Fatalone
Gioia del Colle, Puglia, Italy
“Who loves and respects nature, loves God and himself” - Pasquale Petrera
Azienda Agricola Petrera Pasquale (Fatalone) has been making wine in the Gioia del Colle region since the late 1800’s. Like many producers in the area, bottling wine came late; most wines were sold in sfuzo, where locals would bring jugs and fill up from the tank. It was only in 1987 that the first bottles of ‘Fatalone’ were produced. A winery with intense dedication to the earth, their certified organic farming practices prove to make exceptional Primitivo Gioia del Colle in three different styles, and one bianco made from the local Greco. Their belief in organic principles and renewables extends to the winery where only solar power is used to power the entire production. Fatalone is a zero emission winery. Stainless steel is used for primary fermentation in all of the wines, and when oak is used, it is always large, old Slavonian oak. Sulphur is not used during vinification, and only a minimum but stabilizing amount is used at bottling, leading to a remarkably purity of fruit.
Our Selections
Fatalone Greco Bianco Spinomarino 2024
The Spinomarino is the only white wine from Fatalone and comes from a tiny, 0.6ha vineyard of 30 year-old certified organic Greco vines on rocky karstic clay-limestone soils. The grapes come into the cellar and macerate as whole clusters for 8 hours before pressing. The wine then undergoes natural fermentation and is lightly filtered to prevent malolactic fermentation. Pasquale believes this helps retain greco’s incredible, linestone-inflected minerality.
The 2024 vintage made for an incredibly complex Greco. Even after a warm and long growing season, the grapes were still full of acidity and the wine shows great salinity and transparency. Flowers, green apple, tropical fruits, and honeyed overlaid on a palate of pure precision and cut
12.15% alc | 0.4 g/l RS | 71mg Total SO2
Fatalone “Teres” Primitivo 2024
Fatalone’s “Teres” Primitivo is a unique and delicious light red wine that pays homage to the Petrera family’s ancestors and their winemaking practices. The wine comes from only the free-run must of the Racemi — the thin-skinned, second-budding fruit of the Gioia del Colle Primitivo vine. These are tiny, fist-sized bunches that produce some brilliant wine.
After harvest, the whole berries spend 36 hours on the skins after which the free run juice is captured for natural fermentation. The wine spends 6 months of aging in stainless steel tank then is bottled with a light filtration and a small sulfur addition.
Teres is a fresh, mineral driven light red wine full of strawberry, cranberry, raspberry and red currant notes. This is an extraordinary wine that will change any preconceived notions you may have about Primitivo and balance in wine.
14.9% alc (yet fresh as a daisy!) | 0.4 g/l RS | 75mg Total SO2
Fatalone Primitivo Gioia del Colle 2022
100% Primitivo from the Murge hills within the Gioia del Colle. The rocky, marine vineyards, planted in 1990, are fully organic with no irrigation and rich in fossils. The must is fermented on the skins in stainless steel for eight to nine days using only native yeasts. After nine months, the wine is racked to large (750 liter) Slavonic oak tanks for three months then bottled without filtration. The wine is kept for another nine months before release. This is a beautiful example of balanced Primitivo with notes of black cherry, toasted bitter almond, and a freshness that belies the stereotype of the grape being a high-octane powerhouse.
15.86% alc | 0.5 g/l RS | 32mg Total SO2
Fatalone Primitivo Riserva Gioia del Colle 2021
The Primitivo Riserva is Fatalone’s flagship Primitivo that is built to last. The Riserva bottling spends its first 9 months in stainless steel in order to complete both alcoholic and malolactic fermentation, and this then aged for one year in old and large Slavonic oak barrels. At least 15 months of aging in bottle follows, resulting in a wine that is dark and intense, yet so far from being a jammy Zinfandel-like expression of Primitivo.
There is massive acidity in the final bottle, which complements the black cherry, rich earth, and toasted wood notes. The wine undergoes “music therapy” during its time in wood to take advantage of the rhythmic air pressure gently speeding up the breathing and micro-oxygenation of the aging wine. An absolutely gorgeous Primitivo that deserves serious attention.
16.33% alc | 0.93 g/l RS | 38mg Total SO2