In short. The youngest of the Apulian DOCs, recognised in 1997, and made in five versions: white, Chardonnay, red, rosé and a Negroamaro in purezza. It is the one Salento denomination where the white matters as much as the red.

The zone takes in Galatina, Cutrofiano, Aradeo, Neviano, Seclì, Sogliano Cavour and Collepasso — the heart of the southern Salento, and the country we come from ourselves.

A vineyard in Puglia

Galatina Bianco

At least 55% Chardonnay, with up to 45% of other authorised white grapes from the province of Lecce.

  • Colour: pale yellow with green reflections
  • Nose: delicate, pleasantly fruity
  • Palate: dry, fresh and lively
  • Alcohol: 11%
  • Serve at: 10–11 °C, in a slender tulip glass

At the table: as an aperitif, with mixed starters, spaghetti with seafood, fish risotto, light vegetable soups and young cheese.

Galatina Chardonnay

From 85% Chardonnay, with up to 15% of the same authorised grapes.

  • Colour: pale yellow
  • Nose: delicate and pleasant
  • Palate: dry and strong
  • Alcohol: 11%
  • Serve at: 10–11 °C

At the table: delicate starters, seafood, light fish soups, boiled or steamed fish.

Red, rosé and the Negroamaro

The red and the rosé are built on Negroamaro at 65% or more, and they run from the cherry pink of the rosés to a deep ruby in the red, which is served at 18 °C with roast meat.

Then there is Negroamaro in purezza — 85% or more of the grape on its own. As a riserva it reaches a full, elegant palate, and it is the bottle to open for red meat and game.

Why a Chardonnay in the deep Salento? Galatina was drawn up in 1997, decades after most of the others, at a point when Apulian growers were no longer only defending tradition but also planting what they thought they could sell. The result is unusual: a denomination where an international white grape sits alongside the most local red grape there is, in the same disciplinare.

Galatina, beyond the wine. The town is where the tarantismo pilgrimage ended, in the chapel of Saint Paul — and it is where the pasticciotto was invented, in 1745. Cutrofiano, in the same zone, is one of the three Cities of Ceramics of Puglia.

More on the wines of Puglia.