The negroamaro grape produces pretty dense wines, known for their dark colour and rustic earthiness, and is perhaps one of the oldest varieties in Italy. The Salento peninsula (the heel of the boot) was a cross-roads between many ancient cultures, including Phoenician, Greek, and Roman. In fact, the original Greek settlers brought a special cultivation method known as “alberello speronato”, which sees grapes grown on low bush vines. This avoids the need for trellising, and is made possible by negroamaro’s unique physiology of sturdy shoots with short internodes. The Salento region, which is the best and most important region for negroamaro, has very little surface water, which, given the very hot climate I discussed in my last post, requires constant tilling of the soil in order to avoid the need for irrigation. All that said, this traditional method of growing negroamaro is becoming less and less common with the introduction of machinery and irrigation. My hope is that the best producers will keep this unique method alive.

While one can find 100% negroamaro, it is pretty hard to do so in North America. Most of the time one will find blends, as is the case with this Salice Salentino wine. Such blends usually have a required minimum of the grape, but also add varieties such as sangiovese or malvasia nera to round out the wine. Salice Salentino is a DOC designation and as such requires a minimum of 85% negroamaro.

This particular wine is a blend of 85% negroamaro and 15% malvasia nera, a variety known for its intense fragrance. Aged for 6 months in old oak, the oak characteristics are barely perceptible in this wine, which allows the fruit to speak for itself. There is a lot of pleasure to be had here, even if the wine is straightforward. On the nose I got dark cherry, earth, flowers, and metal. The nose is a bit shut down when you first pop the cork, so make sure to give this a good decant. The palate continues the dark cherry and adds meat and spice in the mid palate. The finish grabs hold with hints of chocolate, herbs and earth. While some criticize negroamaro for being a bit backward, this particular wine is not ‘rustic’ in a bad way at all. Instead, it’s got old world finesse and understatedness, but great smoothness and is a very clean wine. While I could not find out that much about this producer, they seem to be making modern wines with good density and structure, but also great balance. Add in the spicy earth characteristics, a pizza or pasta, and the very reasonable price tag, and you have a winner.

Very Good
$22 at Kitsilano Wine Cellar

While this wine has a rustic charm, it is also superbly concentrated and fruit driven with a nice soft texture. My biggest complaint here was the amount of heat on the back end of the wine, which made it somewhat fatiguing over time. Nonetheless it’s still tasty for the price, although not quite the same quality as the Valle Cupa.

Very Good
$24 at BCLDB (note that this sells for as low as $11 in the US)

This particular wine is a blend of 50% primitivo (aka zinfandel) and 50% negroamaro, an indigenous grape. The nose was surprisingly modern with ripe cherries, chocolate, nuts, earth and baking spices. The fruit character was extremely rich, and yet more earthy and spicy than many zinfandels from the US. The palate was very interesting with cherry, blackberry, earth and mushroom. This was full bodied, but held solid acidity and certainly was very food friendly. Despite its internationalism, there is certainly a sense of ‘terroir’ here and interesting underlying characteristics that are more old than new world, such as the earthy components and higher acidity. This is a hybrid wine style that is absolutely fantastic value and worth seeking out.

Very Good+ and Highly Recommended Value
$20 at BCLDB