Masseria La Cattiva

Origin of the name

La Cattiva is the farm's historic name, derived from "captivus" ("prisoner"), a word that originally had neither a negative nor a positive meaning. In the Middle Ages the name came to be understood as an abbreviation of "captiva Diaboli", "the devil's prisoner". It was used for widows who, by a common belief, had been left alone because they were cursed by the devil, and who were excluded from public life because of their status. Legend has it that the farm belonged to a widow in 1700 and was therefore called the "Farm of the Cursed Woman". The surrounding area has since inherited the name.

2001

The estate's vineyards were planted and have been farmed organically since.

2018

The modern winery began by chance. The farm and several family vineyards belong to Marianna, who invited friends to experiment with winemaking: Alfredo and Loreto from Abruzzo, Manfredi from Sicily, Leonardo and Paolo from Rome, and Michael from the United States. Each brought expertise in their own field.

2019

The friends committed to the project, rented several additional plots and began giving the farm a new lease of life.

The vineyards are in Sammichele di Bari, in Puglia.

Farming has been strictly organic since planting in 2001. All vineyard work, from tending the vines to harvesting, is done by hand. The only treatments used are copper and sulfur.

No selected yeasts are used. The estate makes two ranges: vini cattivi, the core range made from native grape varieties, and vini cattivissimi, the experimental range.

The estate says it uses no selected yeasts so that the grapes and terroir can express their individual character freely.