Masseria Borgo dei Trulli

The people behind it

Behind Masseria Borgo dei Trulli lies an oenologist's project. Alessandro Michelon, the company writes, worked for many years across Italy before finding in Puglia the right place to bring his idea to life: to bring out a territory made of ancient vines, the sea and rural traditions, in the countryside of Maruggio, within the Primitivo di Manduria area. The estate is run by the Società Agricola Masseria Borgo dei Trulli, whose registered and operating office is in the same locality, Roselle, where the farmhouse and winery stand.

The heart of the project is a late eighteenth-century masseria, bought in 2017. According to the company's account, its two larger rooms once sheltered farm labourers and the smaller one housed animals. The building has been restored and enlarged following environmental sustainability criteria, respecting original materials such as tufa stone and star vaults, and today hosts guests, tastings and events. Beside it a modern, technologically equipped winery has been built for winemaking. The name and logo come from the Saracen trulli, the pajare: dry-stone buildings, raised without mortar, that farmers used to store tools or as shelter during the hottest hours, and that still dot the vineyards around the farmhouse.

Sources: Masseria Borgo dei Trulli — sito ufficiale · Masseria Borgo dei Trulli — Home (English) · Masseria Borgo dei Trulli — Masseria · Masseria Borgo dei Trulli — Visit Policy (PDF)

What they make

The winery makes red, white, rosé, sweet and sparkling wines, grouped into lines: Classica, Contrade, Collezioni, Speciali, Bollicine e gin, Top & Meditazione. Primitivo di Manduria is the main thread. Mirea, the wine awarded by Gambero Rosso, belongs to the Collezioni line; Duna Mirante, another Primitivo di Manduria, is in the Top & Meditazione line and also lends its name to a gin. The Contrade line includes Pinio, a Salice Salentino Riserva, while the Classica line gathers, among others, a Primitivo Salento rosé, a Negroamaro and a Salice Salentino. The sparkling wines include a classic-method brut from organic farming.

The house sweet wine is Signor P, a Primitivo di Manduria Dolce Naturale DOCG. It comes from a small 0.4-hectare plot at Roselle, near the winery, with bush vines almost a hundred years old and a yield below 300 grams per plant. The grapes are picked by hand after mid-September, once natural drying on the vine has cost them about half their water; fermentation is halted by lowering the temperature so that some of the sugar stays in the wine, which then ages ten months in barriques. According to the company it is made only in the best vintages: 493 bottles were produced in 2020. Tradition pairs it with chocolate or dry almond pastries, but according to the winery it also works with strongly flavoured aged cheeses.

Sources: Masseria Borgo dei Trulli — sito ufficiale · Masseria Borgo dei Trulli — Mirea Primitivo di Manduria DOP · Masseria Borgo dei Trulli — Signor P Primitivo di Manduria Dolce Naturale DOCG

Ingredients and territory

The estate covers 70 hectares, 55 of them under vine; part of it also holds olive groves. The main grapes are Primitivo, Negroamaro, Malvasia, Fiano, Vermentino, Chardonnay and Sauvignon, farmed organically: between the rows the company keeps Mediterranean scrub, fruit trees and areas left in their natural state, which host beneficial insects, birds and wildlife. The most precious asset is 16 hectares of Apulian bush vines, partly planted in the 1950s, many of which, the masseria says, were saved from abandonment or grubbing-up.

The vineyards lie in four areas. At Roselle, around the winery, about 12 hectares of Primitivo and Negroamaro grow on sandy, calcareous red soils rich in iron oxides, with rock breaking the surface and sea breezes helping to keep disease at bay. Pasano is a sheltered plateau with more clay and organic matter, planted with both red and white grapes. At Salice Salentino, 35 kilometres away, about 4 hectares of old Negroamaro and Malvasia Nera bush vines produce the Riserva; Monaco Mirante, 400 metres from the beach, grows Primitivo and Vermentino. Harvest runs from early August to late September depending on the variety and the wine sought; to concentrate the grapes the company twists the bunch stems so they dry on the vine, or dries them in 5-kilo crates for 10 to 15 days.

Sources: Masseria Borgo dei Trulli — Vigneti · Masseria Borgo dei Trulli — Sostenibilità

Recognition

In Gambero Rosso's Vini d'Italia 2026 guide, the Primitivo di Manduria Mirea 2023 by Masseria Borgo dei Trulli is among the twenty-six wines from Puglia awarded Tre Bicchieri, the guide's highest recognition. Gambero Rosso published the list in October 2025, when the 2026 edition came out, with a commentary naming Primitivo as the protagonist of the regional awards and the Gioia del Colle and Manduria denominations as the driving force of quality production in Puglia. 2023 is the harvest of the awarded wine, 2026 the edition of the guide.

The company's own sheet explains how Mirea is made. The grapes, Primitivo alone, come from Apulian bush vines on the Maruggio estate, with an average age of sixty years and a yield below 600 grams per plant, and are picked by hand in mid-September, when they are overripe and have begun to dry on the vine. After destemming the berries are not crushed; fermentation takes place in steel at 23 to 25 degrees for 8 to 10 days, with frequent pumping over, and after malolactic fermentation the wine spends ten months in French oak barriques. According to the company Mirea is made only in the best vintages. The sheet describes aromas of dried fruit, spices, white pepper, dark chocolate and figs, and recommends it with meat and game.

Sources: Gambero Rosso International — Tre Bicchieri 2026: the 26 best wines of Puglia · Masseria Borgo dei Trulli — Mirea Primitivo di Manduria DOP

Going there

The masseria stands in the locality of Roselle, along provincial road 130, in the countryside of Maruggio, a few kilometres from the Ionian coast and the Campomarino dunes. The restored historic rooms are given over to hospitality and tastings, and visits can be booked through the website or the winery's contacts.

The company's journal describes three experiences, all in Italian and English. The Ficheto Wine Experience lasts one hour and includes a visit to the vineyards and winery with a tasting of three wines served with local products. The Mirea Wine Experience lasts an hour and a half and crosses the most representative areas of the estate, with four wines and tastes of local produce. The two-hour Signor P Wine Experience includes a panoramic golf-cart ride through the vineyards, a welcome aperitif with sparkling wine by the historic trulli, a visit to the cellar and a tasting of four wines.

The visiting rules published by the masseria ask guests to arrive at reception at least ten minutes before the booked time: with a delay of more than half an hour the visit cannot be guaranteed. Smoking is not allowed in the cellar, shop or tasting rooms. Pets are welcome in the garden on a lead but, for hygiene reasons, may not enter the cellar, shop or tasting rooms. Maruggio and its seaside village combine easily with the visit in a single day.

Sources: Masseria Borgo dei Trulli — Contatti · Masseria Borgo dei Trulli — Masseria · Masseria Borgo dei Trulli — Vigneti · Masseria Borgo dei Trulli — Degustazioni in Masseria (Journal, 19/06/2026) · Masseria Borgo dei Trulli — Visit Policy (PDF)

Products and flavours

Primitivo di Manduria

DOC · DOCG · Wines

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Primitivo di Manduria

The red between Taranto and Brindisi: grape and land, DOC rules, the Dolce Naturale DOCG, fifty years of protection, summer in the villages and a day in Manduria.

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Puglian wines

Exploring wine across the Murgia, Manduria and Salento through flavour and landscape.

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Photo: Saggittarius A / Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Resized and converted to WebP.

The region

Puglia