Preview Tre Bicchieri 2021. The best wines of Puglia

The best wines of Puglia

For years now we've been talking about Puglia's constant and continuous growth this year we can once again attest to the fact. Indeed, the number of producers reviewed in our main section is now 44 (compared to 36 last year), thanks to a quality that can be found throughout the region. It's true that in places this growth is more evident than in others, as can be seen in Gioia del Colle and Manduria. In short, despite the difficult times we're facing, it's a positive trajectory, and we believe that comes down to a couple of things.

The first is that attention has grown for the way of cultivating and working Primitivo. The grape is increasingly a benchmark for its quality charac-teristics, its ability to best express the territories of origin and its expressive versatility, a versatility that allows producers to make wines of great quality both when the grapes used come from bush-trained vines and when they come from young vines. The result is wines that are clearly different but can be excellent for their respective typologies.

The second is the growth of the im-portance and quality of Puglia's denominated wines, which lend prominence not only to the culti-var, but also to the territory (whereas until recently most producers focused on their individual brands). When it comes to the Tre Bicchieri awarded, there is an absolute newbie: Terre dei Vaaz, a young winery in Gioia del Colle in its second year of production that won us over with its Onirico '18, a monovarietal Primitivo (not denominated). We close with a criticism, completed ig-nored, that we've been leveling for some years now: in Puglia there is now an 'invasion of the heavy weights', or rather, ultra-heavy bottles (those weighing over a kilo), in the erroneous belief that such bottles are 'prestigious'. The result is that bottles weighing almost 2 kilograms travel around the world in defiance of any idea of sustainability, especially the resulting carbon foot-print. It's simply unacceptable, in particular for producers who proudly bear the 'organic certifica-tion' logo.

Tre Bicchieri 2021

• 1943 del Presidente ’18 - Cantine Due Palme
• Askos Verdeca ’19 - Masseria Li Veli
• Brindisi Rosso Susumaniello Oltremé ’18 - Tenute Rubino
• Castel del Monte Rosso Bolonero ’19  - Torrevento
• Collezione Privata Cosimo Varvaglione Old Vines Negroamaro ’17 - Varvaglione 1921
• Gioia del Colle Primitivo 17 Vign. Montevella ’17 - Polvanera
• Gioia del Colle Primitivo Muro Sant’Angelo Contrada Barbatto ’17 - Tenute Chiaromonte
• Gioia del Colle Primitivo Ris. ’17 - Plantamura
• Gioia del Colle Primitivo Sellato ’18 - Tenuta Viglione
• Gioia del Colle Primitivo Senatore ’17 . Coppi
• Onirico ’18 - Terre dei Vaaz
• Orfeo Negroamaro ’18 - Cantine Paolo Leo
• Otto ’18 - Carvinea
• Primitivo di Manduria Lirica ’18 - Produttori di Manduria
• Primitivo di Manduria Piano Chiuso 26 27 63 Ris. ’17 - Masca del Tacco
• Primitivo di Manduria Raccontami ’18 - Vespa Vignaioli per Passione
• Primitivo di Manduria Sessantanni ’17 - Cantine San Marzano
• Primitivo di Manduria Sinfarosa Zinfandel ’18 - Felline