POGGIO ANIMA LILITH PRIMITIVO
Screw Cap
Full bodied, powerful, rich wine from the heel of Italy.
Salento, Puglia, Italy
2020
13.5% ABV.
100% Primitivo
75cl
£13.50
Price includes VAT
Tasting notes:
Opaque ruby. Smoked meat, dried cherry, cracked pepper, and cassis on the deeply scented nose. Medium to full-bodied with berry cobbler flavors showing a liqueur-like intensity with an anise note coming up with air. The smoke and cassis notes carry through on the finish, which features dusty tannins. A wine of real intensity and concentration given the price point.
About the wine:
According to Jewish folklore, Lilith was the first wife of Adam. She was banished from the Garden of Eden when she refused to make herself subservient to Adam’s sexual requests. When she was cast out of the Garden, she was made into a demon, and Adam was given a second wife, Eve, who was fashioned from his rib to ensure her obedience to her man. Where Adam was created from dust, Lilith was created from filth and sediment. Primitivo refuses to be submissive to the oenology that it is the same grape as its close relative Zinfandel. Many subscribe to this idea, though they are both mutations of Crljenak, a Croatian varietal. Primitivo always brings plenty of flesh and ripeness to the table with a solid spine of certainty and structure.
The grapes are certainly higher in sugars than usual but have nicely balanced acid and tannin. The grapes were destemmed and gently crushed with fermentation carried out in stainless tanks and a small percentage sees rotofermentation to soften the 'sweet & sour' notes often seen with Primitivo. After the primary ferment, the wine undergoes an extended maceration of 20 days, after which it is racked into 15% new French barriques where the malolactic fermentation occurs followed by aging for seven months.
About the producer:
Poggio Anima is a joint venture between one of Tuscany's rising stars, Riccardo Campinoti of Le Ragnaie in Montalcino and his U.S.A. importer Ronnie Sanders of Vine Street Imports. The idea is straightforward: to source great vineyards from existing relationships and produce a real wine that conveys a place and a grape. These wines are not bulk wines or leftover juice from a winery; instead, they are the result of long-standing relationships with reputable and respected growers throughout Italy.
