Why it matters
The producer
Cantine Pirovano is a Lombard négociant and bottler with over a century of formal operation and a sourcing relationship with Puglia that predates the company itself. The house does not own vineyards in the south. It sources Nero di Troia from Salento and the broader Puglia appellation, bottles it under the Collezione Beatrice label, and sends it out under international food-safety certification. The model is transparent: aggregate carefully from growers across thirteen-plus Italian regions, maintain rigorous organoleptic analysis at every stage, and keep the territorial origin legible on the label.
The Puglia connection is the oldest one the company has. When Amadio Pirovano opened his Lombard tavern, the wine he poured came from small farmers in southern Italy, Puglia above all. His sons Antonio and Costantino widened the supply net to Abruzzo and Piedmont by 1885, but the southern thread never broke. Nero di Troia from Puglia remains the house's most recognised bottle.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Puglia runs down the heel of Italy, a long peninsula between the Adriatic and Ionian seas with more annual sunshine hours than almost anywhere else in the country. The region divides roughly into northern Puglia, which includes the Murge plateau and the Capitanata plain, and the Salento peninsula in the south. Nero di Troia is native to the north, historically cultivated around the town of Troia in the Capitanata and across the broader Murge hills. The Collezione Beatrice IGT draws fruit from Salento and the wider Puglia appellation, meaning the sourcing spans both zones under a broad geographic label.
The IGT designation, Indicazione Geografica Tipica, gives producers flexibility on grape variety and blending while tying the bottle to a defined Italian territory. For Cantine Pirovano's Puglia range, the label confirms the regional origin without prescribing a specific sub-zone, which matches the négociant model.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Cantine Pirovano farms its own land at one address only: the Terre Bentivoglio estate in Oltrepò Pavese, in Lombardy, operated since 1997. The wines from that estate are separate from the Puglia range. The Puglia bottles come from sourced growers across Salento and the broader regional appellation, selected to meet the house's organoleptic criteria at each production stage.
Organoleptic analysis across all stages means the cellar team assesses aroma, colour, mouthfeel and structural balance at intake, during processing, and before bottling. The result for Nero di Troia is a wine that preserves the grape's natural depth of colour and dark fruit character while smoothing the tannin profile toward approachability rather than age-worthiness.
Wines to know
The range in view
The Collezione Beatrice Nero di Troia Puglia IGT is the house's lead southern Italian bottle. The grape is indigenous to northern Puglia, producing wines of deep violet-red colour, concentrated dark fruit on the nose, and a full body on the palate. At 14 percent alcohol, the Beatrice version presents pronounced wild berry aromas, blackberry and cherry jam in particular, with a palate the house describes as powerful, harmonious and smooth. The tannins are present but rounded; the finish is generous. It earned a Berliner Wine Trophy 2024 Gold medal and 97 points from critic Luca Maroni.
Beyond Puglia, the house range spans thirteen-plus Italian regions. The Casa Coller Chardonnay Spumante Brut is a 100 percent Chardonnay sparkling wine within the broader portfolio. Abruzzo, Piedmont, Liguria and Oltrepò Pavese are among the confirmed sourcing zones, each feeding bottles under their respective regional or estate labels. The Collezione Beatrice sits as the southern Italian flagship within that national span.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
The Nero di Troia Puglia IGT Beatrice is the bottle to open first. It is Cantine Pirovano's oldest regional sourcing relationship in bottle form: Puglia supplied the wine for Amadio Pirovano's first tavern, and this label is where that history is most directly visible. In the glass it gives deep violet-red colour, blackberry and cherry-jam aromas, a full and smooth palate, and a warm dark-fruit finish. The alcohol is 14 percent and the tannins are managed for immediate drinking. It is not a cellar wine.