Primitivo di Manduria
Primitivo di Manduria is a heavy, blunt red wine; an effect of the warm growing conditions in Southern Italy's Apulia region.
The quality of Primitivo wine has been recognized in Italy for centuries. It was once mainly used for blending by more commercially successful wineries in Northern Italy. They relied on it to give their wines depth. Because of a general lack of commercialization in Apulia, Primitivo is still largely unknown outside of Italy. Small-scale producers have a hard time reaching the international market to compete on the same level as more famous Italian wine varieties.
The Primitivo grape variety was discovered to be genetically similar to California's Zinfandel. It has its roots in the oldest of wine traditions. The Primitivo grape is said to have originated in ancient Greece and been brought over by some of the first settlers of the Italian peninsula.
Primitivo di Manduria DOC is made from 100% Primitivo grapes (unlike other Primitivo wines, like Gioia del Colle Primitivo, which are blends). This wine is also characterized by an unusually high alcohol by volume percentage - around 14%. Wines made from Primitivo have notes of plum and spice, like Zinfandel, but because of different growing soils and climate, the fruit character is less jammy, the structure more akin to old world wines, with rustic notes of earth and spice, as well as tamed fruit flavors
Zinfandel
Zinfandel (also known as Primitivo) is a variety of black-skinned wine grape. The variety is planted in over 10 percent of California vineyards. DNA fingerprinting revealed that it is genetically equivalent to the Primitivo variety traditionally grown in Puglia (the "heel" of Italy), where it was introduced in the 18th century, as well as to the Croatian grapes Crljenak Kaštelanski and Tribidrag. The grape found its way to the United States in the mid-19th century, and became known by variations of the name "Zinfandel", a name of uncertain origin.
The grapes typically produce a robust red wine, although a semi-sweet rosé (blush-style) wine called White Zinfandel has six times the sales of the red wine in the United States. The grape's high sugar content can be fermented into levels of alcohol exceeding 15 percent.
The taste of the red wine depends on the ripeness of the grapes from which it is made. Red berry fruit flavors like raspberry predominate in wines from cooler areas, whereas blackberry, anise and pepper notes are more common in wines made in warmer areas and in wines made from the earlier-ripening Primitivo clone.
