This elegant and refreshing San Marzano ‘Timo’, Salento, Vermentino is characterised by white floral aromas and subtle notes of thyme and rosemary. Its straw yellow colour and delicate scents of citrus and Mediterranean scrubland make this wine the perfect accompaniment to seafood starters as well as other fish courses. Unsurprisingly given its fresh minerality and herbaceous notes it is a cracking pairing for cheese.

San Marzano ‘Timo’, Salento, Vermentinois currently available inThe Wine Press, Dundee’s Finest Wine Bar.

Critic Review

Decanter World Wine Awards:87Pts Bronze Medal

“Flinty nuances on the nose, with notes of lemon peel and orchard fruit. Crisp and lengthy.“
Decanter Panel for DWWA 2023

About the Producer

In 1962, 19 passionate vine growers from San Marzano, whose families had farmed the land for generations, joined together to form ‘Cantine San Marzano’. This cooperative quickly flourished and now boasts over 1,200 diverse and high-quality vine growers. The winery embraces modern, tech-forward vinification techniques, creating sophisticated wines that honor Apulian wine customs. The harmonious blend of time-honored practices, fervor, and modern techniques enable this winery to create wines with unique varietal and regional attributes, while embodying the area’s terroir. In 2021, San Marzano was awarded the Cooperative Winery of the Year Award by Gambero Rosso.

Vineyard and Winery

The vines are grown in Brindisi, Salento in Puglia at an elevation of approximately 100 metres above sea-level. The warm climate is tempered by the proximity to the sea and the influence of the strong oceanic winds. The wine takes its name Timo from the thyme bushes that grow along the rocky shoreline of the Ionian Sea, whose scent fills the air with herbal fragrance of the Mediterranean garrigue known locally as maquis. The vines are planted at a density of 5,000 vines per hectare and are double Guyot trained, which encourages the best expression of the Vermentino variety as the leaves protect the grapes from the high temperatures, allowing them to retain balancing acidity. An integrated protection system has been implemented which monitors the atmospheric conditions and uses targeted copper and sulphur treatments. The vines are grown in shallow, medium textured sandy soils, with soil management techniques of cover crops and green manure being used.

The grapes were destemmed and underwent several hours of skin contact at low temperatures to extract the delicate floral aromas. Gentle pressing then obtained the must which was fermented in stainless steel tanks with selected yeast for between 13 to 15 days at controlled temperatures of 15C. The wine was aged in stainless steel for five months, to retain the purity of fruit and preserve the varietal profile.