The land of Puglia in English

Moncton may be a small wine market by international standards, but award-winning Italian winemaker Gianni Cantele is impressed enough by the depth of wine knowledge here that he has decided to detour from his current U.S. promotional tour to make the city his sole Canadian stop.

The bad news is word of mouth means Cantele’s five-course wine dinner at Pastalli’s restaurant tonight is already sold out and there’s a waiting list to boot. The good news is that Metro’s World Wine and Food Expo has been spawning a number of events like this through educating people in the region about wine.
Gianni Cantele admits there might be just something else about our region that has changed his travel plans too. “I’ll eat almost anything but I’m particularly fond of lobster and I know that your region is a world leader. “I’m going to enjoy a feast while I’m here,” he said.
The wines from the Cantele family are not well known in many markets. New Brunswick is the only place in Atlantic Canada where you can find them, but the international press has recently begun raving.
Three of their wines, ranging in price from $10 to $15, are available at many NB Liquor stores and this province is fast becoming the top market in Canada for Cantele wines.
Unfortunately, the wines are sold out at some NB Liquor locations, but more should be arriving by the end of the month.
The wines, from Italy’s Puglia region, “are a surprise,” says local sommelier Bill Vance. “Great flavour and depth and outstanding value, which is not typically expected from Italy.
“His latest vintages have rated between 88 and 92 points by some of the world’s best known wine writers which are very high scores for $15 wines.”