vino salentino

The Wine of The Salento

Like all good wine, the wine of the Salento reflects a very specific land, rich with its own unique growing conditions and genetic-diversity. Yet rather than fixating on the draconian legal disciplines (DOC, IGT) that confuse even the best of us, I’ve organised the wines of the Salento to reflect how you naturally tend to think about wine, by grape first and location second.

As the purchaser of the wine for all of our culinary programmes, I adopted a pragmatic policy very early on, and though it was considered radical by some in the early years – even absurd (‘assurdo’)- over time many local writers, purveyors and restaurateurs have adapted it as their own.

Here is how it works:

I define ‘auctonous’ (‘indigenous’, although no one in the wine world uses that word in regards to grape diversity) as having been here for at least 200 years. Further, the grapes must be grown and the wine fermented and bottled inside of the geographic perimeters of the Salento. ‘Styles’ are allowed to develop (the vinification of white wine from a red grape, such as negroamaro, or sweet versions of primitivo, as examples) but the road to quality is always the same: Limit the box of crayons, just not what you think the picture should look like over time.

The grapes in order of importance:

Negroamaro. This is Greek-leaning part of Italy, and so the grape was named to reflect the bilingual origins of the Salento (many communities here today still speak an ancient form of Greek). Thus, ‘Negro’, from Latin for ‘black’.  ‘Mavro’, for ‘black’ in Greek. This is a powerhouse of a grape, with red fruit flavours and a nice bitter edge that makes it remarkably food-friendly. Negroamaro tends towards a more Old World model of wine making, relying on minerality and the transmission of earthy flavours, as opposed to fruit and only fruit. Often blended with malvasia nera, usually around the 85%-15%, or 80%-20% relationship. It makes up the base of both Salice Salentino and the justifiably, world- famous rosati.

Primitivo. A much more fruit-forward and spicy wine, with lots of spiciness, as if you cracked pepper over wild berries

malvasia nera

verdeca

fiano minutolo

the hierarchy of Italian wine