Morella

Puglia

Manduria

Although Lisa Gilbee originates from Australia, she has over twenty years' experience making wine in Italy, mostly in Puglia. A 1992 working tour of Italian wineries saw her seduced by the southern region and its almost neglected resource of ancient bush vines. The connection between gnarled old vines and Australians certainly seems to run deep.

Over the years, Lisa and her husband, Gaetano Morella, have been able to acquire small plots of Primitivo, Negroamaro and a smattering of Malbec (locally Malbek), as well as planting a massal selection of Fiano from Campania. The old vines are all trained in the traditional alberello style and grow in terra rossa soils. Their farming has always employed organic practices and today the vineyards are all farmed according to rigorous biodynamic methods.

Lisa’s winemaking is simple with an emphasis placed on purity. Indigenous yeasts are employed to initiate alcoholic fermentation in open top fermenters. The ferments are regularly hand plunged and, once dry, pressed gently in a basket press. Barriques are employed, though most are neutral, and the finished wines rest in steel or concrete to harmonise.

The wines of Morella are densely fruited expressions of venerable vines and the sun-drenched red soils of Manduria.