Wine Denomination from Puglia
Primitivo di Manduria Dolce Naturale is a sweet red dessert wine from Puglia, the heel of southern Italy. It is made only from the Primitivo grape, in the same zone as the dry Primitivo di Manduria DOC. "Dolce naturale" means "naturally sweet": all the sweetness comes from the grapes, with no added sugar and no added alcohol. It has been a separate DOCG, Italy's top quality level, since 2011. It is the only DOCG for Primitivo.
It is a true dessert wine, with at least 50 grams of residual sugar per liter. That is far sweeter than any dry Primitivo, which may taste ripe but has little sugar left. The wine is also high in alcohol, so it feels warm and rich.
Expect dark, dense color and flavors of dried cherry, plum, raisin and fig, often with chocolate, licorice and spice. Good bottles balance the sugar with some freshness, so the finish does not feel heavy.
The grapes are left to become very ripe. Some are picked late, and some are partly dried, either on the vine or after harvest, which concentrates their sugar. During fermentation the yeast turns part of the sugar into alcohol. The rest stays in the wine as natural sweetness. Because no spirit is added, it is not a fortified wine like Port.
The closest Italian comparison is Recioto della Valpolicella, another sweet red made from dried grapes. Many drinkers also compare it to Port, for its dark fruit and richness, although Port is fortified with spirit and Dolce Naturale is not. Lovers of late-harvest Zinfandel, made from the same grape in California, will find a similar style.
Most bottles are small, often 50 cl or 37.5 cl. In the US, expect to pay about $25–50 for a bottle from a good producer. Wines from small, sought-after estates cost more. Production is small, so it can be hard to find.
These producers in our catalog make a Dolce Naturale:
- Produttori di Manduria: the town's historic cooperative, with Madrigale.
- San Marzano: a large cooperative, with 11 Filari.
- Gianfranco Fino: a small estate known for old-vine Primitivo, with Es Più Sole.
- De Quarto: with Albiria.
For dry wines from the same producers, see our best Primitivo wines guide.
The zone is the same as for the dry Primitivo di Manduria. It covers Manduria and nearby towns in the province of Taranto, plus a few towns in the province of Brindisi, close to the Ionian Sea. The land is flat or gently rolling. Summers are long, hot and dry, and soils are often red clay over limestone, called terra rossa. Many old vines are trained as low bush vines (alberello). This heat lets Primitivo build very high sugar levels.
Serve it slightly cool, at about 14–16°C (57–61°F), in small glasses. A small pour of 60–90 ml is enough. An opened bottle keeps for several days in the fridge with the cork back in.
Pair it with dark chocolate desserts, chocolate cake, almond pastries and dried fruit. It is also good with strong cheeses, such as blue cheese or aged pecorino. The dessert should be less sweet than the wine, or the wine will taste thin. For more ideas, see our guides to Italian dessert wines and Italian wines for cheese.
Say pree-mee-TEE-voh dee mahn-DOO-ree-ah DOHL-cheh nah-too-RAH-leh.
Read our Puglia wine guide for the region's dry reds, whites and rosés, or browse every Primitivo di Manduria Dolce Naturale in our catalog below.