Carvinea

Manual pruning before the cellar work

Manual pruning comes first for Beppe di Maria, winemaker at Carvinea in Casamassima, before steel, barrel, or bottle has any say. His work begins in the Alto Salento countryside, where the estate grows and makes its wines at Masseria Pezze d'Arena, holding the line between vineyard and cellar close enough for the same judgment to carry through both. Carvinea began in 2002 as a small Puglian house built around local grapes rather than a dynastic name, and di Maria remains its central maker. The lineage here is not presented as inherited rank. It is a decision about material: Ottavianello, Primitivo, Negroamaro, Fiano, and the patience to let the region set the argument. Di Maria has put the philosophy plainly: “The more time passes, the more people are getting used to appreciating the real qualities, discarding the rest.” That sentence sits well with the place. It leaves room for selection, for refusal, for the work of cutting away what does not belong.

Ottavianello held in steel and bottle

The program at Carvinea turns on indigenous Puglian varieties, with Ottavianello given particular weight. The grape, also known as Cinsault in France, has a Puglian life of its own here, especially in red and rosé work. Di Maria's cellar uses cold processing during vinification, a choice that keeps the fruit's aromatic line intact before the wines move through steel tanks and, where the wine calls for it, barrel aging. The range crosses still red, still white, still rosé, and classic method sparkling wine. Sorma Rosato, Otto, Sierma, and MERULA Rosa M. sit among the signatures, each one tied less to spectacle than to the handling of local fruit. Carvinea also releases wines through a Linea Tradizionale and a Linea Alta Selezione DM, a division that gives the house two registers without abandoning its base material. The 2024 Merula Rosa Salento Rosato IGT, made from Aglianico and Primitivo, shows the rosé side of that discipline in a current vintage.

A masseria pace in Alto Salento

The room for tasting at Carvinea has the scale of a small estate rather than an industrial cellar door. The masseria gives the experience its center: vineyard, cellar, and glass held in the same quiet circuit. Guided and private tastings take place close to the wines' source, so the conversation can move from Ottavianello to Primitivo without turning into a catalogue. The setting is rural Alto Salento, not staged rusticity. The cellar work carries into the room through temperature, tank, barrel, and bottle, and the wines arrive with the kind of context that only a small house can keep near at hand. Di Maria's phrase, “The wine is a blend of people,” does not ask to be dressed up. At Carvinea, it lands in the masseria, in the pruning cuts, and in the glass of Otto.