Zonin Ventiterre Primitivo Salento 75cl

Ripe, dark-fruit Primitivo from Salento that tastes like southern Italy turned the volume up. You get juicy black fruit, warm spice, and a cosy, food-friendly vibe that’s hard not to love.

• Appearance: Deep ruby with purple edges, looks dense in the glass.
• Nose: Black cherry, plum, dried fig, a dusting of cocoa, and a pinch of sweet spice.
• Taste: Ripe berry and plum up front, then baking spices and a touch of mocha, with medium acidity and grippy tannins that keep it feeling serious.
• Body: Medium-to-full bodied, round and bold without getting syrupy.
• Finish: Long and warming, with dark fruit and cocoa lingering.

Why it deserves a spot on your shelf, it’s a reliable crowd-pleaser that still has personality. Primitivo is known for generous fruit and that slightly spicy, sun-warmed character, and Salento is basically the perfect place for it, lots of heat, lots of flavour, lots of “one more glass” energy.

This is your go-to when you want an Italian red that doesn’t play shy. It’s rich enough for burgers, saucy pasta, and anything off the grill, but balanced enough that it won’t bulldoze the table.

It also pulls off that rare trick of being easy to like and interesting to pick apart. Take a second sip and you’ll notice how the fruit shifts from fresh cherry to darker, jammy notes, then swings into cocoa and spice.

If you’re building a rotation of weeknight reds, this one earns its keep. It’s bold, generous, and super versatile with food, which is basically the holy trinity for “what should we open tonight?”

Fun Fact: Primitivo is genetically the same grape as California’s Zinfandel, they’re basically long-lost cousins with different accents.