Destination Gallipoli to get to know one of the oldest wineries in Italy, Cantina Coppola which since 1489 has been producing quality DOC wines from grapes grown in the vineyards of the historic family estates: Tenuta Patitari in Gallipoli, Tenuta Li Cuti in Sannicola and Tenuta Santo Stefano in Alezio.
Wines in Salento since 1489
The new winery, built inside the Camping La Masseria based on a project by the architect Cosimo Giungato, presents itself with modern and technological spaces, with a tasting room and a small museum in which to admire the many family memories and trophies won around the world for its excellent wine production.
Which can now also boast a respectable sparkling wine, a classic white vintage method, the fruit of the symbolic grape of Salento, the Negroamaro, and created by the oenologist Giuseppe Pizzolante Leuzzi, historical collaborator of the Coppola family.
The tasting of the Brut Metodo Classico 2015, on the long tables between the shelves that put photos of the vineyards and the vintages among the labels of the Cellar in plain sight, we do it with Giuseppe Coppola with whom we entertain to chat about the history of the company and about the projects present and future of this family has always been committed not only in the production of wine but also in food and wine tourism. Before talking about how we then deepened our knowledge of these projects, it is necessary to mention the tasting of this 100% Negroamaro aged on the lees, with disgorgement occurred in April this year: a refined, pleasant twelve degree light and with a persistent perlage produced in fifteen hundred bottles.
We do the visit of the complex with Rita de Bernart who is in charge of the Coppola winery press office and shows us the new headquarters of the historic company starting from the showroom with sales and tasting room, to then reach the production and storage area, the permanent museum, the terraces and the original cellar crossed by a glazed aerial path from where it is possible to watch the barrels through a raised walkway. Inside the complex, adjacent to the cellar, the new Vigneto del Gusto restaurant was inaugurated with the proposto of the chef Luigi Marzo.
In the ancient headquarters of the Coppola winery, the same architect who designed the new one dealt with the arrangement and preparation of the 14/89 Food Pop, a place that evokes metropolitan and cosmopolitan atmospheres that is both a pizzeria and a restaurant.
The name refers to the year in which the Coppola winery was born, while the logo, a stylized bunch of grapes made by the illustrator Giulia Tornesello, seals the link between food and wine. Open only one year, it is very successful thanks to an interesting and quality proposal with theme nights, live music, wine tasting tours and even screens for watching football matches.
In the Bistrot, arranged on 400 square meters, each area finds its space, from the open kitchen to the rotating gas oven for cooking pizzas, from the bar to the corner of the master brewer and there is also a quieter and more reserved area for those who are accompanied by their four legs at dinner.
The perfect leavening of the pizza is immediately appreciated, tasted in the two versions “La Gialla”, with buffalo mozzarella, yellow datterino tomato and basil pesto, and “14/89” with fior di latte, dried tomatoes, burrata and capocollo.
It follows, since it is Thursday and is the day dedicated to sushi, a well-executed appetizer that gracefully revisits the classic of Japanese cuisine. Although here, instead of fish, a delicious and thin layer of Chianina meat is used.
A new entry tasted exclusively as a product of an “experimentation” for a wedding menu, the fascinating risotto with perfect acidity with sea urchins, clams and chopped bitter vegetables.
With the second you return to the earth with a sumptuous fillet of black ox, high but matured to the right point so as to be tender and juicy in the mouth.
The excellent company wines are paired: the aforementioned Spumante Brut Metodo Classico, Rocci Negroamaro vinified in white, Licuti Alezio Negroamaro Rosato, Perla dello Jonio Primitivo and Tafuri Passito Negroamaro.
The dinner ends with the sweet dessert: 14/89, the raspberry bavarese with white chocolate gelè and the panna cotta with wild berries.
And over all reigns the activity of the family business of the hosts, Giuseppe and Lucio Coppola, with the production of wine and oil that contribute to giving meaning to the gastronomic proposal of the restaurant.
Cantina Coppola 1489
Via Sansonetti, 1 – Gallipoli (Le)
Tel. e Fax +39 0833 201425 – Cell. +39 335 5953103
info@cantinacoppola.it – www.cantinacoppola.it
Ristorante Vigneto del Gusto
Via Sansonetti – Gallipoli (Le)
Tel. +39 0833 1808025 – Cell. +39 392 9506940
ilvignetodelgusto@gmail.com
Bistrot 14/49 Food Pop
Via Lecce, 173 – Gallipoli (Le)
+39 0833 204643 – +39 391 1009561
info@1489foodpop.it
