Wine Tasting - Tutored Tasting

Vineria del Borgo, Cisternino, Puglia. Monday 29-June-2026.

The local wine bar Vineria del Borgo offers a couple of options for wine tasting. A simple three wine flight or a four wine tutored tasting with accompanying nibbles. We of course went with the latter. We were joined by our new Cistranese friend Nancy and her visiting friend Bridget. The wines were presented by Luca Cinque of The Italian Label and came from two different wineries.

1. Metodo Classico, “1950”, Rivera.

The first wine we sampled was a sparkling made from Bombino Bianco. Made by the traditional champagne method it spent 24 months on the lees and this bottle was disgorged in November 2025 with zero dosage.

A very light straw colour with a yeasty nose and touches of melon and peach kernel on the palate. Mary’s favourite of the evening.

2. Locorotondo Bianco DOC, Rivera.

The regulations for Locorotondo DOC is: Verdeca at least 50%; Bianco d’Alessano at least 35% and whatever remains has to be a local grape variety, normally Minutolo. This producer has opted to go for 50/50 Verdeca/Bianco d’Alessano with no Minutolo at all.

Very pale lemon colour with floral notes on the nose which apparently comes from the Bianco d’Alessano. Luckily not as floral on the palate as this could have been a bit too much. Interesting to try a different style of Locorotondo DOC. For me it was a little tart on the palate but had a lovely smooth texture; Mary liked it.

The sommelier gave us a top tip for bluffing in wine tastings. Depending on the flavours you pick up, it’s a safe bet to go for one of the following three: apple, pineapple or melon as appropriate. Other fruits are available, but those are good options.

3. Susumaniello Rosato Salento IGP, Sammarco.

Apparently, the Susumaniello grape gets its name from the dialect word for a donkey on an account of how these vines carry a heavy load with huge bunches of grapes right from the first couple of years.

The colour was a lovely pale pink and, maybe it’s auto suggestion because of the colour but I got a rose petal on the nose. Very pleasant and should be great with food. 

We had an interesting discussion on the difference between biological wines (which these were) and biodynamic wines which is a whole more complex discipline altogether. 

4. Primitivo Rosso Salento IGP, Sammarco.

Like the Susumaniello above, many of the Primitivo vines are not trained on wires but grown as low bush vines which makes harvesting back breaking work. There are two main areas where the Primitivo grape is grown. Gioia del Colle where the wines are 100% Primitivo and generally up to 13% alcohol. Primitivo di Manduria must contain at least 85% Primitivo grapes and a natural alcohol content of at least 13.5%.

This wine spent six months fermented in stainless steel tanks followed by two months in bottle.

The wine was a dark, opaque ruby with a very jammy nose, I was picking up blackberry. There was some grip to the wine, which indicates enough tannins to give it some aging potential.

As part of the tasting we got a two full plates of assorted cheese and salumi, but I was too busy eating to take a photo at the start.

After all this, we went to Bar Fod for an ice cream dessert and a glass of Prosecco to finish off the evening. A very enjoyable tasting and, as always, we learnt something new.