Puglia Rising - Wijnwarenhuis

Issue 2 |
Puglia Rising
If Puglia, the heel of Italy’s famous boot, were a country,
it would be the seventh largest wine producing country
in the world. Imagine that.
The land the ancient Greeks called enotria, or land of wine, is so successful in
producing prodigious quantities of grapes that its biggest challenge has been
over production. Thus, historically, Puglian winemakers have emphasized
quantity over quality; preferring scarlet oceans of liquid sold in bulk to bottles
of carefully crafted wine. It is only in the last 15 years, in this remarkably
blessed region, that the talent, desire, and know-how to create world-class
wines has begun to catch up with the natural potential of the peninsula.
It seems almost impossible that one of the world’s oldest, most innately
gifted wine zones would be talking about an “emergence” in winemaking,
but indeed, that is precisely the state of Puglia in the 21st century.
At the forefront of this emergence is Massimiliano Apollonio, 39, co-owner
and winemaker of two exceptional vineyards: Forte Canto, his young vine cru;
and Terre del Grico, his old vine cru. It is not often that one can use the
descriptor “genius” with sincerity, but a genius he is (see Winemaker of
the Month). Recently, we sat down to breakfast with “Massi”, one of the top
5 producers south of Rome. During a recent interview with Small Vineyards’
National Educator, Tom Kelly, he told us about his home. “In Puglia,” he says,
“we have the sun. The French and the Tuscans would have you believe you
need lots of hills,” adds Massi, grinning over his espresso, “but for great wine,
all you need is sun!” Of course, he was oversimplifying – but, Puglia does
receive an enviable 330+ days of sun per year. It is the land of photosynthesis.
And as soon as his inky, layered Salice Salentino hits your palate, it’s easy to
understand why he’s a big believer in the power of Puglia (see Wine of the Month).
Here’s excerpts from our interview:
TK: Tell us about your home, Massimiliano—what makes it so special?
MA: Lecce is literally like an island—our home is 20 km from the Ioninan on
one side, 20 km from the Adriatic on the other, and below us is the Mediterranean.
Connecting the passionate wine
professional directly to the source.
De Tarczal
Trentino Alto Adige
Lo Triolet
Anselmet
Valle d’Aosta
Tre Donne
Podere Elia
Lombardy
Veneto
Piemonte
Liguria
Mauro Barbero
Giuseppe Lonardi
Duca di Casalanza
Edi Simcic
Friuli
Trevisiol
Terre Gaie
Emilia
- Romagna
Slovenia
Lini
Ronco della Rocca
Miani
Meroi
San Valentino
Bocelli
Eugenio Bocchino
Marchetti
Fattoria Bibbiani
Toscana
Podere Ciona
Marche
La Quercia
Le Rote
Umbria
Castel Pietraio
Abbazia di Monte Oliveto
Abruzzo
Antonio Sanguineti
Perazetta Lazio
Forte Canto/
Terre del Marchesato
Molise
Terre del Grico
Rigoloccio
Fattoria Capannacce
Compagnia di Ermes
Puglia
Campania
Sardegna
Tenuta Ponte
Basilicata
Calabria
Martorana
Sicilia
TK: How long has your family been in Lecce?
MA: We don’t know, but maybe 2000 years.
Our ancestors can be traced back to the
ancient Greeks.
Puglia receives an enviable 330+
days of sun per year.
It is the land of photosynthesis.
TK: Is Puglia fairly homogenous, or do the
zones vary a lot?
MA: Northern Puglia is different from our own
zone in the south. Near Bari, for example,
there is almost no good wine—only the
mozzarella is good! South of Brindisi, however,
is where the quality begins. We are also in the
middle of a very lucky moment in history.
It all started in 1997—the “Miracle Vintage”
we say—when not only was the weather perfect, but we acquired new technology.
Before this time, we didn’t even have temperature controlled fermentation—imagine
that when it’s 48 ° (120 ° F) outside! That’s why it has always been easier to sell wine
in bulk to Tuscany and France. Until 1997, only 5% of Puglia’s production was ever
finished in the bottle!
TK: What do you like most about making wine in Puglia?
MA: Salento has an incredible variety of indigenous grapes: Primitivo, Negroamaro,
Aleatico…Other parts of the world use too many international grapes, in my opinion.
If we began using international varietals we would lose our identity. This is the
problem with places like Australia. The wines can be wonderful, but too similar.
In Puglia, we have grapes that exist nowhere else. Our terroir, also, is so unique.
TK: Ah, yes, what about that soil — with such a dark, brick red color?
MA: It is largely medio impasto (clay) and argila scula —in Puglia the earth is very
rich in iron. Also, for the first two meters, the topsoil is very rocky — good for drainage
and minerals. In northern Puglia, it’s a very different world — even rockier, so that
they can’t even grow grapes. There are places where nothing grows except olives.
TK: What about under the topsoil — what happens down deep?
MA: Underneath the topsoil is a very flaky, porous stone. Like tufo, this stone is
extremely soft and workable, sometimes as fine as dust — sometimes, we find huge
caves hollowed out underneath the earth!
TK: So, is that what makes dry-farming possible in such an arid environment?
MA: Assolumente. The natural water table lies very deep, but the grape roots can
easily navigate the soil (see Vine Training). Also, you would not guess it, but there
are lots of rivers and deep wells in Salento; our region’s aqueducts are famous.
TK: Besides the sun, what influences your grapes above ground?
MA: Of course, we have the sea winds — this is very important for keeping the grapes dry.
Without it, the humidity is like the Amazon. Years when there’s not enough wind
(like 2005), the grapes can literally rot on the vine.
TK: If I didn’t know better, Massi, I’d say you quite enjoy your life.
MA: (grinning): I think, yes. We are lucky. We are very, very lucky.
Traveling to Italy?
Small Vineyards now offers intimate tours of our
favorite family estates. A great chance to taste
the wine, savor the food, and kick some dirt.
Please send us an email:
[email protected]
Forte Canto
Featured Wine
Salice Salentino
(SAH-lee-chay • sah-lahn-TEE-no)
Last year, when we learned Massimiliano Apollonio would create an
affordable version of his classic Salice Salentino, we knew it would
be good, perhaps even great. But, simply put, we couldn’t have hoped
for a more impressive debut. Plush, moody fruits and deep-seeded earth
tones weave their way tightly into the bold tannic structure. (Cab and Syrah
drinkers are bound to be amazed!) Like their Rosato and Salento Rosso,
Forte Canto’s Salice Salentino is predicated on the Negroamaro grape.
Often mistranslated as “black and bitter”, this name actually goes back
etymologically to the word for “black” in both old Latin (neuro) and
ancient Greek (maru). So, Negroamaro actually means “blackest of
the blacks”. One peek at this dramatic fruit, with its darkly-hued skin
to ward off the southern heat, and its equally inky flesh, and it’s not hard
to imagine how this grape earned its reputation. Offers Laura Williamson:
“A spectacular effort, and one of the most perfumed Salices I have
experienced to date. Freesia, delicate wild violets and pink rose petal
offer the first impression on the nose, followed by black plum, boysenberry
and subtle earthy notes of grill char and leather. The palate reveals the
precisely balanced, sun-kissed fruit of marionberry and blackberry that
eventually turns to black currant preserves spiced with clove. Add to this
layers of smoke, red clay and wet asphalt. It’s really wonderful.”
Pair with proscuitto, oil-cured olives, beef shishkabob, Ahi tuna
and swordfish steaks.
Featured Winemaker
Vine Training (Stuff that’s good to know)
Massimiliano Apollonio
Dry-farming in Puglia
Imagine dry-farming your grapes in New Mexico. Or Plano.
How about Baja? Now you know how winemakers in Puglia feel
every day. Like practically everywhere else in Italy, all DOC fruit
from the Salento peninsula must, by law, be produced without
the aid of irrigation. But, unlike the alpine north or temperate
mid-country, Puglia has to contend with 115 degree days in summer,
with no rain in July or August, and soil that looks like a brick just
out of the oven! Now, producers do have 5 years to water their
young plants in order to get them started—but after that, the roots
are all on their own. In Puglia, the soil structure is basically the
inverse of Friuli’s (see Small Talk, Vol. 1, Issue 1). Instead of a soft
layer of topsoil, the first 2 meters down are comprised of dense,
red rock (Terra Rossa). Grape vines, being the tenacious creatures
that they are, can usually manage to find a way through this
natural barrier. But for many other crops, holes must first be
laboriously bored through the crust just to give them a fighting
chance. Once this upper stratum has been pierced, the next layer
of terra is much more forgiving. Known as Pietra Leccese (‘stone
from Lecce’), the earth underneath is very soft, porous, and workable,
much like Tufo. Because the natural water table in Salento averages
about 80 meters deep, grapes roots may have decades of searching
to do! The translation: dramatic wines that not only reflect the hot
climate with their dense fruit, but also serve as gateways to terroir:
leather, tobacco leaf and dusty red brick can often be discerned
on both the nose and palate. No wonder Massimilaino grins
with pride: “For wine, our Salento is like nowhere else on earth!”
Just as the best vines are often borne out of hardship,
the career of Massimiliano Apollonio began with
tough times.
In 1995, when he was just 24 years-old, Massi (and brother Marcello) had to
cope with the passing of his father, Salvatore. “It was very hard for me,”
he avers, “but on the other hand, maybe I would never have evolved as a
winemaker if things had not gone this way.” Unlike his dad, who focused
traditionally on quantity, young Massimiliano began taking risks almost out
of the gate. Ever humble in person, Massi began exhibiting his trademark
tenacity behind closed cellar doors. “Quality means everything to us now”,
asserts Massi. “In the past, local producers only used short, 3-day macerations.
Now, we sometimes go for 45, even 50 days to create more powerful wines…
My father would not have understood such things, but I do.” And that is just
the beginning. Fashioning his layered reds that begin with low yields and
culminate in French, Russian, even American oak, Massi has begun to hone
a unique style that has no parallel in Puglia. When we say that he’s one of the
top 5 producers south of Rome, we really mean it! In creating his masterpiece,
‘Monstyronum’ (a blend of Primitivo, Negroamaro and Aleatico aged for nearly
7 years), Massi stated simply, “I wanted to create the best wine that Puglia had
ever seen.” Despite all his accomplishments to date, Massi is quick to grin and
pass the torch when asked about the next generation: “When you’re young,
you’re always willing to take risks. Maybe in 10 years, I won’t take as many,
and my nephew (11 year-old Alessandro) will be the one to take things farther.”
Onward and upward, Puglia is, indeed, rising.
Please see “Wines in this Issue” for a list of Forte Canto and Terre del Grico wines.
Writer: Tom Kelly, National Educator, SV
Contributor: Kristen Kluvers, Client Liaison, SV
Note: Kristen Kluvers lives in Puglia seasonally out of the year.
Massimiliano &
Marcello Apollonio
Wines In This
Issue (estimated retail price)
Forte Canto
Negroamaro Rosato
Negroamaro Salento (Rosso) Primitivo Salice Salentino Terre del Grico
Primitivo Salice Salentino Don Felice
Monstyronum
$12
$13
$11
$14
$20
$20
$25
$110
About Small Vineyards
At Small Vineyards, we search every corner of Italy for
the best small production wines you’ve never heard of.
Why ‘Small’?
1. Every grape is actually picked by hand – only the ripest grapes get made into wine.
2. Our estates use sustainable growing methods to make earth-friendly wines.
3. By importing wines from family vineyards, we are helping to protect unique grape
varietals, winemaking styles and preserve a special way of life.