Puglia's deep purple wines helped winemakers, who produced more elegant wines in the regions farther up north, weather the depression of the 1960's and '70's until they adopted such techniques themselves that guaranteed to yield a fully ripe crop each year. Although these days only a fraction of the grapes grown in the south end up bottled, this figure has been ever-increasing. The Puglia wine region is to be taken seriously not only because grapes grown in such climate typically yield full-bodied wines but also in terms of quantity (local wine production exceeds that of Austria's total).

A southern location, however, is not necessarily synonymous with a sun-drenched exposure. As surprising as it may sound, by the time the harvest begins in the majority of the vineyards, the grapes harvested in Tuscany have long been fermented.        

In the early '90's, DOC wines had accounted for less than 5 % of Puglia's total production. Chardonnay and Primitivo (known to California as Zinfandel) del Salento IGT are very popular.