Primitivo di Puglia A Mano 2022

Primitivo is the same grape variety as Zinfandel, with origins in the Mediterranean.  This is a big wine with intense aromas of ripe dark fruit, especially blackberries and cherries, and even spicy notes of cocoa, lavender and liquorice. It is youthful and full-bodied, but very elegant, fresh and complex.

On our tours to Puglia in 2016 we met Mark Shannon at a beautiful Masseria, a typical farmhouse restaurant. Mark is a Californian who set up A Mano wines with his Italian partner Elvezia back in 1998 and they very quickly established a reputation for making brilliant wines from local indigenous grapes such as Negroamaro, Susumaniello, Minutolo, Flanghina and Aleatico. And, of course, Primitivo. Jancis Robinson particularly credits Mark for having introduced top class Primitivo from Puglia to the United States!

Big wines need big food and while we enjoyed this wine in Puglia with a lunchtime buffet, back home I would be tending towards a beef casserole.  Cheesewise you need to find something with intense flavour and ‘bite’ to keep up with the wine, Teddingingon Cheese’s Pecorino Fiore Sardo would be a good match.