IGT Red

Gianfranco Fino Es Primitivo

Gianfranco Fino Viticoltore

Grape
Primitivo
Denomination
Salento IGT
Region
Puglia
ABV
16.5%

Gianfranco Fino's Es is a cult Primitivo from old alberello vines near Manduria, aged about nine months in French oak. Powerful near 16% vol, it shows blackberry, plum, cocoa and liquorice. A benchmark Puglian red built for rich meat and the cellar.

Best price
£55.03

2023 · 75cl · checked 25 Oct · Delivery charged at checkout

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Vintages 2023 2020

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Where to buy Salento Primitivo IGT Es Gianfranco Fino Viticoltore

£55.03 best price · 3 retailers in stock · checked 25 Oct 2026

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8wines Best price 2023 · 75cl · checked 25 Oct · Delivery charged at checkout Code NEWCUST8J: Enter NEWCUST8J to get £8 off with the minimum wine order of £88. Valid only for new customers, until 31 Dec 2027
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£55.03 £73.37/L
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XtraWine Best price 2023 · 75cl · checked 25 Oct · Delivery charge shown at checkout
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£64.00 £85.33/L
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Vino.com Best price 2023 · 75cl · checked 25 Oct · Delivery usually £16.90, free on 2 bottles Code WINE6R8T: £17 off your first wine order with £180 minimum spend, until 13 Jan 2028
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£69.00 £92.00/L
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Vino.com Best price 2020 · 75cl · checked 25 Oct · Free delivery Code WINE6R8T: £17 off your first wine order with £180 minimum spend, until 13 Jan 2028
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£153.00 £204.00/L
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Unavailable (1)
8wines Best price 2022 · 75cl · checked 20 Oct · Delivery charged at checkout Code NEWCUST8J: Enter NEWCUST8J to get £8 off with the minimum wine order of £88. Valid only for new customers, until 31 Dec 2027
Out of stock
£58.43 £77.91/L
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Tasting Notes

Inside the glass: Gianfranco Fino's Es

Es is built from old alberello Primitivo on red soil around Manduria, fermented in steel and aged about nine months in French oak. That ripeness and barrique time shape a deep, dark-fruited red that drinkers consistently rate at 4.4 on Vivino across nearly ten thousand bottles.

Tasted by
Gianfranco Fino
Tasted on
23 June 2026
Source
Producer notes · confidence High
Typical of Primitivo
Body Light / Full
Tannins Smooth / Grippy
Sweetness Dry / Sweet
Acidity Soft / Crisp
Nose

Intense ruby red in the glass, with the producer describing a sweep of myrtle, jujube and wild fruit over plum, carob and cocoa. Around nine months in French oak adds chocolate, sweet spice and a balsamic, liquorice lift that Vivino drinkers flag again and again.

VioletViolet
Black cherryBlack cherry
BlackberryBlackberry
PlumPlum
PrunePrune
TobaccoTobacco
LiquoriceLiquorice
CocoaCocoa
Palate

Full, ample and persistent, as you would expect from old alberello Primitivo on Manduria's red soil picked at the end of August. Tannins are ripe and oak-sweetened rather than austere; near-16% alcohol carries blackberry, prune and dark cherry without tipping into heat.

Finish

Long and warm, closing on cocoa, tobacco and dried fig with the licorice-balsamic thread that runs through the wine. Oak and ripe fruit hold the line well after the glass is empty.

Overall

Es is the single bottle that recast Primitivo as serious wine, and the Vivino crowd agrees at 4.4 from nearly ten thousand ratings. This is a cult, cellar-worthy red for rich meat and a special occasion, not an everyday glass.

Best by 2034
Live UK pricing

Buying Es Primitivo across vintages

Es is a small-production wine, so vintages move quickly and prices sit near sixty pounds in the UK. The 2022 and 2023 both show here; check the vintage you are buying, as the warm 2022 and the rainier 2023 drink a little differently.

Best price · 75 cl · 2023 £55.03 at 8wines
Price spread · 75cl · 2023 £55.03 - £69.00 Across 3 UK retailers with 75cl · 2023 in stock
Retailers · 75cl · 2023 3UK 3 in stock
Vintages live 2023 · 2020 Current release: 2023
Per-litre (75cl · 2023 basis) £73.37 Lowest current 75cl · 2023 offer
Last checked 25 Oct 2026 Refreshed once every 24 hours
Other vintages and formats: 1 price line

75cl · 2020: £153.00, 1 UK retailer

Wine fit score

Where Es Primitivo fits your table

A sixty-pound, near-16% Primitivo is a special-occasion and cellar bottle, not an everyday pour. It scores highest for rich food and the cellar, lowest for value and everyday drinking.

Best for an occasion 9.0/10

As the wine that made Primitivo collectible, Es is built for a celebration or a serious dinner with rich food.

Best with food 8.8/10

Ripe Primitivo tannin, sweet oak and near-16% alcohol make Es a powerful match for rich braised and grilled red meat.

Best for cellar 8.5/10

Concentration from old alberello vines plus nine months in French oak let strong vintages of Es hold and improve for a decade.

Best intro to this style 5.5/10

It is a classic indigenous grape but an austere, high-alcohol, oak-framed and expensive bottle, so not an easy first Italian red.

Best value 3.8/10

At roughly sixty pounds Es sits well above the typical Primitivo di Manduria price, a cult premium that limits raw value.

Best everyday bottle 2.0/10

A sixty-pound, near-16% cult Primitivo is a special-occasion pour rather than a midweek everyday wine.

Scoring is rule-based and deterministic. The model and weightings are documented in our Wine Fit Score methodology.

Denomination Compliance Snapshot

Salento in five fields

A compact view of what the Salento denomination actually requires, and how this bottle sits inside it. Pulled from the official Italian disciplinare.

Allowed grapes
51 varieties listed
This bottle: Primitivo.
Minimum ageing
Recorded by producer
Disciplinare ageing rule not yet recorded.
Region / area
Puglia
Style
IGT · Salento
Classification
IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica)
What that means →
Vintages

How Es 2022 and 2023 compare

Puglia 2022 was hot and dry, giving a concentrated, higher-alcohol Es near 16.5% vol. The 2023 fought rain and downy mildew that cut yields, but the surviving fruit ripened well into a slightly fresher wine near 15.5% vol.

2023 Current release
Best price
£55.03
Retailers
3 in stock
2022 Sold through
Best price
not listed
Retailers
0 in stock
ABV
16.5%
Window
Drink now through 2034

Puglia 2022 was hot and dry, a favourable season for heat-loving Primitivo that gave a deeply concentrated Es near 16.5% vol. Built to hold, with critics rating it from Falstaff 96 to Vinous 98.

2020 Previous release
Best price
£153.00
Retailers
1 in stock
2022 Sold through
Best price
not listed
Retailers
0 in stock
ABV
16.5%
Window
Drink now through 2034

Puglia 2022 was hot and dry, a favourable season for heat-loving Primitivo that gave a deeply concentrated Es near 16.5% vol. Built to hold, with critics rating it from Falstaff 96 to Vinous 98.

Drink-now / hold guidance reflects general style cues for this wine, not a forecast for a specific bottle. Where vintage-level editorial notes exist, they appear above.

The disciplinare, the place, the label

Why Es helped redraw Primitivo's reputation

Gianfranco and Simona Fino began in 2004 with 1.3 hectares of old bush Primitivo, and Es quickly became the wine critics use to argue Primitivo can be fine wine. It has taken Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri, Veronelli 97 and Luca Maroni 98 in recent vintages.

01

DOC, DOCG, IGT: what the badges mean

Italian wine law sorts bottles into a pyramid. DOCG sits at the top: tightly drawn boundaries, prescribed grapes, mandatory ageing, government tasting before release. DOC is the same idea with looser thresholds. IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) is broader still, requiring only that 85% of the grapes come from the named territory.

Salento is in the IGT tier. That is not a quality verdict, it is a description of how much freedom the producer has at vinification and ageing.

02

The denomination rules, in detail

  • Allowed grapes. 51 varieties listed in the disciplinare
  • Tasting panel. No mandatory pre-release tasting
03

Region and area context

Salento falls within Puglia.

The zone the estate stands in The producer

Made at Gianfranco Fino Viticoltore, Lama. Directions

04

Reading the label

  • Gianfranco Fino ViticoltoreProducer / estate
  • PrimitivoGrape varieties
  • Salento IGTGeographic indication and quality tier
  • 2023Vintage (year of harvest)
05

What sits behind the price of Salento Primitivo IGT Es Gianfranco Fino Viticoltore

Tracked from
£55.03
Direction
Mostly cost up
Drivers
5 up / 1 down
Main factor
Old-vine alberello Primitivo, tiny yields
  1. 01

    Old-vine alberello Primitivo, tiny yields

    Cost up

    Es comes from old bush-trained vines on Manduria's red soil that Fino keeps at very low yields, so each hectare makes few, concentrated bottles.

  2. 02

    Manual harvest and hand sorting

    Cost up

    Fruit is picked by hand at the end of August into plastic cases, moved in refrigerated trucks and sorted on a table, all labour the producer pays for before fermentation.

  3. 03

    Nine months in French oak barrique

    Cost up

    The producer ages Es about nine months in French oak, then six months in bottle before release, adding barrel cost and a year of held stock.

  4. 04

    Cult demand and critic scores

    Cost up

    Tre Bicchieri, Veronelli 97 and Luca Maroni 98 plus a 4.4 Vivino average from nearly ten thousand drinkers push secondary prices for older Es above 400 euro.

  5. 05

    Salento IGT, not a higher appellation premium

    Cost down

    Fino bottles Es as Salento Primitivo IGT rather than a tightly ageing-mandated DOCG, so there is no long mandatory cellaring cost baked into the price.

  6. 06

    UK duty and VAT on a sixty-pound bottle

    Cost up

    UK still-wine duty is 2.67 pounds per bottle at 15% ABV or below; the 2022 near 16.5% falls into the higher band, and 20% VAT adds about 10 pounds on a 60 pound price.

01

Old-vine alberello Primitivo, tiny yields

Cost up

Es comes from old bush-trained vines on Manduria's red soil that Fino keeps at very low yields, so each hectare makes few, concentrated bottles.

Perfect Pairings

Dishes that go with this wine

Apulian Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe, plated

Apulian Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe
Focaccia Barese, plated

Focaccia Barese
Cartellate on stoneware bowl with Cinnamon, Flour, Grape Must

Cartellate
Food Pairing

Primitivo power and oak: dishes that fit Es

Es carries ripe tannin, near-16% alcohol and sweet oak spice, so it wants rich, slow-cooked meat rather than delicate plates. The structural job is to meet fat and protein, not to refresh a light dish.

Fat cutting Strong match

Slow-braised beef and lamb

Es carries ripe, oak-sweetened tannin and near-16% alcohol, which cut cleanly through the fat and gelatine of long braises. The wine's blackberry and prune depth mirrors the caramelised, reduced sauces of Italian brasato and stracotto.

Try with: Brasato al Barolo · Ossobuco alla Milanese · Agnello Ragu Lucano · Lamb shank · More pairings →

Tannin softening Strong match

Grilled and roasted red meat

Char and seared protein give the wine's firm Primitivo tannins something to grip, softening them on the palate. The end-of-August ripeness behind Es means there is enough sweet fruit to balance a smoky, fatty crust.

Try with: Fiorentina steak · Ribeye steak · Rack of lamb · Roast Lamb with Mint Sauce

Body matching Good match

Rich game and wild boar

The full, persistent body the producer describes stands up to the strong, gamey flavours of venison and cinghiale. Cocoa and tobacco notes from nine months in French oak echo the earthy depth of slow-cooked game.

Try with: Venison Stew · Wild boar ragu · Roast Pheasant · More pairings →

Fat cutting Good match

Hard aged Italian cheese

Aged Pecorino and mature hard cheese bring salt and fat that the wine's alcohol and tannin slice through. The liquorice and dried-fig register in Es plays off the nutty, crystalline character of a well-aged sheep's cheese.

Try with: Pecorino sardo e pan carasau · Cheese board · Strong cheddar cheese

Body matching Good match

Smoky barbecue and ribs

Es has the sweet dark fruit and oak spice to match sticky, smoky barbecue without being overwhelmed. Its concentration mirrors caramelised glazes while near-16% alcohol keeps pace with the richness.

Try with: BBQ ribs · Korean BBQ · Roast pork · More pairings →

Aromatic bridge Good match

Tomato-rich southern Italian meat dishes

The wine grows beside the food, so it bridges naturally to Puglian and southern lamb ragu and baked pasta. Ripe Primitivo fruit settles the acidity of long-cooked tomato while its body carries the meat.

Try with: Agnello Ragu Lucano · Lamb bhuna · Beef stew

Avoid Clash

Chilli heat and delicate seafood

Near-16% alcohol amplifies chilli burn, so fiery dishes turn the wine hot and bitter rather than refreshing. Equally, the oak and tannin of Es flatten delicate white fish and raw seafood, which need a crisp Italian white instead.

Skip with: Szechuan beef · Crispy chilli beef · sushi · oysters · Pairing guide →

Drinking + cellar

Cellaring Es from Manduria

Es is concentrated and oak-framed enough to hold and improve for a decade from a strong vintage. The 2022 is a keeper; the 2023 is best given a couple of years for its fresher frame to knit.

Decanting
1 hour

A short splash decant softens the first-pour edge and opens the aromatics.

Serving temperature
16-18°C

Aim for the cooler end on a warm day; warmer end opens up more aromatics.

Cellar potential
High

Concentration from old alberello vines plus nine months in French oak let strong vintages of Es hold and improve for a decade.

Buy now or wait?
Buy now

£55.03 for a 75cl bottle of the 2023, at 8wines, is the best price we track, and we have no signal of further discounting.

Sources & trust

Where the facts on this Es come from

Prices & stock

Read directly from each retailer’s public product page once a day. Last refresh: 25 Oct 2026, 04:09 BST. We do not hold stock and we do not accept payment for placement.

Confidence · High
Tasting notes

Based on the producer's published tasting notes.

Confidence · High
Appellation rules & ageing

From the official Italian disciplinare for this denomination, cross-checked against the Ministry of Agriculture register.

Confidence · High
Why it costs what it costs

Our reading of the price, drawn from the disciplinare, public UK duty rates, and typical landed-cost benchmarks. Not a quote from the producer or a retailer.

Confidence · Medium
Drink window & cellar potential

Style guidance for this kind of wine at this price point. Treat it as advice, not a forecast for the bottle in your hand.

Confidence · Medium
Related

Es Primitivo and its Puglian connections

Producer
Gianfranco Fino Viticoltore Puglia
Grapes
Primitivo
Denomination
Salento IGT
Region
Puglia Region guide
Cuisine
Italian Cuisine 3 dishes paired

Common Questions

Es is 100% Primitivo, grown on old alberello (bush-trained) vines on red soil around Manduria and Sava in Puglia. Gianfranco Fino classifies it as Salento Primitivo IGT, though it is widely sold under the Primitivo di Manduria name.

Es is a powerful wine, usually between 15.5% and 16.5% vol depending on the vintage. The hot, dry 2022 reaches around 16.5% vol, while the rainier 2023 sits near 15.5% vol.

A strong vintage of Es can hold and improve for around a decade. It is concentrated and aged about nine months in French oak, so the 2022 will reward cellaring while the fresher 2023 is best after a year or two.

Its ripe tannin and near-16% alcohol suit rich, slow-cooked red meat such as brasato, ossobuco, lamb ragu and grilled steak, plus hard aged cheese. Avoid chilli-hot dishes and delicate seafood, which clash with its power.

Es is a small-production, low-yield wine from old bush vines, hand-harvested and oak-aged, and it carries cult demand after scores like Tre Bicchieri, Veronelli 97 and Luca Maroni 98. UK bottles sit near sixty pounds, with older vintages far higher.

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Salento Primitivo IGT Es Gianfranco Fino Viticoltore
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