Wines of Southern Italy - 25th September

Join us for a sun-soaked jaunt through southern Italy—without the delayed flight, dubious hire car or sudden panic about which side of the road you should be driving on.

We’ll start in Campania, where volcanic soils and ancient grape varieties create wines with bags of character. Expect aromatic, zesty whites made from Fiano, Greco and Falanghina, before meeting the altogether more brooding Taurasi: dark, spicy and seriously structured.

Next up is Basilicata, a rugged, mountainous region best known for Aglianico del Vulture. Often described as the ‘Barolo of the south’, these powerful wines are grown around an extinct volcano and combine smoky complexity with intense dark fruit.

Down in Calabria—the toe of Italy’s boot—we’ll discover fragrant, savoury reds and rosés made from local grapes such as Gaglioppo. The names might require a little practice, but the wines themselves are wonderfully approachable, with flavours of red berries, wild herbs and spice.

From there, it’s on to Puglia and the celebrated appellation of Salice Salentino. Rather than concentrating on the region’s ever-popular Primitivo, we’ll venture slightly off the beaten track with lesser-known styles. Look out for the fresh, distinctive white grape Verdeca and the herbal, bittersweet character of Negroamaro.

Finally, we’ll head across to Sicily, where the island’s remarkably varied landscape produces an equally diverse range of wines. Our selection is likely to include lighter, fresher reds from around Noto and lean, mineral whites grown on the volcanic slopes of Mount Etna.

And, if we’re feeling particularly generous, we might even bring out one of the world’s finest dessert wines from the tiny Sicilian island of Pantelleria. No promises—but you’ll want to save a little room, just in case.

We’ll have only 45 tickets available for this tasting, so don’t hang around!

Our 'Festival' tastings are standing events that are approximately 2-2.5hrs long, so please bear this in mind upon booking. We do have a limited number of high stools available should you need a seat, but please let us know in advance if you require one. We also tend to show quite a few wines, so recommend eating beforehand. 

We split you into two or three groups for the tasting, so if you have friends/family who have booked separately, please let us know that you'd like to be put together! 

Tickets to our tastings are non-refundable. If you can no longer attend, do get in touch as we often keep a cancellations list for those who missed out on tickets. If that’s not the case, we’ll always try and help re-sell them through social media (no guarantees). Alternatively, feel free to pass them to friends or family – we only need the name of the person who booked for entry on the night.