Campi Rudi Appassimento

Name: Campi Rudi Appassimento

Variety: Sangiovese, Primitivo, Negroamaro, and Nero di Troia

Region: Puglia

Country: Italy

Vintage Year: 2020

Price: $7

Winery Review: It is made in the appassimento method using dried grapes, in this case through a secondary fermentation where the dried grapes are added to the blend. The 2020 vintage opens with a welcoming aroma of dark, raisiny fruit plus leather and a touch of spice. The wine tastes smooth and well balanced with more dark fruit plus plentiful notes of baking spice and chocolate. It has higher alcohol and higher sugar (at 15 g/L) but it handles both of them well and it doesn't come of as either hot or terribly sweet. It went great with our pizza.

Wine Folly: Dry red wine made from Negroamaro has flavors of ripe plum, baked raspberries, and spice-cabinet notes like anise, allspice and cinnamon. Even though Negroamaro is full bodied it is not too tannic or acidic, and instead leads with bombastic fruit which makes it easy to drink, especially alongside meatballs or pizza. Primitivo tastes of dark fruit like fresh figs, blueberries and baked blackberries. There’s a distinct dried fruit-leather character to it as well. The word Primitivo doesn’t mean primitive in Italian, but actually means early ripening since these grapes accumulate a lot of sugar early in the season. The early ripening means resulting wines are big, luscious and full of fruit. However, what’s fascinating about Primitivo is that sometimes the grape bunches ripen unevenly, so green grapes will get harvested along with the ripe ones. Primitivo is actually the same grape as California’s Zinfandel.

My Review: This wine was a ruby color with strawberry edges. You can smell fresh ripe cherries when opening the bottle. Upon drinking, it tasted of bright cherry and was spice-forward. The taste of tobacco definitely lingers in your mouth. As you drink more, the plummy flavors come through. When first opened, the wine was too acidic for my liking, but it has settled after decanting for a few hours. The wine is on the dryer side and not very tannin forward. While I have enjoyed the wine, I am not sure if I would buy it again. I came back to it the next day, and it was definitely a lot better. However, I believe you should be able to enjoy a glass soon after opening it without having to wait till the next day. Because of the time factor, I give Campi Rudi Appassimento a 6/10. 

Cheers,

Morgan