Cantine San Marzano

Finally, the time has come. I was allowed to visit the birthplace of one of my favourite wines, the Primitivo di Manduria "Sessantanni".

It all began with this wine. Back then, when my former employer gave me two bottles of this top-quality product as a graduation present, this Primitivo has accompanied me to this day. Sometimes it is served in private, sometimes it is served officially at company events - each time it hits me like a bomb and I can now recognise it blindly by its taste. And now, with the start of this blog, first came the idea and then the opportunity to visit the producers.

So we drive towards San Marzano. Along the Ionian coast, past the port city of Taranto and out into the countryside. It's October, and you can imagine that in high summer the heat must be merciless. Mosquitoes bite me.

Wine is omnipresent in Italy. People know Primitivo. "Sure, I've heard of it." - "Yes, they taste great". And: "I like ... best."

The Cantine San Marzano, the place where the wine is made, is not a wine castle, a chateau or a rural estate in the middle of beautiful surroundings. The first thing we did was drive past it. We passed huge steel tanks, yellow corrugated iron, a big fence and no signage. A small sign at the turn-off indicated that we were in the right place. Inconspicuous and without external pretensions, it stands before us: the Cantine San Marzano.

The Cantine was founded in 1962 from an association of local winegrowers, 19 families who have worked the land around San Marzano for generations, and today has 1200 members.

The cantine is huge. The sheer size overwhelms me. We are registered. Fabiana shows us the entire facility on an exclusive little tour. Trucks are weighed on arrival and samples of the grapes are taken with a swivel arm. If everything is good, it's time to unload. Giant steel tubs take the freshly harvested grapes and transport them inside the cantine.

We enter the warehouse. As big as the self-collection department of a Nordic furniture store, or even bigger. Thousands of litres are stored here. Not all of them bear the Cantine logo. Special bottlings are also made for selected direct customers, and some want their own label on it.

The cantine produces 9 million bottles of wine per year, in different quality levels. They sell nationally as well as internationally at a ratio of 20:80 and all from the same place. Only another logistics centre in northern Italy extends the radius of distribution. It takes my breath away.

The cooperative processes wine from 1500 hectares of cultivation and still relies on the knowledge of the elders. The company has tradition and produces exceptional wines of a high standard.

In front of the storage hall are huge steel tanks. 5000 hl fit into one. Some of them lie horizontally and are turned by computer. Always the same, always under control. Nothing is left to chance. In their own laboratory, every wine is checked and measured for quality at any time using high-tech equipment.

Despite the inconspicuous exterior, the omnipresent steel tanks, there are also the sacred halls. Under the floor. Carved into the stone of the region. Limestone. This is where the top wines are stored - in oak barrels. Over 2000 of them. Legendary "Sessantanni" also rests here for 12 months in French and American oak. It is humid. Cool. The place where magic happens. Barrique ageing exudes something powerful. Primal.

It is the craft and the time that brings the wine to perfection here.

It's nice to know that you simply have to wait a year for your wine and can't just slurp it out of the steel vat.

We touch the walls. Damp. Fabiana explains that there is very little rain in this region and yet they don't water the vines. The soil stores the moisture and gives it back to the plants over a long period of time. This is unique in the region and, for a producer of this size with so much control, unexpected and fascinating at the same time.

Once the wine is ready for bottling, it is cleaned, labelled, dated, bottled, corked, and even packed onto pallets by a robotic gripper arm and delivered to its destination in a virtually fully automated facility that can handle up to 7000 bottles per hour.

The visit was a great experience for me. The sheer size of the cantine impressed me. Although there was no classic chateau or romantic winery waiting for us, the history and origins of the Cantine, the wines they produce with consistent quality and the people who enjoy them with enthusiasm are proof that the same passion still lives in the company as when it was founded.