Storia
The Tormaresca project
Tenuta Carrubo forms part of the wider Tormaresca project created through the Antinori family's investment in Apulia. The project grew from the family's conviction that the region had the potential to produce high-quality wines with a strong territorial identity, particularly through indigenous varieties such as Primitivo, Negroamaro and Fiano Pugliese.
During a journey through southern Italy in the mid-1990s, Piero Antinori and Renzo Cotarella recognized the potential of Apulia's historic grape varieties and vineyards. Antinori recalled finding an established viticultural culture whose grapes, some associated with traditions extending back to Magna Graecia, had not yet fully realized their enological potential.
1998: investment in Apulia
The Antinori family's work in Apulia under the Tormaresca name began in 1998, initially encompassing vineyards and winery operations in the Murgia area near Bari and in Upper Salento. Its guiding objective was to develop wines rooted in Apulian varieties and their places of origin.
Within the resulting Tormaresca structure, Tenuta Carrubo became the estate associated with the Manduria DOC territory and Primitivo. It is one of Tormaresca's two estates and occupies countryside around Fragagnano, in the province of Taranto. Its 40 hectares of vineyards are devoted to the historic local variety, combining old alberello-trained vineyards with more recently established vertically trellised rows.
Terroir
Tenuta Carrubo lies in the countryside of Fragagnano, in the province of Taranto, within the Manduria DOC territory. The vineyards stand at approximately 120 metres above sea level.
The soils are calcareous and clay-rich, with the characteristically red coloration highlighted as an important feature of the estate. The climate is mild overall, while summers are particularly hot. Pronounced temperature differences between day and night temper the summer conditions and support the development of Primitivo.
This combination of warm conditions, diurnal temperature variation and red calcareous-clay soils is closely associated with the estate's interpretation of Primitivo. The estate identifies the variety's capacity to retain its recognizable character while expressing elegance and complexity.
Vinificazione
The estate's viticultural structure preserves two forms of vine training. Historic Primitivo vineyards are cultivated as alberello bush vines, while newer plantings are arranged on vertical trellises.
Primitivo ripens early: its name is linked to this precocity, which places it among the first varieties harvested, generally toward the end of August. At Tenuta Carrubo, the variety is cultivated across all 40 hectares in the warm, calcareous and clay-rich environment of the Manduria area.
Filosofia
Tenuta Carrubo's approach is centred on Primitivo as the defining variety of the Manduria territory. The intended expression combines elegance and complexity with the grape's most recognizable characteristics rather than suppressing its varietal identity.
This objective reflects the broader Tormaresca vision behind the Antinori family's investment in Apulia: to pursue quality through varieties deeply rooted in the region and to translate the character, personality and potential of the territory into wine. Carrubo represents the estate's focused interpretation of that principle through Primitivo and the Primitivo di Manduria DOC denomination.
Vini
