This is the top-shelf red from Varvaglione Vigne & Vini. The 2016 Primitivo di Manduria Papale Linea Oro is richly saturated and thick with a long trail of dark fruit aromas that run the spectrum from black cherry and cassis to candied plum or prune. All that fruit is infused with spice, smoke and tar. This wine is both generous and intense, perfect for the type of rich veal involtini they call bombette in Puglia.

The 2014 Primitivo di Manduria Papale Linea Oro is the estate's top shelf wine and is a product that regularly places high on a classification of the great red wines of Puglia. This vintage, however, is not as strong as previous editions. The wine ushers forth a generous bouquet with generous black fruit, plum, cinnamon and allspice. What it delivers in intensity, it lacks in depth and length. The mouthfeel is sweet and rich.

Medium-bodied and juicy, this balanced red brims with pureed blackberry, plum sauce, tobacco and tarry smoke notes. A crowd-pleaser. Drink now through 2021. 6,000 cases made, 1,000 cases imported.??–AN??Region: Italy / South / Puglia / Primitivo di Manduria Select to Add

Cosimo Varvaglione's 2011 Primitivo di Manduria Papale Linea Oro is made with fruit harvested from 55-year-old vines at the heart of Manduria in southern Puglia. The wine ages in large oak casks and barrique for ten months and pretty tones of spice, vanilla bean and toasted espresso emerge from the bouquet. The quality of fruit is very ripe and raisiny. It definitely reflects the heat of the 2011 summer. Soft tannins and a chewy mouthfeel segue to fruity sweetness.