A. Mano Puglia Primitivo 2015
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Other Vintages
2006-
Parker
Robert
-
Parker
Robert
-
Enthusiast
Wine
-
Enthusiast
Wine
Called AMano ("hand-made"), and entirely hand-crafted from indigenous Primitivo grapes (the original source of Zinfandel, by the way...), this fruit-packed, food-friendly red expresses the region's quality potential, and the reasons for Mark's Apulian connection. These are best told by Mark himself: "Apulia (or Puglia, as it is known in Italian) is so easy to fall in love with: old, head-trained vineyards, a history of grape-growing in harmony with nature. Everything necessary for top-quality wines. I was compelled to stay. I have not seen another region of the world where the quality potential is so high.
After so many years of technical wine-making, I had almost forgotten that the right way to make wine is with love. In fact, Puglia reminded me this is the way to do everything."
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.