Elfo Primitivo Salento

Apollonio

In 1870 Noè Apollonio planted his own vineyard and produced wine for the first time. He owned a winery in his hometown Aradeo, in ‘Via dei Pozzi Dolci”, the street of wineries and pasta-makers. It was in this plant that he first turned into wine Negroamaro and Primitivo grapes harvested on chalky-clay soils from the nearby villages. Driven by the same passion inherited from his father Noè, son Marcello proved to be just as hardworking and enthusiastic. After moving to the town of Maglie, he bought some vineyards and rented various wine plants all across the Salento territory. The increased production helped to satisfy his numerous clients, especially those from northern Italy. In fact, Salento’s wine - due to its high alcoholic content - then served as an excellent “blending wine” and wine merchants from Piedmont, Veneto, Lombardy and Tuscany bought it in bulk to bottle their wines. At the end of World War II, while poverty was slowly giving way to an economic boom and the market was changing, Marcello’s son, Salvatore, realized that it was time to take advantage of new business opportunities. By introducing business management, he started a new era characterized by a more modern and efficient production, and in 1975 began bottling high-quality wines under the Apollonio brand. Today and since 1995, Marcello and Massimiliano Apollonio represent the family’s fourth generation. Driven by enthusiasm and passion as well as by experience acquired on the field, they have been pursuing the ambitious goal of expanding the reach of their wines beyond the national borders. Under their new management, Apollonio has specialized in wine aging and expanded its retailing network. Apollonio’s wines are now sold in 35 countries, where they are greatly appreciated for their intrinsic quality and for telling the story of a family and a territory whose identities and authenticity have been left untouched.