Tormaresca Torcicoda Primitivo 2015, Salento IGT, Italy

The grapes were harvested at high levels of ripeness during the first week of September, After pressing, the period of skin contact, managed with soft and delicate extraction techniques, lasted fifteen days and took place in stainless steel fermentation tanks. During this phase, the wines finished their sugars at temperatures held to a maximum of 79° Fahrenheit (26° centigrade). After being run off its skins, the wine went through a complete malolactic fermentation in French and Hungarian oak barrels, where it aged for ten months. A further eight month period of bottle aging preceded commercial release. Color: Intense ruby red. Aroma: rich and ripe with notes of plums, cherries, vanilla, and chocolate. Flavor: a supple wine, the ripe red fruit and spice define a complex structure, properly tannic but balanced and flavorful as well. Made exclusively from Primitivo, this wine has strong ties to the rural countryside where it is produced. For local families it was also a significant symbol of fertility and wealth as, in the not too distant past, it was given as part of young brides’ dowries when they married. ‘Torcicoda’ on one hand indicates an instrument that farmers once used to take care of their horses while on the other it represents the coiling, luxuriant nature of the shoots and leaves of its vines, also called the vine ‘of the three harvests’ due to its abundant growth.