Cantele Puglia Verdeca 2021 (Case-Only Price)

Cantele is a great new discovery I made a couple years back in Southern Italy’s Puglia region. As Parker’s Wine Advocate proclaimed, they’re “an exciting winery that represents the energy and the innovation that comes with a new generation” and also writing “Cantele is a winery that emits a feeling of constant movement and forward-momentum.”

They’ve previously elated Nicholas Wines readers with both their juicy Primitivo and their Salice Salentino Riserva. Today, I’m here to bring you one of the wineries indigenous whites, and I’m doing so at an absurd one-time price.

This tiny yet powerful winery in Southern Italy earned their glowing reputation with their reds, but that’s not to say that they don’t make delicious, crisp Italian whites. They decided to start their white program with Chardonnay, hoping to appeal to the international market.

Once that gained popularity, they went back and planted what they really wanted to plant in the first place: grapes indigenous to Puglia. My favorite of the bunch is the Verdeca IGT, a tropical white wine with great acidity that leads with notes of grapefruit, lemon-lime, and pineapple and is balanced by wonderful minerality and vibrant natural acidity.