Grape Guide
Susumaniello
RedSusumaniello is a deeply pigmented black grape of Puglia, centred on the province of Brindisi, where it was long a minor blending component. A natural cross of Garganega and a southern table grape, it is vigorous and productive, and it now yields inky, firmly structured reds and a small amount of rosé.
Key characteristics
- Natural cross of Garganega and the Puglian table grape Uva Sacra (2007 DNA analysis)
- Vigorous, productive, mid-ripening vine
- Grown almost entirely in southern Puglia, centred on Brindisi
- Authorised as a stand-alone type in Brindisi DOC (minimum 85%)
- Only 72 ha recorded in Italy in 2000, with plantings rising since
Typical flavors
Major regions
Brindisi (Puglia) · Brindisi DOC · Salento IGT · Squinzano DOC · Central Murgia (Puglia)
Also known as
Cozzomaniello · Grismaniello · Somarello Nero · Susomaniello · Susumaniello Nero · Zingariello · Zuzomaniello
Susumaniello is a black-skinned variety confined, for practical purposes, to southern Puglia. For most of the twentieth century it was a minor partner in the rustic reds of the Brindisi hinterland, valued for colour and volume more than for finesse. Its revival began in the early 2000s, when a handful of estates started bottling it alone.
The resulting wines are opaque, with red- and dark-fruit flavours, firm tannin and brisk acidity that can read as tart or severe when the crop is not kept low. Careful yield control and later picking have produced rounder, more polished examples, and the grape also makes a vivid rosé. It remains a rarity: a variety defined by its heavy natural cropping, whose best expressions come from restraint in the vineyard.
Susumaniello belongs to the province of Brindisi, in Italy's heel. The likeliest explanation of its name is the Salentino dialect word somarello, a young donkey: the vine bears so heavily that it can be weighed down with fruit the way a pack animal is loaded with baggage, a nod to its high yields. A second folk etymology ties the name to Sumanus, the Roman god of nocturnal rains, but nothing in the documentary record supports this. Suggestions that the variety came over from the Dalmatian coast have never been backed by evidence either.
DNA analysis has since given a firmer picture. A 2007 parentage study showed it to be a natural cross between Garganega, the principal grape of Soave, and a Puglian table grape that the study called Uva Sogra and that earlier fingerprinting had recorded as Uva Sacra. Since Garganega is also a parent of a number of other Italian varieties, Susumaniello stands as either a grandchild or a half-sibling of Trebbiano Toscano, Mostosa, Montonico Bianco, Marzemina Bianca, Malvasia Bianca di Candia, Dorona di Venezia, Catarratto Bianco and Albana. Trade writing now and then suggests a Sangiovese connection in its place; the Garganega finding is the one cited most often, and the sources consulted do not settle the matter.
The variety nearly vanished once growers turned to more valuable or better-known southern reds. Producers in Brindisi drove its comeback in the early 2000s, and the Puglia region added it to its approved varieties for the central Murgia area on 6 September 2003.
Susumaniello is a vigorous vine that ripens in the middle of the season, and its reputation rests on generous cropping. Left unchecked, high yields give thin, tough, acidic wines, so quality producers reduce crop load through pruning and bunch thinning, and some older vines naturally settle at lower yields as they age. The variety suits the warm, dry, sunny climate of the Adriatic side of the Salento peninsula, where the long season allows full colour and phenolic development. Its tannins can be coarse if harvested early, which is why picking date matters more than for many of its southern neighbours. Planted area was only 72 ha in Italy in 2000; it has grown since, although no reliable current national figure was found.
Varietal Susumaniello is typically deeply coloured, with red-fruit flavours, noticeable acidity and firm, sometimes rustic tannin. The best examples are medium to full in body, with cherry and plum fruit backed by pepper and dried-herb notes, and are bottled either as Brindisi DOC (where the Susumaniello type requires at least 85% of the variety and 12% minimum alcohol) or as IGT Salento. Stainless steel is common for fresher, fruit-led wines, while some producers use oak to soften the structure. Tenute Rubino bottles Torre Testa as a 100% Susumaniello (IGT Salento) and Oltremé as a Brindisi DOC; the same estate also makes a rosé. Vallone and Masseria Li Veli (Garrisa) also bottle it alone. Elsewhere it is blended with Negroamaro and Malvasia Nera di Brindisi, to which it adds colour and acid grip.
Where it grows
Brindisi province
The variety's heartland, with vineyards clustered to the northwest and the southeast of the port city of Brindisi. Its modern revival began here.
Brindisi DOC
Susumaniello has a named type of its own, which must contain at least 85% of the variety; other authorised black grapes may make up the rest of the blend. It may also serve as a complementary grape in the Rosso and Rosato types.
Salento IGT
The usual label for single-variety bottlings, leaving producers free to choose style, ageing and blend. Torre Testa, made by Tenute Rubino, is the best-known example.
Squinzano DOC
One of a few denominations beyond Brindisi proper where the variety turns up, a sign of its spread into the adjoining part of the Salento peninsula.
Central Murgia
Authorised for planting in this inland corner of Puglia since 2003, although vineyard area there stays marginal.