Tasting - Cortenova Primitivo

Name: Cortenova Primitivo

Variety: 100% Primitivo
Region: Puglia
Country: Italy
Year: 2012
Price: $9.99

Winery Review: Dark, ruby-red color with violet highlights. Intense and fragrant bouquet with a rich array of red and black fruit aromas and flavors. Harmonious and velvety on the palate. Great balance and structure. Excellent with grilled or roasted meats, game and cheeses (not on bottle; found online).

My Review: Okay, so we tasted this wine not even knowing what it was... (I hadn't read the Italy chapters in Zraly's book yet; now writing this post, I've been enlightened!) so we didn't even know the grape, or if it was sweet or anything. So, we tried it in the middle of our tasting line-up, knowing it was red and from Italy only. After some research, the label has been deciphered to find:

• Primitivo = Zinfandel. Same grape, different growing style and terroir than Napa, though.
• Indicazion Geografica Tipica basically means this isn't fancy wine, but it isn't jug wine either.
• Salento (back label) is the IGT region of Italy this vineyard is in (I think? still not 100% sure).

Armed with that knowledge, our tasting notes seemed to make more sense: On the nose, there were distinct aromas of blackberry, and the first sip was strong dark fruits. The midpalate leaned from pomegranates to chili peppers, and back again. The warm aftertaste had hints of violets, and this wine was a tasty match for the pepperoni.