Perhaps an unusual pairing this time, with little in common except the geography.
But I felt I couldn’t ignore Primitivo‘s popularity and prominence, especially where I live in South Germany.
I have read a lot about the wines from Mount Etna but am yet to try one.., it seems to be becoming a very exciting region.
That said it was difficult to find aged bottles for either of these varieties so I didn’t have the same luxury of choice as usual.
Notes and results in the comments.
by rob1001-
2 Comments
The wines:
2017 Tormaresca Carrubo, Primitivo de Manduria DOC, Appulien.
100% Primitivo. Alcohol: 15,5%. Ratings: Vivino: 4.3/5. Cost: 60 EUR paid May24.
2017 Donnafugata Cuordilava Dolce & Gabbana Rosso, Etna Rossa DOC, Sicily.
100% Nerello Mascalese. Alcohol: 14%. Ratings: Vivino: 4.1/5. Cost: 60 EUR paid May24.
About the vineyards:
Tormaresca – 40 hectares of vineyards at 120m above sea. Red calcareous soils. Very hot summers and high day/night fluctuations. Grapes harvested slightly over ripe. 8 months aging in large French oak tonneaux, and 18 months in the bottle before release.
Donnafugata – From the North side of Mount Etna. Vineyards between 700 and 750m high, with a contintal climate and high levels of sunshine. The Northern aspects means lower rainfall than average, and strong variations between night and day temperature. Volcanic, sandy, minerally soils. Vines are trained to a vertical shoot positioning system contained by dry lava stone walls. 1 year aging in French oak and 2 years in the bottle before release. This was the first vintage of this wine cooperation with D&G.
Tasting: Starting with the Mount Etna, it was rather closed in the glass at first, despite decanting. The minerality and acid were there, but it took a while for the fruit to emerge. Over the course of the evening it opened up and improved, with red fruits become more prominent but still maintaining a unique minerality from the volcanic soils. The primitvo was, well, a primitivo, amaretto, black cherries, plum, jam, cinnamon, high alcohol.
Verdict: For all the primitivo’s splendour, it still tasted for me far too close to a 20 EUR bottle, I just didn’t feel you were getting additional complexity for the price. So overall I definitely liked the Etna better, particularly as it opened up in the glass. More of a question of personal taste, the others in the group preferred the Primitivo.
I agree a lot with your conclusion. Primitivo seems to not really show complexity, and is more of a fruit-driven wine.