Cacc’e mmitte di Lucera, produced only as a red wine, owes its name to a dialect term for an ancient local custom. The owners of farms that had a wine-making facility rented out the equipment, but only for the day, so that it would be available for the next user. Thus, the grapegrower had to Cacce--take out--from the vat his freshly-pressed must and bring it to his own cellar to leave space for the next renter with his load ready to Mmitte--put in--the press. The denomination, focused almost exclusively on the commune of Lucera, in the province of Foggia, boasts clay or silt-clay soils that have high water retention but a low rate of absorption, resulting in vineyards with medium crop loads. Nero di Troia is the principal grape variety, with smaller amounts of Montepulciano, Sangiovese, and Malvasia Nera; the production code allows small percentages of white grapes in the blend, specifically Trebbiano, Bombino Bianco, and Malvasia Bianca.

Categories: Rosso (red)