Marchese Piero Antinori is building a US$16m wine-processing facility in southern Puglia.
Covering 13,000 square metres the Masseria Maime plant is so imposing that it has been dubbed ‘Brindisi Airport’.
The plant will handle 75% of the total production of Antinori’s Puglian venture Tormaresca. Construction is expected to be completed by the end of 2008.
It will take some of the burden off the much smaller Bocca di Lupo, Tormaresca’s facility in northern Puglia.
‘We really believe in this region and we thought that that to exploit its potential we needed a state-of-the-art facility,’ said Antinori.
Tormaresca, started by Antinori in 1998, produces some six wines. It concentrates on local varietals such as Negroamaro, Primitivo and Aglianico, as well as Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon.
The estate consists of two properties, Bocca di Lupo, a 100ha estate in the Castel del Monte DOC, and Masseria Maime, 500ha in the Salento DOC.
Written by Robert Simonson
