Drink different - zinfandel/primitivo

Zinfandel is an increasingly popular grape from California, making big, blockbuster wines with bags of blackberry fruit and great structure.  The Americans have claimed this grape as their own, and the cost often reflects this supposed exclusivity: the best Zins can have three-figure price labels.

What the Californians don’t want you to know is that Zinfandel is in fact genetically identical to the Italian Primitivo grape – and in southern Italy in particular, where the sunshine ripens the grapes to produce similar big-flavoured wines, there are great wines to be had for a fraction of the cost of a top US Zinfandel.

Look out for Primitivos from Puglia in the heel of Italy, and in particular from the sub-region of Salento, where constant sea breezes mirror the micro-climate of the Napa and Sonoma Valleys in California, and where the wines give Zinfandels a real run for their money.