Puglia IGT

Puglia IGT is a region-wide appellation for the Puglia region in southern Italy. Since its introduction in November 1995, it has become one of the most widely used of Italy’s 120 or so IGTs (Indicazione Geografica Tipica), and thus one of the country’s most significant wine appellations.

More than 50 grape varieties were listed when the production laws were updated in 2013, creating an even split between red and white varieties. This number is likely to increase gradually in the next few years, as the region’s winemakers continue to seek out and use new varieties. The length of this list clearly reflects the increasing preference for varietal winemaking in southern Italy, itself a reflection of this trend in global consumer trends. As is common for IGT titles, the list shows a mix of Italian classics and the globally popular varieties that have made their way from France over the years (the most popular of which seem to be Chardonnay and Syrah).

Currently, the majority of the wines are dry white and red wines produced from the region’s traditional varieties: Primitivo, Negroamaro and Uva di Troia for reds and Falanghina, Fiano and Muscat for whites. Italy’s favorite grape, Sangiovese, is also increasingly common in these wines.

The IGT category was introduced in the 1990s as a way of balancing out Italian wine classifications. Right from the beginning, Puglia’s wine producers warmly welcomed the IGT category, and the region is now one of Italy’s key sources of IGT-level wine. Puglia and the Languedoc in southern France have much in common: both are the most southerly, the warmest and the poorest regions in their respective nations. Both also have extensive Mediterranean coastlines bordered by plains rising steadily up into low-lying mountains and both are characterized by scrubby, sunbaked limestone soils, cooled down on summer evenings by fresh breezes from the Mediterranean.

Most significant of all is that, for the past century or so, both regions have focused their industry around volume of production, and both have a well-established system of co-operative winemaking. The latter goes a long way to explaining Puglia’s enthusiastic uptake of the IGT category, whose relatively relaxed yield restrictions allow grape-growers and co-operatives to continue their traditions of high-yield production.

Beyond the regional Puglia IGT title, Puglia is home to several sub-regional IGT titles, which have also proved extremely successful. These are Tarantino, Salento, Daunia and Murgia.