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A soft, full-bodied Primitivo from San Marzano in Salento, aged in steel tanks. San Marzano describes plum, cherry and a hint of rosemary. From £13.30 in the UK, it suits hearty pasta dishes, red meat and hard cheese.
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A deep ruby red with plum, cherry and a hint of rosemary, full-bodied but soft and easy to drink. Dark fruit leads in the glass, then vanilla, chocolate and cherry.
Plum and cherry come first, ripe and generous, with a dusting of sweet spice and a herbal note that reads as rosemary, the herb San Marzano itself picks out. Underneath sits the darker side of Primitivo: blackberry, vanilla and a little chocolate.
Blackberry
Blackcurrant
Cherry
Plum
Cinnamon
Spicy
VanillaFull-bodied but soft, with gentle tannin and enough freshness to stay easy. Steel tanks only, no oak, so the fruit stays clean: blackcurrant and ripe plum, with cinnamon and vanilla notes even though no barrel put them there.
Ripe, fleshy fruit runs into a savoury finish with a last touch of cinnamon and light spice. Clean and easy, nothing to wait for.
Il Pumo is San Marzano's lower-priced range, below the Sessantanni and Anniversario 62 reds: a soft, fruity Primitivo to open by 2028, and a sound buy for a red at about £13.
Two shops sell the 2025 to UK buyers: the Italian shop xtrawine at £13.30 and Great Wines Direct at £13.55. Vinissimus also carries the same vintage but is sold out.
Its top cards are Best everyday bottle, Best intro to this style and Best value. San Marzano calls it soft, balanced and easy to drink, and it costs £13.30 in the UK.
Soft, fruity and about £13, it suits a midweek pasta or a steak without any fuss.
San Marzano calls it soft, balanced and easy to drink, which makes it a friendly first Primitivo.
At £13.30 it costs less than most Salento IGT reds on this site, and it is a well-liked everyday red.
San Marzano matches it with hearty pasta, red meat, game and hard cheese; very hot, spicy food is the one poor match.
It is an everyday red rather than a showpiece; San Marzano calls its oak-aged Sessantanni its iconic label.
It is aged in steel tanks and the 2025 is best opened by 2028, so it is not one to keep.
Scoring is rule-based and deterministic. The model and weightings are documented in our Wine Fit Score methodology.
A compact view of what the Salento denomination actually requires, and how this bottle sits inside it. Pulled from the official Italian disciplinare.
The 2025 is the vintage on sale now, at xtrawine and Great Wines Direct; the 2022 to 2024 have sold out at Great Wines Direct. The 2025 holds 94 points in the 2027 edition of Luca Maroni's yearbook of the best Italian wines.
The Primitivo di Manduria consortium, whose zone takes in San Marzano, called its 2025 grapes healthy and of excellent quality once picking ended. Steady heat, little rain and good airflow let the bunches ripen evenly and fully.
The Primitivo di Manduria consortium, whose zone takes in San Marzano, called its 2025 grapes healthy and of excellent quality once picking ended. Steady heat, little rain and good airflow let the bunches ripen evenly and fully.
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.
Salento IGT covers the whole of the provinces of Brindisi, Lecce and Taranto, and a Primitivo must hold at least 85% of the grape. San Marzano's sheet adds its own choices: trellised vines at 5,000 a hectare, about 100 metres up, picked in the first week of September and aged in steel tanks.
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.
Salento is in the IGT tier. That is not a quality verdict, it is a description of how much freedom the producer has at vinification and ageing.
Salento falls within Puglia.
Winery
San Marzano S. G.
Wine area
Made at Cantine San Marzano, San Marzano S. G.. Directions
Of a £13.30 bottle, about £5.32 is tax: £3.10 duty and £2.22 VAT. Duty is £30.62 per litre of pure alcohol since 1 February 2026, and this wine is 13.5%. On a bottle at this price, tax is two fifths of what you pay.
The Primitivo di Manduria consortium says San Marzano began in 1962 with 19 growers and now has about 1,200, farming more than 1,500 hectares, about 2,100 football pitches. Working at that scale helps keep Il Pumo near £13.
San Marzano ages Il Pumo Primitivo in steel tanks, and the 2025 is already on UK shelves. There is no long cellar ageing to pay for, unlike the 12 months in oak barrels San Marzano gives its Sessantanni.
The grapes come from trellised vines planted at 5,000 a hectare, about 100 metres up, and picked in the first week of September. San Marzano's dearer Sessantanni comes from bush vines at least 60 years old.
Salento IGT allows up to 17 tonnes of Primitivo grapes a hectare, across three whole provinces. On this site, 62 of the 65 Primitivo di Manduria reds in stock cost more than this bottle.
Dishes that go with this wine
San Marzano matches Il Pumo Primitivo with hearty first courses, red meat, game and hard cheese. Beef, lamb, poultry and pasta all work too. Keep it away from very hot, spicy food.
A rich meat sauce needs a red with enough weight to stand beside it. San Marzano calls this Primitivo full-bodied, soft and balanced, and puts hearty first courses at the top of its food list. A soft, full-bodied red like Il Pumo Primitivo from Salento sits comfortably next to a Sunday ragù.
Try with: Lasagna · Ragu alla bolognese · Malloreddus alla Campidanese · Agnello Ragu Lucano · More pairings →
Rosemary on the lamb meets the same herb in the glass. San Marzano's Italian sheet lists hints of rosemary and light spice beside plum and cherry. A full-bodied, soft Salento red like Il Pumo Primitivo also has the weight to match the meat.
Try with: Leg of lamb · Rack of lamb · Lamb chops · More pairings →
Fat and protein in a steak soften a red's grip and bring its fruit forward. San Marzano puts red meat among its matches, and beef is the obvious one. This soft, full-bodied Primitivo from Salento makes an easy weeknight steak red.
Try with: Sirloin steak · Ribeye steak · Fillet steak · More pairings →
Salt in a hard, aged cheese makes a ripe red taste rounder and fruitier. San Marzano ends its food list on hard cheese, and mature cheese works the same way. The plum and cherry fruit of this soft Salento Primitivo is what the salt brings out.
Try with: Pecorino sardo e pan carasau · Caciocavallo farcito · Frico · Strong cheddar cheese · More pairings →
Chilli heat makes alcohol burn hotter, and a 13.5% red turns harsh against it. The ripe fruit in this Salento Primitivo cannot put out the fire. A lightly sweet, low-alcohol white such as Moscato d'Asti copes far better.
Skip with: Chicken madras · Chicken jalfrezi · Szechuan beef · Jungle Curry · Pairing guide →
This is a young red aged in steel tanks, not a wine to lay down. Open the 2025 any time up to 2028 and serve it at 16 to 18C, as San Marzano suggests. It takes well to an hour in a decanter first.
Best in the years above; holds without falling over either side.
A short splash decant softens the first-pour edge and opens the aromatics.
Aim for the cooler end on a warm day; warmer end opens up more aromatics.
It is aged in steel tanks and the 2025 is best opened by 2028, so it is not one to keep.
£13.30 for a 75cl bottle of the 2025, at Xtrawine, is the best price we track, and we have no signal of further discounting.
Read directly from each retailer’s public product page once a day. Last refresh: 6 Oct 2026, 00:30 BST. We do not hold stock and we do not accept payment for placement.
Confidence · HighNotes published by the producer, quoted with attribution.
Confidence · HighFrom the official Italian disciplinare for this denomination, cross-checked against the Ministry of Agriculture register.
Confidence · HighOur 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 · MediumStyle guidance for this kind of wine at this price point. Treat it as advice, not a forecast for the bottle in your hand.
Confidence · MediumIt is a soft, full-bodied red with plum and cherry fruit, a hint of rosemary and light spice: balanced and easy to drink, as San Marzano itself says. Underneath sit darker fruit such as plum and blackberry, then vanilla and chocolate.
Drink the 2025 by 2028. San Marzano ages this Primitivo in steel tanks, and the 2025 is already in UK shops, so it is ready to open now. It is not a wine to lay down.
Hearty pasta, red meat, game and hard cheese are the matches San Marzano gives. Think lasagne, a sirloin steak, roast lamb with rosemary or aged pecorino. Serve it at 16 to 18C, as the producer suggests. Avoid very hot curries: chilli makes a 13.5% red taste harsh.
It means the grapes come from Salento, which the rules define as the whole of the provinces of Brindisi, Lecce and Taranto. A wine named after one grape, like this Primitivo, must contain at least 85% of it. It is not a Primitivo di Manduria DOP, even though San Marzano sits in the centre of that zone.
Il Pumo Primitivo is a Salento IGT from trellised vines, aged in steel tanks, and it costs less than Sessantanni. Sessantanni is a Primitivo di Manduria DOP from bush vines at least 60 years old, aged 12 months in French and American oak barrels. San Marzano calls Sessantanni its iconic label.
Xtrawine has the 2025 in stock at £13.30 and Great Wines Direct at £13.55. Vinissimus also carries the same vintage but is sold out.
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