Santa Lucia - Il Melograno, Nero di Trioia, Castel del Monte DOC, Puglia, Italy (2020)

TASTING NOTES

Melograno means pomegranate and reflects exactly the first aroma that screams from the glass with this juicy, big berry- and plum fruited wine. The tannins are a touch astringent on first opening...a little aeration provides a welcome calming influence. The palate has lush fruit and generous acidity. Lovely stuff!

Young, dynamic winemaker Emilia Tartaglione has brought increased elegance and refinement to Santa Lucia's wines, which are fresh and bright in youth, with impressive pedigree and capacity to evolve over time. The grapes were grown at 250m., manually harvested on October 25, 2015 and fermented in stainless steel before aging in large, Slovenian for 8 months. The wine aged for a further 12 months in bottle prior to release.

Puglia is a much-maligned region. This is the third-largest wine producing area in Italy after Veneto and Emilia-Romagna, and still mostly large co-ops. It’s a major supplier of “cutting-wine” for other regions… insert a snide comment on $30 Amarone here.

But for all of the berating this region receives, and in stark contrast to its mega-producers, some tiny jewels of estate wineries exist here. The Perrone Capano family has owned Azienda Santa Lucia since 1628, with vineyard records dating back to 1849. They sit a mere 15km from the coast at 300m in elevation; total annual production is just shy of 50,000 bottles from 14 hectares (just under 37 acres) of vineyards. At Santa Lucia, in the Castel del Monte DOC, farming and production methods are organic with biodynamic practices in the vineyards – meticulous tending includes trellising optimized for each variety, soil and exposure to the remarkable daylight the region receives.

The family has grown indigenous varieties through its whole existence, and Nero di Troia, the most interesting indigenous variety in this appellation, is the signature wine of Santa Lucia. Once vinified, it’s a unique, age-worthy wine, with no reference points in other Italian regions – Santa Lucia produces the benchmark versions, absolutely worth investigating. Fiano, Bombino Nero, and Aleatico (for an exciting sweet wine) are also grown. And while the labels don’t clearly indicate this, all of their wines are single-vineyard bottlings from estate vineyards in the Castel del Monte DOC. Our current favourite, ‘Il Melograno’ comes from the Vigna del Melograno.

Roberto Perrone Capano has been responsible for the estate since 1980. In 2015 he lured a dynamic young winemaker to the team. Emilia Tartaglione’s first task was bottling the 2013 vintage, and she has already brought increased elegance and refinement to the wines. These are characterful, highly enjoyable wines with impressive pedigree and capacity to evolve over time – translation: you really should try them.

Fun fact: Castel del Monte DOC is named for the nearby 13th Century citadel, a UNESCO World Heritage site — which you may have seen Sean Connery dashing around in The Name of the Rose. It’s also on the Italian edition 1-Euro-cent coin.