Terrabianca Winery

It was back in 1908 when my grandparents, the young Gaspare and Giuseppina Ferlin, emigrated from Rovigo and opened a Venetian tavern, the Chiantiquelle - Casa Ferlin, in Zurich. Before long, they had become well-known not only in the large Italian community, but also among the Zürichers. My grandmother was an excellent cook and my grandfather was a Venetian, a real character full of spirit. The wine served at the Chiantiquelle - Casa Ferlin didn’t come from Veneto, but from Greve in Chianti, from the Castello d’Uzzano, where Gaspare went every year to choose it himself and to bring it in demijohns on the train back to Zurich. I got to know that unforgettable smell of the straw-covered flasks with my uncle Menotti, helping him to carry thousands of those bottles into the basement of the restaurant. So Chianti found a way into my arms and especially into my heart! My father, Roberto senior, had another business, a beautiful clothing shop on Zurich’s prestigious Bahnhofstrasse, and he sent me abroad to learn more about the trade. For 5 years I worked and studied in England, France and Italy, with a brief period in Spain at the end. It was a wonderful, unique experience, though hard at times, and it opened by eyes to the world. I then entered the family business, which I enjoyed up to the very end. In about 1985 I felt the longing for a change in life, to go back to my roots, to live savoring the country life, and to bring my family to the hills of Chianti and to make wine. At that time it wasn’t a “trendy” choice to make, and it was an adventure for the family. But my wife also wanted to have a country life, filled with colors and flavors. Looking for the farm of my dreams was a great experience. First of all, I looked for two professionals who could help me find the right soil and the area where it would be possible to make the kind of wine that I had in mind. Through the many books I had read about Tuscan wines I met the enologist Vittorio Fiore, and later the agronomist Remigio Bordini. With them I discovered the Terrabianca estate on the hills of Radda in Chianti. In 1988-89 I moved to Tuscany with my whole family, but never in our wildest dreams could we have imaged what lay before us! Living in the country and making wine is a great challenge. We had to learn everything from step one, and very quickly. School for the kids, the farm work, the winery, the people involved in wine. Everything was new, but with enthusiasm, a great deal of intuition and a lot of hard work, you can even move mountains!

 



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