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Primitivo di Manduria - Dry

Primitivo di Manduria is located in the southern region of Puglia and is one of the most iconic regions of Italy. This remarkable area is widely known for its old stone huts, charming countryside and signature red wines. Puglia as a whole is rich in culture with age-old wine traditions and unmistakable wine characteristics. It is one of the warmest regions in Italy and therefore the grapes in this region grow exuberantly and develop into a spectacular expression of the region's terroir.

With a combination of typical red ferruginous soil in this particular area and sufficient warmth, the wines of Primitivo di Manduria express luscious wines of great weight, intensity and abundance of flavour. It is here where the historic Primitivo grape originated and presents one of Italy's most celebrated varieties.

Primitivo di Manduria is a designated wine growing area in Puglia. This is essentially a sub-region known for the cultivation of Primitivo, which plays an important role in defining the style of southern Italy. Primitivo, the grape variety, is also commonly known as Zinfandel—which is better recognized in the California winelands. This variety produces dark red wines with juicy fruit flavors and gripping tannins. The firm tannins, a defining characteristic of Primitivo, often force the wine to mature in oak barrels and bottles before release. Most producers of the top wines aim to age their wines for 4 to 5 years before release and encourage further aging up to 15 years to really get the best qualities of this variety. The most iconic wine company from Primitivo di Manduria is Gianfranco Fino - Some of them have been voted Italy's best wine. This makes Primitivo (and Negroamaro) fantastic (storage) wines

You pronounce Primitivo as Pree-mee-tee-voh. The word Primitivo is derived from a Latin word, which translates to "Original, the most remarkable or the most illustrious", which is a good indication of how this variety was perceived at its earliest discovery. Primitivo can be made in a dry, semi-sweet, or sweet style. When Primitivo is made bone dry, all natural sugar is converted to alcohol, resulting in an incredibly full-bodied, highly alcoholic red wine. In all-sweet Primitivo wines, the grapes are often left to dry on the vines, allowing all the water to evaporate from the berries, leaving a sweet concentrate of pure sugar in the grapes. This sweet style of Primitivo is better known as Primitivo di Manduria Dolce Naturale — indicating that this wine comes from this region but is 'naturally sweet'.

Some of Primitivo's most distinguishing traits, it's the intensity of the flavours, it's full body and its tenacious tannins. The wine's full boedied stems from the fact that this variety's ability to quickly accumulate sugar as it matures in the vineyard. So when made in a dry style and all the sugar is converted to alcohol this results in a full bodied wine with a lot of flavor, alcohol which is then called full bodied.

The top products with wines from the Primitivo di Manduria are Puglia POP (with the iconic bottles), San Marzano, Cignomoro and the undisputed iconic Gianfranco Fino which has certainly ensured that top quality is made from Puglia which is recognized worldwide. and not just volume.