Gianfranco Fino· Manduria

No one did more to change how the wine trade sees Primitivo than Gianfranco Fino. He and his wife Simona Natale started in 2004 with two hectares of old-vine Primitivo in Manduria, built the estate from nothing, and the very first Es was recognised on release. I show that wine when I want to dismantle someone's assumptions about the grape.

The Es comes from alberello vines planted in 1930, head-trained, low to the ground, among the oldest Primitivo in production. Yields sit around 20 hectolitres per hectare, the roots driving deep into limestone, the vine's proximity to the red clay doing the work of regulating ripeness in Manduria's heat. The winemaking is direct: destemmed, fermented in stainless, fifteen months in French tonneaux at roughly half new, unfined and unfiltered. The Sé, from 1945 vines, follows the same path; the Jo, from Negroamaro, rounds out the range.

This is not the heavy, overripe Primitivo sold in litre bottles. It is dark, mineral, structured, savoury, the alcohol present but never in charge. The Es comes in tiny quantities each vintage. Manduria is not a region most American buyers think about; Fino is the reason they should.