Harvest Date: Hand-harvested in the first 10 days of September.
Aging: Aged in stainless steel and bottle before release.
Tasting Notes: The Neropotenti Primitivo from the Tenuta Potenti estate has an intense red color, tending towards purple. The nose opens with intense aromas of red rose and iris, enriched with pleasant notes of ripe red berries such as cherry and raspberry followed by hints of spices and toasted notes. The taste is dry, soft, warm, with a fair tannins structure and good aromatic persistence.
Vineyard Notes: Vineyard location: Manduria, Taranto. Soil type: mainly clay and limestone, with fossils and iron oxide which gives a natural red coloration.
Production Notes: It is produced with 100% Primitivo grapes, harvested and selected only by hand in the first ten days of September. Following the destemming of the bunch and the pressing of the grapes, fermentation takes place in thermo-conditioned vats. Subsequently the wine undergoes malolactic fermentation and ages in steel and in bottles before being marketed.
Food Pairing: Recommended in combination with hard cheeses, grilled meats and game. Perfect with spicy dishes and lamb.
Other Notes: Arguably more well known by its alter-ego Zinfandel, Primitivo is an early ripening Italian grape which is the pride of the Puglia region in the south of Italy.
Primitivo was brought across the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy from Croatia, where it originated, some time in the 1700s. The Croatian grape was called crljenak kaštelanski or tribidrag, but an Italian monk renamed the grape primitivo (from the Latin “early ripening”) because he noticed that it ripened before other grapes in his vineyard. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, primitivo was mainly used as a blending grape to bring alcohol and body to other Italian red wines. Primitivo tends to make wines that are big, jammy, and rustic, with high alcohol, chewy tannins, and a sweet finish.
