Negroamaro del Salento is an excellent Apulian red wine. Listed on the National Register of Vine Varieties since 1970, the name of qusto red wine from Salento today is and remains the subject of much debate among scholars and historians.
If you want to discover Salento, experience the grape harvest, dine at the winery and taste some excellent Salento wine in the company of the producer, you must book your place “Walk among the vines, discover the village of Specchia, dine at the winery””
The name is linked to the history of the Salento area. The origins of Negroamaro wine
The name Negroamaro, Apulian red wine, according to some scholars, derives from Griko (a language spoken in some municipalities of Grecìa Salentina) from the word mavro, which means black and, combined with the Latin nigro, (black – black therefore) would identify the black, impenetrable color.
According to some scholars of Griko and the land of Salento, this might seem a stretch, the fact is that in the remote centuries, Apulia and Greece had a strong connection because, many Greeks were founding fathers of some cities in Salento, inland and on the coast.
Other scholars, identify in the term Niurumaru of the Salento dialect, the etymology of the name: a wine with a black color and a bitter taste due to the presence of tannins.
Early evidence of the existence of Apulian wine Negroamaro del Salento.
One of the earliest written accounts of the existence of Negramaro wine in Salento, dates back to 1880, in the Annals of Viticulture and Enology: in one of these articles, there was mention of the threat of a caterpillar damaging the Negro Amaro vines.
The wonderful Negramaro, called in other ways in several Salento municipalities, widely spread in the province of Lecce
Among the best Apulian red wines, in some municipalities of our Salento it was called Jonico (in Galatina), Lacrima (in Squinzano and Latiano) and Albese (in the municipalities between Campi Salentina and Guagnano).
Today you can find it very easily in the provinces of Lecce and Brindisi.
It is used to make wine either purely (i.e., obtaining a wine from a single variety or from a monovarietal vineyard) or mixed in small percentages with other vines such as Malvasia Nera di Lecce and, given its importance, is included in several DOCs.
The Negroamaro vine: characteristics of the plant and the wine of Salento
The plant presents itself in all its beauty to our eyes: clusters of medium size and trunk shape. The berries are of medium size, the skin is thick and colored in places black and purple. Generally, the ritual of the harvest takes place between late September and early October and, the wine that is obtained, is unique, fragrant and tasty.
The color with which it is presented shows that never was the name more apt, for a wine with these characteristics: intense, dark color, niuru precisely, impenetrable, with violet hues.
The taste for the palate of Negroamaro: Salento red wine
Before tasting it with your palate, you have to smell it and the scents it releases, directly with your nose. There is a strong reminder of red fruits, cherries in spirit, pepper. Hints of leather can be sensed .
In the mouth it is all another music, symphony for your palate: strongly alcoholic, on the tongue and in the mouth it comes across as soft and warm; you can feel the tannins. The old Salento peasants well identified this characteristic of this wine with the dialect name Niuru ‘Maru.
We suggest you sip it while sitting near a focarìle (domestic fireplace), while checking red meat on hot coals.
