Puglia

Puglia forms the 'heel' of Italy's boot-shaped outline. It has very strong agricultural properties It has a beautiful landscape and ontributes to 70% of all olives grown in Italy. It is however a significantly poor region having a lower GDP than most of Europe. The region is hot and flat, but this is balanced by constant sea breezes from both sides of the of the southern Salento penninsuala. For a long time, the majority of Puglia's wine production was high-yielding vineyards, producing large quantities of low quality grapes to contribute to cheap wine for distillation or to be sold off cheaply in bulk. The number of bottlers and estates bottling their own production was miniscule, mostly found in the Salento peninsula. In rescent times however, there has been a great shift towards quality wine production, and both DOC and IGT appelations are going to great lengths to improve standards and compete on the world stage.