San Marzano Il Pumo Malvasia Sauvignon 2025
£9.95
The wine
Floral notes combine with aromas of tropical fruit and a hint of citrus zest. This lively, fresh white blend has a touch of minerality and is bursting with the ripe flavours of southern Italy.
Il Pumo takes its name from the ceramic pomegranate that sits on balconies and gateposts across Puglia as a symbol of prosperity and good fortune. Malvasia Bianca brings the floral aromatics and the southern weight, while Sauvignon Blanc sharpens the whole thing with citrus and cut. Fermented cool in stainless steel to keep the aromatics intact.
The producer
San Marzano
View all San Marzano winesIn 1962 nineteen growers in the village of San Marzano pooled their vineyards and founded a cooperative. More than sixty years later it draws on over 1,200 growers across Salento and the Manduria hills, and has become one of the most professional and forward-thinking houses in southern Italy.
The real asset is the old vines. Much of Puglia is still planted to alberello, the free-standing bush training the Greeks brought to the region, in which each vine stands alone without wires or posts. It cannot be machine harvested and it crops very little, but the fruit it gives is concentrated in a way trellised vines rarely match. Some of the plots behind Sessantanni and Anniversario 62 are well past sixty years old, and the names say exactly that.
The range is built on the three native reds of the heel of Italy: Primitivo, genetically identical to Zinfandel; Negroamaro, whose name means roughly black and bitter; and the near-forgotten Susumaniello. Passion and competence are the stated bywords, and the run of awards suggests they are more than a slogan.
