OUR STORY · CANALE DI PIRRO, PUGLIA
Before the bottle,
there was the valley.
A landscape shaped by generations.
A new chapter, told through our wines.
THE PLACE BEHIND THE LABEL
We fell for a place.
The wine became a way to share it.
There is more to a wine than the moment it is poured. There is the landscape, the work of the people who know it, and the decision to make something that belongs here. For us, that story begins at Masseria Pistola, in the Canale di Pirro.
01 / THE VALLEY
Il nostro luogoA valley made for
looking a little closer.
The Canale di Pirro lies in the limestone landscape of Puglia’s south-eastern Murge, close to the Valle d’Itria. It is a polje: a broad, flat-bottomed hollow formed within this karst landscape. Red earth gathers below the slopes; vines, orchards and farmland give the valley its distinctive patchwork.
It is the kind of countryside that rewards a slower pace. Look beyond the first view and you begin to notice the dry-stone walls, the changing lines of cultivation and the relationship between a farmhouse and the fields around it.
Pistola is part of that landscape. Our wines offer one way into its story; walking among the vines offers another.
Valley background: Terre di Fasano, the city’s official tourism portal ↗
02 / A LIVING WINE TRADITION
Long before our label,
there were their vines.
Our estate vineyard is planted with Nero di Troia. Our chapter is recent; the valley’s relationship with wine reaches back through generations of local growers, family vineyards and wine made to be shared.
One local producer, Masseria Torricella, traces its family’s beginnings here to 1946, when Francesco Consoli took on a vineyard parcel in the years after the Second World War. Its account recalls knowledge passed from grandfather to children and grandchildren — a glimpse of the human history behind the rows.
That is the tradition we are glad to be part of: knowing a piece of land, returning to it through the seasons, and carrying its character to the table.
Local wine-growing history: Masseria Torricella’s family account ↗
03 / OUR BEGINNINGS
Un nuovo capitoloBringing Pistola
back to life.
Constant Tedder first came across Masseria Pistola in 2011. The seventeenth-century farmhouse had a remarkable presence in the valley, but years of neglect had left it in need of care.
In 2017, he bought the estate. Restoration began in 2018, bringing together local craftsmanship, architects Anthony Filmer and Andrea Rodio, and interior designer James Thurstan Waterworth. The ambition was to give Pistola a future while keeping its rural character and its connection to the land.
The house is one part of the story. The vineyards and the wines belong to the same sense of place: something to grow, look after and share.
A first encounter
Constant discovers the neglected Masseria in the Canale di Pirro.
The beginning of our chapter
The estate is acquired and a new future for Pistola begins.
The restoration takes shape
Work begins to bring the historic farmhouse back to life.
A story ready to share
By December, Condé Nast Traveller is writing about the restored Masseria and its four estate wines.
Estate chronology: Condé Nast Traveller ↗ · The restoration story ↗
THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE WINE
Made with Giovanni.
Rooted in Puglia.
Our Masseria Pistola wines are made for the estate by Giovanni Aiello. Born and raised in Puglia, he studied in Veneto and Friuli and worked in California and Australia before returning to his home region.
That wider experience meets a very local understanding. Together, the wines give us a way to introduce Pistola through taste: the freshness of Verdeca, the pleasure of a rosato, and the different personalities of our reds.
Meet our winemaker ↗04 / THE STORY CONTINUES
The next chapter
is best shared.
Every growing year adds something. Another season in the vines, another wine at the table, another conversation with someone discovering this corner of Puglia for the first time.
Explore the collection, join a tasting at Giardini Pistola, or discover the vineyard walk we are developing through the valley. The story feels different when you are here.