Marisa Cuomo

History

Marisa Cuomo and her husband Andrea Ferraioli built their estate in Furore, a small coastal comune carved into a fjord-like gorge on the Amalfi Coast. The winery grew out of the Ferraioli family's deep roots in the area and Cuomo's commitment to treating the Costa d'Amalfi appellation as capable of producing serious wine, not just holiday-priced novelty. Their work through the 1990s and into the 2000s did much to define what quality looks like in this denomination, and the Fiorduva white in particular helped establish Furore as the most ambitious address in the appellation. The estate remains family-run, with the wines positioned firmly at the upper end of the Costa d'Amalfi DOC.

Vineyards

The vineyards sit on dramatically steep, terraced slopes above the Tyrrhenian Sea, ranging from the Furore gorge to sites above Ravello further east along the coast. Altitude varies but many parcels sit several hundred meters above sea level, providing meaningful diurnal shift despite the southerly latitude. Soils are predominantly volcanic in origin, rocky and thin, with poor organic matter and strong drainage. The indigenous varieties planted here, Fenile, Ginestra, and Ripoli for whites; Piedirosso and Tintore for reds, are trained in ways adapted to the near-vertical terrain, often requiring entirely manual labor. The density of planting and the difficulty of mechanization make viticulture here among the most labor-intensive in Italy. Specific farming certification details are not widely documented.

Winemaking

The flagship Fiorduva is a late-harvest white made from Fenile, Ginestra, and Ripoli harvested at full ripeness from the Furore vineyards. Fermentation takes place in small oak barrels, where the wine also ages, giving it a richer, more textured profile than the estate's other whites. The standard Furore and Ravello whites are fresher in style, fermented to preserve aromatic definition and showing the saline, citrus-driven character the coast produces naturally at lower sugar levels. The Rosso Riserva bottlings, both Furore and Ravello, see extended aging and are built around Piedirosso and Tintore, varieties that give relatively high acidity and tannic grip rather than concentration. The reds tend to be lean and structured rather than opulent, which suits the indigenous grape material. Across the range, the winemaking stays close to the character of the site rather than imposing an external stylistic template.