Do you like your wines rich, ripe, spicy and bursting with flavor? If you said yes, you might want to make it buy for our free wine tasting this Saturday from 2 to 5 p.m.! In case you didn’t know, DNA research has confirmed that Zinfandel and Primitivo are basically the same grape, or at least very similar clones of a grape originally from Croatia. Primitivo comes from Puglia, in southern Italy, and it was introduced in the mid 18th century. The grape found its way to California in the mid 19th century, presumably with immigrants from Italy, where it became known as Zinfandel. These days, both California Zinfandel and Italian Primitivo are as popular as ever, and we invite you to come taste two splendid examples of each this Saturday! Here’s what we’ll have open to try:
The Wines
10% off by the bottle, 15% off if you mix any six tasting wines
1. 2011 Plantamura Primitivo Gioia Del Colle:
Plantamura’s Primitivo was just awarded with a Tre Bicchieri award from Italy’s leading wine journal Gambero Rosso. The crew here at Table Wine was pretty blown away by this when we tasted it just a couple of weeks ago and for good reason. The wine is rich and juicy, but maintains a sense of freshness and stays light on its feet. On the nose, it’s all cherry, plum and dark raspberry, with just a slight undercurrent of roasted herb………the palate is full bodied and ample, and you can tell these grapes got plenty of sunshine! This one made us think of a big, fat meat pie from Marco’s.
2. 2011 Three Zinfandel Old Vines Contra Costa County
Three is the newest project of Zinfandel-making legend Matt Cline. All of the fruit is sourced from 100 year old, dry farmed vineyards throughout Contra Costa County, and Matt also blends 16% Petite Sirah, 4% Carignane, 1% Mataro, and 2% Alicante Bouschet into this wine. The result is a full bodied, lush, spicy flavor explosion………think berry liqueur infused with peppery spice, violet and coffee. This stuff is just flat out delicious!
3. 2011 Easton Zinfandel Amador County
Bill Easton’s Zinfandel is about as consistent as they come. Grapes comes from 40-60 year old head pruned vines planted on beautiful, rolling mountain sites. The resulting wine is all about immediate pleasure and appeal — fleshy, ripe, spicy and balanced, it tastes of baked plum, ripe raspberry and spicy fennel.
4. 2009 Pirro Varone Primitivo di Manduria
Pirro Varone is a Primitivo specialist based in the town of Manduria, one of the classic zones for the grape in the greater region of Puglia. All of his vines are at least 60 years old and the estate is certified organic. This is the estate’s top cuvée and it sees a longer maceration (skin to juice contact) that results in more color, extraction and structure. It is a whopper of a wine boasting a dense, inky color and aromas and flavors of ripe blueberry, blackberry, braised fig, mocha and exotic spice. It’s worth the price of admission! Oh yeah, the tasting is free!