Why it matters
The producer
In the heel of Italy, where Negroamaro has been called the enological symbol of Salento, a cooperative of vine-growers has been making and selling wine under its own name since 1935. Cantina Sociale Cooperativa di Copertino, which trades as Cupertinum, began with thirty-six members who wanted to press their own grapes and trade without relying on bulk buyers. The cooperative now has around 300 members farming roughly 300 hectares of Salento vineyard.
The range centres on Negroamaro, with the Copertino Riserva DOC as the flagship. A separate label, Aldieri, carries the cooperative's Primitivo, vinified without oak and released as a Salento IGT.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Copertino sits in the Salento peninsula, the long southern spur of Puglia that stretches toward the heel of the Italian boot. The area is flat, dry, and exposed to summer heat from both the Adriatic and Ionian coasts. Vines have been grown here for centuries, but the appellation itself is recent: Copertino DOC was formally established in 1976, four decades after the cooperative began producing wine.
The territory covered by the DOC is roughly 300 hectares, the same scale as the cooperative's own holdings, which places Cupertinum at the centre of the appellation's practical geography.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
The cooperative draws from roughly 300 hectares of member vineyards around Copertino. The main varieties are Negroamaro, Malvasia Nera, Primitivo, and Malvasia Bianca, reflecting the traditional Salento planting mix that covers both the red and white sides of the range.
The Aldieri Primitivo is fermented and aged in stainless steel, a choice that keeps the fruit open and the colour vivid without adding the vanilla and spice of oak. The Copertino Riserva, built from Negroamaro, takes a different path: longer ageing that develops the leather, blackcurrant, and Mediterranean herb character associated with the variety at full ripeness.
Wines to know
The range in view
The range divides between the DOC tier and the IGT label. The Copertino Riserva DOC is the cooperative's senior wine: Negroamaro aged to a ruby red with garnet edges, with aromatic depth that builds toward blackberry, plum, Mediterranean vegetation, and leather. It carries the appellation name on the label and represents the grape variety the DOC was built around.
The Aldieri Primitivo Salento IGT sits outside the DOC framework, which in Puglia simply means a broader geographic designation rather than lower ambition. It is a different grape doing different work: fermented and held in stainless steel for a wine that is dark purple-red, fruit-forward, and meant to be poured young. Bibenda, the guide published by the Italian Sommelier Foundation, awarded the Aldieri Primitivo 4 Grappoli, its four-cluster rating.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
The Aldieri Primitivo is the bottle to open first. It is the cooperative's most direct expression of the Salento style outside the DOC: Primitivo from clay-limestone ground, fermented in stainless steel to keep the dark cherry and plum fruit clear, with dense but smooth tannins and a warm finish marked by chocolate and spice. The wine shows what the cooperative does with a variety that grows across its member holdings but sits apart from the Negroamaro-led flagship range.