Most people define boutique wine as “small production”, “artisanal” or even “cult”. But what does it really mean for a wine to be boutique? We have been to plenty of large wineries that produce tens of thousands of cases and thought of them as boutique. The winemaker was still passionate about his/her craft, the vineyard manager knew every vine, exactly when to harvest the grapes, how delicately they should be crushed… the whole wine operation just had a sense of purpose that transcended the “business” of producing wine. Perhaps boutique is more a state of mind than a number of bottles. It’s more of an attitude than a location. Of course, this makes discovering boutique wines a bit more difficult. We have selected a limited number of boutique wineries in the Salento area, among our favourites: Duca Carlo Guarini, Santi Dimitri and Cantine Vecchia Torre....