Coppi farms old bush vines in Puglia, the heel of Italy, where Primitivo has grown for centuries and where the grape is grown under more than one name. In Manduria and around Taranto it is Primitivo; further north in the same region the same grape answers to Zagarese, and across the water in California it was planted as Zinfandel. The 2019 vintage is dry and full-bodied, with medium tannin and medium acidity holding the fruit in place.
- Primitivo, the grape of Puglia.
- Puglia, southern Italy.
- 2019 vintage, 13.5% ABV.
- Dry, full body, medium tannin.
How it tastes
Blackberry and dried fig at the front, dark chocolate and tobacco behind them. The tannins are firm rather than soft, and the medium acidity keeps the fruit from sitting flat. It finishes dry, with the dark fruit lingering rather than fading.
Where it comes from
Puglia is the long, flat heel of Italy, hot and dry through the growing season and almost entirely given to agriculture. Primitivo vines are traditionally grown as bush vines, low to the ground and unirrigated, which is how the grape manages the heat. The variety ripens early, which is where the name comes from, from the Latin for early ripening.
Good to know
Primitivo and Zinfandel are the same grape, a fact confirmed by DNA testing in the 1990s. It arrived in California in the nineteenth century by way of a nurseryman who brought cuttings from Austria, and for most of the twentieth century nobody connected the two.
