MEGA DEAL - MEGA DEAL - Guilio Straccali Primitivo 2022 - Tuscany, Italy

Color: Ruby red, showcasing the wine's vibrant and youthful character.
Aroma: The nose is intense and broad, featuring fruity aromas of blackberry, raspberry, and cherry, complemented by subtle hints of spice and earthy undertones.
Palate: Rich and smooth, with an intense bouquet of red fruits that burst through to the palate. It has good structure and a pleasant freshness, leading to a well-balanced finish.
Alcohol:

14% ABV

Since 1925 the Straccali wine estate in Tuscany, founded Giulio Straccali, has been in the vanguard of progressive Chianti wine producers. Giulio Straccali was an expert enologist, entrepreneur, farmer and wine producer. Known as a conservationist and protector of the traditions of Chianti wines, Straccali was an admired pioneer of the region. He was instrumental in the founding of the Black Rooster Consortium and from 1942 until his death in 1969, served as Vice President. In 1978 Italo Zingarelli, founder of the Rocca delle Macie estate in Castellina in Chianti, as part of his long-term vision for the region collaborated with the Giulio Straccali winery and later purchased the winery and vineyards from the Straccali family. 

Rocca delle Macìe was established in 1973, when film producer Italo Zingarelli – of Ettore Scola’s “We All Loved Each Other So Much” fame, and also the wildly popular series of films featuring comedy duo Bud Spencer and Terence Hill (including “They Call Me Trinity” and “Trinity Is Still My Name”) – decided to realize his lifelong dream by acquiring the “Le Macìe” estate – extending across 93 hectares (230 acres) in all, of which only two were under vine – in order to create a winery in the heart of the Chianti Classico zone.

Puglia, also known as Apulia, is a long, narrow region comprising the heel of southern Italy's boot. Puglia is a major producer of both wine grapes and table grapes. Its name comes from a-pulvia, or “lack of rain” in Roman. The terroir is influenced by a sunny, warm Mediterranean climate with breezes from the Adriatic sea and fertile soil rich in limestone. The Puglian wine region is divided into three subregions: Foggia in the north, Bari and Taranto in the center, and Brindisi and Lecce in the south.

After Veneto, Puglia is tied with Sicily as the second biggest wine region in Italy. The Puglia area is mostly home to grape growers, rather than wine producers. However, there are winemakers producing quality wines in Puglia in smaller quantities. In addition to grapes, Puglia produces 40 percent of Italy's olive oil.

The grape of most interest to non-Italians is the early-ripening Primitivo, a speciality of the Gioia del Colle plain just south of Bari and Manduria, the western coast of the heel just south of Taranto. DNA analysis has proved what many had suspected all along, that this vine variety is one and the same as California's Zinfandel.

Primitivo is a dark-skinned grape known for producing inky, tannic wines, particularly Primitivo di Manduria and its naturally sweet Dolce Naturale variant. Although there have been contentious and long-running debates about the variety's geographical origins, there is little question that Primitivo's modern-day home is in southern Italy, particularly Puglia.