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Tenuta di Ghizzano in Decanter February 2017

Wanneer we in april op de wijnbeurs Vinitaly 2017 aan tafel zaten met Lisa Gilbee, eigenaar en wijnmaakster van wijnhuis Morella, toonde ze ons glunderend een magazine. Hun topwijn La Signora 2013 stond namelijk op de cover van Decanter, ’s werelds grootste wijnmagazine. We treden het magazine bij: Morella is een verbluffende ontdekking. Lees hieronder de lovende woorden uit het artikel ‘Southern Italy’s 10 hidden gems‘.

Morella, Puglia

Morella makes La Signora, one of the most exciting Primitivo wines I have tasted in a long time. It is so deliciously seductive, managing to combine all the richness, intensity and concentration of Primitivo from very old vines (60 to 80 years) and from Puglia’s hot climate, but still with persistently refreshing acidity and super-soft but pleasantly drying, plum-skin tannins.

This wine transported me back to a time of lazy summer days living by the sea in Bari, with the cooling, salty breeze just taking the edge off the heat. Morella’s Primitivo is made by Lisa Gilbee and het partner Gaetano Morella. Gilbee is an Australian winemaker who graduated from Adelaide’s prestigious Roseworthy College then found herself making wines in Tuscany, Soave, Emilia-Romagna and Sicily, finally settling in Puglia where she met Morella.

Their Primitivo vines are aged between 30 and 75 years old, are bush-trained in the traditional style and farmed biodynamically.
Their single-vineyard La Signora (The Lady) is from a singular clone of bush-vine Primitivo and is a truly stunning wine. The vineyards are on a flavoured patch of terra rossa topsoil with a limestone subsoil – in fact, very much like South Australia’s famous Coonawarra.
Perhaps Lise has found a home away from home after all?

Morella, La Signora Primitivo 2013, Salento, Puglia

A special single-vineyard wine made from bush-trained Primitivo vines of between 60 and 80 years old. This big, rich and concentrated wine somehow carries itself with great finesse. Aromas of dark-berried fruit and black and white pepper are followed by Christmas cake spices and dried fruits. Richly concentrated black cherry and blackberry flavours combine with sublimely velvety tannins and beautifully refreshing acidity. A stunning example of Primitivo at its very best. Drink 2017 – 2016 Alc 15%.

Susan Hulme MW. (2017). Southern Italy’s 10 hidden gems. DECANTER, May 2017 Best of Italy, pp. 21-25.