This blog is based on the Spirits of New Mexico radio show that aired on February 19, 2022. We do on-air tasting of one or two wines to illustrate what is available in a particular wine region, or as a contrast of what influence a wine region has on a grape or blend. We also contrast wine styles as in the current blog. We use suitable glasses for the type of wine and do a double-decant of red wines to insure they have opened sufficiently for accurate judging.
Southern Italy includes the lower half of the boot and its two very large islands; Sardinia and Sicily. These include the tourist destinations of Naples and the Amalfi Coast. When one is not sightseeing, but instead looking for some of the best red wine in southern Italy, it is Puglia where one goes.
Southern Italy Wine Regions
The wine regions of southern Italy include Molise, Campania, Basilicata, Calabria, Puglia, Sicily and Sardinia (Sardegna). In the past we’ve covered the islands of Sicily and Sardinia as well as Campania, Basilicata and Puglia. Now we are traveling down to the heel of Italy to learn more about Puglia and focus on its increasingly popular grape, Primitivo, but also another under-the-radar grape; Susumaniello.
Map courtesy of Wine Folly
Puglia
While the “g” in Italian is generally silent, here it has a very soft “g” sound. I’m using the Wine Folly wine map here as Madeline Puckette does very good graphics along with clear descriptions of wines and their grapes. Puglia is known primarily for their red wines although they do a number of whites. Surrounded by the Mediterranean on three sides provides the temperature moderation necessary to grow lush, fully-ripened grapes in this hot and dry part of Italy. The land at times does look baked with trunk-planted gnarly vines. Amongst the vines are the ever present olive trees as this is where the majority of olive oil is made as well.
Puglia DOC and IGT subregions
Puglia, also called Apulia forms the heel of the Italian boot. Its capital and largest city is Bari. As one of the least mountainous of Italy’s regions, located in the sun-baked south, Puglia is a major agricultural area, for grapes and wine and olive oil. It has 4 DOCGs, 28 DOCs and 6 IGPs. Puglia’s production has increased tremendously in the last several years, up 70% in the past decade. It is currently holding at 108 million cases of wine a year, which puts it in second place among Italy’s wine-producing regions.
The region’s primary grape varieties are Sangiovese (15%), Primitivo (14%), Negroamaro (14%), and Trebbiano (13%).
Puglia Grapes
As we cover the grapes, note that nero and negro are Italian for black, not the emperor or a race. There are many different grapes here as like so many wine regions in Italy. I even picked up an Aglianico-based wine at TJs. There is also Sangiovese and Montepulciano used in blends, but the backbone red grapes are listed below.
Sangiovese:
No surprise Italy’s most planted grape would also show up here. Its high acidity matches the native spicy tomato-based dishes perfectly. Cherry, roasted tomato, sweet balsamic and oregano flavors surely reflect the foods and spices as well. Worldwide about 90% of this grape come from Italy, but there are several regional names associated with this grape and each is a unique clone.
Primitivo:
If you’re searching for a richer, fuller-bodied red with abundant weight look towards Puglia Primitivo. Primitivo tastes of dark fruit like fresh figs, blueberries and baked blackberries. There’s a distinct dried fruit-leather character to it as well. Primitivo does not mean primitive, but early-ripening as that is one of its primary characteristics. One DOCG and one DOC are based on this grape.
Many plantings of Zinfandel are actually from cuttings brought over from Puglian grape growers. Many in fact settled in Mendocino. The Talmage Bench, located a couple miles east of Ukiah along Mills Creek Road, contains a large concentration of Zinfandel vines planted by Italian immigrants in the early part of the 20thCentury.
The other route for American Zinfandel was through Croatia, which is how Italy got the grape. Thus there were two different strands of the grape in California. Because of its early-ripening tendency, the grape is less successfully grown in New Mexico except the far south.
Negroamaro:
Negroamaro means black bitter. Recall that Amarone also means bitter, but to Italians it really means, not sweet. The grape is actually fruity and not too tannic. It sports flavors of ripe baked plum and raspberry with subtle notes of baking spice and herbs. Puglia accounts for nearly all the plantings of the grape.
The Salice Salentino DOC is named for the Salento Peninsula and located on the backside of the heel of Italy’s “boot” that extends into the ocean. Salice Salentino is made from the Negroamaro grape. The Salento Peninsula is home to seven other DOCs based on Negroamaro: Alezio, Brindisi, Copertino, Leverano, Matino, Nardò, and Squinzano. (See Wine Folly map above.)
Sommelier Jackson Rohrbaugh writing on Wine Folly said, “Even though Negroamaro is full bodied it is not too tannic or acidic, and instead leads with bombastic fruit which makes it easy to chug, especially alongside meatballs or pizza.” I’d just caution about chugging any wine, but it does suggest a very high HDI. That’s Hammond’s Drinkability Index in case you wondered.
Bombino Nero:
These grapes are some of the last to ripen in southern Italy. They rarely reach optimal ripeness, so they tend to have a high acidity and low sugar levels. They are a key component of Rosato. Considering how hot it is in Puglia it seems weird to not have fully-ripened grapes, but an acidic backbone is a prized feature of Rose wines.
Susumaniello:
Here’s a grape I had not tried before from Italy. Yeah, one of hundreds, so not surprising. Its name means ‘little black donkey,’ a fitting tribute to a vine which, come harvest time, appears to almost struggle under the weight of abundant clusters of large grapes. With age, the vine’s productivity declines, yielding smaller berries of richly concentrated juice. Wines made from these older vines are endowed with great structure and an elaborate symphony of aromas.
At one time this ancient grape was disappearing from Italy but a few winemakers recognized that old vine versions, which were not prodigious producers, could craft very good wines from it. It is a late ripening grape so requires a little more care. It grows best in vineyards closest to the sea, with constant winds and sandy, well-drained soil providing the best conditions for the cultivation of this ancient grape variety.
What we are tasting: Galadino Primitivo 2020 Salento IGT, 14 % ABV, $28
This was an Invino online order purchase so my cost was a bit over $16. Salento IGT is one of the most commonly used IGT titles in Puglia. It covers the Salento Peninsula, the limestone based land that divides the Adriatic Sea from the Ionian Sea and forms Italy’s heel.
In theory, Salento IGT wines may be red, white, rosé, still, sparkling (spumante), sweet (passito) or dry and over 50 varietals are allowed. This gives the local winemakers a free hand, but in practice the emphasis is still the long-established styles of the region: powerful, dry, rustic reds.
Southern Puglia’s DOC wines are Primitivo di Manduria and Salice Salentino. Their core grape varieties of Primitivo, Negroamaro and Malvasia Nera are also present in Salento IGT wines such as this one. Typically Salento IGT wines center on Primitivo (37.5%) and Negroamaro (27.8%) red grapes. The Galadino is 100% Primitivo.
Tasting notes: While California Zinfandel is typically sweeter and jammier, this Primitivo from Galadino is zesty, fresh, and juicy, packed with bright red fruits, and basically full of soul and everything you love about well-priced Italian reds. Luca Maroni scored this wine at 98 points! Who is this guy?
Luca Maroni is a self-described “sensory analyst” who founded the Rome-based Taster of Wine magazine and rates wines according to a “pleasantness index” that factors in a wine’s “consistency, balance and integrity,” with a possible score of up to 33 points awarded to each characteristic.
So is that like Hammond’s drinkability index? My HDI rating is a hard to define quality of any wine that once you taste it, you are seduced by its lush, enticing flavors and abandon any hope of stopping drinking the wine until it’s all gone. You can’t put a point score to it, although obviously Maroni does, but these are the wines you go back to again and again.
Vineyard: The vines and the grapes that produce this wine are uniquely trained by the “Alberello” method. This method has ancient origins in the Mediterranean which was developed to compensate for the lack of water and very hot climate. This is part of the tradition and cultural heritage of Puglia. The grapes are handpicked, destemmed, go through meticulous selection and a slow maturation in French oak barrels that result in an outstanding full-bodied wine with soft tannins.
Winemaking: The wine is made using the Appassimento method, an ancient Italian tradition of naturally drying the bunches, with the resultant raisined grapes producing a greater concentration of flavors, and a rich, ripe and luscious wine exuding ripe dark raspberry, brighter blueberry with whiffs of licorice and cherry.
What we are tasting: Ruggero di Bardo Susumaniello 14.5% ABV, $9.99 at Trader Joe’s
It has been a while since I featured a TJ wine, but I found out about this one from Jon, the Reverse Wine Snob and it looked really interesting. Jon manages to find details of Trader Joe’s and Costco wines I have not been able to unearth so I prize his input.
Susumaniello as I previously mentioned is from Puglia, Italy. It is pronounced sue-sue-man-yell-oh. The wine is matured in a combination of stainless steel and wooden vats. This variety is grown exclusively in Southern Italy.
“The Ruggero di Bardo Susumaniello is available exclusively at Trader Joe’s. Like a lot of the Trader Joe’s wines, the trademark is owned by D’Aquino Italian Importing Company. It is bottled by Femar Vini who also make the Epicuro wines for Trader Joe’s and; in fact, this appears to be the same wine as the Epicuro Susumaniello that is sold in Europe.” The Reverse Wine Snob
Tasting notes from the winery:
Deep ruby red with purple shades. On the nose blueberries and ripe red fruits, underbrush and red flower, then tobacco, aromatic herbs and a light zesty sensation. Elegant and powerful, with ripe tannins, fresh and fruity, tasty and very long in persistence.
Jon’s wine notes: The aroma on the 2017 Ruggero di Bardo Susumaniello is loaded with cherry and all kinds of spice, along with cedar and campfire notes. This one definitely needs a lot of time to open up but when it does you’ll find lots of rich, dark, raisined fruit (it almost tastes like it is made from dried grapes) plus plenty of spice, lots of vanilla and touches of smoked meat. It’s got a distinct, unique taste profile and good depth of flavor plus silky tannins. It is bit hot, almost Port-like, but it does mellow out a bit after a couple hours of air. It ends with a dry, lasting finish.
Analysis
Both of these wines benefitted from both double-decanting and a good hour of time beyond. They opened up more and more over time and the characteristics changed accordingly. These were deep, brooding wines that would have been happier with a slice of pizza or a meatball sub. (Am I exposing my New Jersey roots here?) The pleasure of these wines goes beyond their modest cost.
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