Puglia wine

Puglia, located on Italy’s southeastern coast, is not only a popular tourist destination but is also home to some of Italy’s most food-friendly, robust and expressive wines. The region’s long coastline, Mediterranean climate and fertile soils make it the perfect location for grape growing. While Puglia was associated with high-yield bulk wine production in the past, it is now gaining recognition for its premium wines, particularly those made from indigenous grape varieties.

The region is most famous for bold yet easy-drinking red wines made from local Negroamaro and Primitivo grapes. Negroamaro is known for its deep colour, medium-full tannins and dark fruit flavours, and is sometimes used by winemakers to make popular rosé wines. Primitivo, genetically identical to Zinfandel, creates bold, fruit-forward, powerful wines. Puglia also produces excellent white wines made primarily from Verdeca and Bombino Bianco grapes, yielding refreshing and subtly aromatic wines.

Learn more in our beginner's guide to Puglia wine

Puglia (also known as Apulia) is a wine region in the south of Italy, stretching from the city of Foggia down to the Ionian Sea. This wine region can be better described as making up the spur and heel of Italy’s “boot” when following the country’s iconic shape.

Sharing its eastern coast with the Adriatic Sea, Puglia has Italy’s longest stretch of coastline and has a wonderful Mediterranean climate – hot, dry summers with plenty of sunshine and mild, rainy winters. The northern Bora wind helps moderate the region’s temperatures and humidity, which along with its fertile soils, creates the perfect environment for wine grape growing.

The region is split into North Puglia and South Puglia, each with its own unique grape varieties and geographical characteristics. Hilly North Puglia shares much of its winemaking practices and attitudes with central Italian wine regions, while South Puglia has flat plains and remains close to its Roman-Greco roots.

If you're interested in leanring more, read our beginner's guide to Italian wine regions.

Puglia has a rich winemaking history that dates back to the 8th century BC when the Greeks colonised the area. Sailing across the Adriatic Sea, the Greeks brought their own vines with them, including Negroamaro and Nero di Troia – two of Puglia’s most famous varieties. After the Greeks came the Romans, who built the Via Appia, a main road that connected Puglia to Rome, allowing Puglian winemakers to flourish by selling their wines throughout the Roman empire.

In the late 19th century, the phylloxera epidemic, which devastated vineyards all over Europe, affected Puglia. Wine production was resurrected in the southern town of Salento, and later the region became associated with high-yield, low-quality bulk wine production.

In recent years, Puglia has undergone a winemaking renaissance. It is now a popular tourist destination, and winemakers there have reinvented Puglia as a region that produces premium, artisanal wines.

What are Puglia’s main wine regions? Puglia is neatly divided into five separate territories – High Murgia, Lower Murgia, Itria Valley, Messapia and Salento – that also act as clearly defined wine districts.

Salento: The southernmost part of Puglia, it’s known for its red wines from Negroamaro and Primitivo grapes. Salento includes the DOCs Primitivo di Manduria and Salice Salentino.

Itria Valley: Located in Central Puglia, it’s known for white wines, especially those made from Verdeca and Bianco d’Alessano grapes, including Martina Franca, Locorotondo and Cisternino.

High Murgia and Lower Murgia: These are hilly areas known for producing Castel del Monte wines, made from a variety of grapes including Nero di Troia, Bombino Nero and Bombino Bianco.

Daunia: Located in the northern part of Puglia, this region is home to the DOCs Rosso di Cerignola and Orta Nova.

Puglia is famous for its robust, full-bodied reds bursting with concentrated flavours. Some of the best-known include:

• Primitivo: A juicy, bold, full-bodied red with characteristic fruit flavours of fresh figs, blackberries and dried fruits – a result of the warm, sunny climate where the grapes ripen. This variety is Puglia’s most popular and thrives in the Manudria and Gioia del Colle regions, where it is known locally as “mirr test” (hard wine).
• Negroamaro: A more widespread variety than Primitivo, it grows throughout South Puglia. These grapes create easy-drinking, full-bodied reds with bold fruit flavours and hints of baking spice. These wines have an excellent balance between acidity and tannins, making them very food-friendly and a common sight on Puglian dinner tables.
• Salice Salentino: This wine is primarily made from the Negroamaro grape, often blended with Malvasia Nera, another local grape. Dry and full-bodied, these wines are known for their robust body, low acidity and flavours of baked raspberries, plum, cinnamon, all-spice and star anise.
• Nero di Troia (also known as Uva di Troia): This grape is native to the northern part of Puglia and is known for producing bold and spicy red wines with flavours of dark cherry, plum and hints of violets.
• Bombino Nero: Although not as well-known as Primitivo or Negroamaro, Bombino Nero is used to produce some light and fruity reds and rosés in the region.

Although red wines rule the roost in Puglia, the Italian region is also home to some premium white wines.

• Verdeca: Puglia’s only known native white grape, it grows mainly in the Itria Valley. It produces dry, light-bodied white wines with high acidity and citrusy flavour profiles. These refreshing whites are found in central Puglia, specifically the Bari and Taranto provinces, and are commonly served as a pre-dinner drink.
• Bombino Bianco: Also known as “the white Bombino,” this grape variety yields subtly aromatic and balanced white wines with delicate hints of wildflowers and citrus. It’s often used in blends with other local varieties or to produce sparkling wines.
• Greco Bianco: This grape is used to produce both dry and sweet styles of wine. The dry versions can offer crisp apple and pear notes with a hint of almond, while the sweet versions are rich with honeyed and nutty flavours.
• Fiano: Although not as widely planted as Verdeca or Bombino Bianco, Fiano is increasingly recognised for its potential in Puglia. It produces fuller-bodied whites with notes of honey, spice and tropical fruit.
• Trebbiano: This grape variety is widely planted across Italy, including Puglia. Trebbiano wines are typically light-bodied with fresh, fruity flavours of white peach, lemon and green apple with a mineral finish.