Rosa del Golfo

The Rosa del Golfo winery is a historic, family-run producer in the Salento area and is renowned for producing one of the greatest rosé wines in the Apulia region and beyond. It was founded more than two centuries ago by Leopoldo Calò, who began producing wine from a small plot of land, giving life to the family tradition that has been handed down to this day. With Mino's entry in 1963, the winery's first bottle of Rosato, called Rosa del Golfo, was produced, emphasising the strong connection with the Gulf of Gallipoli and expressing its different tones with great skill. In 1988 Mino decided to change the name of the winery, associating its destiny with the wine that is the emblem of the history of the Calò family and the Salento region. When Mino died prematurely, Luigi Veronelli, who was a great admirer of the winery's rosé, encouraged Damiano Calò, who was 20 years old at the time, to continue in his father's footsteps. The young member of the family, with the support of the enologist Angelo Solci, succeeded in revitalising the winery in just a few years, perfecting the planting of the vines and some of the winemaking techniques.

The vineyards of Rosa del Golfo extend over 40 hectares in the countryside of the towns of Alezio, Sannicola, Parabita and Salice Salentino. The main vines cultivated are those indigenous to Salento and include Negroamaro, Malvasia Nera Leccese and Primitivo. The vines are rooted in warm terrains, which are characterised by red soil of a calcareous-clayey nature rich in iron, and they benefit from sea breezes and strong winds especially in summer, making the climate temperate and therefore ideal for viticulture. A vineyard with alberello vines, which are about 80 years old and surrounded by dry-stone walls on the outskirts of Sannicola, is particularly interesting, and its grapes are used to produce the winery's top labels.

In the cellar, the winemaking process known as "a lacrima" ("tearing") is used, which is typical of the Apulian tradition. The must is collected after the grapes have been lightly pressed, and they are then placed in sacks and allowed to tear, preventing contact with the skins. Right from the start Mino understood the importance of cleanliness in the cellar and low yields to ensure superior quality in his rosé wines. With the introduction of an ultra-modern refrigeration system, which allows the musts to be cleaned by lowering the temperature and therefore without resorting to clarification, Rosa del Golfo has achieved an innovative rosé that is destined to become a reference point for rosé wines not only in Apulia but throughout Italy. The label, designed by Antonio Piccinardi, also refreshed the image of the winery as it was modern and colourful, and broke with the excessively conventional designs used at the time. The Rosa del Golfo wines have structure and character, as well as smoothness and elegance. They are modern and exemplary expressions, firmly linked to the territory of Salento, and express its sunny, Mediterranean soul.