Clò de Girofle is born

Rosé is the symbolic wine of Salento, and this new wine from Garofano's house enhances the potential of this type by proposing relevance to the territory and eclecticism in pairings.

A few kilometers from Lecce, in Copertino, a small village in the Salento hinterland, stands the Garofano vineyards and cellars winery, founded by the unforgettable Severino Garofano. The great winemaker of Irpinian origin wrote the history of viticulture in Apulia, since 1957, the year of his arrival, he drew the line between the past and the present wine making, giving new impetus to the regional wine sector. 

If Apulia has become a land where great wines are made, quality has outclassed quantity, and Negroamaro has taken off, rising to the status of a noble wine rather than a blending wine, we owe it to him. His interpretations of Negroamaro have been masterful: Taurino's Notarpanaro and Patriglione, along with Vallone's Graticciaia and Candido's Cappello di Prete, marked the 1990s. In 2007 Severino was awarded the Luigi Veronelli Lifetime Achievement Award as best winemaker; unfortunately, he passed away in 2018. 

Today carrying on his project are his children Stefano and Renata with their team. "Rosé is the symbolic wine of Salento," wrote Severino Garofano, "representing the history of a great Apulian wine civilization. Because of its oenology inclined toward blending wines, it could only use classic rosé wine production to react to this inferiority complex in which its red wines, all of which are considered improperly suited to blending, find themselves. Rosé was, therefore, the spring that got Salento wines off the ground and allowed them to approach the consumer market; it then gave way to red wines, which in the meantime have also changed both in composition, due to the modernization of viticulture, and to the progress of the same harvest fermentation technology."

Loyalty to the land, traditions and gratitude to a generous countryside are the solid basis of constant research and innovation work. The winery was founded in 1995 and is obviously devoted to the valorization of Negroamaro through the production of red and rosé wines. Keeping up the banner is not an easy legacy but the two brothers do it with the commitment and humility that has always distinguished them. 

Clò de Girofle is the latest addition to the Garofano winery, a Negroamaro rosé with a small percentage of Montepulciano, it is produced in 7600 numbered, dark glass bottles. The name, playfully, is inspired by clove, a strong spice with a penetrating aroma, warm and rich; the flavor is both pungent and bitter. But it is also reminiscent of Clos, the closed vineyards and their selection of fine grapes meant to enhance the power of Negroamaro rosés. 

It is a wine for all seasons, offering unexpected opportunities in pairings especially with seafood, grilled fish or savory fish soups. "It is wrong to think that rosé is a wine intended for immediate consumption, it is a wine for the whole meal," said Stefano Garofano. "Rosé is a style, an expression of the grape variety and its territory. It is elegant and soft, we use the ancient lacrima technique, maceration is short, for about 20 hours the must remains in contact with the skins in concrete tanks where the wine groans and tears." 

Years ago, I had the honor of interviewing Severino Garofano, I asked him, "Every winemaker has his own style, what is his?" "Don't follow the fashion," he answered, "Go against the trend if necessary. Look for other ways to get to enhance the potential values of that variety. Know the market well; wine is the child of commerce. On reflection, the nose is the shortest route to the receptive sensors. Style is the imprint of what you do to get the right way forward, starting from the grape to the bottle dressing."

 Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Garofano Vigneti e cantine
Salento Rosato Clò de Girofle 2021

94/100 - € 19

85% Negroamaro, 15% Montepulciano. Matura 6 mesi in cemento. Rosato intenso. Al naso note fragranti di sottobosco, more e ciliegia, macchia mediterranea e spezie. La bocca è calda, piena e alcolica. Abbastanza persistente. Semplicemente squisito, elegante e facile da bere e da ribere.

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