2023 Duca Carlo Guarini Burdi Primitivo Salento IGT Puglia 6pk 6x750ml

The Guarini family has been making wine in Puglia since 1114 — one of the oldest winemaking families in Italy, rooted in the same vineyards between Lecce and Brindisi for over nine centuries. What started as a Norman noble house known for its olive oil became, in the early 1990s, one of the first estates to bottle pure Primitivo.

This is that Primitivo — Burdi, named for one of Puglia's two signature red grapes. The brothers Guarini farm seventy hectares in Salento and vinify this cuvee in stainless steel to preserve the grape's natural juiciness and Mediterranean character rather than bury it under oak. The result is a wine built for immediate pleasure and versatility at the table: medium-bodied, soft, generous, and easy to drink.

In the glass, it opens with ripe blackberry, dark cherry, plum and blackcurrant, joined by gentle Mediterranean herbs, sweet spice, and a subtle tropical note of ripe pineapple. The fruit stays fresh and juicy, countered by that classic herbal accent and mild, rounded tannins. It finishes dry, balanced, and built to pour now.

This is what Primitivo tastes like when the goal is drinkability, not extraction — softer, less oaky, more relaxed than the heavily matured versions.