The history of Terre Di San Vito is intriguing. For thousands of years it has been farmed for Italians, Romans, Greeks and a number of other visitors.

We continue to respect the traditions of the past and the skills our grandparents handed down to us. With our love for wine and vinicultural knowledge, we increased the size of our farm to over 100 acres whilst continuing to use traditional and sustainable farming methods.

The majority of our vines are indigenous to Italy and especially Puglia (IGT), however some are not typical to the region (Malbec) but they flourish on our land and this has resulted in an incredibly flavoursome product range and an award winning wine.

In the Mediterranean, the vine began its journey from southern Italy to Europe and helped the Italians to become skilled growers of the vine and in their viniculture skills.

 

Wine was initially used as a ritual and celebratory drink (and still is today), subsequently, the cult of wine spread throughout the Roman Empire.

While it was relatively easy to carry vine cuttings on long journeys, transporting the finished wine was a much more difficult task. There is truth to the old cliché that ‘necessity is the mother of invention’ because we have shown we have a serious need to drink and transport wine!

 

In 1866 L. Pasteur in his Etudes sur le vin writes "Wine is the healthiest and most hygienic of all drinks". Because, apart from the causes of contamination, bacteria would thrive in the water while in wine they die due to the characteristics of acidity and the presence of alcohol and tannins.

 

Historically, wine from Puglia was mass produced and used as blends for other, more well-known wineries but for the past 20 years – especially in Puglia, there has been a change in attitude and understanding towards the winemakers of the south. Puglian winemakers are now recognised for their innovative ideas, interesting new blends, care and quality they put in to producing their wines.

These changes have come around relatively quickly and Puglia is now recognised by the government's system of wine classification. Puglia now has Indicazione Geografica Tipica (IGT) status and they balance tradition with innovation and produce some world-class wines.

Puglia’s most famous native grapes are primarily Negroamaro, Bombino Nero and Primitivo, local treasures best known for making traditional Rosato (Rosé).

As well as the traditional, native grapes of Bombino Nero and Primitivo, at Terre Di San Vito, we also cultivate the unique and international grape varieties: Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc.

The Terre Di San Vito winery is becoming a more recognised winery. It is a fertile region along the Adriatic coast in Italy's extreme south east which has long been of major importance for the production of wine and table grapes.

A mediterranean climate and a predominance of soils well suited to grape-growing (a calcareous base from the Cretaceous era overlain by topsoils rich in iron oxide from the Tertiary and Quaternary eras) have created an ideal viticultural environment. Its name derives from the Roman a-pluvia or 'lack of rain'. It has about 100,000 ha/250,00 acres of land dedicated to the vine, and an average annual wine production of just over 7 million hl/185 million gallons. Today it holds second place in Italy's league of most productive viticultural regions.

Surrounded by 400 miles of coastline (the longest coastline in Italy); the Ionian and Adriatic Seas, Puglia is one of the most fertile growing regions in all of Europe.

The soil at Terre Di San Vito is maintained by our agronomist who explains our fertile red clay soil has a layer of limestone that makes it rich in iron, minerals and nutrients giving the wine its minerality and complexity. It is the combination of beautiful sunshine, heat and fertile soil that make for a land in which almost anything can be grown, ranging from sweet, aromatic grapes full of fruity flavourings and notes to dark, deep and flavourful grapes. In addition to this - the cool breeze from the surrounding waters helps moderate vineyard temperatures, providing ideal conditions for growing grapes and enables us to contribute to preserving the biodiversity and the precious balance of this ecosystem.

At Terre Di San Vito, we use the ‘Cordone Speronato’ vine training system. This means we have a short pruning system that is suitable for vines that bear fruit on buds placed at the base of the shoots and is highly recommended for our plants as we have such fertile soil. It does take longer to set up but it does make production and pruning easier to manage. The yearly pruning - often during the month of January - is an essential part of keeping the vine healthy but the agronomic advantages of the Cordone Speronato vine cultivation are that they give us a dense and regular vineyard, the vegetative-productive balance is excellent and both the vegetation and grapes have a good exposure to the sunlight.

This ensures the health of the plant and that we achieve a high-quality production while maintaining enormous respect for the vine.
At Terre Di San Vito, we strongly believe that you cannot make great produce without a great team and great passion. That is what we have here at Terre Di San Vito.

This is what we want to share with you.

 

(From us to you)