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Il Censo

Perricone Njuro 2015

Price: $44.95
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Tasting notes

Perricone at this altitude and with this winemaker's touch is not like anything else coming out of Sicily: the nose offers sour cherry, raspberry, fennel, and smoke in a combination you simply do not encounter in southern Italian reds. The tannins are firm but not aggressive, and the wine opens into something genuinely complex given a few hours of air.

BodyFruitTanninAcidity
Sour CherryRaspberryFennelEarth
  • Style: Dry, medium-full bodied red; deep garnet; earthy dark fruit with sour cherry, fennel, and smoke; organically farmed
  • Grapes & Terroir: 100% Perricone (also known as Pignatello); certified organic; volcanic and calcareous soils; 700m altitude; Bivona, south-central Sicily
  • Winemaking: Manual harvest in October; spontaneous fermentation on indigenous yeasts; 2-3 week skin maceration; no temperature control; unfined and unfiltered; minimal or no added sulfur
  • Serving: Serve at 62-65F; 1-2 hour decant recommended for young bottles
  • Pairing: Roast lamb, grilled pork, braised game, aged pecorino, mushroom pasta
  • Similar To: For fans of earthy, structured reds like Barbera d'Asti or Aglianico who want a rare Sicilian indigenous variety

Il Censo Njuro is made from 100% Perricone, a native Sicilian red grape also called Pignatello, grown organically at 700 meters altitude on an undulating volcanic outcropping outside the hamlet of Bivona in south-central Sicily, near Palazzo Adriano. The 5-hectare vineyard belongs to the Gargano family estate, which has been in the family (through the Spoto line) for over 200 years. Vines are planted via massale selection and trained in Guyot, with yields controlled through severe winter pruning and debudding.

The name Njuro comes from the local dialect term "njuro cane," meaning black dog, a nickname for the Perricone grape. Grapes are harvested manually in October, destemmed and crushed, then fermented spontaneously on indigenous yeasts for two to three weeks without temperature control. The wine is neither fined nor filtered before bottling, with minimal to no added sulfur.

Winemaking at Il Censo follows the non-interventionist principles developed by Giampiero Bea, who serves as winemaking consultant here. The property is certified organic across all agricultural activities, including an old olive grove now producing unfiltered extra virgin olive oil. This is a Terre Siciliane IGT, the island-wide IGT designation covering wines that fall outside Sicily's stricter DOC framework.

The 2015 vintage delivers deep garnet color with earthy dark fruit, sour cherry, raspberry, fennel, and herbaceous notes that are unusual for southern Italian reds of this weight. The wine opens further with air, revealing smoky and floral complexity alongside firm but integrated tannins.

Works well with lamb, grilled pork, and tomato-braised dishes where the acidity and tannin have something to cut through. Aged pecorino or hard sheep's milk cheeses are a natural match. The herbal and earthy notes in the wine also make it a good partner for pasta with wild mushrooms or roasted game.

Wine details

Dry/Sweet:, Dry
Wine Type:, Red Wine
Wine Style:, Medium Body
Grapes:, Perricone
Farming:, Organic
Vintage:, 2015
Alcohol:, N/A
Country:, Italy
Region:, Sicily
Appellation:, Terre Siciliane IGT
Bottle Size:, 750ml
Sugar Level:, Zero Added Sugar

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.


Important Compliance Requirements

FedEx and other carriers we might occasionally use can only deliver wine to customers who are 21 years or older. Someone must be at the address to receive the package, carriers don't just drop a package and leave. They must ensure the person receiving the wine is 21 or older.


Re-shipping a Package

If a package is returned to us after three failed delivery attempts, we can only re-ship the wine upon payment of a re-shipping fee, to be determined based on the shipping address and number of bottles. Shipping wine is extremely expensive. We are sorry about this, but we have no other choice. Please make sure there's always someone at the address you enter as your shipping address.

If you'd like to receive a refund for a package that was returned to us after FedEx made three delivery attempts, we can do that but we must keep a $20 refund fee; FedEx charges us a lot of money for returns, unfortunately, I can't stress this enough.


Re-routing a Package

If you'd like to reroute a package after it's been shipped, we can do so for a $20 re-routing fee. We cannot re-route a package across state borders. For any change of address, please contact us as soon as possible, ideally within 1-2 days from placing the order or we cannot guarantee we'll be able to reroute or change your order's shipping address.


Canceling an Order

If you'd like to cancel an order after it's been shipped, we can do so upon payment of a small cancellation fee – the amount depends on the size of the order. Carriers charge us a lot of money to recall a package en-route.


Heat/Frost damage

We are not responsible for heat- or frost-related issues. We offer ice-packs upon request. Please let us know if you think that there could be heat-related issues. If we don't hear anything from you regarding weather issues before an order is shipped, or if you don't request a hold due to the weather, we are not responsible for heat/frost damage.


Placed an order. What next?

1. You will receive an order confirmation email with your order summary.*

2. As soon as your order ships from the warehouse, usually within 2-3 business days, this applies to all shipping rates, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with your tracking information. 2DAY shipping refers to shipping time; we still need 2-3 business days to prepare an order. We need to pick and pack, QA, add printed collateral, and palletize the orders.

3. Please track your package using the tracking service.

4. The carrier will attempt delivery a maximum of 3 times. After 3 delivery attempts, your package will be sent back to our warehouse.**

*Please ensure your email address is correct; otherwise, you will not receive the order and shipping confirmation emails.

**If delivery is attempted 3 times without success, or if you fail to retrieve your package from the carrier depot by the stated deadline, the shipping fee will not be refunded to the customer.

Returns Policy

If you are not satisfied with your purchase, please contact us at (424) 414-2040 or via e-mail at hello@primalwine.com between 9 am and 5 pm Pacific Standard Time, Monday through Sunday, we would like to understand and try to solve your concerns. We can offer refunds only as store credit.

Producer profile

Il Censo

Il Censo is a 65-hectare estate in Bivona, south-central Sicily, owned by Gaetano Gargano and his wife Nicoletta. The Gargano family has held the property through Gaetano's mother's side (family name: Spoto) for over 200 years. The estate name, meaning "census," likely references the feudal-era system in which tenant farmers paid tribute to the landowning family. For most of its history, the land was used for grain and legumes, with only a small existing vineyard of Perricone and Malvasia Nera and a century-old olive grove.

Gaetano met Giampiero Bea of Paolo Bea roughly 25 years ago and, inspired by the Bea family's work in Montefalco, decided to revive the agricultural activity at Il Censo. With Giampiero Bea's guidance, 5 hectares were planted to Cataratto and Perricone, followed by an additional 4 hectares of Nero d'Avola and Malvasia Nera. All vines are planted via massale selection, trained in Guyot, and managed organically across the entire estate, including the certified organic olive grove now producing unfiltered extra virgin olive oil.

Vinification at Il Censo follows the principles Giampiero Bea applies at his own Umbrian estate: spontaneous fermentation without temperature control, no pumping, no fining, no filtering, and no added yeasts. Grapes are destemmed and crushed before settling in stainless steel tanks, with skin maceration running two to three weeks depending on the vintage. Sulfur use is minimal to none. The wines are held until Bea deems them ready for release rather than according to a fixed schedule.

Wine region

Sicily, Italy

Sicily is Italy's largest wine region by vineyard area and sits at the center of the Mediterranean, with a climate marked by hot, dry summers, mild winters, and strong sunshine across most of the island. Altitude plays a significant moderating role: the island is mountainous in many parts, and vineyards at 600 to 800 meters experience meaningful diurnal temperature swings that preserve acidity and slow ripening. South-central Sicily, where Il Censo is located near Bivona and Palazzo Adriano in the Agrigento province, sits on calcareous and clay-rich soils with some volcanic influence from the island's geological history.

Sicily holds 23 DOCs and one DOCG (Cerasuolo di Vittoria, the island's only red DOCG, made from Nero d'Avola and Frappato). The Terre Siciliane IGT, created in 2011, functions as the island-wide classification for wines that do not conform to the stricter rules of a specific DOC. Over 30% of Sicilian vineyards are certified organic, making the island Italy's leader in organic viticulture. Key indigenous red varieties include Nero d'Avola, Nerello Mascalese, Frappato, and the increasingly rare Perricone, historically dominant in the Trapani and Palermo provinces before phylloxera devastated plantings in the late 19th century.

Frequently asked question

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.

Signature on delivery is mandatory for wine deliveries. Please make sure someone is at the shipping address to sign for the package.

If applicable, please consider delivering the package to a business address to ensure someone is available to sign for the package.

We also have the option of delivering the package to a Carrier's store for pickup. Please reach out to us to coordinate.

Carrier will try to delivery a package up to three times before returning the package to us.

See here our shipping policy.

If you miss a delivery and a package gets returned to us we have two options:

1) Reship the package right away: due to the very high cost of shipping and returns, we must charge a re-shipping fee to be determined based on package size and shipping destination.

2) Consolidate the returned package with your next order: this option is free of charge and it's the most popular option.

See here our shipping policy.

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