With the braying of donkeys, the sound of their hooves striking the dusty, red, clay-rich soil along the paths winding through the marvelous landscape of Puglia: the vast expanses of ancient olive groves and vineyards, spiky cacti, characteristic stone trulli with their conical roofs, the crystalline waves crashing against rocky cliffs, and so many other treasures that define this gem of Italy.
The “Susumaniello,” an ancient black grape variety native to this land at the beginning of the Salento territory, bears in its name an analogy to the donkey. In fact, the name ‘susumaniello’ (ciucciariello) comes from the Puglian dialect, or general dialectal term, ‘summariello’ or ‘somariello,’ meaning little donkey.
But why does this grape variety have such a name? Historically, it has always been distinguished by a very high productivity, often at the expense of quality. Originally, the plant resembled a heavily laden donkey, where the vine’s branches symbolized the donkey and the grape clusters represented the load. Even today, some wineries use donkeys during the cultivation and harvest of this grape.
The origin of this grape can be traced back to the white beaches of the city of Brindisi, between the areas of Apani and Torre Guaceto, but it later became the reigning grape of the entire Brindisi region, including the Itria Valley. It is one of the few grape varieties that survived the phylloxera attack at the end of the 1800s, thanks to its
sandy soil origins, and even today, the oldest vines remain on their own roots.
Unlike some grape varieties that faced extinction due to low yields, the opposite was true for Susumaniello: its excessive productivity was a curse that nearly led to its abandonment. Its abundant yield, though compromising quality, made it less favorable compared to other local indigenous grapes like Negroamaro and Primitivo, which were much more renowned and in demand.
The grape’s revitalization occurred after World War II, when many small landowners decided to focus on this local indigenous grape variety. Local cooperatives, such as ‘Cantine Risveglio,’ founded in 1958 with the aim of uniting small farmers who had been under the control of large landowners during the Fascist regime, played a key role in this process.
The cooperative ‘Cantine Risveglio’ was crucial for Susumaniello, particularly for two main reasons: convincing farmers to reduce plant productivity, and investing in research to improve the quality of the variety, largely thanks to investments from the renowned agronomist Giovanni Nardelli, the current president of the Cooperative.
Then came a turning point for Susumaniello: the producers from cooperatives and private wineries, like the historic Tenute Rubino, Melillo, and others, began to reduce per-plant productivity through winter pruning and started harvesting earlier to enhance acidity concentration and achieve a better balance with sugars, thus creating a more harmonious wine with a moderate alcohol content and greater structure for aging. Additionally, some of these wineries opted for aging in wood, cement vats, or amphorae, to produce wines with softer tannins and a rounder profile.
Today, most Susumaniello vines retain the traditional bush training system, and the variety has been incorporated into production regulations, earning the title of a distinguished grape. The Puglian region represents one of those Italian territories where viticulture and olive cultivation have gone hand in hand for centuries. It’s impossible not to mention the ancient Ogliarola cultivar (older) and Coratina (more recent), which have spread throughout Puglia. Specifically, in the province of Brindisi, around the mid-1800s, Giacomino Semeraro, founder of the historic Masseria Pezze Galere 1859, became the first to graft Coratina varieties onto centuries-old Ogliarola plants. Thanks to him, we still have centuries-old olive trees that produce half Coratina olives and half Ogliarola, a truly rare phenomenon.
