2026 Radici del Sud: Rewarding Roses for a Refreshing Rose Day or Night

Rosati from the Montepulciano grape during judging at Radici del Sud 2026

One morning last week at Radici del Sud in Puglia, I tasted and judged 38 Rosati wines from the southern end of Italy dominated by eleven different grapes: from the familiar primitivo (think zinfandel in the US but NOT white zin!) to new grapes to me like Magliocco from Calabria. Pictured above is the first flight with a wide range of colors of six different and delicious Montepulciano — four from Abruzzo and two from Puglia. Surprisingly, the next flight all matched in color! Flight three had Rosati from three different grapes, and color variation again. Total, we had six flights of six wines plus two stragglers.

International judges at Radici del Sud 2026: Katarina Andersson, Nanyoung Baek, Antonello Nicastri and Gwendolyn Alley (Wine Predator)

My international judging and tasting team in 2026 for Radici del Sud included
 Katarina Andersson from Sweden but living in Florence, Nanyoung Baek from Korea also living in Italy, and Antonello Nicastri from Gioia del Colle but who lives in the Netherlands where he is a sommelier. There’s another judging team of four from UK plus two teams of five from Italy.

getting ready to judge at Radici del Sud with our jury president Antenello Nicastri

Each category had winners from the national judges and from the international judges, so we all didn’t taste all of the wines. Read more about last year’s judging process, wines, and rosati here.

Katarina Andersson hard at work judging rose at Radici del Sud

As today is Rose Day, I thought I’d take this occasion to once again share the winners and some of my Rosati highlights from this year’s Radici del Sud.

David Fanton of Tenuta Fanton

I actually began my Radici del Sud the day before the official start with a visit and tasting by the sea in Abruzzo at Tenuta Fanton near Citta Sant’Angelo north of Pescara.  And I left with wine including David Fanton’s sparkling and still Rosato. Later, our paths crossed at Radici del Sud. I am doing my best to get some of his wines back to California to taste with Sue and pair and write about them (so subscribe!) While he didn’t win any awards for his wines this year, I think they are winners!

Vignuolo is located in the Castel del Monte area of Puglia

On Saturday and Sunday as we were judging, importers met with producers– and wine journalists who ventured over there like me with organic Vignanuolo located in the Castel del Monte area north of Bari.

Three different grapes — Sangiovese, Montepiulciano, Bonbino Bianco, and 3 different regions– Montepulciano, Toscana, Puglia: Rose Wine from Italy for Rose Day enjoyed in Maiera, Calabria.

Here are some more highlights for me from Radici del Sud.

Plantamura

Organic Plantamura’s rose won an award last year– and it’s just as good this year even if it didn’t win a prize! I love their entire line of wines and the owners are gems. My group stopped for a visit that included a lovely light lunch of local specialties.

Fatalone

The line up of wines we tasted at organic  Primitivo Fatalone was stellar and included their “Teres” which won an award at Radici del Sud.

Pietraventosa owners with their fabulous 2015 sparkling rose

I am grateful that we visited so many organic wineries this year including organic Pietraventosa located just north of Gina del Colle.

Tenuta Massanova won 2nd for their aglianico

Organic Tenuta Massanova from Campania placed second in the aglianico category; they have lovely rose as well!

D’Arapri

After Radici del Sud we visited D’Arapri in San Severo for sparkling including their Rosato; we bought a bottle which we enjoyed for Rose Day. Their brut won an award.

Rivera in amphora

The following day, we went to Rivera in Andria about an hour north off Trani where my favorite is their Nero d’Troia Fabri, a rosato that spends several months in amphora that gives it such a great texture and that earthy aspect and the indescribable element of amphora…thank you Antonio Amenduni for sharing this with us!
Cheers to Rose Day! What’s in your glass?

 

 

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