Gianfranco Fino

Sava · Taranto (TA)

← Puglia

Established

2004

Gianfranco Fino and Simona Natale

Yearly production

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estate (Manduria / Salento)

Location

Sava, province of Taranto — the Primitivo di Manduria heartland of the Salento, Puglia

Taranto (TA)

Vineyard area

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old alberello (bush-trained) vineyards, vines roughly 50-90 years old across many small parcels, planted to Primitivo (and Negroamaro)

Appellations

Primitivo di Manduria DOCNegroamaro di Terra d'Otranto DOC

History

Gianfranco Fino, with his wife Simona Natale, founded the estate at Sava in the Salento in 2004, starting from a single 1.3-hectare plot of old bush-trained Primitivo. In a region long associated with cheap, jammy bulk wine, Fino set out to prove that Primitivo di Manduria could be a fine, age-worthy wine from old, low-yielding alberello vines.

The vineyards are all traditional Apulian alberello, many of the vines between 50 and 90 years old, farmed at tiny yields across numerous small parcels. The result — above all the flagship 'Es' — helped completely reposition Primitivo di Manduria at the top of Italian red wine.

'Es' (named for Freud's 'id') is a Primitivo of unusual freshness, complexity and spice that defies the stereotype of massive, inky Manduria; the Negroamaro 'Jo' and, since 2015, a classic-method sparkling named 'Simona Natale' complete the range.

Wines

Illustrative selection

Primitivo di Manduria DOC · Primitivo

The cult old-vine Primitivo that redefined Manduria — fresh, complex, age-worthy.

Negroamaro di Terra d'Otranto DOC · Negroamaro

An old-vine Salento Negroamaro.

Simona Natale

Primitivo di Manduria DOC · Primitivo

(A classic-method sparkling named for the founder's wife, made since 2015.)

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