Pervini Sessantanni Primitivo di Manduria

Primitivo di Manduria, Italy

The wine that redefined Primitivo di Manduria for international collectors — Primitivo from 60-year-old alberello bush vines on terra rossa, 15.5% natural alcohol, aged in large oak. Extraordinary concentration: blueberry jam, dark chocolate, tobacco, leather, dried herbs, Mediterranean spice, and a richness that is more complex and structured than its alcohol suggests. Develops magnificently over 8-12 years into something of genuine southern Italian grandeur.

Pairing intelligence

• main: Puglia's most beloved street food from Cisternino and its most celebrated wine — Primitivo's dark fruit and tobacco bridges the caciocavallo-stuffed pork; herb stuffing bridges the wine's Mediterranean complexity
• main: Puglia's most iconic pasta dish and its most powerful red — the bitter greens and anchovy contrast Primitivo's dark fruit and power; the wine's concentration needs the vegetable bitterness as a foil