2009 Thanksgiving Wines: 2007 Castello Monaci Primitivo

With little more than a week to go before relatives and friends descend on your home, or perhaps, you descend on someone else's home, the question still lingers; what wines should we drink that day? There are pre-food wines, maybe bubbly, appetizer wines, maybe more bubbly or a light white. Then there is the main dinner wine, or wines, for those who like variety. And finally there are dessert wines, perhaps a Moscato.

The other day while looking through some samples I have, I had what I would consider a solid choice for the dinner part of the day. It was a Primitivo A Primitivo that had good balance, wasn't watery, or conversely, wasn't dark and thick as prune juice. I opened it on Saturday night to have with a meatloaf made of veal, beef, and pork. Primitivos make good meatloaf wines, as do it's cousin Zinfandel. They, with the Crljenak grape, a Croatian variety, all share DNA and are considered, at the very least, related.

The wine comes from the Puglia region in Italy, which is the heel of the "boot". More specifically it comes from Salento which is the southern most part of the peninsula. The grapes are harvested by hand in the cool hours during and shortly after dawn. The wine is aged in French barriques and stainless steel. Real cork closure. Alcohol level 13.5% as stated on the label.

2007 Castello Monaci Piluna, Primitivo, Salento IGT - Clear medium ruby to garnet color, thin and quick legs. Nose is clean, with a light to medium intensity. Aromas of blueberries, boysenberries, red licorice, mace, and toasted marshmallows. Fairly developed wine and probably won't get better with age. Palate is mostly dry with moderate acidity. Flavors of fresh black fruits,blueberries, plums, prunes, spice and burnt sugar. The soft tannins give this wine a bit of structure which helps when pairing with food. Touch of chalky earthiness on the finish which has a medium long length. This went very well with the meatloaf and I would rate it: Good+.

This should do quite well with a traditional Thanksgiving dinner of turkey and the trimmings. Cheers!

Disclaimer: I received this wine from Frederick Wildman and Sons as a free sample.

Word of the day: Puglia. Puglia is know in English as Apulia and is a region in Italy known as the heel of the "boot". The Adriatic lies to the east and the Ionian Sea to the west. It is broken up into three sections: the north, around the city of Foggia, the center, Barletta being the main city, and the south, or Salento, which has the highest quality of wine made from Negroamaro in the east and Primitivo in the west. Salento has eight DOC's which are all Negroamaro based wines. Copertino and Salice Salento are probably the two most well-known.