Winemaker Notes
Very intense and elegant ruby red color, ample and complex fruity fragrance with hints of plum, cherry jam and tobacco, slightly spicy. A full-bodied wine, soft and rich in tannins, with a finish that offers notes of cocoa, coffee and vanilla.
Best served with savory first courses, red meats and game.
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
The firmly structured 2020 Cantine San Marzano Sessantanni Primitivo di Manduria delivers impressive depth and elegance despite its imposing bottle. Rich and full-bodied, the wine reveals vibrant blueberry and dark fruit flavors layered with subtle oak and warm spice. Its generous palate presence pairs beautifully with slow-cooked lamb shanks braised with rosemary, garlic, cracked black pepper, oregano, and a touch of fennel seed, allowing the wine’s ripe fruit and savory complexity to shine. (Tasted: March 2, 2026, San Francisco, CA)
Loved for its inky, brambly, fruit-driven wines, the Primitivo grape actually has Croatian origin. Primitivo landed in Italy in the late 1800s and became an important variety in the hot, dry, southern region of Puglia. Here it was named from the Latin word, primativus, meaning "first to ripen." Somm Secret—No one knew Primitivo and Zinfandel were the same until 1994 when DNA profiling at UC Davis finally revealed the link. The grape goes by the name of Tribidrag in Croatia and is a parent to Plavac Mali.
Well-suited to the production of concentrated, fruity and spicy red varieties, Puglia is one of Italy’s warmest, most southerly regions. Its entire eastern side is one long coastline bordering the Adriatic Sea. About half way down, the region becomes the Salento Peninsula. This peninsula, bordered by water on three sides, receives moist, nighttime, sea breezes that bring a welcome cooling effect to the region, where little rain creates a challenging environment for its vines. In fact, the region is named for the Italian expression, “a pluvia,” meaning “lack of rain.”
Puglia’s Mediterranean climate and iron-rich, calcareous soils support the indigenous Primitivo, Negroamaro and Nero di Troia. Primitivo produces an inky, spicy, brambly and ripe red wine whose best expression comes from Manduria. Nero di Troia produces tannic, rustic reds from Castel del Monte DOC while Negroamaro, typically blended with Malvasia nera, plays a large part in may blends made throughout the peninsula.
Puglia produces a small amount of white wines as well, predominantly made of the fruity, Trebbiano Toscano, or light, Bombino bianco grapes.