Following Charles of Anjou's successful campaign in 1266, the Hohenstaufen tower of Copertino was held first by the de Pratis family and then by Walter VI of Brienne, Duke of Athens, Count of Lecce and Grand Constable of France.

The French knight Tristan Chiaromonte (de Clermont-Lodeve) led the development of the county capital, having assumed power over the territory on his marriage to Caterina, daughter of Mary of Enghien.

Tristan's daughter Isabella of Clermont, heiress to the Brienne claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem, married Ferdinand I of Naples.

With the conquest of the Salento peninsula by the Aragonese dynasty, effected jointly by the Spanish army and knights from Albania, the county was gifted in 1498 to Alfonso Castriota Scanderbeg, in gratitude for military support.

The wines are predominantly Negroamaro with no more than a 30% blend component of Malvasia, Montepulciano and Sangiovese (which is further limited to a maximum of 15%).