Tenuta Liliana is a recently-founded winery in the Salento area, in Puglia’s far south. Its wine bears the same name, a Cabernet Sauvignon that represents a mosaic of all the estate vineyards, located in Parabita.
Both producers, Antonio and Liliana Intiglietta, express a deep fondness for this variety, since it has found its ideal habitat at Salento’s latitude. After meticulous soil studies, the Intigliettas and their technical team, in collaboration with internationally-famed French grapevine breeder Pier Marie Guillaume, identified the appropriate clones for the parcels and planted the vineyards to those cultivars. Today, thanks to the local sun-blessed, breeze-caressed climate, Cabernet expresses the characteristics of these vineyards with its classic elegance and at the same time with a remarkable fidelity to the distinctive identity of that terroir.
“For us, this land represents our beginnings, our home, and our future. This project of ours aims to enhance the uniqueness, beauty and richness of our territory, all with the goal of producing an authentic, outstanding wine,” commented Antonio and Liliana. “Tenuta Liliana, as a firm believer in the winegrowing qualities of the Salento, is determined to contribute to that terroir’s overall identity through its own particular international and contemporary style.
The grapes selected for Tenuta Liliana 2022 are grown on 12 hectares of organically-farmed vineyards divided into five separate parcels, located in the surroundings of Parabita, near Gallipoli. Lying as high as 200 metres’ elevation, they boast a rich diversity of soils among themselves, from rocky limestone to clay-and iron-rich soils and to silt and sand. “The goal,” explain winemakers Carlo Ferrini and Andrea Fattizzo, “is to search out, in each parcel, its own expression of finesse and elegance, rather than power, but never neglecting to pay attention to their ancient, complex souls.”
The harvest was carried out by hand on 26 September. The clusters were brought into the wine cellar, located in an ex-quarry, where they were further quality-selected on a sorting table. A gentle de-stemming followed, designed to ensure the integrity of the berries, and the must was fermented in tapered vats, followed by 8 days of maceration on the skins. In January, the wine was transferred to barrels and tonneaux of Allier, Tronçais, and Fontainebleau French oak. Finally, after 18 months of maturation and ageing, Tenuta Liliana is ready to debut in international markets as proud ambassador of its world.
Tenuta Liliana 2022 was produced in ca. 20.000 bottles.
Tenuta Liliana was founded in 2017 in Parabita, in the heart of Puglia’s Salento region, by Antonio and Liliana Intiglietta, Milan-based businesspersons of Pugliese origin. Since its beginnings, they have striven to convey in wine, largely Cabernet Sauvignon, the grace and power of the local terroir in a manner both authentic and deeply personal. That noble variety, in fact, is the estate’s overwhelming mainstay, occupying almost 90% of the vineyards. To vinify it in the most appropriate manner possible, the Intiglietta family built a high-tech wine cellar strikingly set within an ex-quarry.
Salento IGP “Tenuta Liliana”, 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, is the estate’s first wine.