DOC Red

San Marzano 60 Sessantanni Limited Edition Old Vines Primitivo di Manduria

Cantine San Marzano
Grape
Primitivo
Denomination
Primitivo di Manduria DOC
Region
Puglia
ABV
14.5%
Drink
Now to 2029

San Marzano's flagship Primitivo, from bush vines at least sixty years old in the Valle del Sessantanni. A year in French and American oak leaves cocoa, coffee and vanilla over ripe plum. Big and soft at 14.5%.

Best price
£25.37

2020 · 75cl · checked 25 Oct · Delivery charged at checkout

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Vintages 2020 2019

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Where to buy San Marzano 60 Sessantanni Limited Edition Old Vines Primitivo di Manduria

£25.37 best price · 1 retailer in stock · checked 25 Oct 2026

One shop sells this wine in the UK, so there is no price to compare between shops. Each price is the one on its page today, read daily.

8wines Best price 2020 · 75cl · checked 25 Oct · Delivery charged at checkout Code NEWCUST8J: Enter NEWCUST8J to get £8 off with the minimum wine order of £88. Valid only for new customers, until 31 Dec 2027
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£25.37 £33.83/L
Buy
8wines Best price 2019 · 75cl · checked 25 Oct · Delivery charged at checkout Code NEWCUST8J: Enter NEWCUST8J to get £8 off with the minimum wine order of £88. Valid only for new customers, until 31 Dec 2027
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£30.44 £40.59/L
Buy

Stock status is read from each retailer’s page once a day and may lag.

Tasting Notes

What Sessantanni tastes like, and what drinkers keep writing down

Prune, cherry jam and tobacco, as San Marzano's own note has it, then the vanilla, oak and chocolate that a year in French and American oak leaves behind.

Tasted by
ItalianWines editorial
Tasted on
31 August 2026
Source
Drinker consensus · confidence Medium
Typical of Primitivo
Body Light / Full
Tannins Smooth / Grippy
Sweetness Dry / Sweet
Acidity Soft / Crisp
Nose

Prune and cherry jam lead, the two notes San Marzano itself puts first. Dried tobacco leaf sits behind. Twelve months in French and American oak adds vanilla and chocolate, and those are the notes that come through most clearly in the glass. A touch of white pepper sits at the edge.

CoffeeCoffee
CherryCherry
PlumPlum
PrunePrune
TobaccoTobacco
LeatherLeather
VanillaVanilla
ChocolateChocolate
CocoaCocoa
Palate

Full-bodied and soft rather than sharp, at 14.5% alcohol. The bush vines behind it are at least sixty years old and give very little fruit. That is where the concentration comes from. San Marzano trains them at 5,000 vines a hectare on red, iron-rich ground around San Marzano and Sava. Tannin is there but rounded, and the ripe dark fruit carries it.

Finish

Long, and it closes on cocoa, coffee and vanilla. The finish persists, with the spice returning at the end.

Overall

This is San Marzano's flagship, and drinkers like it year after year. The Limited Edition is the same wine in a silkscreen-printed bottle, so the extra money buys the bottle, not a different blend.

Drink now Best by 2029
Live UK pricing

Buying a Sessantanni Limited Edition in the UK

Cantine San Marzano makes this at real volume, so it is rarely hard to find. Watch which vintage you are buying rather than the price: the 2019 and the 2020 sit in the same band and both won awards.

Best price · 75 cl · 2020 £25.37 at 8wines
75cl · 2020 available from 8wines £25.37, in stock
Vintages live 2020 · 2019 Current release: 2020
Per-litre (75cl · 2020 basis) £33.83 Lowest current 75cl · 2020 offer
Last checked 25 Oct 2026 Refreshed once every 24 hours
Other vintages and formats: 1 price line

75cl · 2019: £30.44, 1 UK retailer

Wine fit score

How this Primitivo scores on our six measures

A big, soft southern red at 14.5%, given twelve months in oak and carrying a long award list. That shapes how it scores for food, for value and for the cellar.

Best intro to this style 8.6/10

Ripe, soft and sweet-fruited, with no sharp edges: about as easy as a serious Italian red gets.

Best for an occasion 8.4/10

The silkscreen-printed bottle is made to be given, and a Tre Bicchieri award backs it up.

Best with food 6.8/10

Big and soft at 14.5%, so it wants grilled meat or a long-cooked sauce rather than light food.

Best value 6.2/10

An award-winning Primitivo under thirty pounds is fair money, but the same wine in the standard bottle costs several pounds less.

Best for cellar 5.8/10

Twelve months in oak and a drinking window to about 2028: it will hold, but it is built to drink rather than to wait.

Best everyday bottle 4.0/10

Around twenty-eight pounds and 14.5% alcohol make this a weekend bottle rather than a weeknight one.

Scoring is rule-based and deterministic. The model and weightings are documented in our Wine Fit Score methodology.

Denomination Compliance Snapshot

Primitivo di Manduria in five fields

A compact view of what the Primitivo di Manduria denomination actually requires, and how this bottle sits inside it. Pulled from the official Italian disciplinare.

Allowed grapes
1 varieties listed
This bottle: Primitivo.
Minimum ageing
No statutory minimum
Producers release on their own schedule; 4 to 6 months in steel is typical.
Region / area
Taranto and Brindisi: the Ionian flank of the Salento around Manduria
Source: Disciplinare.
Style
DOC · Primitivo di Manduria
Minimum ABV at this colour: 13.5%.
Classification
DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata)
What that means →
Vintages

The 2019 and the 2020, side by side

The 2019 won the top Tre Bicchieri award and James Suckling scored it 91. The 2020 took Due Bicchieri Rossi, a matching 91, and 99 points from an Italian critic.

2020 Current release
Best price
£25.37
Retailers
1 in stock
ABV
14.5%
Window
Drink now through 2029

The 2020 kept the run going. Luca Maroni scored it 99 and named it his best Primitivo of the year, and James Suckling again gave it 91. Gambero Rosso stepped down one notch, to Due Bicchieri Rossi. Its UK seller rates it for up to 13 years in the cellar.

2019 Previous release
Best price
£30.44
Retailers
1 in stock
ABV
14.5%
Window
Drink now through 2028

A strong showing for Sessantanni. Gambero Rosso gave the 2019 its top Tre Bicchieri mark, Bibenda awarded 5 Grappoli, and James Suckling scored it 91. Tannico rates it ready from 2023 and good until 2028.

2020 Current release
Best price
£25.37
Retailers
1 in stock
ABV
14.5%
Window
Drink now through 2029

The 2020 kept the run going. Luca Maroni scored it 99 and named it his best Primitivo of the year, and James Suckling again gave it 91. Gambero Rosso stepped down one notch, to Due Bicchieri Rossi. Its UK seller rates it for up to 13 years in the cellar.

Drink-now / hold guidance reflects general style cues for this wine, not a forecast for a specific bottle. Where vintage-level editorial notes exist, they appear above.

The disciplinare, the place, the label

Primitivo di Manduria DOP, and where these old vines sit in it

The fruit comes from old plots around San Marzano and Sava, near Taranto, in the middle of the Primitivo di Manduria zone. Iron in the ground turns the topsoil red, over limestone below.

01

DOC, DOCG, IGT: what the badges mean

Italian wine law sorts bottles into a pyramid. DOCG sits at the top: tightly drawn boundaries, prescribed grapes, mandatory ageing, government tasting before release. DOC is the same idea with looser thresholds. IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) is broader still, requiring only that 85% of the grapes come from the named territory.

Primitivo di Manduria is in the DOC tier. That is not a quality verdict, it is a description of how much freedom the producer has at vinification and ageing.

02

The denomination rules, in detail

  • Allowed grapes. 1 varieties listed in the disciplinare
  • Yield ceiling. 9.0 tonnes per hectare
  • Minimum ABV. 13.5% vol
  • Minimum ageing. No statutory minimum - producers release on their own schedule
  • Tasting panel. No mandatory pre-release tasting
03

Region and area context

Primitivo di Manduria falls within Puglia, covering Taranto and Brindisi: the Ionian flank of the Salento around Manduria.

Primitivo di Manduria DOC zone The producer Wine route in the zone

Made at Cantine San Marzano, San Marzano S. G.. Directions

Wine route in the zone: Salento Negroamaro and Primitivo Trail.

04

Reading the label

  • Cantine San MarzanoProducer / estate
  • PrimitivoGrape varieties
  • Primitivo di Manduria DOCGeographic indication and quality tier
  • 2020Vintage (year of harvest)
  • 14.5% volAlcohol by volume
05

What sits behind the price of San Marzano 60 Sessantanni Limited Edition Old Vines Primitivo di Manduria

Tracked from
£25.37
Direction
Mostly cost up
Drivers
5 up / 1 down
Main factor
Bush vines at least sixty years old in the Valle del Sessantanni
  1. 01

    Bush vines at least sixty years old in the Valle del Sessantanni

    Cost up

    San Marzano's sheet puts 5,000 vines a hectare on these old plots at San Marzano and Sava. Very old vines give tiny crops, so a bottle takes far more vine than a young vineyard needs.

  2. 02

    Hand picking in mid-September at full ripeness

    Cost up

    The sheet specifies hand harvest at advanced ripeness. Machine picking costs a fraction as much, and these bush-trained vines cannot be machine picked at all.

  3. 03

    Twelve months in French and American oak

    Cost up

    A year in oak ties up a barrel and a year of cellar space for every bottle. It is also where the cocoa, coffee and vanilla on the finish come from.

  4. 04

    The silkscreen-printed Limited Edition bottle

    Cost up

    This is the one cost that is not in the wine. The same Sessantanni in a plain bottle sells at 8wines for about 21 pounds, against about 28 pounds here.

  5. 05

    UK duty and VAT on a still red at 14.5%

    Cost up

    Duty on still wine up to 15% is 2.67 pounds a bottle at 2026 rates. Add 20% VAT and roughly 7.30 pounds of a 28-pound bottle never reaches Puglia.

  6. 06

    Cooperative scale across many member growers

    Cost down

    Cantine San Marzano started in 1962 with 19 growers and now works at volume. A single-estate wine with this award record would ask a good deal more.

01

Bush vines at least sixty years old in the Valle del Sessantanni

Cost up

San Marzano's sheet puts 5,000 vines a hectare on these old plots at San Marzano and Sava. Very old vines give tiny crops, so a bottle takes far more vine than a young vineyard needs.

Perfect Pairings

Dishes that go with this wine

Focaccia Barese, plated

Focaccia Barese
Panzerotti, plated

Panzerotti
Polpo alla pignata on stoneware bowl with Bay Leaf, Garlic, Octopus

Polpo alla pignata
Cartellate on stoneware bowl with Cinnamon, Flour, Grape Must

Cartellate
Lamb bhuna, plated

Lamb bhuna
Food Pairing

Ripe fruit, soft tannin: the dishes that fit

San Marzano sends this wine to savoury first courses, red meat and game, and aged cheeses sit well with it too. The one thing to dodge is chilli heat, which 14.5% alcohol only makes worse.

Tannin softening Strong match

Grilled steak and roast lamb

Char and animal fat take the edge off tannin, and this tannin is soft to begin with. The ripe dark fruit is heavy enough to stand up to a crust off the grill. San Marzano points the wine at red meat and game itself.

Try with: Fiorentina steak · Arrosticini · Agnello Cacio e Ova · Porchetta · More pairings →

Body matching Strong match

Long-cooked meat sauces from the south

A 14.5% red needs food with weight, or it tastes hot on its own. Slow-cooked lamb and beef sauces have the body and the savoury depth to hold it. The wine's ripe plum answers the sweetness that long-simmered tomato brings out.

Try with: Agnello Ragu Lucano · Ragu alla bolognese · Malloreddus alla Campidanese · Brasato al Barolo · More pairings →

Salt balance Good match

Aged pecorino and caciocavallo

Salt in a hard aged cheese makes tannin taste softer and fruit taste sweeter. That is why aged cheeses suit this wine so well. Southern sheep and cow cheeses carry the salt and the fat to do it.

Try with: Pecorino sardo e pan carasau · Caciocavallo farcito · Cheese board · More pairings →

Aromatic bridge Good match

Barbecue smoke against the cocoa and coffee

Twelve months in French and American oak leaves cocoa, coffee and vanilla on the finish. Those notes meet the smoke and the caramelised crust on barbecued meat instead of fighting them. Beef and lamb are its natural home for the same reason.

Try with: BBQ ribs · Ribeye steak · Beef stew · Sunday Roast Beef · More pairings →

Fat cutting Good match

Fatty roast pork and fresh sausage

Acidity is not this wine's weapon. Alcohol and a ripe, firm tannin are, and together they scrub fat off roast pork and sausage. Serve it at 18°C, as San Marzano asks, or the alcohol takes charge.

Try with: Porchetta · Porceddu · Lucanica · Pork belly · More pairings →

Avoid Clash

Chilli heat, and anything delicate

At 14.5%, alcohol makes chilli burn hotter, not milder. The oak-driven cocoa and coffee also flatten light, subtle food, so shellfish and raw fish get buried. Save this bottle for the biggest thing on the table.

Skip with: Lamb bhuna · Szechuan beef · Crispy chilli beef · Cozze arraganate · Pairing guide →

Drinking + cellar

How long a Sessantanni will keep

The 2019 is at its best between 2023 and 2028. Older vintages back that up: the 2013 and the 2014 are both still well liked by drinkers.

Drinking window
2024 → 2029

Best in the years above; holds without falling over either side.

Decanting
1 hour

A short splash decant softens the first-pour edge and opens the aromatics.

Serving temperature
16-18°C

Aim for the cooler end on a warm day; warmer end opens up more aromatics.

Cellar potential
Medium

Twelve months in oak and a drinking window to about 2028: it will hold, but it is built to drink rather than to wait.

Buy now or wait?
Buy now

£25.37 for a 75cl bottle of the 2020, at 8wines, is the best price we track, and we have no signal of further discounting.

Sources & trust

Our sources on Sessantanni Limited Edition

Prices & stock

Read directly from each retailer’s public product page once a day. Last refresh: 25 Oct 2026, 00:52 BST. We do not hold stock and we do not accept payment for placement.

Confidence · High
Tasting notes

Drawn from what drinkers consistently report on Vivino, summarised in our own words. A crowd read across many tasters, not a single critic. Drinkers score it 4.4 out of 5 from 4,605 ratings on Vivino.

Confidence · Medium
Appellation rules & ageing

From the official Italian disciplinare for this denomination, cross-checked against the Ministry of Agriculture register.

Confidence · High
Why it costs what it costs

Our reading of the price, drawn from the disciplinare, public UK duty rates, and typical landed-cost benchmarks. Not a quote from the producer or a retailer.

Confidence · Medium
Drink window & cellar potential

Style guidance for this kind of wine at this price point. Treat it as advice, not a forecast for the bottle in your hand.

Confidence · Medium
Related

Primitivo, Puglia and Cantine San Marzano

Producer
Cantine San Marzano Puglia
Grapes
Primitivo
Denomination
Primitivo di Manduria DOC
Region
Puglia Region guide
Cuisine
Italian Cuisine 5 dishes paired Indian Cuisine 2 dishes paired International Cuisine 1 dishes paired

Common Questions

It is the same wine in a different bottle. San Marzano lists both, and both carry the same technical sheet: Primitivo from bush vines at least sixty years old, twelve months in French and American oak. The Limited Edition arrives in a silkscreen-printed bottle made as a gift. Expect to pay a few pounds more for it.

Ripe and soft rather than sharp. Prune, cherry jam and tobacco, closing on cocoa, coffee and vanilla, as San Marzano's own note has it. Oak, vanilla and chocolate come through most, with plum and blackberry behind.

It is 14.5% alcohol, which is high for a red. San Marzano asks for 18°C, a touch below most room temperatures, so the alcohol does not take over. There is no need to decant it first.

Grilled steak, roast lamb and long-cooked meat sauces. San Marzano points it at savoury first courses, red meat and game, and aged cheeses work too. The one thing to avoid is chilli heat, because 14.5% alcohol makes the burn worse.

The 2019 is at its best between 2023 and 2028, so it is ready now. Older vintages hold up well: the 2013 and the 2014 are both still well liked by drinkers.

It is one of the most decorated reds in southern Italy for the price. The 2019 won the top Tre Bicchieri award and James Suckling scored it 91. The catch is the bottle: the same wine in the standard bottle costs several pounds less.

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San Marzano 60 Sessantanni Limited Edition Old Vines Primitivo di Manduria
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