VINEYARDS Apulia is a land of a very ancient vine and olive growing tradition. Already practiced at Phoenician time in all the Mediterranean area, the vine cultivation took root in a particular way in this region: which boasts numerous varieties of native species of grapevines among which the noble Primitivo. It has been speculated that this ancient variety might sink its roots in Dalmatia and that it arrived with the Illiri people more than 2000 years ago.It is the historic wine par excellence of this land, heir of the antique “merum” ( in the local dialect even today it is called “mieru”) mentioned and praised in Virgilio’s and Oratio’s odes.Pliny the Elder defined Manduria “città viticulosa” that is to say a city full of vineyards. These vines were selected and so the monoculture of the “primitivo” name given to it for the earlier ripening of the grapes started up. The cultivation of the Primitivo from the hill of Murgia, grew rapidly as far as to reach the lands of the feud of Manduria, where the proximity to the Ionian sea, an open sea, the conditions of particular exposition to the sun and the micro-climate formed the ideal conditions for the Primitivo, securing an early and complete ripeness from which originated and originates great wines strongly fruity and smooth perfect to accompany the courses of the Mediterranean cuisine. The best productions of the Primitivo are obtained with the cultivation at “alberello” at low yield per hectare. Middle sized leaf, pentagonal, dark green, middle sized bunch of conical shape, semi-compact, winged , middle sized berry of a blue colour and with a pruinose skin of middle sized thickness, juicy pulp of a characteristic flavour, special and inimitable.