Our founder Marco Martire was born and raised in Avellino, in the region of Campania. The beautiful countryside of his town, called Irpinia, through its people and the terroir can deliver some of the best wines in Italy: Aglianico, Taurasi, Fiano di Avellino, Greco di Tufo, and Falanghina.

Marco worked in leading positions in the food and beverage industry for the past 15 years, in hotels and restaurant groups around Europe and USA: London, Stockholm, Italy, and Washington DC in the U.S., before moving to Virginia Beach with his wife and his daughter.

In Washington DC, Marco worked for many years for the most upscale-boutique food service company leading some of their most important accounts in the capital city. During his tenure, Marco had the pleasure and the honor to manage some very high end events for the most important law firms and board of directors in the US and in the world. He also managed events for and worked along with some of the world renowned chefs such as Massimo Bottura and Jose Andres.

During his career, he developed several wine lists, always focusing on quality to ensure that his customers taste a very unique, small family and terroir-driven wines from Italy. He knows first-hand (as his grandparents used to produce wine and he helped during harvest time) how much love and especially hard work there is behind taking care of the soil and the vineyards. He has seen many of the people of his countryside strive to deliver the best they could, the best fruit, from small pieces of land and vineyards. Their commitment is to never compromise and to deliver excellence, always. This is the same commitment Marco has with the wines he brings to the Hampton Roads region.