Cantine Paololeo SRL
(Winery in Salento)
About Winery and Wines
The heart of Salento in Apulia, the sunniest place between the Adriatic and Ionio seas, is where you can find Paololeo Winery: a Big Family before being one of the most modern and dynamic company in the region. The passion for the indigenous Salento’s vines deeply characterized the history of the Leo family since the beginning of the 1900s. At that time, Paolo Leo's grandfather, founder of the company, began to make wine in the family ‘palmento’, which has been recently renovated and transformed in a Wine Museum and a lovely tasting area. Walking through the vineyards you will be able to admire different types of vines cultivation, especially the traditional bush vines, which is Paolo Leo’s favourite. The production covers about 50 hectares of vineyards mainly cultivated with Negroamaro and Primitivo, the two most important indigenous grapes in Salento. The new winery, established in 1989, is about 15,000 square meters and is equipped with a modern vinification area, a completely automated bottling system and a welcoming barrique room that surrounds you with intense wood aromas from different size and type of casks and barriques. Tradition and Innovation show that they can perfectly work together in creating high quality wines, with certification and a traceability system, in order to satisfy different markets and targets, in Italy and in the rest of the world. The strong passion for genuine relationships and the absolute transparency in telling the work in the vineyard and in the winery has encouraged Cantine Paololeo to open the doors to wine lovers, keen to get to know the Salento wine tradition.
The passion for making wine is a heritage for the Leo’s family, coming to the fourth generation of wine producers with the young winemaker Nicola Leo, Paolo's older son. His wines are artisan creations that reflect his passion, tastes and philosophy, highlighting the wonderful potential of the vineyards in San Donaci, in the heart of the Negroamaro land, where this grape reaches the maximum expression followed by Primitivo, Malvasia, Fiano, Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio. The production, also, includes a certified organic wine range, the wines 'Alture' from Valle d’Itria and the new brand line Passitivo, made with a natural drying technique (appassimento).