“Jo” Negroamaro Salento IGT 2023

Gianfranco Fino | Puglia
Gianfranco Fino Viticoltore | Via Piave 12 | IT 74028 Sava

15132123 · 0,75 l · 90,67 €/l · Price (DE) incl. VAT, excl. Shippingavailable immediately

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.

It shimmers almost black in the glass. The nose opens with blackcurrants and dark plums, followed by Mediterranean herbs – rosemary, thyme –black pepper and a hint of liquorice. Spicy fruit unfolds on the palate without any sweetness, supple tannins carry the wine with oriental elegance. And at the very end, in the long final, that characteristic hint of saltiness that reveals where this wine comes from: the sea that gave it its name. SUPERIORE.DE