In the 1960’s a young enologist, Antonio Coppi, was working the vines of a winery founded in 1882.  The owners of the vineyard were moving their operation to Tuscany and set up a plan for the young Antonio to take over their lands in Puglia.  A few years later, Antonio married a young woman from Brindisi whose family owned 150 hectares of agricultural land, rolling hills of olives, grapes and fruit trees.  Her inheritance, by coincidence, was thirty hectares of grape vines that she and her husband began nurturing along with the winery Antonio was already overseeing.

Their holdings fall primarily in Gioia del Colle (translated as Joy of the Hill, speaking to local love of the area), a rocky area where stones need to be broken apart before the soil below can be worked.  At three to four hundred meters above sea level, with steady ocean breezes, the region can be incredibly dry in the hot summer months.  Grottoes abound and carry vast amounts of water underground that older vines, whose roots have struggled downward for decades, tap into.  

Gioia del Colle is a still not top of mind in the international community when it comes to Primitivo, the primary grape in the area and the focus of the Coppi family, but the local Consorzio dei Vini Gioia del Colle DOC, founded in 1987 by Antonio himself, is constantly pushing the envelope and driving their region forward.

Primitivo sinisCalCo

Puglia IGP Primitivo. 100% Primitivo named for a Norman feudal lord from Gioia del Colle. Harvested early, as the grape’s name suggests, this wine is aged for six months in stainless steel and another year in bottle before release. Blackberry hits the nose first and fresh and sapid tannins round out the palate. Tech Sheet

Primitivo DON antonio

Puglia IGP Primitivo. 100% Primitivo that undergoes carbonic maceration, preserving the freshness of the wine and softening the tannins. Aging follows in large Slavonian oak barrels for six months. The resulting wine has traditional spice notes on the nose and a balance of acid and tannin on the palate. Tech Sheet

Primitivo Senatore

DOP Gioia del Colle. 100% Primitivo named for the pater familias Senator Antonio Coppi who founded the winery. Carefully selected grapes are allowed to macerate on the skins for an extended period before aging in small, second use Slavonian oak barrels. Tech Sheet

negroamaro pellirosso

IGP Salento. 100% Negroamaro harvested in the second half of September and aged for 6 months in stainless steel tanks. Fruit notes of blackberries shine through and a dry, sapid palate catches your attention. Tech Sheet