Primitivo, Terre di Montelusa, Puglia is a dark, ruby-red wine with violet highlights. Intense and fragrant bouquet with a rich variety of sensations.
Terre di Montelusa is made by Calatrasi, a wine company with quite substantial vineyard holdings in Sicily and Puglia. Their aim is to make affordable wines for everyday drinking that over deliver on both quality and originality. This smooth, ripe, juicy Primitivo is full of Southern Puglian character, with medium body, ripe, bright fruit, a touch of spice and soft velvety texture. It is a lovely all-rounder, delightful to drink alone or with charcuterie, pasta and simple meat dishes.
During the 1990s many vineyards here were grubbed up under the EUs vine-pull scheme aimed at reducing the European wine lake, and many of the older, gobelet-trained vines were lost. However, careful selection and modern vinification have since brought the variety great commercial popularity. The best vineyards are located on the western side of the Salento peninsula, where the sea breezes serve to temper the southern heat, and around the town of Gioia del Colle, where the wines are entitled to a DOC of their own.