Tufarello

Another of Valentino Sciotti's projects, Tufarello is made by the Farnese winemaking team at their winery, where Dennis Verdecchia is in charge with Alberto Antonini consulting. The wine comes from Uva di Troia, also known as Nero di Troia, grown around Canosa di Puglia in southern Italy.

The name attests to Greek origins. It is said to derive from the nearby town of Troia, named in legend by the Greek invader Diomedes after the city he had helped destroy, and the grape is one of the varieties that came west with Greek settlement of the south.

Nero di Troia is the third of Puglia's native reds after Primitivo and Negroamaro, and much the least planted, because it is difficult: it ripens very late, buds unevenly, and gives high acidity and firm tannin where the region's reputation was built on soft, sweet-fruited generosity. That awkwardness is now the attraction. Grown carefully and picked at full maturity it produces something with structure and lift that neither of its more famous neighbours can manage, and plantings have been recovering after decades of decline.