Regardless of your personal preferences – if you enjoy red wine – there’s one being made in Italy to suit your tastes. Few wine regions produce the breathtaking range and variety of red wines that can rival Italy’s offerings. Once thought to be an Italian native variety, Primitivo’s foreign origins have since been exposed. Descended – like California’s Zinfandel – from Croatia’s ‘Crljenak Katelanski ‘, reds made from Primitivo grown in Puglia in the southern heel of the Italian boot can be rich, ripe and luscious.

Affordable enough for mid-week sipping, Ogio Primitivo ($11.99) oozes jammy blackberry fruit with undernotes of prunes and subtle wisps of dusty sage. If you like Yellowtail Shiraz from Australia or Apothic Red from California, this could be the best place to start exploring Italian red wines.