About the Wine: Salvatore Martusciello founded his eponymous winery in 2015 in Quarto, near Naples, with his wife Gilda. The winery builds on a long family history in viticulture, including the influence of Salvatore’s uncle, Gennaro Martusciello, former president of the Campania oenological association. The family helped bring the alberata dell’Asprinio grape to prominence, ultimately contributing to its DOC recognition in 1993.
The estate works with vineyards across the Sorrento Peninsula, Campi Flegrei, and Agro Aversano purchasing the all of their fruit from small vineyard owners through handshake agreements.
This wine comes from the tiny Gragnano della Penisola Sorrentina DOC, which produces just 32,900 cases annually. Gragnano is the quintessential red of Naples and the classic companion to authentic Neapolitan pizza. It is cited in local stories, poems, and comedies, most famously in Eduardo Scarpetta’s Miseria e Nobiltà, where Totò — posing as a modern sommelier — proclaims, “if it’s not Gragnano, desist.”
For this bottling, grapes were hand-harvested at 300 meters between September 24 and October 8, then destemmed, crushed, and macerated on the skins for five days before soft pressing and fermentation in temperature-controlled tanks. The name Otto Uve (eight grapes) references the many native grape in the wine, including Piedirosso, Aglianico, Sciascinoso, Suppezza, Castagnara, Olivella, Sauca, and Surbegna.
I always arrange wines from lightest to fullest — a habit from my days as a sales rep — so you might be surprised to see this sparkling listed last. But for me, it’s the boldest of the bunch. The most recent bottling has juicy tannins that pair with a wide range of foods, and the flavor evokes the deep, dark fruit of a berry cobbler left outside by a BBQ grill.
- Rebekah