Pasqua Salento Lapaccio Primitivo 2013
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Pasqua Vigneti e Cantine was born of the Family’s love for Valpolicella. In its almost centennial existence, the company is now the #1 private producer of wines in Northern Italy. Famiglia Pasqua is locaed in Verona and produces premium and unique Italian wines. In its storied existence, the company has obtained international recognition with its wines, which are synonymous with the great wine-producing tradition of the region. Tradition, innovation, quality and passion are the values handed down from generation to generation by the Pasqua family.
Three generations of people with a Veronese heart and an international soul, sharing the same great passion: viticulture and the production of unique wines from Veneto as well as other great Italian wine regions. Beginning in 1925, the first generation of the Pasqua brothers came to Verona and established a new business devoted to the trade of wines from their homeland, Apulia. Along with wine trade, they decided to start a winery. Within a few years, with the acquisition of new vineyards in the Verona area, the company progressively gained importance and visibility. During the sixties the second generation of the family entered the business, bringing about an opening to export and an orientation toward quality. The addition of an agricultural estate in the eighties and innovative research center for vines, grafting techniques and vineyards. In the mid 2000’s the company made a huge investment with the creation of a new headquarters and manufacturing plant in San Felice, in the heart of the family vineyards.
Now the third generation, composed by Riccardo, Alessandro, Cecilia and Giovanni, started to lead the company, the international market reached new heights, with the foundation of Pasqua USA in New York. The company now sells wine in 40 US States & 60 countries worldwide.
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.