Gianfranco Fino

Start winegrowing in 2004 and make the best wine in Italy 10 years later? Sounds like a romantic dream, but Gianfranco Fino has only just done it. He started in Manduria with a small plot of land with 50-year-old Primitivo vines, striving for an extremely low yield per vine and, unlike many other winemakers, relying on the naturally occurring wild yeasts. Slowly he expanded the number of hectares and also planted Negroamaro.

A perfectionist with an eye for detail who does everything differently in the vineyard than the rest. He even lets his grapes dry on the vine for a while for even more flavor and sugar concentration. Although this reduces the alcohol percentage to a great height, without disturbing the balance in the wine. That drive and idiosyncratic approach has ensured that Fino's wines are among the absolute top in Italy, as witnessed by the superlatives in Gambero Rosso. His achievements have also definitively established Puglia's name as a reference for quality wine.