Negroamaro

Negroamaro is the most popular wine in Italy’s southernmost province of Puglia. This grape has been grown here for at least 1,500 years, and its name translates as “black and bitter”. Negroamaro produces dark, deep, full-bodied wines. The best examples are prized for their complex flavours of prunes, black cherries, blackberries, dark chocolate and espresso.

The Salento Peninsula (the “heel” of the Italian “boot”), and especially the area around the town of Guagnano, is called “Terre del Negroamaro” – the land of Negroamaro. Salento IGP produces around 11.8 million bottles of Negroamaro per year, and Salice Salentino DOC about eight million.

Here, the warm Mediterranean climate ripens the grapes so they’re juicy, sweet and flavoursome while the cooling effect of the Adriatic and Ionian Seas maintain the fruit’s freshness. While Negroamaro is usually used to make exuberant red wines, it’s sometimes used for rosé.

What does Negroamaro taste like?

Dark and savoury, Negroamaro combines flavours of ripe black fruit with spicy and herbal notes of clove, cinnamon and thyme.