Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/426275
{ SOMMjournal.com } 69 M any people will wait a lifetime to fall madly and deeply in love, but for Antonio Capaldo, that moment occurred at the tender age of 22 during a fortuitous visit to Salento, in the southern half of Puglia. It plays out like the lyrics of a Domenico Modugno love song: a young man travels from his home in Campania to Puglia, where an untamed beauty catches his eye, resulting in a love story that is one for the history books. In our story, the beauty is the 50 hectares of wild vineyard land that was destined to become Ognissole. "It was the summer of 1999 when I first fell in love with Puglia and, in particular, with the Manduria sub-region, where Primitivo vines grow in marvelous sandy soils, trained into alberello basso—the traditional head training system of the region," recounts Capaldo. "Those first walks through the vineyards, I remember my emotion, finding fossils between the vines and becoming acquainted with the ancient alberel - los, with their gnarled shapes trained close to the ground to protect the fruit from the sun. These vines had suffered and struggled but were capable of producing robust bunches and rich, concentrated fruit." No stranger to winemaking, Capaldo—whose family co-founded the celebrated Campania estate Feudi di San Gregorio in 1986—saw the value in this rugged territory and convinced his family to invest in Puglia. Coming from a family known for marrying modern winemak - ing techniques with ancient varieties, it was a natural fit for Capaldo to set down roots in Salento, where the red grapes Negroamaro and Primitivo reign supreme. AT OGNISSOLE, VINTNER ANTONIO CAPALDO DISCOVERS TRUE LOVE IN PUGLIA by Karen Moneymaker PHOTO: COURTESY OF OGNISSOLE PHOTO: COURTESY OF OGNISSOLE