Salento Wine-Making Cooperative

Yesterday I enjoyed a tour of the wine-making cooperative of Maduria in the Salento region of Italy. I’m a newbie to wine and wine-making, so my take on all of it was with the delight of beginner’s mind.

Primitivo is a variety of red grape grown across Puglia that is principally at home in the Salento, an area where vineyards are widely planted to it and where it “performs splendidly!” It’s a native grape rich in pulp and with a tight, compact cluster; the wine exudes spicy Mediterranean scrub and liquorice root. This variety owes its name to its early ripening; Primitivo comes from the Latin “primativus” and Old Italian “primaticcio” (both meaning “first to ripen” or “early ripening”). All the growth stages of this variety from flowering to color change are early, and it’s one of the first grape varieties to be harvested in Italy: in Puglia this means mid August.

A red wine like  Primitivo is made from the pulp or must of red or black grapes and fermentation occurs together with the grape skins, which give the wine its color. To start primary fermentation, yeast is added to the must for red wine. During this fermentation, the yeast converts most of the sugars in the grape juice into alcohol.

After the primary fermentation of red grapes, the free run wine is pumped off into tanks and the skins are pressed to extract the remaining juice and wine. The press wine is blended with the free run wine at the winemaker’s discretion. Then comes the malo-lactic conversion, a bacterial process which converts “crisp, green apple” malic acid to “soft, creamy” lactic acid, softening the taste of the wine. The Primitivo is then transferred to oak barrels to mature for a period of weeks or months, to give oak aromas and some tannin to the wine. Aging in oak casks also helps Primitivo to achieve its rich red colour. Its cherry-scented bouquet often contains sour and black cherry and sometimes even raspberry.  Some types of soil will give it a spiciness containing pepper and liquorice  as well as  hints of Mediterranean vegetation.

I was heartened to learn this magnificent production facility has been successfully owned by a cooperative of farmers, aka, vinters, since 1932, and is the oldest active wine cooperative in Puglia. The wine I tasted at the end of the tour got us singing! Here Elena, one of the Heart of Southern Italy tour leaders, and I are helping each other remember the lyrics to Volare, a song made famous by Domenico Modugno of Puglia in 1955. I highly recommend their tour company!