CasaSmith Porcospino Primitivo 2018
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James
Suckling -
Jeb
Dunnuck
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is a fun primitivo with dried-berry character. It’s dense and fruit-forward, yet there is a tension and form at the end. You could even call it reserved. Drink or hold.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2018 Primitivo Porcospino is terrific, offering lots of juicy berry fruits as well as notes of black pepper, new leather, violets, and chocolate. Upfront, nicely textured, yet also with good freshness and fine tannins, it’s a pleasure-bent beauty to enjoy over the coming 4-6 years.
Other Vintages
2021-
James
Suckling
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James
Suckling
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Jeb
Dunnuck
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James
Suckling -
Jeb
Dunnuck
-
Jeb
Dunnuck
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Wine
Spectator
Winemaker Charles Smith owns CasaSmith, a collection of Washington-grown wines made from classic Italian varietals. Starting in the north of Italy, Barbera from Piedmont, followed by Sangiovese from Tuscany and Primitivo from the Puglia in the south; these wines represent the best of Italy but are grown and produced in Washington by Famiglia Smith.
Each wine is named after an animal native to historic Italian grape-growing regions, as depicted on the labels. Barbera is Cervo, for a deer native to Piedmont; Sangiovese is named Cinghiale, for the wild boar of Tuscany; and Primitivo is Porscopino, a crested porcupine from Puglia.
CasaSmith wines are delicious daily, alone or accompanying your favorite Italian dish.
Loved for its inky, brambly, fruit-driven wines, the Primitivo grape actually has Croatian origin. Primitivo landed in Italy in the late 1800s and became an important variety in the hot, dry, southern region of Puglia. Here it was named from the Latin word, primativus, meaning "first to ripen." Somm Secret—No one knew Primitivo and Zinfandel were the same until 1994 when DNA profiling at UC Davis finally revealed the link. The grape goes by the name of Tribidrag in Croatia and is a parent to Plavac Mali.
Distinguished by a broad, south-exposed, uniform slope and landlocked by the Columbia River to its south and Saddle Mountains to its north, the Wahluke Slope AVA of Washington holds 15% of the total vine acreage of the state and takes its name from the Native American word for “watering place.”
Incidentally the Wahluke Slope AVA has one of the hottest and driest climates of the state so irrigation is not only essential, but also allows complete grower control of vine vigor. On top of its arid and warm environment, strong summer winds blow across this broad slope and ensure both smaller leaf size and grape clusters. The result is top quality wines with great concentration, phenolic ripeness, body and depth of flavor.
Vineyards cover the AVA from 425 to 1,480 feet along the slope. Its deep soils of wind-blown alluvium and sand with a depth, on average, of more than 5 feet along the continuous grade allow optimal drainage for the vines.
Thriving varieties include Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling, Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc.
Merlots are rich in sweet, ripe cherry, red currant, raspberry and cocoa. Syrahs tend to express black and blue fruit along with savory notes. Wahluke Cabernets are rich in stewed red and black berries.