The Apulian shoreline has been visited for millennia by raiders and traders who plundered for booty or traded for profit. The Greeks and returning Crusaders brought grapevines from the east, Chardonnay arrived much later as local growers imported plantings from Le vignoble de Bourgogne. Apulia is surrounded on three sides by sea, the maritime climes stimulate vines and infuse grapes with the prevailing brinyness of salty winds. Just perfect for Chardonnay. A crisp fruit forward Chardonnay that smells of Mediterranean and tastes like the fruit of paradise.
Salento Peninsula is the celebrated heel of the Italian boot, it enjoys a salubrious Mediterranean climate with mild winters and long, hot, dry summers. Chardonnay vines prefer warmer climes, hilly clay and limestone terrains cooled by prevailing breezes. These are the conditions of Salento Peninsula in a nutshell. Chardonnay grapes are picked at full physiological ripeness and softly pressed at the Tormaresca cellars. Musts are chilled to 10C and cold settled for a natural clarification, vinified in controlled fermenters at a moderate 16C for optimal extracion of rich fruit esters without any unnecessary uptake of phenolics. Batches are treated to a term of unoaked maturation before assembling into the finished wine.
Light yellow, greenish huets. Predominantly fruity nose with crisp apple characters, citrus fruit rinds, floral notes, acacia flowers and hawthorn. Mouthfilling palate of freshly cut orchard fruit flavours, peaches and applejack, mineral notes and savoury chalkiness, well balanced and lingering on a finish of oyster shell and light balsamic notes.
