Salice Salentino Riserva DOC
Grape Negroamaro, Montepulciano (20%)

Spicy damson, raspberry and strawberry fruit on the nose, there is a lovely warmth, purity of fruit and depth to this wine. Tannins are rounded and comforting, a patina of familiarity, a sure-footed classic from the times when wine tasted of wine.

Link to Cantina Sampietrana producer page

Salice Salentino, along with Primitivo di Manduria is probably Puglia’s most iconic red. Salice Salentino is named after the ancient town that is central to the DOC. The vineyards are midway between the Adriatic and the Gulf of Taranto where summer temperatures are consistently amongst the highest in Italy and rainfall the lowest. The climate is semi-desert and best suited to the indigenous red grape varieties, Sampietrana’s Salice Salentino grapes come from old bush trained Negro Amaro and some Montepulciano vines. The soils are chalk rich clays.
The grapes are picked by hand in the second week of September and the fermentation is in temperature-controlled steel tanks. The wine is aged for one year in used barrique and two years in bottle.