It’s a Primitivo Party with Piedmont Wine Imports – If you like big, rich, spicy Italian reds, join us this Saturday, October 3rd from 2-5 p.m. for a free wine tasting featuring a delicious quartet of Puglian Primitivo-based wines from Southern Italy. Durham-based Piedmont Wine Imports is skillfully guided by owner/wine savant Jay Murrie, and this guy finds good juice! Working only with small growers and family farms from throughout the country, these are wines that show traditional and authentic personalities. Jay will be at the store this Saturday to pour and talk to you about the wines, the land, the people, and the grape. FYI, Primitivo is the same as Zinfandel, but these ain’t pink!
The Wines
Prices range from $15 to $30
1.2013 Plantamura Primitivo “Etichetta Rossa” (Puglia) – A certified organic small family farm working with old vines, Mariangela Plantamura and her husband make wine in a simple cellar behind their home. It’s the same house that she grew up in! We love this wine, and as Jay says, “You want to support these people. They make exactly the wine I want Piedmont Wine Imports to traffic in, delicious, thought-provoking, joy-producing wine for every day. Wine for a better world where normal people get to drink in all the good stuff that nature provides.”
2. 2012 Plantamura Primitivo “Etichetta Nera” (Puglia) – Mariangela Plantamura got tre bicchieri from Gambero Rosso for this wine, a major deal in the Italian wine trade. She deserves it: this Primitivo is fresher at 15% alcohol than should be possible. It’s remarkable to me that a winery not much larger than a US garage is operating with this high level of skill and vision. It is the rare red that can handle Korean meat courses, or even saucy short ribs.
3. 2012 Morella Primitivo “Mezzanotte” (Puglia) – This biodynamic estate is farming very old bush vine Primitivo in an effort to preserve and grow interest in a disappearing form of local agriculture. Lisa Gilbee has lived in Manduria for 12 years. She is Australian, married to an Italian. They have two young kids. She travels around the world making wine for other people, and also makes wine for a large Puglian winery. But Manduria is home, close to the seas, where they can make wine the way she wants. Mainly Primitivo with small bits of Negroamaro, Malbec, Cabernet and Petite Verdot, it is a big mouthful of wine.
4. 2010 Morella Primitivo/Negroamaro (Puglia) – This wine is a blend of 85% Primitivo and 15% Negroamaro, made from 40-year-old vines. Hand harvested in to small baskets and fermented at 28 degrees Celsius, it is aged in Allier oak barrels for 12 months, and then an additional 8 months in bottle before release. It is one of the best Southern Italian wines I’ve ever had.