Salice Salentino is a small rural commune of Salento which has been home to the ancient Leone de Castris winery for more than three centuries.

It is the year 1665. Among the fertile vineyards of that time, Oronzo Arcangelo Maria Francesco dei Conti di Lemos, gave birth to the winery.

The founder is passionate about a land so fertile and rich and understands its value, so, after the first years of processing and transformation of the product, he returns to Spain, sells some properties, returns and invests the proceeds in Salento lands.
Around Salice, Guagnano, Veglie, Villa Baldassarri, Novoli and San Pancrazio, he became the owner of several thousand hectares, on which he not only planted new vines, but also olive trees and wheat. At the beginning of the 1800's the winery began to export raw wine to the United States of America, Germany and France.

The winery started bottling its products with Piero and Lisetta Leone de Castris, in 1925. In 1943 was born Five Roses, the most renowned product of the winery and the first rose wine to be bottled and sold in Italy and immediately exported in the United States of America.

The history of this wine is still remembered in the winery as one of the most significant events in its centuries old history. In fact, there is a district in the Salice Salentino feud which is called "Cinque Rose" (Five Roses), a name due to the fact that for many generations the Leone de Castris family had five sons each, with incredible constancy. At the end of the war, general Charles Poletti, commissioner for supplies of allied forces, asked for a large supply of rose wine, whose grapes came from the Cinque Rose estate. But the general wanted a wine with an American name, and it did not take long to find it: "Five Roses" was born.
With the harvest of 1954 the Salice Leone de Castris was born and thanks to the commercialization in Italy and abroad for about 20 years the Doc Salice Salentino was obtained in the early 70's. Therefore, with the DOC, also other companies are proposed on the market.

The history of this family and of the winery continues. Cav. del Lavoro Salvatore Leone de Castris, son of Piero and Lisetta, has contributed to a remarkable development - also at international level - of the company. Since twenty years his son, Dr. Piernicola, has been managing it. More and more prestigious awards are constantly given to the whole range of the company.

The foreign commercial network today sees the products present not only in the European markets, but also in the United States, Singapore, Canada, Brazil, Australia, Japan, China, Hong Kong, etc.. New vines have been planted in the family's wineries: Chardonnay, Sauvignon, Montepulciano, alongside the traditional vines: Negroamaro, Malvasia nera, Verdeca, Bianco d'Alessano, Moscato, Aleatico, Primitivo, Susumaniello, Ottavianello.
The winery offers a wide range of products: red, white and rosé DOC wines (Salice Salentino, Locorotondo, Copertino, Primitivo di Manduria), interesting IGT wines from Salento and Apulia, rosé and white sparkling wines; a brandy and an oil of particular value. It also has a first class hotel "Villa Donna Lisa" equipped with sports facilities; it supports the daily visits of Italian and foreign delegations.

The average annual production is about 2.5 million bottles.
Leone de Castris is a company that has been working for centuries in Apulia and only Apulian products. For someone this could be a limitation, for us it is a peculiarity because our mission is the valorization of the products of the territory where we were born and raised.

Ultimately, it can be said that we represent more than 350 years of winemaking history looking to the future.