Primitivo Wine

Hello Cork Poppers,

Today I'm going to wax lyrical about Primitivo wine. If you read yesterdays "Italian wine blog" then you will know that one of the wines up for review was the Racemi Felline Primitivo di Manduria 2005. I was very excited about reviewing the wine as Primitivo is causing a big stir and gaining in popularity every year.

Racemi Felline Primitivo di Manduria 2005 - €8 - BUY

Dark intense ruby red with a powerful nose of sweet dark fruits, chocolate and vanilla, even hints of orange. Tannins are a little aggressive, mid-full bodied, a very fruity mid palate with the strawberries continuing through. Nicely alcoholic on the finish. Really surprising complexity to the wine - 90 Points

This wine is awesome. The alcohol is pretty big at 14% but it's a really versatile wine, it's explosive with a really powerful nose and attacking mouth feel but it's also a contemplative wine. It has layers of appeal.

I gave it 90 points but at €8 it has massive QPR, high quality example of what Primitivo is doing at the moment and falls into the price category of everyday drinking wine. Seek it out. Traditionally Primitivo would suit a pasta with ragu sauce but this is such a great wine you could order steak without worrying.

2005 was a 5 star vintage across southern Italy and Sicily. So I am highly recommending everyone to stock up on the wines of the south from 2005. I've had a lot of experience of the '05 Syrah and Merlot from Planeta (Sicily) and these wines are 93-91 point wines respectively, retailing at €15.

Italian wine isn't just about Piedmont and Tuscany. Big up the South. There's an idea for another blog entry, a North Vs South VFM tradeoff showdown, smackdown, faceoff kinda thing! "YEAH!" Just in case I was too subtle, BUY THIS WINE.

WHERE CAN I BUY THIS WINE?

Europeans - Everywine - €8

Americans - WineLibrary - $12

Brits - I can see Fine and Rare carry it at £8 a bottle but you have to make a minimum order to purchase so use Everywine too.

Question of the Day

What little know wine can you recommend to us that is great VFM?