Francesco Marra Negroamaro 2022

Francesco Marra and his wife Maurizia work seventy hectares between Casarano and Ugento in the southernmost part of Salento, just ten kilometres from the Ionian Sea, farming organically among olive trees, grain and vines. This wine is made from Negroamaro, the signature dark grape of southern Puglia whose name points to its colour and its bitter edge. The hot, dry climate and the sea breezes off the Ionian let the grapes ripen fully while retaining freshness, and the red iron-rich soils give the wine its depth and structure. It is vinified as a natural wine and aged eighteen months in stainless steel, which preserves the pure fruit and the grape's savoury character without any oak spice, the extended ageing on lees rounding the tannins. It pours an intense, deep ruby. The nose is ripe and warm, with dark plum, black cherry, liquorice and tobacco over a dried-herb, earthy base. The palate is full and powerful at fifteen and a half percent, the ripe fruit met by the grape's typical bitter twist and firm but rounded tannins on a long, savoury finish. Serve at sixteen to eighteen degrees. Good with grilled and roast red meats.