Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
migrant workers but also by way of the dowry of
Countess Sabini di Altamura, who married
Tommaso Schiavoni Tafuri di Manduria.
So just how did Italians become aware that
their Primitivo may have been someone else's
Zinfandel? In 1967, Austin Goheen, a plant
pathologist from the U.S. Department of Agri-
culture and professor at University of Califor-
nia, Davis, was the fi rst academic to realize that
the grapes there looked very similar to Califor-
nia's Zinfandel, and that the wines tasted the
same too. In 1972 he established the close
ampelographic similarity between the two
grapevines, and in 1976 Wade Wolfe presented
isoenzyme pattern data that supported the
Zinfandel-Primitivo identity. This led to many
studies both at UC Davis and the Istituto Speri-
mentale per la Viticoltura of Conegliano, cul-
minating in the 1994 work by Carole Meredith
and John Bowers proving the two varieties'
genetic similarity.
Identifying the Croatian counterpart of this
dynamic duo proved even harder, with plenty of
false hopes along the way; most famous was the
“Zinfandel/Primitivo is Plavac Mali” fi asco,
despite isoenzyme studies excluding this. Only
in 2001 was the variety's similarity with
Crljenak Kastelianski fi nally determined. This
variety was then shown to be the same as
Pribidrag; more recently, Malenica,
ˇ
imon,
Besendorfer, Maletic´, Karoglan Kontic, and
Pejic (2011) proved it synonymous with Tribi-
drag, a grape apparently already known in
Croatia in the fi fteenth century and hence the
oldest name used for this variety. The variety is
also one of the parents of Plavac Mali. Lacombe,
Boursiquote, Laoucou, Dechesne, Varès, and
This (2007) demonstrated that a Primitivo/
Zinfandel/Tribidrag × Verdeca crossing origi-
nated Plavina; and not surprisingly, there is
controversy about the latter's Croatian or
Puglian heritage too (see VERDECA entry).
Presently, it is not clear if Primitivo/Zinfandel/
Tribidrag made its way to the United States via
Croatia or Italy or if it arrived on American
shores by yet another other route; but clearly,
Primitivo/Zinfandel/Tribidrag travels well.
And given the many high-quality California
Zinfandel wines, it is not a stretch to say
that Primitivo has lived out the American
dream.
Primitivo is known to be diffi cult in the
vineyard and not particularly user-friendly in
the cellar, so producers tend to love or hate it.
It's certainly not the most resistant variety, as
it's susceptible to drought, spring frosts, and
fl oral abortion (in rainy or humid years), and
its at times very compact bunch makes it sus-
ceptible to vine pests. Actually, the latter is less
of a problem in Italy, where Primitivo, in con-
trast to the Zinfandel biotype, is characterized
by looser bunches (and more of them) and
smaller berries, so botrytis bunch rot is usually
less of a concern than in California. However,
it's just as prone in Italy to uneven ripening
even within individual bunches; plus, it's an
irregular producer, but of usually high-quality
grapes, its saving grace. Characteristically, the
berries accumulate sugar easily (reaching high
alcohol levels has never been a problem for
Primitivo, and that explains the wine's long and
distinguished career as an alcohol booster for
many more famous wines), and they have very
good concentrations of anthocyanins. However,
the higher levels of cyanin (an unstable
anthocyanin) and slightly lower concentrations
of malvin (a more stable pigment) mean that
the color of Primitivo wines is less stable and,
in the long run, less dark than that of wines
made with, for example, Cabernet Sauvignon,
Merlot, or Aglianico.
There are two main biotypes of Primitivo:
Primitivo di Gioia del Colle and Primitivo di
Manduria, both also the names of wines. The
former is more typical of the province of Bari
(its northern portion), while the latter is typical
of the province of Taranto. It's likely that Primi-
tivo di Gioia del Colle is the original Primitivo
that later made its way to Manduria. Producers
always tell me the grapevines look the same
and that people only speak of different biotypes
because the vine changes morphologically
when planted in the very different
terroirs
of
Manduria and Gioia del Colle. Therefore,
