Producer Francesco Marra

PUGLIA

The company of Francesco Marra and his wife Maurizia de Leone Pandolfelli is located between Casarano and Ugento, in the extreme south of Salento, a land of wine, oil and other agricultural delicacies. Just ten kilometers separate it from the Ionian Sea. The current management began in 2003. Today it has come to extend over 70 hectares of vineyards, olive groves and arable land (legumes, cereals…). All conducted in strict organic regime. The vine – which at full capacity will involve 25 hectares – has taken root on the red soils rich in clay, iron and potassium. These are austere lands, which during the dry summer months put the vine "to frustration", forcing it to search deeply for nutrients. The green manure of legumes and grasses replaces the fertilization; Lobesia botrana is kept at bay by sexual confusion techniques; copper and sulfur are used in case of need against powdery mildew and downy mildew. All under the careful supervision of Vituccio, inseparable Jack Russell of the Marra house. The Negramaro, the Primitivo and the Malvasia nera di Lecce - sovereign grapes of southern Puglia - are harvested by hand, destemmed and vinified in large wood, before facing long refinements in steel to produce the red wines. For rosés, on the other hand, the whole grape, with the stalk, is lightly pressed in an ancient press, and the must is left to ferment and refine in capase, the traditional terracotta amphorae. The fermentations are spontaneous, the manual punching down, the maturation takes place without filtrations or clarifications. Thus, whether it is rosé or red wines, the bottles born at Masseria Pisari reflect the Salento area in a commendable, uncompromising (and bewitching) way.