APOLLONIO CASA VINICOLA

The history of the Apollonio winery starts in 1870 boasting today 150 years of passion and enthusiasm from 4 generations of winemakers. The company is part of the Register of Historical Companies of Italy. A solid family-run business deeply linked to the territory of Salento that looks ahead improving an ancient way of making good wine with the most refined techniques. From 1995 the winery is leaded by two brothers – Marcello and Massimiliano Apollonio (winemaker and national councilor of Assoenologi – National wine maker’s association).
Since Puglia is very rich in indigenous grape varieties, our philosophy has always been to focus on local peculiarities: Primitivo, Negroamaro, Susumaniello, Malvasia Nera, Bianco d’Alessano, just to name a few. Within our wide range of products we also include 4 DOC of Salento: Copertino, Salice Salentino, Squinzano, Primitivo di Manduria.
The production process begins with a careful selection of the grapes, mainly with a manual harvest of our “alberelli pugliesi” in order to make a first selection of the bunches. It goes on with long macerations of the must of 30/45 days in large Slavonian oak barrels (120 hl) to obtain a better estraction of noble tannins and a very intense color and prepare the wines for aging. It continues with a first refinement in barriques of French (including those of extremely fine-grained Jupilles oak to match with the “noble” Negroamaro and the “magnificent” Malvasia), American (in order to soften the “stubborn” Primitivo) and acacia oak (for whites and rosés) of 225lt followed by a resting phase of the wine in Slavonian big casks (30/50 hl). The second aging moment takes place in bottle for a time period of at least 6 months. In this way, the characteristics of the wine are finished and the evolution of scents and aromas is completed. In addition to wines matured in wood we also produce young, fresh and charming wines, with intense and Mediterranean scents, refined in steel only for a few months before being bottled already at the beginning of the next year.
We follow rigorous production processes always faithful to tradition, albeit supported by cutting-edge technologies in order to guarantee high quality and authenticity in the final product.
Together with love for the vine, the Apollonio generations have also handed down a great sensitivity to the world of art, culture and entertainment. In 2005 the Apollonio Award was born: an event that celebrates important personalities born in Puglia or “adopted” by our region who were able to cross regional and national borders in the cultural and artistic field, "exporting" a positive and winning image of the Apulian territory.
Today Apollonio wines are appreciated in more than 30 countries around the world telling the story of a family and of a territory that preserve their identity and authenticity.