Old World Bottle of Wine – Primitivo At An Old World Price

A five dollar bottle of wine that is good, and interesting, is a spectacular find. We’ve written about such a bottle from Trader Joe’s, Nero d’Avola, a five dollar bottle. They also sell a Primitivo for the same price. Primitivo is a dark skinned grape from the southern part of Italy, known in the U.S. as Zinfandel.

While we don’t often write about Old World Wines, we’re focused on California’s New World Wines, we’ll take a moment to review this wine.

Puglia Indicazione Geografica Tipica Primitivo is a tasty wine, suited for a simple weeknight meal, perhaps with spaghetti, pizza or some red meat. Is it a great wine? Well no, but its an interesting wine worthy of consideration and exploration – with a $5 price tag. The fruit came forward and the wine mellowed a bit as it sat open, aerating.

According to Wine-Searcher.com Puglia IGT is a region-wide appellation covering the Puglia region in southern Italy (down near the heel of the boot.) Since its introduction in November 1995, it has been used to label more than 500 wines, making it one of the most widely used of Italy’s 120 or so IGTs (and thus one of the country’s most significant wine appellations.)

Since the Nero d’Avolo was a good find, we decided to bet five dollars on the Primitivo. And the bet paid off. We thought this was better than the Nero d’Avola, but then again, we’re Zinners. This edition was a 2010 with 14% alcohol. You’ll find it in the German/Italian section of Trader Joe’s wine department.

Bill Hodge & Erin O’Neill-Hodge enjoy a good bottle of wine, visiting and enjoying wineries from Lake County to Orange County, from the Paso Robles Gold Coast to Gold Country and from Lodi to Bakersfield.