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Primitivo is a dark-skinned grape variety used in certain inky, tannic wines from the Puglia region of deepest southern Italy. It is perhaps better known under its American synonym Zinfandel, as which it has become one of the most widely planted vinifera vines in the western United States. Although many modern wine consumers are actively seeking out new and interesting grape varieties, and have demonstrated a willingness to experiment, it is likely that Primitivo would have remained a Puglian obscurity were it not for the associations which were drawn between it and its glamorous American doppelganger. As things turned out, Primitivo's star is now confidently rising, particularly through such DOCs as Primitivo di Manduria and its naturally sweet variant Primitivo di Manduria Dolce Naturale – Puglia's very first DOCG. It is thought that Primitivo was brought to the vineyards of southern Italy from across the Adriatic Sea, specifically from the Primorska Hrvatska region of Croatia. It is known there as Crljenak Kasteljanski, and it is most likely in this form, and from this origin, that the variety began its life in America. It remained anonymous there for a long time, and it wasn't until some highly focused ampelographic research was carried out in the 1990s that the Zinfandel-Primitivo-Crljenak link was confirmed. Although little is known about the grape's other two synonyms, the origin of the name Primitivo is a classic wine trivia card played by oenophiles all over the world. It translates roughly as 'early one', and it is hard to miss the link here with Tempranillo, whose name means precisely the same thing in Spanish. English speakers would be forgiven for inferring from this name that the grape was in some way 'primitive', perhaps less evolved or less unrefined than other grape varieties. Certainly the robust, almost aggressive character of much Primitivo does nothing to counter this, and even at home in Puglia the wine is known as Mirr Test, meaning 'hard wine'. The Primitivo name is allegedly a reference to the variety's early ripening nature, although it is just as likely that the person who named it was referring to the uneven precocity with which Primitivo berries ripen; it is not unusual to see bunches with plump, fully ripened berries clustered alongside hard, green 'grapeshot' showing no sign of development at all. A classic Primitivo wine is high in both alcohol and tannins, intensely flavored, deeply colored (a dark brooding core with violet highlights towards the edges). In the case of the wines from Manduria, the fortified liquoroso variants often reach an ABV of 18%, and this is dulled to a still-impressive 14% in the table wines. A certain bitterness is often found in Primitivo which, combined with its mouth-puckering tannins, means that a few years in either bottle or barrel is essentially a pre-requisite before the wines are fully approachable. This faint bitterness is a trait which characterizes so many Italian wines, and is working to mark Primitivo as a truly Italian grape, quite distinct from its alter ego far away across the Atlantic. Alternative names for this grape variety
Click on a listed Primitivo
wine
below for price and wine store information.
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Where it's used:
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