Paul Caputo

When Miguel Mateu purchased the Castle of Perelada in 1923, a vast renovation was needed. His dream was to modernise one of Catalonia’s great historical wineries into something fit for the future. Yet such an aspiration is timeless. The need to strike a balance between utility and statements of tradition, between context and innovation, has continuously loomed over every architectural project, and the wine business is no different. What has changed however, is our considerations of how things work, and what things mean; in short perhaps, fashion.

Aglianico del Vulture must be considered one of the great terroirs of Italy. Its ruggedly beautiful terrain tumbles from the foothills of Monte Vulture, an ancient and extinct volcano situated in the thick of the Mezzogiorno. At dusk, its talon shaped crater crafts an eerie silhouette against the crimson sky and the little lights of the Vulture’s (vul-tur-aay) hilltop villages flicker beneath the stars. This is a wine that looms large in the hearts and minds of its admirers, for to truly understand the Aglianico grown in these ancient soils, is to understand Basilicata and its culture of struggle.

Paul Caputo considers how the runaway popularity of rosé has provided a fantastic opportunity to highlight the amazing culture of rosé drinking in Puglia and in particular Salento.