Cantine Paololeo adds Puglian organic winery to its portfolio
Italian wine producer Cantine Paololeo has acquired the Candido winery in Puglia for an undisclosed sum.
The San Donaci based company, which was established in 1989, is planning to develop the new acquisition into a wine tourism destination for San Donaci, Brindisi and the wider Salento area.
Candido is a fourth-generation organic winery, with 110 hectares of vineyards in the Salice Salentino D.O.C. region of Puglia in Southern Italy, lying between the provinces of Lecce and Brindisi, close to the Adriatic coast. It produces around 250,000 bottles a year.
Cantine Paololeo’s founder, Paolo Leo, called it “an important step in the history of the winery and the territory”, noting that the Candido name will remain “strongly linked to its community”, as it takes over stewardship.
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The acquisition is the latest in a series of strategic investments in historic wineries by Cantine Paololeo, which includes the Alture project in Valle d’Itria and the regeneration of the Cantina Sociale di Monteparano, a cooperative of around 150 small-scale winegrowers.
Cantine Paololeo has seen its turnover grow from €22million in 2023 to a projected €25 million in 2025, an 8.5% increase, increasing production by 1.5million bottles to around 5.5million.
Sited in the heel of Italy’s boot, Puglia is the country’s second highest producer of wine in terms of hectolitres and has around 1,300 producers, with more than 80% of those being small operations producing less than 10,000 bottles per annum.
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