Puglia
Sun-drenched Apulia (Puglia), the heel of the boot, is Italy's most prolific region — mostly rustic bargain reds from negroamaro (Salice Salentino), nero di Troia and primitivo (the zinfandel grape), the last made both dry and as the sweet DOCG primitivo di Manduria dolce naturale.
About the region
Apulia (Puglia), a long, flat, sun-drenched, fertile strip across the Adriatic from Greece, stretches from the spur of the Italian boot to its heel and for recent years has produced more wine than any other Italian region (and more olive oil, too — nearly half the national total). Much of it is basic, cheap table wine, but there are very good everyday reds — ideal bargain house wines — and quality is rising as outside investors such as Tuscany's Antinori move in. The leading grapes are negroamaro (from Latin negro, 'black', and probably amaro, 'bitter'), malvasia nera di Brindisi, nero di Troia (uva di Troia) and primitivo. Negroamaro is the primary grape of the hot, arid Salento peninsula, where it makes Salice Salentino, one of the most popular low-priced wines on Italian restaurant lists; nero di Troia gives the robust red DOCG Castel del Monte Nero di Troia Riserva. Primitivo — genetically the same as California's zinfandel and Croatia's tribidrag/crljenak kastelanski, brought from the Dalmatian coast — is made both dry (not unlike a light-bodied American zinfandel) and sweet, the latter being the rare DOCG primitivo di Manduria dolce naturale, made from grapes raisinated on the vine to about 8 percent residual sugar in only favourable vintages.
Within Puglia
Manduria
Manduria, in the Taranto province, is the stronghold of Primitivo. DOC and DOCG (Primitivo di Manduria Dolce Naturale) rules govern dry and sweet styles. Sandy soils over limestone and a hot, dry climate yield dense, high-alcohol reds.
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