Natalino Del Prete Salice Salento from Natalino Del Prete. Natalino Del Prete. Photo by Eben Lillie.
Profile Natalino Del Prete is as old school as they come. His wines, made in the simplest way possible, are full of rustic character and serve as a perfect example of unpretentious peasant wine meant for everyday consumption. Vines have been in the Del Prete family for generations, but Natalino was the first to focus exclusively on viticulture. Working with 10 hectares of vines, the indigenous Primitivo and Negroamaro consist of the majority of his production, but a small amount of Malvasia Nera and Aleatico are grown as well. The viticulture is more about restraint than anything else: no fertilizers, minimal plowing, no irrigation and no chemicals (Natalino has been certified organic since 1994). This philosophy extends to the cellar, where the wines ferment and age in large concrete tanks. Very few if any rackings occur, and no sulfur is ever added to the juices. Five wines are produced: a Primitivo called Nataly (named after Natalino himself), a Negroamaro called Anne (named after his wife), Torre Nova (a single vineyard co-ferment of Primitivo and Malvasia Nera), Il Pionere (Negroamaro and Malvasia Nera) and Sorso Antonico, an IGT Salento produced with Aleatico. Visits This visit with Natalino Del Prete took place in November, 2013.
Words by Jules Dressner, photoes by Eben Lillie. Having never been to Puglia, I'd always visualized the landscapes to be dry and barren, like Mad Max minus the evil guys with dyed red mohawks shooting at you with bows from a motorcycle. And though our Perrini visit kind of fed into my dystopian post-punk fantasy, our stop at Natalino Del Prete's estate threw me off completely. The last thing I was expecting was lush, green scenery, and Natalino's vines are amongst some of the most beautiful I've had the pleasure of experiencing. Just kidding. Those vines Natalino's neighbor who bombards them with herbicide year round. Directly across the street though, you get this:
BOOM!!!!!!
WOWZA!!!!!
HOLY MOLY!!!! DDDAAAAMMMMMMNNNNN!!!!
Ok, you get the idea... This first vineyard we visited consists of 2 hectares of Primitivo planted in massale 30 years ago by Natalino, as well as some 50+ Negroamaro. Factoid: did you know Primitivo has very thin skins? "When you don't use chemicals, it keeps the grapes tender." Natalino was planning to start pruning a few weeks after our visit, followed by an annual plowing. The vines are trained in "half-gobelet", which makes for low yields. The soils are clay. Before checking out more vines, we did a quick stop to a field of Natalino's olive trees.
A short drive then landed us in the Torre Nova vineyard.
Seriously, TOO BEAUTIFUL! This 3 ha lieu-dit produces a bottling under the same name, and is planted in Negroamaro and Malvasia Nera. The soils consist of clay with rocky pebbles. Next to the older vines, Natalino recently replanted some Malvasia Nera in massale. "Without fertilizing the soil, they will grow very slowly." The end-game is for the vines to dig their roots deeper into the ground to feed themselves from the minerals of the subsoil, in turn leading to a greater concentration and minerality in the grapes. Not fertilizing means waiting a minimum of 3 vintages before these young vines start producing, but for Natalino it's totally worth the wait. We ended our visit in the cellar to taste the 2013's.
The cellar used to belong to one of the area's biggest négociants, and it's huge. Natalino's total production takes up about a 20th of the space. "All the big négociants around me keep claiming: "We have the best wine!". And then they close."
Besides those beautiful old-school concrete tanks, a lot of wine ferments and ages in these underground vats.
Natalino has so much room in his cellar that he bottles to order. So the later on in the vintage you're drinking the wine, the longer it has aged in concrete The 2013's are stunning, and I know it sounds schnooky saying this, but this will be a blockbuster vintage for Puglia. I particularly liked the Torre Nova, a co-ferment of the the Negroamaro and Malvasia Nera mentioned above. After tasting in the cellar, we went upstairs to have a banging lunch prepared by Natalino's wife Anne. It was a good chance to re-taste the 2012's, but my favorite part of the meal was having thirds
of the best Eggplant Parmigiana ever. I didn't realize, but the red-sauce cooking that has become a staple of Italian-American cuisine mainly originates from the south of Italy. While I stuffed my face with more eggplant, Anne inadvertently answered something I'd always wondered about but had never actually looked up: why is is called "Parmigiana" when the cheese used is mozzarella? Well, as it turns out, Eggplant Parmigiana originates from Emilia-Romagna, where parmesan is from. And since everyone loves melted cheese on things, the dish was adopted by other regions, who then adapted it to their local production. Since Puglia is the home of mozzarella, this became the go-to cheese to use, and this is the version that made it stateside. Louis/Dressner Blog: You don't only learn things about wine, but also the origins of delicious dishes At the end of the meal, Anne busted out these Moscato grapes infused in really, really strong booze.
I had one and was semi-wasted for a few hours. Thankfully, it wasn't my turn to drive. Wines
V.D.T "Anne" Soil: Clay Grape: Negroamaro Age of Vines: 30 to 60 Vinification: Fermented and aged in concrete tanks and underground concrete vats. Bottled to order, with no sulfur added at bottling. D.O.C Primitivo del Salento "Nataly" Soil: Clay Grape: Primitivo Age of Vines: 30 to 60 Vinification: Fermented and aged in concrete tanks and underground concrete vats. Bottled to order, with no sulfur added at bottling. D.O.C Salice Salento Rosso "Torre Nova"
Soil: Clay and rocky pebbles Grape: Negroamaro Age of Vines: 30 to 60 Vinification: Fermented and aged in concrete tanks and underground concrete vats. Bottled to order, with no sulfur added at bottling. I.G.T Salento "Sorso Antico" Soil: Clay Grape: Aleatico Vinification: Bottled to order, with no sulfur added at bottling.