9 July 2017
From 60 years old vines. Powerful, fruity and fairly persistent. Unfortunately, it doesn’t suit my taste.
In my opinion the Primitivo grape has some clear limits on how far it can go in producing good wines. The very old vines make this Primitivo di Manduria special. Nevertheless, due to lack of complexity and of balance, it’s a bit ambitious to place it in the price bracket of premium red wines.
Maybe the oak gets integrated and the wine better with ageing, but I doubt it. On top of being grown in a hot region, this Primitivo get some extra “appassimento” before being picked. This makes drinking it a tiring experience: I had problems finishing the second glass, which doesn’t happen often.
This wine was on sale at Denner for 18 CHF (down from some 30 CHF). Although I find there are some decent inexpensive wines made with Primitivo grape (around 10 EUR), I like much better the other main wine of Puglia, the Salice Salentino, which I will follow up on with another post.
An interesting note about the origin of this grape: Primitivo is considered to be native from Croatia and to share the same ancestor as the Californian Zinfandel.
Country: Italy
Region: Puglia
Grapes: Primitivo
Type: Red
Vintage: 2015
Producer: Luccarelli
Price range: Medium (15-30 US$)
Pascal’s Enjoyment Index: 2/5