Morella

Gaetano Morella and Lisa Gilbee meet in the Apulian countryside and give life to a love story and a winery which, in fact, is the result of a love story... He is a farmer from Puglia, from Barletta, she a Australian winemaker, in Italy for work. He works first in Sicily and then in Puglia, where the meeting with Gaetano takes place, among the old and wrinkled primitive trees, twisted like a centuries-old olive tree. They fall in love with each other, but also with this red earth, full of culture and tradition. They therefore begin to purchase vineyards, rigorously selecting old vines, including some Crus with plants that reach almost 100 years of age, saving them from the inexorable fate of being uprooted to make room for new, more prolific plants, or even to leave room for more profitable crops. The first years of production, at the beginning of the 2000s, were for true "garage enthusiasts"; very few bottles produced, with the desire to express the territory and then their vision; therefore natural cultivation regime in the vineyard and in the cellar, following the principles of biodynamic agriculture. Furthermore, a yield of grapes per single plant of approximately 20 quintals per hectare, a detail that would horrify many Apulian winemakers (and not only), capable of squeezing the plants until obtaining 500 quintals of grapes from the same size. A simple family that with discretion, sobriety and love for the territory is raising the name of the denomination and of Primitivo throughout the world. Their small company extends over a few hectares in the countryside of Manduria, and here they express themselves in this way: frank, spontaneous, rich wines, warm like the Puglia sun: theirs is a great local wine. In the glass we therefore find all the depth of the primitive, dark and almost impenetrable; rich and intense aromas. The red earth and the summer heat give strength and the unmistakable fleshiness of the earth and the wine. A Primitivo that wants to defeat, and succeeds in, the idea that it should be a wine to drink young.