It's back and its still beautiful!!!

98/100 Luca Maroni

80% Negroamaro, 20% Primitivo makes for a charming and rewarding encounter. It looks the part but the tastes leaves the lasting impression. The appassimento element (Appassimento is the Italian word for 'withering', which gives a clue to how these wines are made. The grapes are dried after harvest, laid on racks in airy warehouses where they gently shrivel during the winter months, concentrating the sugars and the flavour compounds.), adds to the texture and drive of the wine.  

Bastioni della Rocca Leggero Appassimento is a bold southern Italian red from the sun-drenched Salento peninsula in Puglia—the heel of Italy’s boot. Made from Negroamaro (80%) and Primitivo (20%), the wine uses the appassimento method, where grapes are left to dry naturally on the vine for 25 days. This concentrates flavour, deepens colour, and softens acidity.

Aged in cement for texture and balance, the result is a rich, supple red with notes of ripe black fruit, dried cherry, spice, and a touch of vanilla. Smooth, generous, and easy to enjoy, this is a modern take on a centuries-old technique—soft enough to drink on its own, but built to stand up to hearty pastas, grilled meats, and aged cheeses. sugar and lets the water out) – combined with a long period of cement age to create a supple wine full of ripe black fruits with complex hints of raisins, spice and vanilla.

A very attractive proposition.