Primitivo di Manduria Dolce Naturale

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The landscape of the Arco Jonico displays a characteristic stepped profile formed by escarpments descending toward the coast, created by transgressive-regressive sedimentary cycles dating from the middle Pliocene.
• The climate of the Arco Jonico is Mediterranean in character, with mild winters averaging around 6–7°C and hot summers with mean highs of 25–26°C, and annual rainfall of approximately 650 mm concentrated mainly in winter.
• In the western part of the production area, deep clay-loam soils predominate, becoming sandy and shallow toward the coastal zone, restricting root penetration.
• The Salento presents a complex territory of gently undulating surfaces between Lecce and Brindisi, interspersed with calcareous ridges known as serre salentine, those in the southernmost portion characterised by narrow, elongated calcareous or calcareous-dolomitic uplands.
• The coastal strip is characterised by a strong prevalence of very shallow clay-loam or sandy-loam soils, with bedrock within 25–50 cm, poorly suited to root development beyond 50 cm.

• Tradition attributes the selection of the variety in 1799 to the priest Francesco Filippo Indellicati, Primicerio of the mother church of Gioia del Colle, who renamed it Primativo on account of its early ripening.
• Primitivo most probably arrived in the plain of Manduria at the end of the nineteenth century through cuttings brought by the Countess Sabini of Altamura, and the earliest known label dates to 1891 under the name Campo Marino.
• The denomination was approved as a wine type within the DOC Primitivo di Manduria in 1974 and subsequently separated as a DOCG in 2011, with the dry fortified and naturally sweet fortified styles removed.

• The wine displays a deep ruby colour tending toward garnet, with a broad and complex nose sometimes showing notes of plum, and a sweet, velvety, and characteristic palate.

Facts drawn from the specification's terroir-link section by automatic interpretation — see the source.

All appellations in Italy

Sources

• eAmbrosia register (EU) — File number PDO-IT-A0535
• Official trade body site — Consorzio di Tutela del Primitivo di Manduria