WTN: Liricia Primitivo di Manduria 2003

Very dark red in the glass.

A rich nose of leather, smoke and dark chocolate.

Quite rich, weighty and mouth-coating, black cherries, chocolate, leather and earth. The wine suffers toward the end, showing bitterness and quite a bit of heat, I assume from the 14 per cent alcohol.

A great smelling wine and a great wine for the first several seconds in the mouth. If only it didn't turn on you toward the end.

The the wine struck me as being almost Amarone-like: very rich and intense, thick, with somewhat stewed fruit, chocolate and hefty in alcohol.

Purchased at $13.95 Canadian.

I had a glass of the 1999 Liricia Primitivo at Josephina at Broadway and 64th three weeks ago. It had lots of Zinfandel characteristics, not much of the Amerone notes you mention, Bruce. Interesting how different Zins can be. Not bad wine -- 2*+ on my "system" -- a little below average for a zin.

Regards, Bob

[James Roscoe]

Did this suffer from the heat as northern Europe did? I would think if anyone could have handled the heat in '03 it would have been the southern Italians. This sounds like it was overripe. I love my primitivos. I often prefer them to California zins in the same price range ($10 - $15), but this sounds a little quirky.

Have to agree James. Our friend Bruce is pretty good at nailing these Italian wines, sounds untypical to me also.

[James Roscoe]

It sounds odd. I don't think I've had any '03 primitivo's so I really wonder about the vintage. Given what went on in the rest of Europe, did Puglia suffer the same problems?

[quote="Bruce Hayes"]The wine suffers toward the end, showing bitterness and quite a bit of heat, I assume from the 14 per cent alcohol.

quote]

Do you feel the same about bitterness in Chiantis, Bruce? In my experience many Italians wines have a slight bitter twist on the finish. I don't think of it as a fault but rather as a characteristic of the wine.

I like some bitterness in some wines. Sort of provides a nice bite, similiar to a shot of acidity.

I don't like bitterness when it becomes a dominant feature of the wine.

Bruce, have you checked out the Taurino thread here? Take a looksie.

Bruce, have you checked out the Taurino thread here? Take a looksie.

Thanks for the heads up Bob. No, I hadn't looked at this thread. Paul's wine sounds "interesting."