Cristiano Guttarolo’s vineyards lie far, far away from the low-slung Pugliese plains that produce much of the hot, flabby and over-extracted wine that we’ve unfortunately become conditioned to in Italy’s deepest south. On a plateau of limestone, some 1200 ft above sea level, Guttarolo’s vines benefit from cooler daytime temperatures and gusty sea breezes, while the site’s elevation offers a fluctuation between day and night temperatures, allowing the grapes to ripen fully while retaining freshness and finesse. While the wines are unmistakably Pugliese–full of wild, sun-drenched fruit–they have a balance often missing around these parts, one that allows the grape and place to sing and the drinker to enjoy the beautiful minerality that these limestone-riddled ‘karst’ soils impart. Vineyard work is excellent, organic and done entirely by hand, while in the cellar Cristiano eschews the use of additives entirely as these are the sort of wines he likes to drink.
Founded in 2004 with a hectare of vineyard left by his grandfather, the winery itself lies in an old masseria: a restored, traditional farmhouse built entirely from local stone and surrounded by indigenous grape varieties. Guttarolo’s ‘Amphora Rossa’ sees fruit pulled from the estate’s most prized 40-year-old Primitivo vines, destemmed and fermented on the skins for five days, before being pressed to terracotta vessels until the following spring. The perfume here is an intoxicating mix of blackcurrant, earth and brine whilst the palate offers a wonderful purity of fruit – tiny, wickedly tart blackberries, sour plum skin, blood orange – all drawn inward by a cascade of bitter herbs and a seeping iodine mineral impression. Eminently quaffable at this early stage of its evolution, though this seems to have all the hallmarks of a more naturally vinified wine that should age beautifully over the coming years.