Tinazzi in Puglia - The fulfilment of a southern dream

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Tinazzi’s wine story began in 1968, when Eugenio Tinazzi and his son, Gian Andrea, joined forces to create the company that is known as one of the finest producers in the Veneto. Though their roots are in northern Italy, the Tinazzi name has become equally reputed for quality Puglian wines.

A Puglian adventure

It was on a visit to Salento, in the south of Puglia in 2001, that Gian Andrea Tinazzi saw the potential of the region’s vineyards and indigenous varieties. Soon after his visit, he bought 20 hectares of vineyards in the Alto Salento, and a few years later, the Feudo Croce winery was built.

Today, the estate has a little over 30 hectares of organically tended bush-trained and espalier vineyards. Local superstar grapes – Aglianico, Fiano, Negroamaro and Primitivo – dominate the plantings, providing the raw material for a collection dedicated to traditional wines from Puglia: Primitivo di Manduria DOP, Primitivo IGP and Negroamaro IGP.

A further substantial investment in the region came in 2019, when the Tinazzi Family built the brand new Cantine San Giorgio headquarters in Faggiano. The new winery is a state-of-the-art winemaking facility that crafts slick, modern wines, including deliciously rich reds made from Malvasia Nera.

For two years running, the San Giorgio winery has been awarded Equalitas accreditation. An industry accreditation that is awarded for environmental, social, and economic sustainability credentials, considering factors such as carbon footprint, water usage and biodiversity.

Sustainability and Tinazzi

This accolade is owed to the high value placed upon sustainability at Tinazzi, which made it a core part of its philosophy since 2000. The company consistently works to put the environment, people and community at the heart of everything it does. Notable highlights include the company’s work around packaging materials – the winery now uses lighter glass, which is recyclable or recycled, reducing CO2 emissions. Label, capsule and closure choices have been equally considered, and the winery’s mostly recycled paper labels are produced by sustainably certified suppliers.

An important project close to the winery’s heart, is the three-year-old partnership between Tinazzi’s Cantine San Giorgio and Jonian Dolphin Conservation (JDC), the organisation created in 2020 by Carmelo Fanizza to safeguard cetaceans in the Gulf of Taranto. The project’s goal is to support researchers to collect essential data and information to determine the condition of dolphins in the Gulf and the sea that are their home.

Strengthening the relationship further in 2023, Cantine San Giorgio and JDC’s newest project saw the creation of a new line of wines dedicated to the cetaceans sighted in the Gulf of Taranto. The Tinazzi Family are donating €1 for each bottle sold from the line to Jonian Dolphin Conservation to further finance its important research projects to safeguard the sea and its inhabitants.

Gian Andrea Tinazzi with his children, Giorgio and Francesca

Furthermore, the Tinazzi business has programmes in place to support staff – from training to wellbeing – and offers secure work contracts wherever possible. Beyond company walls, Tinazzi champions a host of community projects, including charities that work with the homeless and paediatric care units.

Highlights from the Tinazzi Puglia Portfolio

Of Tinazzi’s wines, the multi-award winning Imperio LXXIV Primitivo Di Manduria DOP produced by Feudo Croce has quickly gained iconic status at home and abroad. Aged in French oak for between eight and 12 months, it is a powerful, richly fruited red with notes of spice and cocoa, and hints of balsamic. An ideal choice for robustly flavoured foods and red meat dishes.

Unoaked, Feudo Croce’s Primitivo Salento IGP impresses with generous red and fig fruit, and hints of baking spice, vanilla and cocoa. Megale Salento IGP is a single-varietal Negroamaro with the nose offering plum, sour cherries and cinnamon. The palate has a round, succulent mouthfeel.

It was important for Tinazzi that the Feudo Croce range include a pair of lighter, everyday drinking wines. Nyktós is pure Aglianico and delivers an abundance of ripe red and black cherries with supple tannins. It’s a lovely accompaniment to grilled vegetables and stuffed pasta dishes. Dysmè is a deliciously fresh and sapid white wine made from Fiano, with marked minerality and crisp citrus fruit. Brilliantly versatile at the table, this is particularly good with seafood.