Description
Castel del Monte is a DOC of the Puglia wine region in south-eastern Italy. Its specialty is red wines (although a tiny amount of white and rosé are also produced) made from Uva di Troia complemented by Aglianico and occasionally Bombino Nero. The 'castle on the hill' referred to in the Castel del Monte name is precisely that: an octagonal 13th-century fortification with a commanding view of the surrounding landscape. Over the centuries the castle (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) has been used as a prison, a plague shelter and finally a source of marble and stone for opportunistic locals. The hill on which it sits is almost perfectly at the center of the DOC's catchment area, which stretches from Canosa di Puglia to Grumo Appula (a distance of almost 37 miles / 60km).