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Winemaker Notes
Critical Acclaim
All Vintages
The Claudio Quarta “family” believe in growth through innovation and research. Their wish to explore, understand, discover and reveal is at the heart of the entire project, centered on the territory, and aiming at excellence in wine-making to take to the world markets.
Today, Claudio Quarta’s wineries, Tenute Eméra (Antica Masseria del Sigillo Primitivo), Cantina Moros (Salice Salentino) and Cantina Sanpaolo (Fiano and Aglianico) are a single company and one big family. Claudio and his daughter, Alessandra and all the staff are involved in the ambitious project of reinterpreting southern Italy’s wine-growing excellence, by combining the utmost respect for tradition with progress and total commitment to environmental sustainability.
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.
Full-bodied and brimming with dark fruit, Negroamaro actually doesn’t taste much like what its name indicates, “bitter and black.” Full and smooth on the palate, Negroamaro doesn’t actually have a lot of bitter tannins. Instead it is typically brimming with sweet fruit like baked plum, raspberry jam and ripe red cherry and is often accented with sweet aromas like cinnamon and anise.
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) of the most well known wine of the area, Salice Salentino. It can also produce single varietal reds as well as some impressive aromatic and spicy rosé wines.
Try one with an easy pizza night or instead of a Chianti with pasta.