Puglia makes more wine than most visitors expect, and its wineries are easy to visit once you know the rhythm: book a few days ahead, come on a weekday, and plan on one wine area per day. This guide covers what a tasting costs in 2026, how to book, which areas to choose, and how much wine you can carry home.
Updated October 2026 · Puglia Everyday research
The short answer
A standard winery visit in Puglia, a cellar tour followed by a tasting of three or four wines, costs about €20 to €30 per person. Most wineries ask you to book, and many only guide visits from Monday to Friday. Our verdict: pick one wine area, book two weekday visits (one in the morning, one in the afternoon), and settle the driving question before the first glass.
The word to know is degustazione (tasting). A cantina is both the winery and its cellar, and an enoteca is a wine shop or wine bar in town. Tastings usually come with something small to eat, often taralli, the crunchy ring-shaped crackers found on every Puglia table.
What a tasting costs: nine wineries compared
We checked the visit and tasting prices that nine wineries across the region publish on their own websites, from the Castel del Monte hills in the north to Salento in the south. The table shows the entry-level option at each one, the visit most people book first. Prices are per person.
| Winery | Town | Wine area | Entry visit | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I Pàstini | Martina Franca (TA) | Valle d’Itria | €15 | About 1 hour, vineyard and cellar, wines with taralli |
| Rivera | Andria (BT) | Castel del Monte | €20 | 1 hour 30 minutes, cellar visit, 4 wines with taralli |
| Torrevento | Corato (BA) | Castel del Monte | €20 | 50-60 minutes, cellar visit, 3 Castel del Monte DOC wines |
| Soloperto | Manduria (TA) | Manduria | €20 | Museum, cellar and barrel room, 4 wines (€30 with a top wine) |
| Cantine Polvanera | Gioia del Colle (BA) | Gioia del Colle | €25 | About 1 hour 30 minutes, cellar tour, 4 wines, oil and bread |
| Tenute Rubino | Brindisi (BR) | Brindisi | €25 | 1 hour, winery tour and tasting |
| Varvaglione | Leporano (TA) | Taranto coast | €28 | 45 minutes, 3 wines (minimum 3 people) |
| Leone de Castris | Salice Salentino (LE) | Salento | €30 | Winery and wine museum tour, 3 wines |
| Spazio Primitivo (Agricola Felline) | Manduria (TA) | Manduria | €30 | Cellar visit, 4 wines with local bites |
Key finding: Puglia Everyday research (October 2026): at nine Puglia wineries we checked, an entry-level visit with a tasting cost €15 to €30 per person, with a median of €25 (our calculation from the prices each winery published, checked on 25 October 2026).
Cite this: Puglia Everyday research, “Wine Tasting in Puglia: How to Visit a Winery and What It Costs (2026)”, October 2026, pugliaeveryday.com/travel/wine-tasting-in-puglia/ · Download the data (CSV)
The numbers in the graphic, in plain text:
| Figure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Entry visit with tasting, nine wineries | €15-30 per person | Winery websites, checked 25 October 2026 |
| Median entry price | €25 per person | Our calculation |
| Cantine Aperte a San Martino 2026 | 1-15 November | Movimento Turismo del Vino |
| Wine you can bring home duty-free | 1 liter (US), 18 liters (UK) | US CBP, GOV.UK |
Longer experiences cost more. Rivera in Andria adds an aperitivo or light lunch from €25, Tenute Rubino’s Wine and Food visit, with four wines and a menu at its wine bar, is €55, and at Varvaglione a full lunch with four wines is €80 for groups of at least eight. Polvanera in Gioia del Colle also sells a quicker tasting without the cellar tour for €15. Prices change each season, so treat the table as a guide and confirm when you book.
How to book a winery visit
Booking is the norm, not a formality. Rivera asks for at least two working days’ notice and Varvaglione a week, through the forms on their websites. Several wineries also set a minimum group size: two people at Torrevento and Soloperto, three for Varvaglione’s entry tasting. If you are traveling alone, ask whether you can join another booking; I Pàstini already runs its visits in shared groups.
Weekdays are easiest. Rivera, Varvaglione and Leone de Castris guide visits from Monday to Friday, I Pàstini in Martina Franca is closed on Saturday afternoons and Sundays, and Saturday slots at some wineries are for groups only. Spazio Primitivo in Manduria is one of the exceptions, open Monday to Saturday from November to April, 10:00-12:30 and 17:00-19:00.
English is often available. Varvaglione lists six tasting languages including English, and I Pàstini guides visits in Italian or English. Say which language you need when you book, and mention any food allergies, since most tastings include something to eat.
Where to go: five wine areas
Regione Puglia’s register lists four DOCG wines, 28 DOC wines and six IGT areas (open data list), but for a visit it helps to think in five areas. Our Puglia food guide explains the grapes and what to eat with them.
Castel del Monte, around Andria and Corato
The north of the region, below the octagonal castle, is Nero di Troia and Bombino country. Rivera pours four wines from the area, including two DOCG wines, on its €20 visit, and Torrevento in Corato offers six tastings from €20 to €30, all 50-60 minutes. Andria is about 45 minutes from Bari by car, without traffic (our calculation).
Gioia del Colle
Up on the Murgia plateau, Primitivo has its own DOC. Cantine Polvanera has a cellar dug eight meters into the rock, cool even on a summer afternoon. Gioia del Colle is about 36 minutes from Bari by car (our calculation). The winery notes that it does not run transfers, so arrange your own.
Manduria
The home of Primitivo di Manduria, about 43 minutes from Taranto by car (our calculation). Soloperto starts its visits in a small museum on the winery’s history, and Spazio Primitivo, run by Agricola Felline, has a €40 tasting that compares four Primitivo di Manduria from different soils.
Salento: Salice Salentino and Brindisi
Negroamaro is the grape here. Salice Salentino is about 26 minutes from Lecce by car (our calculation), and Leone de Castris has a wine museum on site. Tenute Rubino near Brindisi calls itself the home of Susumaniello, the red grape most tied to Brindisi.
Valle d’Itria
Trulli country is white-wine country, home to Locorotondo DOC. I Pàstini in Martina Franca has the lowest entry price in our table, €15 for about an hour among the vines and in the cellar, with taralli and friselline. It pairs well with a day in the towns from our Valle d’Itria guide.
Getting there and the driving question
Most wineries sit in open country outside town, so a car, a driver or a tour is the practical way in. Plan around one area per day: the drive from Castel del Monte to Salento takes longer than most tastings.
Italy’s general limit is 0.5 grams of alcohol per liter of blood. For drivers under 21 and anyone in their first three years with a category B license, the limit is zero, with fines from €168 to €672 for any amount up to 0.5 g/l (Highway Code, art. 186-bis). If you are renting a car on a foreign license, our guide to driving in Puglia on a US or UK license covers the paperwork.
A practical answer is to make one person the designated driver and use the spittoon, which no winery will find strange. From Lecce there is also a car-free option: the Pro Loco of Lecce has published a 2026 Vin-Tour to Salice Salentino, leaving at 9:00 from its Heritage Desk at the Museo Castromediano, with a guided walk through the town and a visit and tasting at Leone de Castris, €50 per person including van and guide, for groups of eight to 20 (Pro Loco sheet). Ask at the desk which dates are running.
November: new wine and open cellars
Autumn is a good time for a tasting. By law, vino novello, the young wine of the new harvest, cannot go on sale before 00:01 on 30 October (Gazzetta Ufficiale), and the feast of San Martino on 11 November is when Puglia traditionally opens it. Movimento Turismo del Vino runs Cantine Aperte a San Martino from 1 to 15 November 2026 at member wineries, with booking required and times and prices set by each winery. The Puglia list appears on MTV Puglia.
It is the same season as the new olive oil, so a winery morning and an oil mill afternoon make a good day out; our olive harvest guide has the timing. For the weather month by month, see our guide to the best time to visit Puglia.
A local tip: much of the everyday wine poured at Puglia tables comes from the cantina sociale, the town’s cooperative winery, where locals fill their own bottles with vino sfuso (wine on tap). It is not a tasting, but a stop at one is a good way to see how wine fits into daily life here.
Taking wine home
Wineries usually sell bottles at the end of a visit. If you are flying home, check your allowance before you buy a case:
- United States: travelers aged 21 and over can bring one liter of alcohol duty-free. More is allowed, but you pay duty and federal tax on the extra, and state rules can be stricter (US CBP).
- Great Britain: the allowance is 18 liters of still or sparkling wine. Go over it and you pay tax and duty on all the wine, not just the extra (GOV.UK).
Pack bottles in checked luggage, wrapped in clothes, and remember that 18 liters is 24 standard bottles.
FAQ
Do Puglia wineries open on Sundays?
Rarely for guided visits. Most of the wineries we checked guide visits on weekdays, and some take Saturday groups only. Use the weekend for an enoteca in town, and save the cellars for Monday to Friday.
Do I need to book a tasting in Puglia?
Plan on it. The wineries in our table run guided visits by reservation, and some want a week’s notice.
Quick answers from our research
How much does a wine tasting cost in Puglia?
At the nine wineries we checked in October 2026, an entry-level visit with a tasting cost €15 to €30 per person, with a median of €25 (our calculation).
When is Cantine Aperte a San Martino in 2026?
From 1 to 15 November 2026 at member wineries of Movimento Turismo del Vino. Booking is required, and each winery sets its own times and prices.
How much wine can I take home duty-free from Italy?
One liter of alcohol per traveler aged 21 or over into the US (CBP), and 18 liters of still or sparkling wine into Great Britain (GOV.UK).
Prices and opening days are from each winery’s website (Leone de Castris from the Pro Loco Lecce 2026 sheet), checked on 25 October 2026. More food and wine stories in Table and Vine.
