Wines made from Primitivo grapes of Molise
Discover the best wines made with Primitivo as a single variety or as a blend of Molise.
From Croatia where it is called crljenak kastelanski or pribidrag. According to genetic analyses carried out by Professor Carole Meredith of California University in Davis (United States), it is related to the Croatian plavac mali and Zinfandel. It is also found in South Africa, New Zealand, Chile, Brazil, Germany, Bulgaria, Albania, Italy under the name of Primitivo, Malta, Greece, Portugal and to some extent in Croatia. In the United States (California), it is one of the most widely planted grape varieties, having been introduced in the 1830s well before Primitivo. In France, it is registered in the official catalogue of vine varieties on the A1 list under the name Primitivo.
Molise is a mountainous region in South-central Italy, delegated as DOC in 1998. It is a relatively small region, especially when compared to its neighbors Abruzzo and Lazio to the North and Campania and Puglia to the south. Molise is considered an obscure region, since winemaking dates back to 500 BC, but it only gained independence as a wine region in the latter half of the 20th century. Overshadowed by its neighbor, Abruzzo, of which it was politically a Part until 1963 (Abruzzi e Molise), Molise finally got three of its own DOCs, Biferno and Pentro di Isernia, in the 1980s, then Tintilia del Molise in 2011.