GUTTAROLO
Amphora Bianco 2019
Puglia, Italy
A maceration of local variety Verdeca, which spent five days on skins before being pressed off to terracotta amphorae for two months. A wine of gorgeous aromatics, with notes of bergamot and spice, it has some fine little tannins to boot. Just 800 bottles were made.
Verdeca, Chardonnay
ABOUT THE PRODUCER
Cristiano Guttarolo’s wines are unlike any others from Puglia.
Cristiano’s masseria can be found just outside the village of Gioia del Colle, where his seven hectares of vineyards and old olive trees are planted some four hundred metres above sea level over the rugged terrain of the Murge Plateau.
Here, daytime temperatures are cooler than usual thanks to a strong breeze from the Adriatic, and the site’s elevation brings fresh evenings. The unique landscape produces wines that are thrillingly unique. Heady with wild, sunkissed fruit, the limestone of the karst imparts a luminous quality, whilst the unique climate allows them to retain a lightness so often missing in this part of the world.
In the vines, Cristiano takes a decidedly hand-off approach. Working organically and eschewing the use of chemicals, he prefers to let wild herbs and flowers grow for much of the year and as a result the farm teems with life.
In the cantina, he works in the simplest of fashions, bottling his wines with no additions in the spring following the harvest, in the hope of capturing the energy of the place he calls home.