Primitivo - An Autumnal Wine

I don’t know what it is about Italian reds, but this time of year and I become hooked. This Primitivo is an excellent, well priced version of a classic Autumnal wine in my household.

Primitivo (also known as Zinfandel) is a grape variety that offers bursts of rich, ripe red fruit. They can be produced in many styles, but this one has a beautiful warmth possibly from it's high alcohol content (13% abv), which is fairly typical for this variety, or from it's full body and balanced spicy finish of pepper and cinnamon (it is October after all).

This wine in particular is from Puglia, which is probably one of the best value areas for a fruit driven, bold, red wine. Puglia is also the home to half of Italys production of olive oil - so you know good stuff is going to come from there. They always pair amazingly with food and I enjoyed this Primitivo with a classic Italian thin crust pizza, slathered in cheese, tomato sauce and hot pepperoni (the pizza that is, not me).

You can pick this one up in Majestic (and I highly recommend that you do), for £12.99 (or under a tenner if you want to take part in their mix 6 deal).