Nel 2014 l’ingegnere cosentino Giuseppe Chiappetta, insieme al fratello Nicola ed ai figli Marco e Luca, rileva l’azienda Terre di Balbia, fondata nel 2001 dai Venica&Venica, e ne ricalibra lo sviluppo con la collaborazione di Gianfranco Fino, il quale guida l’ammodernamento dei vigneti e segue i processi di vinificazione. Altre collaborazioni importanti: “Preparatori d’uva” di Marco Simonit & Sirch e Worldwide Vineyards. L’azienda è composta da circa otto ettari di vigneto (Magliocco, Gaglioppo e Merlot) e due di uliveto. La scelta è quella di puntare principalmente sui vitigni autoctoni Calabresi, Magliocco in special modo. La forma d’allevamento dei vigneti esistenti è stata trasformata a Guyot, mentre per i nuovi impianti è stata scelta l’antica forma tradizionale Calabrese ad alberello. La produzione biologica dell’uva è garantita da pratiche colturali esclusivamente preventive e da lavorazioni principalmente manuali. I vini prodotti, esclusivamente con uve coltivate nell’azienda, sono Fervore (Rosso, Magliocco 100%), Ligrezza (Rosato, Gaglioppo 100%) e Blandus (Rosso, Merlot 100%). La produzione iniziale è di circa 10.000 bottiglie ed a regime sarà di circa 25.000. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In 2014 Mr. Giuseppe Chiappetta, an engineer from Cosenza, together with his brother Nicola and his sons Marco and Luca, took over the company and oversaw its development. Having been keen on wine all of his life, Mr. Chiappetta took up the challenge and invested in his passion to produce a quality, local, Calabrian wine. The meeting with Gianfranco Fino, a passionate viticulturist from Salento, was crucial. Mr. Fino approved the project and leads the modernization of the vineyards, advising on cultivation techniques, the creation of the wine cellar and controls the processes and vinification techniques. Under the sky of the most beautiful part of Calabria, there are the fields of “Terre di Balbia”, where the grapes ripen on around 8 hectares of land (magliocco, gaglioppo and merlot) and the olive trees grow on around two hectares, aired out by the breezes coming from the sea that blows on the plain of Sibari and the winds coming from the mountain that carries fresh fragrances from the chain of the Pollino. The modernization of the existent vineyards and the realization of new plantations aim to obtain the best quality of grapes cultivated through biological methods. The existent spurred cordon method has been transformed in the Guyot, whilst the ancient Calabrian traditional method was chosen for the new plantations: the “alberello” (tree), with high density plantations (around 10,000 plants per hectares) by now unfortunately abandoned but that assures an ever higher quality. The biological production of grapes is guaranteed from cultivation techniques exclusively preventive. All the production in the vineyard are handmade with the help of two little tracked tractors, large only 1.10 m., that limit the constipation of the ground at a minimum level. The wines are produced exclusively with grapes cultivated in the company. The choice for the related equipments and the natural manufacturing practiced in the wine cellar aim to obtain an “artisanal and quality” wine, in which the presence and the mental and manual energies of the man can be measured.
