Puglia - Lecce

Foreward

We came to Puglia very excited after trying many red thick, flavorful, deep, and smooth Primitivo and Negro Amaro in various places (mostly New York). 

We were surprised by a few things:

1. Italian wineries, at least in Puglia, at least in the second half of September, make trying their wines difficult. Many only organize tastings by appointment. And when you walk in there can be any number of employees on their phone-instagram at the front desk. If you didn't set an appointment you can't taste their wines. And if their appointment schedule is full, with 2 appointments per half day, they are too busy.

2. Italian wineries, at least in Puglia, have hours that vary depending on ... the mood of the owner? Some are open only in the morning 10am to 12:30 or 1pm. Some are open only from 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Some are open from 10am to 3pm only. Some are open 10am to 1pm and 4:30 to 7:30pm. Anyway, you see the pictures, combined with the scheduling problem above, especially if you don't have appointments.

3. Oh, sometimes your hotel concierge forgets to do any calls. I guess it doesn't happen at all hotels. 

4. Perhaps also very important: locally, at the winery, an average bottle of wine (that's good!) is 5 EUR. And an amazing bottle of wine? 35 EUR. So yes, the prices are unbeatable.

5. But most importantly, the rose and white wines are actually really good as well!

And thus, the visits started.

Annibal -

Some of the nicest and most accommodating people and winery we have seen. We had no appointment. In fact they were serving a wine tasting to a couple from Bologna. And they welcomed us.

(The name: apparently Hannibal Barca, THE Hannibal, after getting tired of beating the Romans in every bottle but not winning the war, spent time in the region thinking what to do next. Hence the name of the winery).

Here we discovered, as I already mentioned, good whites, mineral and flavorful, equilibrated. Good Rose. And we also appreciated their Primitivo. All except 1 of their wines were never in oak barrels, just metal tanks (stainless). To be honest the 1 wine that had been in the barrel didn't taste that much different to me.  Entry level bottles 10EUR. Their high end 20EUR. 

As part of the (25 euros for 2) tasting, they also provide quite a nice assortment of cheese, meat, vegetables, and bread. Don't be shy to eat it. It's covered by the fee.

Agricola Dell'Arneo -

After trying, unsuccessfully to have a taste at Coti Zecca, where everybody in the shop was too busy to have a tasting with us, we ended up in another small family winery, Agricola Dell'Arneo. Once again, very welcoming and very nice.

Here they forgot to charge us anything for the tasting and when I reminded them they round up 1.5 eur "for the tasting".

The average bottle here was 5EUR. Once again, great white, great rose, and as nice Primitivo and Negro Amaro as in Annibal. But the wine price was 1/2 the price of Annibal for the wine. Their cheapest bottle was 4EUR and their most expensive was 5EUR. For the same quality, I will take 1/2 price :)

Really little family-owned, and didn't speak English, but really nice. 

Apollonio

And after trying a few more wineries that either didn't exist (despite Google's information) we finally got to one we have earmarked (based on previous tastings) as a must-try!

We didn't have an appointment, again. However, we were lucky to arrive as another tour was finishing and it was great. We got a really nice quick tasting. And as expected worth every km we did to get there. And the wine is up to our expectations.

One of the oldest wineries around. One of the most celebrated. And one with the best wines.

Got a case. And honestly, they were all better than each other. The most expensive 30EUR was from 2012. Their regular Apollonio brand ones are 20EUR (2021 vintage I think).

They also have other brands, cheaper, which we didn't taste. 

Professional. Straight to the point. Even helped us with packing boxes for the plane. All you would expect from a world-famous winery. And their wines also show the quality of their care. 

We can't wait to drink all of this one and order more from them with the first opportunity.