- Winery: Primo Estate
- Wine Region: McLaren Vale, South Australia
- Variety: Sangiovese
- Vintage: 2026
- Price: $30
- Find it: from the winery direct
- Alcohol content: 12.5%
- You’ll like this if: you want a wine that feels like a mini holiday in a glass
- Body: light
- Mouthfeel: refreshing
- Taste: fruity, crisp, savoury
- Flavours: strawberries, rose, peach
- Enjoy it with: a lazy long lunch in the sunshine
- Food pairings: seafood, white meats, antipasto
Wine review: Primo Estate Sangiovese Rosato 2026
I’ll admit it, I’m a little biased with this one. Primo Estate has been a firm favourite in our house for years, and not just for their wines. Their olive oils get just as much love in our kitchen! So when the new vintage of their Sangiovese Rosato landed, I was more than a little excited to crack it open. This pale pink beauty pours with such a pretty salmon hue, and the nose is an absolute treat, with heady aromas of strawberries and cream, delicate rose and juicy peach. Honestly, one sniff and you’re transported straight to an Italian summer, which feels like the perfect antidote to a cold winter evening.
The palate delivers exactly what that gorgeous nose promises, with delicate summer berry flavours that are light and playful. But here’s the twist: rather than finishing sweet, this Rosato pulls back into a dry, savoury finish that keeps things beautifully balanced. That savoury edge comes down to the winemaking too, with the grapes harvested during the cool of night and left on skins for just an hour to get that signature colour and texture. It’s a versatile drop that would sing alongside seafood or white meats, and it’s the kind of wine that makes you close your eyes and pretend you’re somewhere warmer, even if just for a glass.
About Primo Estate
Every great bottle has a story behind it, and Primo Estate’s is one of my favourites. It all began in 1953, when an 18-year-old Primo Grilli left Italy’s Le Marche region and landed in South Australia, chasing a new life. In one of those wonderful twists of fate, he met his wife Santina in Adelaide, only to discover they’d grown up less than a kilometre apart back home in Italy. The pair settled in Virginia, just north of Adelaide, with a dream of one day planting their own vineyard. That dream became reality in 1973, a full 20 years after Primo first arrived, and it wasn’t long before the family decided to go all in and build a winery, ready in time for the 1979 vintage.
Primo handed the winemaking reins to his eldest son Joe, who graduated Dux of the Roseworthy winemaking course and wasted no time putting his knowledge to work. Joe brought a spirit of experimentation that was unheard of at the time, from double pruning Cabernet to using botrytis on Riesling, and trialling Amarone and Ripasso style winemaking long before it was trendy. He was also one of the first Australian winemakers to embrace Italian varieties, a curiosity that gave the world Primo Estate’s much-loved Colombard and cemented the winery’s reputation for blending Australian innovation with Italian heritage. Today that story continues with the next generation, with Joe’s children Daniel, Matteo and Elena each finding their own place in the family business, proving that this beautiful blend of Italian romance and Australian ingenuity is far from finished.
Learn more about this wine on their website.
Note: This wine was sent as a sample. I was under no obligation to post about it.