Primitivo di Manduria 2022

Forty-year-old vines standing three feet tall, producing just two clusters each — and from 300 yards away during harvest, you'd swear you were standing next to a chocolate factory.

The day holds its warmth in Manduria long after the sun begins to fall.

The earth gives it back slowly. Red soil, rich with iron, still warm beneath your feet. A breeze drifts in from the Ionian Sea carrying salt, brushing the 40-year-old alberello vines, shaping what comes next.

This is Primitivo in its natural rhythm.

At Jorche, the vines dig deep and hold steady. The fruit arrives full, dark, and concentrated. In the glass, it opens with ripe black cherry and plum, touched by spice and a trace of chocolate.

The texture has flesh and dimension. Silky, grounded, and deliberate. A structure carries the wine forward, extending the finish, allowing it to unfold with ease.

You stand there for a moment.

Primitivo di Manduria feels like something ancient travelers once carried along the stone-laid roads of Puglia.