Discovering Primitivo and its hidden potential through a vertical tasting

Does Crljenak Kaštelanski sounds familiar? What about Zinfandel? And Primitivo?  I think we are getting there… what I would like to talk about more is Primitivo today. This ancient variety comes all the way from Croatia but where it got its name Crljenak Kaštelanski or Tribidrag. These are different clones of the same grape.

 As I was visiting one of the most important regions for Primitivo: Puglia, I would like to share with you its character, history, and the stylistic difference between Primitivo and Zinfandel a little bit, and talk more about the potential you can find in those wines.

Two weeks ago, I got the chance to have a trip southern Italy, more specifically Puglia (I was near the town of Bari for 17^th edition of Radici del Sud where I was in a team of the international journalists), one of Italy’s most important wine regions that has been always shadowed by Piedmont and Tuscany. This is “the hill of Italy” where is indeed the 3rd most planted variety is Primitivo. There are three main wine growing regions in this area devoted for this grape, two of them earned the prestigious DOC classification. I was just near one of them, Gioia del Colle Primitivo Riserva.

Character and the difference from Zinfandel

Primitivo is a black skinned red grape variety that has been introduced to southern Italy in the 18th century. A few decades later it found its way to the United States where it became famous under the name Zinfandel. It has been said that the grape has originated from Croatia. They found different names and grapes but indeed these two are different clones of the same variety. The main difference being that Primitivo – as the name suggests – is an earlier ripening clone rather than Zinfandel, which can riper slightly later. The budding usually starts at the end of April. The berries are dark, puply and has thin skin. The juice is very sweet and rose-coloured with purple tints.

Primitivo is particular because its secondary budding is fruitful, in fact, it is the only vine all over the Mediterranean Sea that can supply a secondary harvest: the “racemi“. They are smaller grapes, less full-bodied, but much more delicate and sweet-smelling. The Primitivo‘s must is intense ruby red coloured and rich in violet hues. The second harvest “racemi” is way more suitable for pink wine making. It will produce a more subtle, elegant rose wine with a bit more colour and lots of red berry aromas, violets, spices and a medium plus body.

The difference between Primitivo and Zinfandel? Just like I mentioned before, Primitivo is harvested earlier than Zinfandel, which means it could keep higher acidity in the resulted wine. Zinfandel usually even picked slightly over ripe and that could reasult a higher alcohol content as well. Stylistically, the other difference lies in the maturation process, as with Zinfandel in the United States tend to use more American oak – most of the time new ones – and with Primitivo – specially the ones I have tasted in Puglia – they are using second or third usage bigger casks to show the terroir and true character of the wines. In this case, Primitivo will be less pungent than Zinfandel, with a bit lower alcohol, less sweet sensation on the palate and maybe even more rustic.

In my opinion, I love both styles for what they represent. I like Zinfandel when I want to drink something a bit heavier, typical of the New World style, and I like Primitivo to pair with food, especially with lamb. Today, let me talk about the Primitivos I have tasted in Puglia.

Il Fatalone

When we were there, we have visited a couple of wineries in the area, but for me, Il Fatalone wines really stood out. It looks like that’s not just my opinion, in The World Atlas of Wine by Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson you can find these labels as recommendations to the flagship wines of the region.

In fact, the fermented grape juice during maturation has been handled differently. Have you heard about music therapy in wine making before? Because this is what they are doing! In the barrel, the juice is literally listening to calming music for two to three hours a day. Those micro vibrations on the barrel or cask – due to the music – helps the micro-oxygenation and maturation of the wine.

Here, handling the wine and the grape with respect starts already in the vineyard. Il Fatalone produces all their wines to mirror the terroir, the soil and the men, who takes care of them. They are 100% sustainable by practicing organic farming without the use of irrigations. They’re taking advantage of renewable energy source and power all the production process with solar energy. It results in a production of a zero CO2 emission wine made just with locally grown organic grapes.

The vertical tasing

After a quick visit of their vineyards, we had a vertical tasting of a range of Primitivos, started with a Rosado, made with the “racemi” method. After, we have tried a Primitivo from the tank and five of their Primitivo Gioia del Colle Riserva DOC.

• The Rosado was from 2021 and had a deeper colour with lots of cherry flavours, strawberry, some sweet spices and a long almond finish. It had a light tannin structure on the palate and medium plus body.
• The Primitivo matured only in tank was again a 2021 vintage with a deep purple colour. The nose had spicy aromas with a good deal of mint, red and blueberries. Mouthcoating but ripe tannins and more blackberries on the palate, long finish with sweet spices such as cinnamon.

From the Primitivo Gioia del Colle Riserva DOCs, we had the 2019, 2018, 2005, 2000 and the 1995 vintage:

• The 2019 had a medium deep ruby colour but got some garnet hue. More spices of coffee, liquorice on the nose. Ripe and high tannins, medium plus alcohol with black fruit character in the mouth with dark chocolate, coffee and liquorice along with a spicy finish.
• In the 2018 vintage, the mint came back with dried fruits (cherries, strawberry), dried figs, and violets. Still a very present tannin structure and the flavours were really harmonious with the ones from the nose. A very good wine.
• The 2005 vintage in the glass was a bit hazy, with a more brownish colour. A medium plus depth. The tertiary aromas completely dominated the wine: dried fruits and flowers with caramel.  It still had a high acidity and pronounced tannins.
• 2000 was one of the best vintages that they had. The wine had a medium garnet colour, it was clear in the glass. A spicy wine with mint, brown sugar, caramel, medium plus body, high acidity and a long finish with dried figs.
• The oldest wine they have poured for us was the 1995. Surprisingly it had the same colour than the 2000! It was impressive, obviously more tertiary fruits and less spices with sweet cherries and figs. The tannins had already started to soften but the wne was still very fresh.

Conclusion

To draw a conclusion, on those Primitivos, we can clearly see, that these wines are more than capable of ageing for a longer period. They have a distinctive tannin structure, spiciness and a great body, suitable for food pairing too. This is a key variety in this and has a lot of potential to became one of the most celebrated varietal wines in Italy and even in the World!

As of 1999 – by the law – Italian wine makers are allowed to label their wines as Zinfandel for the export market, and a lot of them taking advantage of this. In my opinion, they should be only doing this, if their wines stylistically similar to the one’s of most of the Zinfandels and not just doing it for the sales.

Be careful when you are purchasing a wine labelled as Zinfandel but has its origin of Italy! You might end up buying a different style of wine what you were looking for in the first place…

Different styles

It is worth to mention that Primitivo from southern Italy can be made as a sweet wine. The Manduria DOC covers still red wine as well as sweet (Dolce Naturale) and fortified (Liquoroso Dolce Naturale, Liquoroso Secco) wine. Lately, south of Puglia, Sicily has started to plant more and more of this variety with a great success! Iam looking forward to seeing more premium quality Primitivos and Zinfandels in the future, and taste different styles and expressions of it.

I really hope that I gave you motivation to discover more of it for yourself, even the super popular American version, White Zinfandel! (That might be a topic for another article…) If you have already did, please share your experience with me, I would love to hear about it!