The story of the 20% ABV wine that made the White House fall in love

“Beautiful, powerful and balanced”. Nicola Chiaromonte does not lack a taste for self-irony. Nor does he lack talent. Located in the Murge area of Puglia, in Acquaviva delle Fonti, where historically primitivo grapes were sold for the highest prices (here https://www.gamberorossointernational.com/news/en-hp-cover/tre-bicchieri-2024-puglias-best-wines-awarded-by-gambero-rosso-the-region-continues-to-grow/ are the best wines of Apulia according to Gambero Rosso). To welcome us we find Mozart resounding loudly among the rows of vines surrounding the structure, the winery is a huge open-air construction site, the project is ambitious and visionary. Work will be completed in 2025, there will be space for a swimming pool, guest rooms, private cellars and a state-of-the-art winemaking facility. Together with his partner Paolo Montanaro, he has set up a 300,000-bottle-per-year wine cellar (Tenute Chiaromonte), with 60 hectares of vineyards and olive groves located over 300 metres above sea level on karstic terrain, amidst shells and stones. Its flagship are the ten hectares of primitivo vines grown as alberello vines over 60 years old, which give life to its most important reds. "Primitivo for me represents everything, it is the story of my family and that of a redemption, of a wine that used to be used for blending and that today continues to give me unique satisfaction around the world.”

“Superprimitivo, I don't have to explain it to you”

The idea of a Primitivo Riserva dates back to 2006, the year of the first Tre Bicchieri. "Everyone was talking about it, an 18% ABV wine with incredible drinkability. I had decided to sell it for 50 euros + VAT, it was worth that much to me. They called me crazy, presumptuous. In fact, the first year I didn't sell a bottle, but then sales turned around and many people copied me. The following year, in 2007, the estate released its first Single Vineyard, the Contrada Barbatto from a very beautiful vineyard: 30 centimetres of red soil and only stones. It is a great Mediterranean red. Yet, Nicola was not satisfied.

"I wanted to create something beyond the Riserva, so I created the Selezione, born from a selection among the 100-year-old saplings that gave life to the Riserva, some of which were pre-harvest/ qui l’itano scrive pre-phylloxera. I chose grapes that had almost 50 per cent withering, I played on the limit”. With the 2010 harvest he christened the Selezione Chiaromonte, the Superprimitivo, almost 20 degrees of alcohol and zero residual sugar. A record. "It is an extreme wine, very difficult to produce, I have only managed it in 2010, 2011, 2014 and 2017. If there are 20-30 milligrams of sugar left I have failed, it is a wine that depends on temperatures and a thousand variables. It goes out of the box, it has no similarities, when you drink it you realise. I don't have to explain it to you,” he smiles. How much does it cost? 450 euros plus VAT in the cellar, just over two thousand bottles produced in the lucky vintage.

Overseas success of Superprimitivo

"Collectors compete for it, especially in the US. I don't give it to anybody, I sell it to those who know how to value it. It has reached important quotations, to say, today the 2010 is around 1,400 euros on the market,” he continues with satisfaction. Among the main markets for his wines is California, he recalls a funny anecdote. "In 2018 I went with Gambero Rosso to Los Angeles because Contrada Barbatto won the incredible Rosso dell'Anno award with the 2013, during the guided seminar one person got up and started ranting. I didn't know any English, I was terrified, I thought I had made a bad impression. I asked the translator and he told me that he was labelling it an incredible wine, he had told the Californian producers in the room that they should learn from Nicola Chiaromonte how to treat Zinfandel. I will never forget that moment.” We were there and well remember the frost that descended on the tasting after that intervention by the American journalist. That tasting brought good luck, among those present was also the buyer for the White House: “He ordered almost 4,000 bottles of Primitivo Mascherone, my base wine, and twenty cases of Barbatto. With the blessing of Donald Trump.”

The poorly concealed passion for bubbles and that signature Rosé

Beyond Nicola's jokes, his Gioia del Colle Primitivo wines display a rare balance between power and elegance: almost incomprehensible. Going down into his cellars, we were surprised by the thousands of bottles on the lees, at the moment there are about 300,000. A little more than a simple passion. For years Nicola has extolled his Ancestrale to us, we even teased him about his hyperbole.

He didn't uncork the Superprimitivo, his Chiaromonte Brut Ancestrale Rosé 2018 from pinot noir grapes (with hand-written lettering) took centre stage. It bewitched us: 48 months in bottle, salmon colour. The aromas are nothing short of fragrant, of watermelon, violets and pomegranate, crisp and direct. In the mouth, it is vibrant, taut, progressive, with a beautiful balsamic undertone. The perlage is a breath of fresh air. It closes essential and very elegant. "I told you, I will be remembered as Dom Chiaromònt".  We look at him and burst out laughing. "You fooled us again, Nicola".