Castel del Monte

Appears in
Oxford Companion to Wine

By Jancis Robinson

Published 2006

  • About

Castel del Monte, doc in puglia in the far south east of Italy, associated with the nero di troia grape, although it may also be a 100% aglianico or either of the two cabernets. The same flexible production rules are applied to the white, which was traditionally based on bombino bianco, but varietal chardonnay and sauvignon blanc are also allowed. Confusingly, no fewer than three parallel docgs were created in the early 2010s: Castel del Monte Bombino Nero DOCG, Castel del Monte Nero di Troia Riserva DOCG, and Castel del Monte Rosso Riserva DOCG (minimum 65% Nero di Troia), none with the track record for quality that this level implies. For more details, see puglia.