Lecce Food Experience

Puglia wines are excellent, varied, and prolific. For as long as wine has been made, Puglia has produced it, and much is of exceptional quality. Unknown to most people, the amount of wine produced in Puglia is more than any other region of Italy, and is almost equal to the total amount produced in the whole of Australia. Recently, Puglian wine has been marketed as a distinct region, and is gradually becoming more widely recognised, appreciated and sought after.
Puglia features a great variety of grapes; furthermore soil and climate are all different from the northern districts of Bari & Foggia to the south, better known as Salento (Taranto, Brindisi, Lecce). The wines are very focused with fine acidity. The two main red grape varieties in southern Puglia are Primitivo (Zinfandel) and Negroamaro (‘bitter black’); they are both fabulous and have now gained a thoroughly deserved international reputation.The Primitivo (Zinfandel)  vineyard proliferation can be attributed to its hardy nature. Adaptable to a wide range of soils and climates, its vines tend to be vigorous and productive. The clusters are compact and full and the berry stems (peduncles) somewhat short. These factors make Primitivo somewhat susceptible to bunch rot and some types of mildew. Water management is particularly critical. Under stress from lack of moisture, it is prone to raisining. It also ripens more unevenly than most other varieties and it is not uncommon for green and raisined berries to occur within the same cluster. This tendency to can be aggravated by poorly-timed irrigation. Uneven ripening also means that machine-picking is impractical and a Primitivo vineyard may often require a few passes, days apart, to harvest all the fruit with the same level of maturity.The grapes are sometime fermented at lower temperatures  in order to retain the natural raspberry aromas , and often kept  in oak barrels to acquire the flavors of blackberries, blueberries, raspberries and plums . The grape has a high sugar content, meaning that many examples have a slight sweetness to them. It is this sweetness that makes the wines extremely versatile and popular, and it also means that the wines can have a very high alcohol content - some as high as 17%!Characteristics of the grape: medium to full bodied, jammy, dark cherry, blackberry, raspberry, cedar, nutmeg, clove, black pepper, chocolate, espresso. 

 Top Apulian wineries: meet Castel di Salve; the world of Negroamaro, Primitivo, Malvasia Nera di Lecce and sweet Aleatico. Great attention is given to the varieties of grape, and wines with a strong character are created in the continuous quest for unusual new tastes. Here two young gentlemen farmers, childhood friends, both with long and important noble family traditions, following their dreams ‘have been making wine’ together since 1990. Francesco Marra and Francesco Winspeare and their wine growing and producing company: their passion for the wine, their vineyards and their wine cellar, dwell in the heart of the most beautiful and magic Salento. This area situated in the South Eastern Italian region of Puglia, has a great wine- growing and producing tradition. Between Capo d’Otranto and Capo di Leuca, between the Ionian and the Adriatic, in the village of Depressa, near Tricase, wine tourists from all over the world arrive at the Castel di Slave wine cellar every day. The wine tastings transmit the flavours and history of the great indigenous species of vines, which can be captured by skilfully tasting and distinguishing between several labels, from Armecolo to Priante. Labels and bottles whose class and style complement the flavour of the wines and have enabled them to circulate around the world in the best wine shops and restaurants.