I Muri Primitivo, Vigneti del Salento (Italy)

 I Muri Primitivo is a Cork of the North customer go-to. Full-bodied and hearty, by simply sipping this wine you are transported to sunny Puglia. 

The wine has a deep ruby red colour with violet reflections. On the nose, it has intense red berry aromas. Full-bodied with firm tannins, its structure is well balanced with lots of ripe fruit flavours.

The winemaker, Filippo Baccalaro, is a Piemonte native, and has many other wine ventures within Italy. He was attracted to Puglia to make this particular wine by the rich, ripe flavours of the fruit, aiming to capture them with minimal use of technology. The vineyards are mostly situated in the communes of Manduria and Sava and are owned by growers with whom Filippo has been working for many years. Production is lower than its potential, which ensures the best quality grapes are selected. The red soils are calcareous clay and rich in iron, minerals and nutrients. 80% of the grapes come from old bush vines and the rest from trained vines that are at least 20 years old.

To make I Muri Primitivo, grapes were de-stemmed and then gently pressed and cooled to 10ºC for a maceration period of 8-10 days with regular pumping over. Yeasts were added to start fermentation, which took place under temperature-controlled conditions of up to 20ºC. The wine was then transferred to stainless-steel tanks where malolactic fermentation was carried out.

Pair this wine with everything from roasted lamb, to eggplant parmesan, or a hearty lentil stew.