The domain was founded in the early 1900s by Giuseppe de Corato and 50 years later Azienda Vinicola Rivera came to life. His son Sebastiano had thorough renovation work carried out there. A new cellar was built and the vines were also replanted. All this to increase the quality to the level that it still is today. The vineyards are not far from the famous city of Bari. At a height of at least 200 meters to 350 meters, the grape vines are maintained with great care and you notice that in quality.

Rivera is the only one with Castel del Monte the DOC & DOCG status in Central North Apulia (Puglia) and is the pioneer of Apulian (Puglia) wines. Today, Rivera is still owned by the De Corato family. It is led by Carlo de Corato and his sons Sebastiano and Marco, with great enthusiasm and a dynamic management approach.

The De Corato family belongs to a small group of famous winemakers and is the only representative of the Apulia region in the "Istituto Grandi Marchi" (www.istitutograndimarchi.com). This institute houses the 19 most prestigious Italian wine producers such as Antinori, Gaja, Biondi Santi, Masi, Sassicaia, Pio Cesare, Tasca d'Almerita, Lungarotti, Lageder, Jermann to name a few.

The 75 hectares of vineyards planted in Castel del Monte DOC are located on calcareous and rocky soils. The winery has recently been completely renovated and features state-of-the-art winery, while the cellars are still very authentic with barrels of 30 below 50 hl Slavic oak and 30 Hl French oak as well as 300 French oak barriques for the riserva wines.
Rivera wine is sold in the domestic market and about 50 export markets in Europe, America and Asia, which focus on traditional distribution channels such as Ho.re.ca, good wine shops and wholesalers.

Over the past 15 years, Rivera has also focused on the potential of the native varieties Nero di Troia, Bombino Nero and Bombino Bianco, which define the surprisingly fresh and elegant style of North Apulian wines. With the release of 100% Nero di Troia single vineyard vineyards Puer Apuliae, Rivera is putting the spotlight on Nero di Troia, which is now considered one of the most interesting Southern Italian native red grape varieties. Finally, thanks to Rivera's Pungirosa rosé wine, Bombino Nero from Castel del Monte has been recognized as the only Italian rosé DOCG

Rivera's iconic and classic wine, however, is the elegant Il Falcone Castel del Monte Rosso Riserva DOCG, based on Nero di Troia paired with Montepulciano, which has been produced since 1950 and has received much respect from wine journalists. The Puer Apuliae and the Cappallacio Riserva (Aglianico) are also top international wines which are issued in allocation.

Rivera is also part of the Grandi Cru Committee. An agency established in 2005 to promote top quality wine companies in Italy

GRANDI CRU COMMITTEE
The Gran Cru d'Italia Committee was founded in 2005 to promote and increase the prestige of the wineries, which have been producing great wines with the highest ratings for at least 20 years.

Member companies are the core of the most prestigious wineries in Italy that represent the maximum ability to convey cultural and quality values of the areas most suited for the production of great wines despite of its size. In fact even smaller wineries that show a very high-quality in its productions are formally members, a feature that is common and distinguishes Italy from others.