Cantele

In the 1950's Giovanni Battista Cantele began working in the world of wine, and he would often travel from his home in Bologna in Emilia-Romagna to Puglia in the heel of Italy where he would source wine to sell in the north. On one such business trip his wife Teresa Manara accompanied him and loved the area so much that she immediately made up her mind that she wanted to move the whole family there; whence they relocated with their sons Augusto and Domenico. In 1979 Augusto studied winemaking in the Veneto, and worked at Venetian wineries were he discovered a love of white wines. Returning home Augusto began working as a wine consultant, and it wasn't until the 1990's that he purchased his own vineyards and began to produce wines under the family name – and so the Cantele winery was born. The winery remains family owned, today third generation run by Augusto' son's Gianni, the winemaker, and Paolo, the brand manager, together with Domenico's' son Umberto and daughter Luisa, who are in charge of sales and the administration of the company; all sharing a passion and a talent for wine. Cantele are located in Guagnano, in the Salento region of Puglia. They have 50 hectares of their own vineyards and manage a further 150, all of which are farmed using integrated agriculture practices, constantly monitoring weather and soil conditions, and every effort is made to prevent and combat vine disease using agricultural, organic, and biotechnological means. This has allowed them to produce wines with a more transparent expression of their terroir. Although in Chardonnay they do have an international vine, their primary focus is on the native grapes of the region, with Primitivo, Negroamaro, Malvasia Nera and Susumaniello for the red wines, and Verdeca and Malvasia Bianca for the whites. The soils date back to the Cenozoic era, and are composed of limestone and clay with a calcareous presence. The younger vines are classically trained, but the older ones are bush-trained in the traditional alberello style of the region. In 2003 Cantele opened a brand new state-of-the-art winery, and here they are redefining the wines of the Salento region and showcasing the unique terroir through their expressive wines, made with precision and passion.