The 2015 Salice Salentino Riserva Aiace is the flagship wine of Castello Monaci. The wine is named after Ajax the Great, a colossal figure in Greek mythology who commanded armies in the Trojan War and, at least according to Homer, was an epic hero in that legendary battle. The blend in this Riserva is 80% Negroamaro and 20% Malvasia Nera di Lecce, and the grapes come from a site with clay soils rich in limestone. The vines are planted in the traditional alberello method, or head-pruned growing system, and this vintage offers loads of dark fruit flavor with some distinctive spice and smoke on the close. Pair it with suckling pig or porchetta.

The 2013 Salice Salentino Riserva Aiace (with 80% Negroamaro and 20% Malvasia Nera di Lecce) is a modern and luscious red wine that is shaped in equal parts by ripe fruit concentration and spicy oak. The wine is soft and yielding in terms of its tannins. Blackberry fruit and spice intermingle with seamless intensity and there is that telltale point of cherry bitterness that you often get with Salice Salentino wines.

The 2010 Salice Salentino Riserva Aiace is a beautifully evolved wine with a level of austerity and elegance that is rare to find in Puglia. The nose is sharp and focused with wild berry nuances followed by ash, licorice and cola. There's also a compelling element of mineral-graphite precision. Balsam herb, forest bramble and underbrush give the wine a very crisp and buoyant personality. Aiace shows a streamlined style and medium persistency. What it lacks in intensity it makes up for in elegance.