Primitivo, Puglia
In Grape Minds series two we spoke with the magnificent Katie Quinn - aka @qkatie. Katie is a former news presenter turned famous foodie YouTuber and writer, Cordon Blue grad, cheesemonger, baker and viticulturist! She has recently done an extraordinary ‘deep dive’ into the magical world of fermentation while writing her new book Cheese, Wine and Bread. She dialled in from Puglia, and we had the pleasure of chatting with Katie as we sipped on her new local grape variety, Primitivo. Catch the episode on our IGTV.
5 facts on Primitivo:
Primitivo is the defining grape of Puglia, in the South of Italy.
It’s Italy’s third most widely planted grape variety after Sangiovese first, and Montepulciano second.
In California it’s known as Zinfandel - it’s exactly the same grape!
It’s characteristics are quintessential of a red wine from a hot growing climate: it’s full bodied, soft (which is to say it has medium tannins and medium acidity), and very juicy.
Flavour wise it’s packed with very concentrated dark fruits and can even taste ‘raisiny’.
3 pairings for Primitivo:
Aubergine Parmigana
We eat this deliciously rich and molten dish so often it’s shameful we do not yet have this on the site! It will come. In the meantime, know that the rich, comforting and deeply flavoursome layers of well cooked Aubergine Parmigana are the perfect match for a Primitivo: body-for-body they twins. Both are luxurious in the month - rich and soft, and with a deep concentrated flavours.
Our Beetroot, chilli & goats’ cheese lasagne, of sorts
While low in fat, the blended beetroot sauce has the smoothest, glossiest texture imaginable - it’s pure velvet, much like a Primitivo. And the soft, natural sweetness of beetroot is echoed in the wine, though crucially, it doesn’t overshoot the sweetness of wine and rob it of that fruity charm. Catch the recipe here.
Our roasted winter greens & casarecce, with anchovy, chilli & lemon
Katie Quinn suggested a fabulous sounding cima di rapa, garlic & anchovy dish for her pairing. It sounded extraordinary, and reminded us of Roasted winter greens with anchovy, chilli & lemon as this too boasts some delicious bitter greens (sprouts) along with the umami punch of roasted anchovies. Here the pairing is more a ‘contrasting’ one rather than ‘congruent’. The wine is full, soft and fruity, and the dish is punchy, and robust - the two would have a fabulous conversation!
One of our favourite bottles of Primitivo:
Region: Puglia
Vintage: 2019
ABV: 13.5%
Producer: Orion Wines (organic)
On the nose: Dark, jammy red fruits, sun-ripened plums, and dark boozy morello cherries, with a rich whiff of hot tar and sweet tobacco.
On the palate: The wine is packed with rich dark fruits - black cherries, blackberries, and more savoury bramble-y notes too - as well as sweet cinnamon-spiced jam. It’s as rich and soft as it smells and slips down like velvet. The acidity is medium rather than ‘high’, and the tannins are soft thus while the wine is rich and fruity it lacks a little definition.