Primitivo from Cristiano is always compelling, it often makes us rethink what we thought we knew about the grape - in a region known for big, baked reds, Cristiano's knack for finding balance and retaining freshness always impresses. The perfume here is an intoxicating mix of blackcurrant, earth and brine whilst the palate offers a wonderful purity of fruit and a cascade of bitter herbs. Of course, there is no shortage of that signature wild, ripe fruit, with a heady perfume and that sun-kissed character that we’ve come to know and love from Cristiano. Wild, granitic and light on it's feet with a slight spritz on opening. One to drink in a single sitting.
Made with 100% Primitivo from forty-year-old vines, the grapes are destemmed and fermented on the skins for five days, before being pressed to terracotta until the following spring. A deliciously wild wine with raw purity, a wine that feels a world away from the bulk-made Primitivo produced on the lower planes.
Drinking well now, this should age beautifully over the coming years.
Cristiano Guttarolo’s vineyards are away the plains which often produce hot, flabby wines, on a plateau of limestone some 400 metres above sea level, they benefit from the unique climate in which they live. Daytime temperatures are cooler than usual thanks to a strong breeze from the sea, while the site’s elevation offers a fluctuation between day and night temperatures, allowing the grapes to ripen fully while retaining freshness and finesse. While the wines are unmistakably Pugliese, full of wild, sun-drenched fruit, they have a balance often missing around here, one that allows the grape and place to sing and the drinker to enjoy the beautiful minerality that karst soils bring. Vineyard work is excellent, organic and done entirely by hand, while in the cellar Cristiano eschews the use of additives entirely as these are the sort of wines he likes to drink.
