The Duke Oronzo, Earl of Lemos gave birth to the company in 1665 exactly on the very spot where today’s cellar stands, in Salice Salentino. From the beginning of the 19th century the Winery used to export bulk wine to the United States, Germany and France until, with Piero and Lisetta Leone de Castris, the bottling had its start in 1925. An extremely important year, 1943, marks the birth of Five Roses and the improvement of the bottling line that has seen our rosé being the first ever bottled in Italy and sold first of all in USA. In the ‘60s, the direction of the Company was handled by Cavaliere del Lavoro, Salvatore Leone de Castris and thanks to him the company had an important development, both locally and internationally speaking. His know-how, of continuous improvement, is now carried on by his son Piernicola Leone de Castris, managing director since late ‘90s. New vines have been planted over the years: Chardonnay, Pinot, Sauvignon, Cabernet, Merlot, Montepulciano, going together with the traditional ones: Negroamaro, Malvasia nera, Verdeca, Bianco d’Alessano, Moscato, Aleatico, Primitivo. The Winery’s production is very rich: red, white and rosé DOC wines (Salice Salentino, Locorotondo, Copertino, Primitivo di Manduria), interesting IGT Salento and Puglia wines, sparkling rosé and white wines; a distillate and an extra-virgin olive oil of fine value. The entire selection is quite often awarded with prestigious recognitions and our products are present not only in European markets, but also in USA, Canada, Brasile, Autralia, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, etc. Our average production is 2,5 millions of bottles per year. Leone de Castris has been working for centuries in Puglia and only Apulian products. This could be a restriction for someone, but for us is a peculiarity. Our mission is making the most of the products given by the land in which we were born and grown. We could say that we represent 350 years of history looking towards future.

“We think is fascinating and interesting to partecipate to this project with other Italian wineries, each of them introducing a typical product of their area, to experiment a new era in the field of wine.”