Fabiano Minchella draws on his Southern Italian heritage and experience abroad to craft some of McLaren Vale’s most unique and exciting wines

That it’s a shock to hear Fabiano Minchella talk with an Australian accent is testament to how hard he leans into his Southern Italian heritage for By Fabiano, the McLaren Vale-based label he established in 2021.

“I used to have short hair and be clean shaven – I didn’t even know my moustache curled. But it’s part of the brand now,” he laughs. “My wife hates it.”

It’s somewhat rare to see a wine brand, particularly a small one, with such a developed identity – where every part, from the labelling to the website, is considered. “My cousin, Alex Iasiello, came up with the idea for By Fabiano for a project when he was studying wine marketing at Adelaide Uni,” Fabiano explains. “After he got top marks for it, he convinced me we should actually start a brand like that.”

By Fabiano was conceptualised by Fabiano Minchella's cousin for a university assignment. 

But despite the unorthodox backstory, By Fabiano, which was shortlisted for Best New Winery in the 2026 Companion, is a very legit operation. The Minchella family are grape growers who own and farm around 120 hectares of vines in McLaren Vale and operate a contract winemaking facility for around 30 clients. And since Fabiano finished his winemaking degree in 2011, he’s racked up well over 20 vintages both here and abroad.

Unsurprisingly, vintages in Italy were the most formative. In Puglia he discovered primitivo, a variety which now accounts for four out of the eight wines in By Fabiano’s range, and thought it might do well back home. He also makes a wine from another Pugliese grape, negroamaro, plus three whites: vermentino, fiano and greco.

Puglia, a hot, high-production region in Italy’s ‘heel’, is necessary context for Fabiano’s red wines, particularly the two dry primitivos. Around 16 per cent may seem like a bit of a middle finger to local trends towards midweight wines, yet the alcohol is essential to the style. “I trialled picking the fruit earlier and made it at 14 per cent, but the wine was too lean,” he says. “I feel like winemakers in Puglia have been doing it so long that surely they’ve nutted it out by now.”

Fabiano Minchella leans hard into his Southern Italian heritage.

His late-harvest primitivo, Dolce Naturale, meaning ‘naturally sweet’, is also made in a style very true to Puglia. But he’s put his spin on negroamaro, fermenting it with 30 per cent whole bunches (he says the bunches remind him of grenache) to make something more unique.

For the other four wines – three whites and a primitivo-based rosato – the learnings come from all over. The pink wine and, interestingly, the vermentino draw more on the vintages he worked in the south of France. “I preferred how they made it in Provence, vermentino from Puglia was a bit too neutral,” he says. The fiano is made in an Italian style, although “definitely not how I was making it in Italy”. And as an homage to the 70/30 greco fiano blend he would make in Basilicata, he adds five per cent fiano to his greco to lift the fruit and sweeten the palate.

As each wine is made from a variety Fabiano has had direct experience of in its native country, the range tells his story. Anything else he wants to make – he lists grenache (although calls it by its Italian name, cannonau), falanghina, montepulciano and sangiovese – would be released under the soon-to-be-launched Tenuta Minchella,