Wine region
Salento
Salento is a wine region in Italy, home to 10 wineries, producing red, rose wines, known for Negroamaro.
On this page
Salento's 10 wineries produce predominantly red wine; Negroamaro is the most common single-grape bottling; wines carry DOC, IGT designation.
Characteristic grapes
Salento is best known for Negroamaro. The most-bottled single-varietal wines here are Negroamaro, Primitivo. Salento's signature grapes often go into blends, so single-grape bottlings skew toward other varieties.
Most common single-grape wines
When Salento wines are made from a single grape (rather than a blend), these are the most common:
- Negroamaro
- 3 single-grape wines
- Primitivo
- 2 single-grape wines
Wine profile
Salento is predominantly a red-wine region (about 92% of its wines) — expect red wines, often from grapes like Negroamaro.
13 distinct Salento wines tracked, spanning the colours and styles below.
- Red12 · 92%
- Rose1 · 8%
Types: Still.
Representative Salento wines
Selected from stable product-to-region relationships for diversity — not a claim that these are the region's best wines.
- Caleo — Negroamaro
- Feudo Monaci — Negroamaro
- Casato di Melzi — Negroamaro
- Poggio Anima — Lilith Primitivo
- Conti Zecca — Nero
- Vigneti del Salento — Zolla Susumaniello
- Vallone Tenuta Serranova — Susumaniello Rose
- Palama — Arcangelo Primitivo
Quality designations
Wines here span quality tiers from everyday IGT to the strictly-controlled DOC — you'll find both accessible and prestige bottles.
- DOCAn Italian controlled-origin designation — sets the region, grapes and rules a wine must follow.
- IGTA looser Italian designation for regional wines with more freedom than DOC — often good value.
Italy wine designations
- DOC
- DOC is an Italian traditional term used to designate wine with protected designation of origin (DOP) status.
- DOCG
- DOCG is an Italian traditional term used to designate wine with protected designation of origin (DOP) status.
- IGP
- IGP denotes the EU protected geographical indication scheme for food and wine, linking a product’s quality, reputation or other characteristic to geographical origin.
- IGT
- IGT is the Italian traditional term used to designate wine with protected geographical indication (IGP) status.
- PDO
- PDO is the European Union protected designation of origin category.
Understanding the wine data
- Designation
- The protected-origin or administrative category associated with the wine, interpreted using country-aware rules. The same abbreviation can mean different things in different countries, so we only show the meaning approved for that country.
How this ranking is built
Producers are included when WhatDrink has a canonical producer-to-region relationship supported by the catalogue data. Display order may use represented wine count and relationship confidence to provide useful coverage; it is not a ranking of winery quality, prestige, production volume or critical acclaim.
Representative wines are selected from products with a stable relationship to this region, with preference for clear producer identity and a useful spread of producers, wine styles and designations. Inclusion is not an editorial score and does not mean these are the region’s best wines.
How to choose a good Salento wine
For everyday drinking, IGT bottles are the accessible choice; for something special, DOC signals the region's most tightly-controlled, prestige wines.
FAQs
- Which grapes are associated with Salento?
- Salento is represented in the WhatDrink region dataset by Negroamaro. Grape coverage reflects the products currently linked to the region and is not a complete legal planting register.
- What do the designation terms on Salento wines mean?
- DOC: DOC is an Italian traditional term used to designate wine with protected designation of origin (DOP) status. IGP: IGP denotes the EU protected geographical indication scheme for food and wine, linking a product’s quality, reputation or other characteristic to geographical origin. IGT: IGT is the Italian traditional term used to designate wine with protected geographical indication (IGP) status. These terms describe geographical or regulatory categories; they do not by themselves guarantee that one producer or bottle is better than another.
- How are wineries and producers selected for Salento?
- Producers are included when WhatDrink has a canonical producer-to-region relationship supported by the catalogue data. Display order may use represented wine count and relationship confidence to provide useful coverage; it is not a ranking of winery quality, prestige, production volume or critical acclaim.
- How are representative Salento wines selected?
- Representative wines are selected from products with a stable relationship to this region, with preference for clear producer identity and a useful spread of producers, wine styles and designations. Inclusion is not an editorial score and does not mean these are the region’s best wines.
- How much wine data does WhatDrink have for Salento?
- The current regional catalogue contains 308 linked wines from 62 linked producers. Counts describe WhatDrink catalogue coverage and may change as source data is refreshed.
Regional data is aggregated from wine directory and product-catalogue sources; grape and style associations reflect characteristic varieties and may vary by producer and vintage.