Tuccanese — A Sangiovese From a Pugliese Perspective
JUNE 6, 2020 BY KATARINA ANDERSSON 5 COMMENTS (EDIT)
TUCCANESE — A SANGIOVESE FROM A PUGLIESE PERSPECTIVE
The Tuccanese grape has been on my mind for quite some time, and as you know by now I am a sucker for lesser-known and somewhat obscure grapes and wines.
Tuccanese is, however, not a very easy wine to find. There are only a couple of producers (as far as I have understood) in Orsara in the Dauni Mountains that produce this very unique wine.
I was actually in Orsara two years ago more or less but I never had the possibility to visit Leonardo Guidacci then, the Tuccanese vignaiolo that I will write about here.
What is funny is that, when I was in Orsara, I went to the D’Araprì 40th anniversary party at Villa Jamele of the chef Peppe Zullo. And, I just found out that Peppe Zullo is the other producer of Tuccanese wine. Nicola Campanile told me this when I asked if he could put me in contact with Leonardo Guidacci.
As I needed to get hold of the Tuccanese wine fairly quickly to write this article, I went for the easiest solution. It turns out that a small wine bar in Florence is selling this very special wine that is produced by Leonardo Guidacci in the Dauni mountains in Puglia.
This was just perfect, I thus took a short walk down towards the center and popped into the wine bar Sonora where I bought two bottles of Magliano Daunia IGP 2016.
Tuccanese — The Treasure Grape of Orsara in Puglia
There is not really that much written about the Tuccanese grape. After it was considered by some to be related to Perricone and by others to Piedirosso, it rather turned out that it is related to the Sangiovese. Attilio Scienza writes in his La stirpe del vino, that a DNA test has indeed shown that Tuccanese corresponds to the Sangiovese grape.
The Grape and the Winery with the Same Name — Tuccanese
Leonardo Guidacci calls his winery Vitivinicola Il Tuccanese, and the cellar is located right in the center of Orsara in Puglia. He does not have a website but I have found some articles about his winery where it says that his wine cellar in the center of Orsara has been dug out in the tuff 6 meters below ground.
To read more of the article, click HERE.
I am a wine writer, content writer, social media strategist, wine educator, and translator. Grapevine Adventures is my website/blog where I write about Italian wine and wine in general.
