The evolution of viticulture at Castello del Terriccio
From cereal farm to highly esteemed wine estateA model cereal farm
The modern history of Terriccio begins in the post-Second World War years, when the estate was acquired by the Conti Serafini Ferri. Towards the end of the 19th century, the Ferri family acquired a vast country estate through gifts made by the state to one of its members. A country landlord in the Castelli Romani area and a friend of Giuseppe Garibaldi and Giuseppe Mazzini, he had supplied wheat to the 1849 Roman Republic during the Risorgimento uprisings. Major land improvements by the Serafini Ferri family in the 1920s modernised agriculture on the estate significantly. The estate, which had as many as 60 households of tenant farmers, was until the 1960s far better known for its cereal farming, even setting a European record for second-harvest corn. It was less well known as a wine estate, and in fact had only 25 hectares under vine in 1980.
From tenant farming to direct management
Things changed appreciably, and there was a radical shift of direction and strategy, when the present owner, Gian Annibale Rossi di Medelana Serafini Ferri, inherited the estate from a great-uncle. Heir of a dynasty whose paternal and great-grandparents had earned distinction at the 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris, winning a medal for wines produced in the Bologna area, Gian Annibale Rossi di Medelana decreed that the estate should abandon tenant farming and move over to direct management. After a series of not entirely satisfactory attempts to raise milk buffaloes, and with one eye on the falling prices of wheat and the unsatisfactory returns provided by wheat, oats, barley and other cereals, the new owner decided to concentrate on vineyards and wines. He staked the estate's future on the, at that time unknown, winemaking potential of Terriccio.
Specialising as a wine estate
In 1975, Rossi di Medelana, on his way to the Italian Olympic Team three-day eventing trial, was thrown from his horse at Terriccio, breaking his back and suffering a paralyzing accident. This interrupted his riding career and radically altered his life. This interrupted his riding career and radically altered his life. There followed long years of therapy and the former absentee landlord now began to look at Tenuta Terriccio in a new, entrepreneurial light. These were the years of major decisions, far-reaching changes and the reorganisation of the estate along the lines it has today.
As a connoisseur of fine wines, Serafini Ferri put the emphasis on viticulture. Grapes had always been grown on the estate but until then only as a second-string crop. In fact, it was not until 1986 that wine ceased to be sold unbottled and the cellar began to focus uncompromisingly on premium quality products. It was not just love of the wines of Bordeaux that inspired Serafini Ferri. He was encouraged by the results obtained at Bolgheri by Marchese Incisa della Rocchetta, and also nurtured the growing conviction that Terriccio, with its highly suitable soil types and favourable site climates, could reasonably be seen as a place to produce world-class wine.
The vineyard revolution and the choice of vines
Great wine required radical intervention and a revolution in vineyards that until then had been planted to Trebbiano and Sangiovese. New, more appropriate varieties were introduced. New plantings were carried out, and the vines were trained to modern systems. Cabernet and Merlot were brought in, obtained from French vines from some of the historic Bordeaux estates. Then white Chardonnay and Sauvignon grapes were planted in 1989 and 1990 to replace Trebbiano. The choice of varieties was neither random nor dictated by Rossi de Medelana's great love of French wines: what prompted this decision was the climate, soil types and position of Terriccio itself. The estate's vineyards enjoy a typically Mediterranean mesoclimate. Constantly caressed by breezes from the nearby seashore, they are blessed with exceptional luminosity thanks to sunlight reflecting off the water, which coaxes the fruit to perfect ripeness. The soil looked ideal for producing reds of great structure and complexity. Its clay and sand texture, rich in copper and iron originating in the hills where once the Etruscans mined these minerals, alternates with calcareous areas characterised by galestro marl.
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