit up and take notice.

Due to the renaissance of the regional grape varieties, the winegrowers of Apulia are on the rise.

Around 90,000 hectares produce around 800 million litres a year in Puglia. Of the 4 DOCG and 28 DOC zones, none of the ten have any significance beyond the region. Apulia is a wine region in which many different grape varieties are cultivated. The most important red wine varieties today are Negroamaro, Primitivo, the earliest ripening grape in Italy, Montepulciano and Sangiovese. Aleatico, Bombino Nero and Uva di Troia follow. The vineyards are often planted with Malvasia Nera, Cabernet, Merlot and Syrah. The proportion of red varieties in cultivation is approx. 55%. The main white varieties are different varieties of Trebbiano, Bombino Bianco, Moscato di Trani and Verdeca, as well as Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. Aleatico di Puglia DOC can be produced from the Aleatico grape in the entire Apulia region. The name stands for a sweet red wine made from rosinated grapes.

The DOC San Severo is located directly on the border to Molise and in the vicinity of the local DOC Biferno. There are larger quantities of fine fruity white Trebbiano and red and rosé wines from Montepulciano and Sangiovese produced. Further south is the DOC with the unpronounceable name Cacc'e Mmitte di Lucera. Here Uva di Troia is transformed into a light, youthful red wine. For a sweet version the Aleatico, Negroamaro, Malvasia Nera and Primitivo are used.

To the west of the capital Bari lies the Castel del Monte wine-growing region, which extends around the famous hunting lodge of the Staufer Emperor Frederick II. It is one of the most famous cultivated areas in Puglia. The fresh, light white wines produced there are usually clearly surpassed by the very fruity rosé wines and the full-bodied, aging red wines. Further south in the small wine-growing village of Locorotondo, the grapes of Verdeca and Bianco d’Alessano the white DOC Locorotondo pressed. This wine is often appreciated as the best white wine of Apulia because of its fine nature.

The peninsula of Salento forms the "boot heel" Italy. To the west of the port city of Brindisi lies the DOC of the same name, from which some of Apulia's best wines originate. Further south are the powerful red and rosé wines of DOC Salice Salentino. The best products are characterized by a fine structure and elegance after some time of maturation. SUPERIORE.DE