2022 Duca Carlo Guarini Vigne Vecchie Primitivo Salento IGT Puglia 6pk 6x750ml

The Guarini family arrived in Puglia with the Normans in the eleventh century and has been making wine in the same place since 1114 — when Accardo Guarini, Count of Valesio, first planted vines between Lecce and Brindisi. That's nine centuries of unbroken cultivation on 70 hectares in Salento, making them one of the oldest wine-making families in Italy. The estate's history reads like a medieval chronicle: Ruggero Guarini defended Lecce in 1065, rode with Bohemond to the First Crusade, and returned victorious in 1106. Two Guarini brothers even hosted St. Francis of Assisi when he arrived in Lecce in 1219.

This Primitivo Vigne Vecchie has been bottled since 1985 and was one of the first wines in Puglia to proudly display the grape name on the label — a quiet act of defiance in a region once better known for bulk than for bottles. Old vines make this wine particularly plush, svelte, and deep in flavor. The 2022 vintage delivers rustic power with unexpected refinement — a compelling expression of Salento's old-vine heritage.

Intense ruby red in the glass. Vigorous on the nose, dense and pleasantly soft on the palate. The fruit is ripe and full — black currants, blackberries, a velvety backdrop from the ripeness, and a lift of sweet spice that keeps it lively. The flavors linger. This is Primitivo that punches well above its price — the kind of wine that makes you pour a second glass and rethink what $37 buys.

Six bottles. Free shipping on twelve. The math is easy.