The wines
In 2017, Harry & Simona opened Bottega Caruso in Margate – a small southern Italian restaurant and deli rooted in the food of Simona’s village Foglianise and the couple’s belief in personal, regional, seasonal cooking. Their attention to provenance and integrity has since grown to include wine, with the launch of Cantina Caruso – an import business dedicated to soulful, characterful natural wines from Campania.
For the first time in the UK, we are proud to present wines that capture the essence of Southern Italy – its ancient vines, volcanic soils, knowledgeable growers, and centuries old traditions. These are not just bottles, but stories: of the people who tend the land, the grapes that thrive there, and the culture that shapes them both.
Today we are honoured to share these wines with you.
Robb de Matt
We are located in the heart of the small village of Foglianise, in the picturesque setting of the Taburno Camposauro Regional Park, Robb de Matt Winery was born from a project to recover, protect, and enhance the local winemaking heritage. From the beginning, we chose to care for the marginal vineyards, often abandoned or neglected, located in the municipalities of Torrecuso, Foglianise, Vitulano, and Cautano. Here, ancient ecotypes of native grape varieties tell a story of farming rooted for generations, built on rural knowledge, biodiversity, and a deep connection to the land.
The Territory
Our production takes place in the Vitulanese Valley, also known as the Taburno Valley, an enchanting place where the hills gently nestle at the foot of the Taburno mountain massif, opening towards the south/southeast. This location guarantees optimal microclimatic conditions, with vineyards located between 250 and 600 meters above sea level, benefiting from significant temperature variations between day and night, a crucial factor for aromatic balance and grape ripening.
The valley is also distinguished by the richness of its soils, which vary significantly within a few kilometers: from compact limestone to alluvial soils, from volcanic deposits to mineral-rich red and yellow clays. This geological stratification allows us to produce wines with diverse structure and complexity, authentic expressions of the micro-zones in which we grow.
Agricultural Management and Production Philosophy
We farm organically, fully respecting the soil, the plant's life cycle, and the surrounding ecosystem. We practice controlled, spontaneous grassing, encouraging the growth of flowers, aromatic herbs, and native vegetation, creating an ideal environment for pollinating insects and preserving the vineyard's biodiversity. We intervene as little as possible in the vineyard and cellar: our wines are neither filtered nor clarified, and every bottle is the result of clean and sustainable agriculture.
Big Bang
Falanghina, Trebbiano, Moscato 2023 (sp/o)
An energetic and thirst quenching sparkling wine, skin fermented for 11 days and bottled unfiltered. Long on the palate with notes of apple, butter and walnut.
Ossigeno
Grape: Falanghina and Trebbiano 2023 (o)
Skin fermented, lees-aged, this textured orange is layered with citrus peel and herbs
"Vinified to eradicate a seemingly incurable sadness, or when you're feeling down and need a real, healthy breath of fresh air!”
Falanghina and Trebbiano grapes macerated for 7 days in open vats. The long maturation in stainless steel on its fine lees increases its complexity and volume on the palate. There’s a bold acidity, a touch of fruit and citrus, and a little saltiness and a strong density.
Tino 5
Grape: Coda di Pecora, Trebbiano 2023 (o)
A seven day maceration in open vats, easy drinking and nutty, almost fino-like, with white flowers and medicinal herbs.
Mu
Grape: Aglianico 2023 (p)
The wildest colour! A pure and elegant direct press Aglianico from 70 year old vines, grafted onto wild scions by local farmers, grow in a mixed soil of red clay and loamy clay, which gives the wine freshness, minerality, and structure. Fruit trees, wild flowers, and aromatic herbs coexist in the vineyard, creating a vibrant and rich environment
A brilliant rosé that captivates the eye and it's just as "Glou Glou" as it sounds.
R&B
Grapes: Field blend (2023) (p)
A mixture of all of Gaetano and Gabriele’s ten grape varieties create this intriguing wine, perhaps closer to a pale red than a rosé. Each sip offers new sensations, like jazz music, different sounds alternate and overlap.
Big Sur
Grape: Merlot 2023 (r)
One doesn’t think of Merlot when here in the south of Italy, but there is little parcels of it, a few rows here, a leftover from Napoleonic times when the French ruled the south.
A new wine from Robb de Matt, its name inspired by two mountains: Monte Caruso, overlooking Foglianise, and Big Sur in California, where the two Robb de Matt brothers arrived years ago, following in the footsteps of Jack Kerouac. A Merlot vineyard at 600 meters above sea level, among the highest in the Taburno area, vinified in concrete tanks.
Hitchcock
Grapes: Merlot, Montepulciano, Sangiovese, Vinciguerra, Barbera 2023 (r)
13 days maceration, 9 months in steel.
A complex red wine, made from at least seven indigenous local varieties, mostly Aglianico blending grapes. It is the fruit of an educational project launched over 40 years ago thanks to the passionate work of Dr. Alfonso Pedicini, agronomist and longtime representative of the local WWF. Pedicini saved ancient biotypes from extinction by recovering them from wild scions, preserving them in the vineyard, now considered an "open-air gene bank" for local viticulture. The result is a wine with a strong personality, rooted in the past yet alive in the present.
Co-op Lentamente
In the hills of Sannio, near Benevento, Donato De Marco and his cooperativa Lentamente are redefining what agriculture can mean – not just a source of food, but a tool for justice, dignity, and social change. After years in social agriculture, Donato returned home to found Lentamente, a deeply rooted project that cultivates organic grains, wine, honey, and olives while offering real opportunities to people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Their vineyards and fields are tended not just with care, but with purpose: to transform lives, restore abandoned land, and build a resilient, inclusive rural community. Made with minimal intervention, every bottle from Lentamente tells a story of regeneration - of people, land and hope.
Bianco
Grape: Falanghina, 2022 (w)
Textured and straw coloured with notes of olive and almond
100% Falanghina del Sannio is harvested exclusively by hand in Torrecuso around September 20th in Guyot-trained vineyards located at approximately 350 meters above sea level. The soil is clay-loam.
The grapes are hand-picked and taken to a soft press where they are pressed for 12 hours. This process closely resembles maceration, adding color and body to the wine. This same process also helps reduce the acidity of a blend that can typically be quite high. Aged for a minimum of 8 months in stainless steel, during which time it is racked twice without filtration. For this reason, it is a very clean wine, golden in color, with hints of dried fruit, suitable for both aperitifs and full meals.
The name suggests that this is a wine that strives for simplicity. In our region, wines are usually referred to as red and white. The schwa in our name indicates our desire to avoid any discrimination.
Rosato
Grape: Aglianico 2022 (p)
A juicy dep pink rosato with all the texture and flavour of aglianico
Rosé made from 100% Aglianico del Sannio, harvested exclusively by hand in Solopaca around September 20th. The five-year-old vineyard is trained using the Guyot espalier system. The vineyard's altitude is approximately 200 meters above sea level on gravelly alluvial soils, which allow for great minerality and freshness. After harvesting, which is done exclusively by hand, the grapes are soft-pressed for a few hours and fermented in stainless steel tanks without further contact with the skins, resulting in a fresh and drinkable wine.
It ages in stainless steel for approximately eight months and is then bottled.
It has herbaceous notes, particularly of arugula, and is very easy to drink.
The name has two origins: the fact that rosé wine is commonly made by blending red and white wine. And it's also a tribute to a book of the same name, which tells the story of the return to the land of young people dissatisfied with life in the city, something that characterizes the Lentamente cooperative.
Rosso
Grape: Aglianico 2022 (r)
A full-bodied, rich and structured red.
100% Aglianico del Sannio, harvested exclusively by hand in Torrecuso between October 10th and 20th. The vineyards, located at approximately 450 meters above sea level on tuff and clay soils, are between 30 and 50 years old and trained using the canopy system. This cultivation method allows for fresher grapes, less exposed to the sun's rays.
Once harvested, the grapes are crushed and fermented with the skins in open vats for approximately 10 days. They are then pressed, and the must is separated from the skins, resulting in fresher, more drinkable wines after a year.
The wine is aged for 10 months in stainless steel, during which it is racked twice without filtration. The wine is full of red fruit, has a strong body and good acidity.
Podere Veneri Vecchio
Our philosophy:
The starting point is to safeguard the land, plants, and people. We work with nature, not against it, because we consider agriculture a common good rich in life that we must protect and safeguard. That life interacts, communicates, evolves, and continuously collaborates to create and regenerate its own complex natural fertility, giving a strong identity to each territory.
In the Vineyard:
We work with and have recovered ancient native grape varieties, many of which were once grown only in the Castelvenere area (one of the most vineyard-rich municipalities in Italy as well as the most vineyard-rich in Campania), rediscovered and restored (e.g., Grieco, Cerreto, Agostinella Camaiola, Piscialietto, etc.).
The soils on which the vines are grown have a clayey, calcareous component mixed with gray tuff (soil of volcanic origin), volcanic rocks once used to build the farmhouse and the cellar. We do not use any synthetic chemicals, instead focusing our attention on restoring the natural fertility of the land and respecting and enhancing ecosystems (protecting the life of an ecosystem means making the vines stronger and more vibrant), which allows the harvest of healthy bunches without any chemical residues. Vineyard defense treatments (phytotherapy) are carried out using plant essences (plants collected by us) such as nettle, horsetail, borage, etc., which are macerated and fermented, to then naturally treat the vines. We also use raw propolis taken directly from bee hives. These treatments safeguard and protect the ecosystems and strengthen the plants' natural defenses. The vineyards extend over 5 hectares.
In the winery:
An ancestral, ancient, and artisanal work, using spontaneous yeasts that are naturally selected in a healthy vineyard, no temperature control, working with the skins and the yeasts themselves during aging, without resorting to the use of chemical additives, correctives, and brutal and invasive technologies. Harvesting is done manually, with the grapes transported in crates to the winery.
For aging, we use truncated cone-shaped barrels made from native woods from our area (woods that ancient farmers once used to make their wines), such as acacia, chestnut, and cherry.
“Everything has cracks, but it is through those cracks that the light passes.” Leonard Cohen
Wines:
Most are mixed vineyards in Castelvenere, as the ancient farmers used to cultivate.
The soil has clayey components mixed with significant volcanic/taffaceous components.
The farmhouse and the old cellar were built with these very volcanic stones.
The land is also strongly influenced by salty sea air, which, especially from spring onwards, is blown by a coastal wind that passes through the vineyards.
Notturni Passaggi
Grape: Field blend (sp/p)
A pét-nat from eight local varieties of red and white. Lighly sparkling and electric.
Made from 8 varieties of our native grape varieties, both white and red, processed and vinified together: Camaiola, Aglianico, Sangiovese, Pizzutella, Agostinella, Grieco, Cerreto and Falanghina.
Spontaneous fermentation (without temperature control) and aging partly in stainless steel and partly in chestnut barrels. It has not undergone filtration or clarification.
Terra Nuda
Grapes: Camaiola & Aglianico, Grieco & Cerreto (p)
Three days on skins making this rich and deep rose
Made from four grape varieties, two red and two white, with two days of maceration. Spontaneous fermentation in fiberglass and stainless steel and aging in fiberglass.
Il Tempo Ritrovato
Grapes: Grieco, Cerreto 2022 (o)
Macerated on the skins for 25 days, spontaneous fermentation without temperature control. Aged in chestnut and cherry barrels. No filtration or fining.
Bianco Tempo
Grapes: Grapes: Grieco, Cerreto, Falanghina 2022 (o)
Macerated on the skins for 8-10 days and spontaneously fermented without temperature control.
It is aged in stainless steel with a brief stint in chestnut and acacia barrels. It is not filtered or clarified.
Bella Ciao
Grape: Agostinella (o)
An ancient grape revived, underwent 12 days of maceration on the skins, fermentation with spontaneous yeasts without temperature control, aged in acacia and cherry barrels; unfiltered and unclarified.
Risvegli
Grieco, Cerreto on Aglianico and Camaiola skins (r)
A white transformed by red skins – savoury and textural
Fuorirotta
Grapes: Grieco & Cerreto
Like a medieval elixir, not a vermouth nor a fortified wine. From white grapes left to infuse with rosemary, thyme, bay, sage, myrtle and spices like cloves cinnamon, ginger. Not for everyone, but perfect for some of us after dinner!
Azienda Agricola Pizzillo
Wine unites.
In Irpinia, it's a tradition, and it was here, in my family's hometown, that I and my life project found a home in 2017. Here, there's a place run by an enlightened innkeeper, my "Rabbit Hole," where I made friends and entered the world of natural wines. Thanks to these encounters, my winery's first natural wines were born in 2020.
There's Minos, my cat; there are the characters from Alice's Journey to Wonderland and the friendship that binds them; there are Malevich and Kandinsky, and the value of pure sensitivity and the essential. Each wine is a piece of my journey; I hope to have you with me.
Ozyo
Grape: Fiano, Falanghina, Trebbiano 2022 (w)
Fresh and zesty blend of native varieties – mineral and crisp
Minosse
Grape: Aglianico 2022 (r)
A deep, structured Aglianico aged for 12 months in cement – earthy & wild
