Brett happens

Vino da tavola 2010, Anne, Azienda Agricola Biologica Natalino del Prete ($20.10, oenopole, NLA)
The winery is located in San Donaci in Puglia, the heel of the Italian boot, and has been certified organic since 1994. 100% Negroamaro from 70-year-old vines. Manually harvested. Fermented in termperature-controlled tanks with indigenous yeasts. Unfiltered, unfined, unsulphured.
Dark berries and plum (but not, praise be, prune) with overtones of dried earth, rubber, herbs, cedar and tomato. Round and smooth until you chew, then astringent with tooth-coating tannins. Earthy yet fresh, packed with ripe fruit and juicy acidity. Black pepper, minerals and olive emerge on the finish. The alcohol (14% or 15% if I’m remembering correctly) adds warmth, not heat. Rustic and authentic: the kind of appealing, old-fashioned, terroir-driven wine that internationalization is making an endangered species. (Buy again? Yes.)

We’d intended to taste this alongside Natalino del Prete’s even more affordable Salice Salentino ($17.35, oenopole, now also NLA) but that bottle and a Sicilian rosé were AWOL.