RedLead grape in 4
Primitivo
Also called Crljenak, Zinfandel.
Puglia's other big red, centred on Manduria and the Gioia del Colle hills. It ripens early and unevenly, so a single bunch can hold raisins and green berries at once, and it piles on sugar, which is why the wines run high in alcohol. Blackberry, fig and sweet spice, with soft tannin. The hill fruit from Gioia del Colle has more lift than the coastal plain.
Worth knowing
It is Zinfandel. DNA work in the 1990s tied the two together and then traced both back to Crljenak Kaštelanski on the Croatian coast, which turns out to be the same vine again. Three countries, three names, one grape.
Where it is allowed9 appellations