Gianfranco Fino

The self as an extension of consciousness – this is how Gianfranco Fino understands the name of this wine. The place where creativity awakens and the future emerges. A philosophy that suits the man his friends once called "Geriatra del Primitivo": The geriatrician who saves old vines where others uproot them. The adventure began in 2004, when the former olive consultant discovered an overgrown vineyard in Manduria. Fino planted a new vineyard for the Sé, following an ancient pattern: Alberello pugliese, the "rabbit ears" of Salento, with 12,000 vines per hectare. Each vine bears only 400 grams of grapes – concentrated essence instead of mass. The chalky-clay soils and the breeze from the Ionian Sea do the rest. After manual harvest and two to three weeks of maceration, the wine matures for nine months in wood, unfiltered and unfined.

Bright, vibrant pink colour. Spicy oak and vanilla nuances complement the aromas of sour red berries, plums and herbs on the inviting nose. GF exudes a very nice freshness that helps to focus and highlight the intense, dense red fruit flavours. It is more reminiscent of a sparkling and racy red wine than a rosé champagne. The long finish is lively and precise, yet multi-layered and complex. Unfortunately, only 3,000 bottles of this masterpiece are produced each year. SUPERIORE.DE

Sigmund Freud defined the "id" as that part of the psyche that only obeys a single principle: lust. Unbridled, unregulated, beyond space and time. When Gianfranco Fino gave his wine this name, it was not marketing – it was a manifesto. In 2004, the former olive consultant bought his first vineyard: just 1.3 hectares near Manduria, planted with Primitivo vines over fifty years old in traditional Alberello cultivation. What began as an experiment became a revolution. Six years later, Fino stood on the stage of the Gambero Rosso and received the "Winemaker of the Year" award – the first ever winemaker from central or southern Italy. In a row with northern Italian legends such as Josko Gravner and Romano Dal Forno.

A mistake made history. Generations of wine lovers translated "Negroamaro" as "black and bitter" – but the name tells a different story: Greek "mavros" and Latin "niger" both mean "black". Black like the berries, black like the night over the Ionian Sea, which has washed this grape variety onto Puglia's coasts since the 8th century BC. So it is no wonder that Gianfranco Fino calls his Negroamaro Jo – after the sea that washes Manduria and whose salty breeze caresses his vineyards. While the Primitivo is Fino's "loud" masterpiece, the Jo whispers. But if you listen carefully, you can hear the whole soul of Salento. The vines, forty years old, grown in classic Alberello bush training, are rooted just a few kilometres from the Ionian Sea in chalky, loamy soil. Each vine bears barely 800 grams of grapes, concentrated essence instead of southern abundance. harvest begins by hand in mid-September, when the berries are already slightly dry. Two to three weeks of maceration, then nine months of ageing in French barriques, half new and half used. No filtration, no fining – fino leaves the wine its integrity.

A Negroamaro with a grand gesture and deep expression: Gianfranco Fino's Jo comes from over 50-year-old Alberello vines, rooted in calcareous and clayey soils not far from the Ionian coast. The 2022 vintage was characterised by heat and drought, but the deep roots of the old vines ensured balance and ripeness. The meticulously selected grapes are fermented spontaneously and matured in French barriques – with the aim of achieving maximum origin and texture.

Se is a pure Primitivo, from somewhat younger vines than the Es and is the youthful-fresh, but no less elegant counterpart to the Es. Se smells very aromatic of cherry, strawberry and maple blossom. Modern style on the palate, juicy texture, all components fascinatingly coordinated, long and lively. SUPERIORE.DE

Bright, vibrant pink colour. Spicy oak and vanilla nuances complement the aromas of sour red berries, plums and herbs on the inviting nose. GF exudes a very nice freshness that helps to focus and highlight the intense, dense red fruit flavours. It is more reminiscent of a sparkling and racy red wine than a rosé champagne. The long finish is lively and precise, yet multi-layered and complex. Unfortunately, only 3,000 bottles of this masterpiece are produced each year. SUPERIORE.DE

What comes after perfection? Gianfranco Fino has found an answer. Today, the winemaker cultivates fourteen plots of land around Manduria, each with its own character, each vinified separately. At the end of each vintage, he stands in the cellar between his barriques and tastes. He is not looking for the best – he looks for what touches him most deeply. "Che più ha emozionato", as he calls it. In 2019, there were five barrels that he couldn't let go of. These five barriques come from the estate's oldest vineyard: ninety-year-old Alberello vines, whose gnarled trunks rise barely knee-high from the red clay soil. Four hundred grams of grapes per vine – a blink of an eye yield for an explosion of concentration. After slight over-ripening on the vine, the grapes are harvested by hand, selected again in the cantina and then fermented on the skins for three to four weeks. The wine rests for twelve months in French oak before being bottled. A further forty-eight months of bottle ageing follow before a single bottle leaves the winery.

Sigmund Freud defined the "id" as that part of the psyche that only obeys a single principle: lust. Unbridled, unregulated, beyond space and time. When Gianfranco Fino gave his wine this name, it was not marketing – it was a manifesto. In 2004, the former olive consultant bought his first vineyard: just 1.3 hectares near Manduria, planted with Primitivo vines over fifty years old in traditional Alberello cultivation. What began as an experiment became a revolution. Six years later, Fino stood on the stage of the Gambero Rosso and received the "Winemaker of the Year" award – the first ever winemaker from central or southern Italy. In a row with northern Italian legends such as Josko Gravner and Romano Dal Forno.