Cantine San Marzano Il Pumo Negroamaro 2020
Winemaker Notes
In 1962, 19 vine growers from San Marzano, whose families had farmed the land for generations, combined their efforts to establish Cantine San Marzano. Now in this cooperative there are 1200 winegrowers, and it has become one of the most popular and well-known winery from Puglia. Just the bond with the land is the starting point for the work of this winery. Not surprisingly, Cantine San Marzano is devoted mainly to two great red grapes of Puglia: Primitivo and Negroamaro. For those who still do not know the value of the red wines of Puglia, Cantine San Marzano is definitely the right choice: in its the bottles you will find the connection between love for the land and a clever innovation. To confirm this, we need only mention the numerous positive appreciations and the opinions of all the major guides. In addition to the red wines, Cantine San Marzano is also dedicated to the sweet wines, with the great variation of Primitivo Passito. All bottles confirm the potential of Puglia, a land that, year after year, is gathering more and more support, thanks to a policy production focused on the quest for quality. Quality is just the cardinal principle of the production of the Cantine San Marzano, which, thanks to their bottles, wants to know the most authentic and valuable side of his Puglia
Well-suited to the production of concentrated, fruity and spicy red varieties, Puglia is one of Italy’s warmest, most southerly regions. Its entire eastern side is one long coastline bordering the Adriatic Sea. About half way down, the region becomes the Salento Peninsula. This peninsula, bordered by water on three sides, receives moist, nighttime, sea breezes that bring a welcome cooling effect to the region, where little rain creates a challenging environment for its vines. In fact, the region is named for the Italian expression, “a pluvia,” meaning “lack of rain.”
Puglia’s Mediterranean climate and iron-rich, calcareous soils support the indigenous Primitivo, Negroamaro and Nero di Troia. Primitivo produces an inky, spicy, brambly and ripe red wine whose best expression comes from Manduria. Nero di Troia produces tannic, rustic reds from Castel del Monte DOC while Negroamaro, typically blended with Malvasia nera, plays a large part in may blends made throughout the peninsula.
Puglia produces a small amount of white wines as well, predominantly made of the fruity, Trebbiano Toscano, or light, Bombino bianco grapes.
While robust notes of dark fruit do characterize Negroamaro, its modern expression doesn’t quite live up to the dramatic meaning of its name, “bitter and black.” This dark-skinned southern Italian grape variety is found on the eastern half of the Salento peninsula, which is the backside of Italy’s “boot heel” and part of the Puglia region. Negroamaro forms the base, along with Malvasia Nera and Primitivo, for the best wine of the area, called Salice Salentino. It can also produce single varietal reds as well as some impressive aromatic rosé wines. Somm Secret—Negroamaro is truly an Italian wine – no propagation of the grape is found anywhere else outside of Italy.