Ottavianello

Ottavianello is Puglia’s Cinsault. The French variety has been grown around Ostuni long enough to have acquired a local name, a local identity and its own appellation, and for most of the twentieth century almost nobody knew the two were the same grape. It is one of a small group of southern Italian reds recovered by deliberate effort in the late 1990s.

Origins and history Ottavianello is a traditional rather than native variety of Puglia, better known elsewhere as Cinsault, the southern French grape of the Languedoc and the Rhône. When it arrived and by what route is not well documented, which is usual for a grape that spent its life as an anonymous component of field blends. What is clear is that it settled into the Brindisi countryside and stayed.

The recovery Gregory Perucci and Salvatore Mero of Racemi have done the most work on the variety. Setting out in 1998 to resurrect ancient local grapes, they found both Ottavianello and Susumaniello near Brindisi, the latter far harder to locate. Perucci found a seventy-year-old vineyard planted by the owner’s grandfather in the traditional proportions of his time, a third Negroamaro for body, a third Malvasia Nera, and the remainder made up of the local rarities.

Its own appellation Ottavianello has something most rare Italian varieties never get: an appellation bearing its name, the Ostuni Ottavianello DOC. The wine is typically made as a rosato, and Notardomenico, another rare Puglian red from the same towns, is usually part of the blend. That a whole DOC exists for a grape this obscure says something about how established it became locally.

In the vineyard As Cinsault, the variety is drought-tolerant and heat-tolerant, qualities that explain its long survival in the Puglian climate, and it produces generously where allowed to. Yield control is the whole of the quality question: cropped hard it gives pale, dilute wine, restrained it gives something with real perfume. It ripens relatively early for a southern red.

Appearance and structure Ottavianello gives a pale, light-bodied red with soft tannins and moderate alcohol, which is exactly why it so often ends up as rosato. In a region dominated by the density of Primitivo and Negroamaro, that lightness is unusual and, increasingly, commercially useful. The acidity is modest, so freshness depends on picking date.

Aromatic profile Red cherry, strawberry and a floral lift define it, with none of the tarry depth of the Puglian heavyweights. The rosato versions emphasise the red fruit and the perfume. It is a wine of charm rather than weight, and reads as considerably more northern than its origin would suggest.

In the cellar Most Ottavianello goes into the Ostuni Ottavianello DOC rosato, alongside Notardomenico. It has also appeared in modern blends, notably in the Racemi range, though some of those have since been reformulated towards Negroamaro. Gentle handling, short maceration and cool fermentation suit it; extraction is the enemy.

Key expressions

• Ostuni Ottavianello DOC, the appellation named for the grape.
• Rosato versions blended with Notardomenico, the traditional style.
• Varietal reds from the Racemi revival plantings near Brindisi.
• Old field-blend vineyards where it grows among Negroamaro and Malvasia Nera.

The question of aging This is not a keeper. The pale colour, soft tannins and modest acidity mean Ottavianello is at its best within two or three years, and the rosati should be drunk in the year after the vintage. What fades is the perfume, which is the point of the wine. Nothing arrives to replace it.

At the table Lightly chilled, it suits the Puglian table across the board: orecchiette, grilled vegetables, seafood, burrata and the lighter meats. Its low tannin makes it one of the few southern reds that works with fish. Serve it at fourteen to sixteen degrees.

Why it matters Ottavianello shows that a variety does not have to be native to belong somewhere. Cinsault has been in the Brindisi countryside long enough to earn its own name and its own DOC, and the light, perfumed wine it gives is a genuine counterweight to the region’s reputation for sheer weight. Its recovery was a deliberate act by two people who went looking.