Visit to Vinicola Savese Pichierri 2023

A visit to and a tasting at Vinicola Savese

Day 28: September 29, 2023

Winery: Vinicola Savese Pichierri, Sava, Puglia

Checkout the videos below,  In the first one, Teo gives us an overview of the winery.  The second one is a recording of Teo and I tasting some of their wines.

Location:
This is the oldest winery in Sava, a town that is next to Manduria in Puglia.

Owner:
Vittorio Pichierri is the owner of the winery.  His nephew Massimiliano Pichierri is actively involved in the day to day operation at the winery.

Production:
They use an old fermentation method here.  The maceration process occurs in the first 5-7 days.  After that, the skin is removed, and the alcoholic fermentation is allowed to continue for another 20-21 days.

Although some wine is aged in oak barrels here, they also age wine in ceramic containers known as Capasone.  Traditionally, these ceramic containers were used to make Primitivo wine.  Wine made in a Capasone is called Capasonato.  Because these ceramic containers are porous, oxygen gets into the containers and interacts with the wine.  This results in a very complex wine.

Interesting Fact about Sava:
Sava is the original home of Primitivo.  Primitivo was first planted here and then expanded to neighboring towns.  In the olden days, the closest train station to Sava was in Manduria.  So, the wine made in Sava would be taken to Manduria to be transported to northern Italy, France, and other places in Europe.  Since the wine shipment originated in Manduria, it became known as the wine that comes from Manduria.  Today, that designation still exists, and is called Primitivo di Manduria.  However, wines made with grapes grown in all of the following areas are designated as Primitivo di Manduria DOC: Sava, Oria, Torre Santa Susanna, Erchie and Manduria.