2022 PRIMITIVO, I Muri. Puglia, Italy

Puglia is in the heel of Italy, now best known for the red wine of Salice Salentino. It’s a hot and dry area but cooled by sea breezes. The I Muri vineyards are in the province of Taranto, mostly in the communes of Manduria and Sava. The red soils are calcerous clay and rich in iron, minerals and nutrients. 80% of the grapes come from old bush vines and the rest from trained vines that are at least 20 years old.

Primitivo is now accepted to be the same grape as California’s Zinfandel. Here it was fermented cool and briefly aged in oak barrels before bottling.

I Muri is owned by the Farnese group – winemaker is Filippo Baccalaro, a native of Piemonte, who has been working in Puglia for almost two decades.

Drink within 5 years of the vintage.

Juicy, modern fruit with a hint of Morello cherry bitterness, allied to some zesty, spicy, herbal complexity that marks it out as classically Italian.

Light enough to use as an ‘everyday red’, but even better (of course) with pasta or a barbecue.