Store
Vita Primitivo di Manduria
2007
Primitivo
Juicy
Italy
Vegetables
share page
Tell a friend! We'll send your friends the page and your message.
Note: You and your friend's email addresses are only used once as a referral. We will not collect or store the email addresses.
In the 1990s, methodical DNA testing at U.C. Davis proved that southern Italy's red grape Primitivo is genetically identical to California's Zinfandel. Grown in the sun-baked heel of Italy's boot, Primitivo makes rich plum, berry and spice-flavored red wines with supple tannins. The hearty, slightly rustic wines of southern Italy have found great favor with American sommeliers in recent years because of their comparative value and unique expressions of terroir.
Cooked tomatoes in an herb-laced meat sauce will match well with this wine, as will Neapolitan-style sausage or a gorgonzola and mushroom pizza. Red wine-braised lamb shanks with oregano, sage and thyme will also work well with this Primitivo.
Serve at cool room temperature (64°F).
After economic difficulties drove his family off their ancestral agricultural property in southern Italy, Vincenzo Vita entered the banking industry at age 20 and set about reacquiring the land and laying the foundation for a new family wine business. Today, Vita's keen business sense and uncompromising standards show that agricultural excellence can pay economic dividends and drive Puglian wine into the international spotlight.
This bold red has smoky plum, coffee, licorice, boysenberry and spice aromas and baked blackberry, black cherry, plum and mushroom flavors finishing with tangy blood orange, tar, thyme and oregano notes as well as ample tannins. Whatever genetic similarity it may share with Zinfandel takes a back seat to the unique terroir of Puglia.