Villa Fanelli Primitivo Zeta, 2006
$11.99/bottle   -   $129.49/case

The Puglia district of southeast Italy is known for outstanding values including Li Veli and Salice Salentino. Puglia is also the home of Primitivo, a previously obscure grape until DNA studies showed that it is nearly identical to Zinfandel whose origin was unknown. Investigators initially thought that Puglia was the origin of Zinfandel, but further research suggests that Primitivo and Zinfandel vines are both relatively recent arrivals and clones of a Croatian grape called Crijenak Kastelanski. The Italians, however, dispute this notion, claiming that Primitivo was already growing in southern Italy during the classical Greek period. 

Primitivo, “the earliest,” is so named because of its fast maturation. Traditionally it is the first red grape harvested in Puglia. Although it tastes nothing like Zinfandel, it is a rich, generous, deeply colored, spicy wine that is often rustic in style; with more modern winemaking, it can be enormously appealing. The TTB (Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau), the division of the U.S. Treasury Department responsible for labels and rules, announced that it is considering ruling Zinfandel and Primitivo synonymous for use on wine labels, but, fearing competition, California Zinfandel producers have thus far blocked this ruling.