Food & wine
Puglia’s wine grapes: Primitivo, Negroamaro & Fiano
Puglia is one of Italy’s biggest wine regions by volume, and for a long time it shipped most of that wine north to beef up blends elsewhere. That has changed: the heel now bottles characterful wines under its own name, and tasting them at the source is one of the real pleasures of a trip. Here are the three names to know - two reds and the whites worth seeking out.
Primitivo
The big one. Primitivo - the same grape as California’s Zinfandel - gives a deep, warm, high-alcohol red full of dark fruit and a touch of sweetness. The most famous expression is Primitivo di Manduria, from the sandy soils near Taranto. It’s a crowd-pleaser: soft, generous and easy to love, even if you don’t usually reach for big reds.
That link is not a legend: it is genetics. When researchers at the University of California, Davis DNA tested Zinfandel in the 1990s, they found it identical to Puglia’s Primitivo, and traced both back to an old Croatian variety called Tribidrag. One grape, three countries, three names. So a glass of Primitivo di Manduria is, quite literally, Mediterranean Zinfandel, and one of our favourite fun facts about Puglia.
Negroamaro
The Salento’s signature grape, and the one locals tend to prefer. The name means roughly “black and bitter”, and that’s the character: darker, more savoury and herbal than Primitivo, with a pleasant bitter edge on the finish. It’s the better food wine of the two - built for grilled meat, hard cheese and the region’s tomato-rich dishes.
Fiano and the whites
Everyone arrives for the reds and leaves talking about the whites. Fiano (here, Fiano Minutolo) is aromatic and crisp; Verdeca is the old Valle d’Itria white, lean and citrusy. Both are made for the coast - a chilled glass with raw fish or a plate of fried seafood is the whole point of summer here. There’s good rosato (rosé) too, traditionally from Negroamaro.
Where to taste them
The Salento around Manduria, Guagnano and Salice Salentino is the heartland, but you’ll find cantine across the region. Tastings are welcoming and inexpensive, usually paired with taralli, cheese and oil. For how a visit actually runs and which areas to base around, see our guide to wine tasting in Puglia. For which cellars to visit and how a wine tour actually works, see the wineries worth visiting.
How to bring a bottle home
Buy at the winery or a proper enoteca, not the supermarket - the price difference is small and the quality gap large. Most cantine will pack bottles for travel; check your airline’s limits, or have a case shipped. A bottle of good Primitivo or Negroamaro is the easiest souvenir to actually use.
When to go for the wine
Harvest (late summer into autumn) is atmospheric, but tastings run year-round. For the wider picture of when to visit, see the best time to visit Puglia.
Raised in the province of Brindisi, 30 years in Puglia. About this site