Salento masserie and wines

Leaving Lecce, you head 35 km southwest via the SS16 and SP362, a drive threading dry‑stone walls, veteran olive groves, and 17th‑century masserie. The Salento isn’t entirely flat: around Galatina, gentle swells lift primitivo and negroamaro to about 120 m, enough for the tramontana to air the clusters. Expect talk of pergola pugliese trellising, iron‑rich red soils, old palmenti where grapes were still trodden a century ago, and fortified farmsteads reworked as estates with baroque chapels and rain‑harvesting cisterns.

The flow is deliberately easy: hotel pickup in Lecce, a Mercedes at your disposal for the day, and your dedicated driver minds the clock while you tour and taste. You’ll pair a historic masseria visit with a cellar using glazed concrete vats, guided tastings of IGP Salento vintages, then a farm lunch under fig trees. In and around Lecce, your private chauffeur favors the backroads to Cutrofiano and Sannicola, tweaks the route if an old press is open, and waits between stops so you can focus on the glass, not the wheel.