The History

The Consorzio Produttori Vini has always shown towards vine-growing so much love and dedition that nowadays we are the paladins of this extraordinary nectar which is the Primitivo Wine.

Its history began in the second half of  ’20, when the Government appropriated funds to stimulate also in south of Italy the cooperation because of the scant disposition of south producers to join in a wide system. And so in Manduria a little group of “enlightened” vine-dressers decided to commercialize a wine of great success: Primitivo. In 1928 the “Federazione Vini”  was founded, a society of some producers that 4 years later, on 9 July 1932, officialised its juridical status of cooperative with the institution of “Consorzio Produttori Vini e Mosti Rossi superiori da taglio per la zona di Manduria”.

Its features are the managerial stability (in 75 years there were only 5 chairmen), and the activities oriented to increase the volume of the produced wine but also the image of Manduria as land with great potentialities. Infact our manager in 1937 during the general meeting of partners said: “…our politics have the merit to associate our work with the capacity to make itself known, associated to Manduria’s name and to a valuable wine”. For many years the cooperative has supported also the famous library “Marco Gatti” concretely.

The destiny of the firm is linked to the most important product of the land, “Primitivo di Manduria”, a wine at first relegated to the low rank of ameliorative wine, destined to strengthen the title French dockets and of the North ofItaly, then humiliated during the dark years of the methanol and at the end arose again when around the half of the ’90there was a change aiming on the quality and on the value of the bottle.

And so, today, we are convinced that the good wine sprouts in the fields and we have circumscribed the productive base and thanks to the help of a agronomist, we have followed better the work of our partners producing every year wholesome grapes and with superior organoleptic qualities.

Moreover, for our most important dockets “Memoria”, “Lirica”, “Elegia” and “Madrigale” in short time there was a great demand in Italy and abroad. The Consorzio Produttori Vini has nowadays 900 hectares of vineyard, for the most grown with the traditional sapling system by 400 little working man of wine, that are called “Maestri del Primitivo”. In this decade we have to remember the plans of research initiated by CNR and University of Bari, from which we are waiting important results to exalt at the most the capacity of the noble wine of Manduria. The mission of the firm is to offer to the consumer the most of quality through the rigorous respect of the disciplinarian of production of Doc “Primitivo of Manduria”, linked to the firm attention in confront of the environment and of the hygiene which has allowed the difficult achievement of the Iso 9001 and Iso 14001. But as every great wine also the Primitivo of Manduria doc needed to be told, lived, celebrated of a right identity and on this fact that the Consorzio has invested resources and energies making them its winning force. What link can be considered stronger than that  existing between a wine and its land? The Consorzio has prepared in 2001 in the older wing of the cooperative store a rich Museum of ethnographic and documentary importance about the millenary relationship between people of Manduria and the art of making wine, until 2003 editing a magazine “Alceo salentino”which writing about subjects of oenological culture and territory has conquered a wide public with innovation.