PUGLIA
Is Puglia the new Tuscany? Tuscany is hilly,
Puglia is flat. Tuscany is known for its light to medium weight reds, Puglia
for high alcohol, heavy, rich reds. Maybe the only parallel is the surge of
North Europeans buying run-down cottages and housesÉ
Land is cheap here and the wineries are large
and often very corporate. Often several co-ops have grouped together to be more
commercial and they have all opted to make wines that will export well, wines
from Merlot and Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. These are all very well but not
what we were looking for at The Winery. Just when we were beginning to feel we
had come to the wrong region, we arrived in Tuglie, the bottom of the heel of
Italy.
SCHOLA SARMENTI
It was a convoluted route via a restaurant in an unmarked doorway, down
a side alley, hidden away from everyone but the locals. Then a tip from
Alfonso, the owner, to go to the tiny Enobar to see his friend Adriano, who
then tipped us off about a new winery called Schola Sarmenti right down in
Puglia's southernmost corner. Like something from the Godfather, we waited in
the square for a young man in black, Lorenzo, who instructed us to follow his
car on the way to the winery, stopping on remote country roads to admire one
vineyard here, another there, tucked behind some houses.
We are the first importers of Schola Sarmenti's wines - precise,
powerful with a distinctive edge, the focus here is on blending different local
grape varieties together including NegroAmaro, Malvasia Nera Leccese and
Primitivo, Zinfandel's Italian cousin.
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red
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ROCCAMORA NARDO ROSSO |
2004 |
9.99 |
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ARMENTINO
|
2004 |
11.99 |