On my first six trips to Southern Italy I visited Basilicata (the Region of my heritage) and Campania (the Region of many new friends). This past autumn, my seventh trip, I visited the Region of Puglia, which is located at the heel in the boot of Italy.
Italy is comprised of 20 Regions; all with local wines, cuisine and customs. Loyalty and pride is more regional than national, more provincial than regional, and more municipal than provincial. On my first trip this was evident; a winemaker in the Vulture area of Potenza, Basilicata proclaimed that the aglianico based wine from the Irpinia area of Avellino, Campania, although an excellent wine, is not as good as the aglianico based Aglianco del Vulture from Potenza. I am sure that my friends from Irpinia have a different view. On our last trip a winemaker stated as a matter of fact that Puglia wine making is more modern than wine making in other parts of Southern Italy. None of the wineries in the Gioia del Colle province of Bari, Puglia; a premier primitivo wine area, were aware in Caserta, a Province of Campania, that wine is made with the primitivo grape. The primitivo grape is “king” in Puglia and the Puglia wine makers believe that primitivo could not be grown in other Regions of Italy.
The Pugliese are proud and loyal as are there counterparts in Basilicata and Campania; they also share other traits. They are friendly and hospitable; on our trip we experienced the same “Southern Hospitality” that we have received during our visits to Basilicata and Campania. Pugliese make fabulous wines, with different grapes than the ones from Basilicata and Campania; negroamaro, primitivo and nero di troia (red wine) and bombino bianco, bianco d’alessano and verdeca (white wine). As expected the cuisine is fresh and scrumptious with their specialities; orecchiette (little ear-shaped pasta), horse meat and all types of fish.
We were based in Bari for three nights. Bari reminded me of Salerno; it has a long pedestrian walkway that hugs the water, a historic center of town and excellent restaurants. We stayed at a La Muraglia, a B&B in the historic center and a short walk to the water. In Salerno we stay at a B&B that is also a short walk to the water.
Bari is centrally located to many cultural sites such as the muncipalities of Trani and Matera. Trani, a beautiful coastal town, has within a short distance to its coast the oldest synagogue in Southern Italy; Scolanova. The synagogue was built in the 13th century, confiscated by the Catholic Church in 1380 and returned to the Jewish community in 2006. When Scolanova was built there was an inscription in Hebrew placed on the southern wall (see photo below). The translation is: “In the year 5007 after the Creation, this sanctuary was built by a minyan and friends with a lofty and splendid dome and window open to the sky and new portals for enclosing it; and a pavement and benches for seating the leaders of prayer, so that piety would be watched over by the one who dwells in the glorious Heavens.”
Matera (which is located in the adjacent Region of Basilicata), was the “poster child” for the unsanitary living conditions in Southern Italy that Dr. Carlo Levi documented in his 1945 book, “Christ Stopped in Eboli”. Many residents lived in the Sassi section of Matera; an area that consisted of stone houses carved out of caves and cliffs. There was no plumbing; animals lived with families in the caves and stone houses. In the 1960s the Italian government relocated the Sassi residents. Now the Sassi in the midst of a gentrification effort with the introduction of plumbing and electricity. A cinematic note; because of the ancient characteristic of the Sassi the 2004 movie “The Passion of Christ” was filmed there.
Also, Bari is centrally located to the five wineries that we visited:
(1) Antica Enotria, Cerignola, Foggia, the first organic certified winery and farm in Puglia with an annual production of 100,000 bottles. Luigi DiTucci provided us with an extensive tasting of his wines and olive oil; including an innovative wine with no sulfites added: Senzazolfo (without sulfites). Per Luigi all wines produce sulfites naturally during fermentation/maceration, but only small amounts; 6 to 12 milligrams per liter. Organic producer are allowed to add small amounts of sulfites to ensure longevity, hence, Senzazolfo with no sulfites added has a short shelf live – no more than a year or two. After the tasting Luigi gave us a tour of the cantina.
(2) Cantine Botromagno, Gravina in Puglia, Bari, with a production of 350,000 bottles per year, was founded by the D’Agostino family when they turned the venerable 1991 Cantine Sociale into a “modern winery with ancient roots”. Cantine Botromagno partners with over 100 local grape growers. Vincenzo Calabrese provided us a tour of the large cantina, built in 2004, and hosted a wine tasting. Note we did not tour the vineyards at either Antica Entroia or Cantine Botromagno due to bad weather.
(3)
Plantamura, Gioia del Colle, Bari, has been certified organic since 1996 and has an annual production of about 45,000 bottles of primitivo wine. Despite being in the middle of harvest, Mariangela Plantamura met with us at her cantina and explained the winery’s history (before their first year of production in 2002, grapes were sold to wine makers in Tuscany); the difference between the primitivo and aglianico grapes; the need for air flow through the vineyard; and the need to remove humidity to keep the bugs away, among other topics – all this in between the destemming and crushing of grapes. Mariangela and her husband Vincenzo have plans to build a modern cantina, although the big garage-like cantina has character as a workplace as opposed to a showplace.
(4) Pietraventosa, Gioia del Colle, Bari, is certified organic and has an annual production of about 25,000 bottles of primitivo wine. Marianna Annio and her husband Raffaele Leo planted their first hectare of vines in 2003 and produced their first vintage in 2006. Marianna gave us a tour of the cantina and vineyard; she has the rows of vines subject to a strict distance requirement, more than two meters apart, in order to allow for beneficial air flow. She does not use a harvesting machine because the machines are: (1) not selective, (2) stress the soil and plants and crush leaves; and (3) there is a lack of care from the transfer from the plant to box. If grapes are crushed in the box on a sunny day there is a risk of premature fermentation. Marianna also explained how the limestone rock in the soil forces the vine roots to grow both horizontally and vertically; and how the limestone rich soil draws out a mineral taste in the wine.
(5) Polvanera, Gioia del Colle, Bari, is also certified organic but has a far greater production than Plantamura and Pietraventosa; nearly 400,000 bottles. The annual production has nearly doubled over the past several years. Filippo Cassano bought the land for the vineyard in 2002 and had his first vintage in 2005. After a tour of the cellar we had a tasting of many different wines; primitvo based wines are the most prevalent, but Filippo makes wine from a wide range of grapes including: minutolo, falanghina, bianco d’alessano, moscato and machione (all white); and agliancio and aleatico (both red). None of the wine is aged in oak, only stainless, thus there is no oak influence. The wine shop was busy with many customers purchasing wine; and there were a couple of tours who joined us at the tasting.
