I picked up this wine as a recommendation from my Italian friend, Mario. We weren’t expecting too much in that it was only €3.75, but it surprised us in a good way. Had a lot more flavor than we were expecting. The grape is a Primitivo, which is somewhat synonymous with Zinfandel. Most Primitivo is grown in Puglia (Apulia), the “heel” of Italy, and it is estimated to be the country’s 12th most widely planted grape variety. The main three DOC areas are Primitivo di Manduria, Gioia del Colle Primitivo (Riserva) and Falerno del Massico Primitivo (Riserva o Vecchio).
If your wondering what DOC stands for here is a quick blurb that explains it. Its basically a standard of sorts:
Vino a Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) is the Italian answer to the French AOC. DOC wines are produced in specific well-defined regions, according to specific rules designed to preserve the traditional wine-making practices of the individual regions. Thus, the rules for making Barolo differ markedly from those for making Chianti Classico. The winery can state the vineayrd that the grapes came from, but cannot name the wine after a grape type (doing so would cause confusion, because there are some DOCs named after grape types, for example Brunello di Montalcino), and cannot use a name such as “Superior.” Since a wine has to meet certain standards to qualify as DOC, the quality of Italian wines as a whole has improved since the first DOCs were established in the 1960s, though in some cases the rules drawn up by the commissions had unexpected effects — Super Tuscans (VdT) arose from the requirement (since dropped) that producers put white grapes in their Chianti Classico.
On the map below I marked where the wine is from.
To cut to the chase we give this wine a rating of Vespa because of its good quality for the price.
For info on our rating system go to this link