loco - vittorio pugliese
Valle d’itria - Puglia
Vittorio Pugliese, a true scholar of wine, spent years tasting and visiting winemakers and decided to open a bar in his native Bari. The timing was not perfect as this was the beginning of 2020, the start of a period that most of us are still doing our best to forget.
Knocked back but not disheartened, Vittorio found an abandoned parcel of old vines in the Valle d'Itria (between Bari and Brindisi) and decided to make some wine. Here, at the centre of the heel of Italy's boot, limestone and red clay soils give the potential to produce wonderful grapes helped in no small amount by the influence of the sea only 8km away.
Primitivo, the grape of Puglia is indeed planted here but so are a number of lesser known varieties that help Vittorio harvest mature grapes but still keep freshness in his wines - Maresco, Verdeca, Mintuolo and Nero di Troia to name a few.
In the cellar, Vittorio's approach is experimental with different styles and lengths of maceration; often varieties are co fermented. For ageing he uses fibreglass and stainless tank, glass demijohn and anforae made from stoneware, terracotta and concrete. In 2022 Vittorio made wine from a total surface of 3 hectares and the results are beguiling. These wines are not only expressive of this very special place but also Vittorio's scholarship and love of wines from far and wide. A truly singular project.
