Fabulous blue skies and 25 degrees greeted us at Bari airport as the JLP Wine Society tour group arrived on its annual wine region pilgrimage.
Puglia is the wine region in question and a fascinating tour is in store.
About 40 minutes south of Bari our first stop was the beautiful town of Polignano a Mare – situated on the seafront and renowned for its caves, grottos and Roman history. We stopped for what we thought was a quick drink at the Restaurant Ardito but turned into another lavish example of Italian hospitality as tomato and mozzarella stuffed pastries, meat pies and their traditional rice, potatoes and mussels bake turned up in vast quantities. This was our first opportunity to taste the local Bombino Bianco and Negroamaro grapes.
Onto the picturesque town of Ostuni where we will be staying for two nights. Ostuni is a vibrant town characterised by all the buildings being whitewashed so it positively shone in the early evening twilight as we arrived at our hotel.
Dinner was set in the wonderful old pedestrian only historic centre with wonderful little nooks and crannies and cobbled streets and oozing restaurants.
The Osteria del Tempo Perso welcomed us with antipasti, the local mozzarella, delicious pesto gnocchi and some fabulously fresh seabass – all washed down with plenty of local wine.