Ziobaffa wines

Ziobaffa Riddle:

• What do  you have when you combine surfing with wine? An organic wine.
• What do you get when you add Uncle to Baffa? Uncle Baffa
• What do you have when you add together an Italian winemaker, a surfer and a filmmaker? Ziobaffa wine.

Ziobaffa (Uncle Baffa)  is leading the life that many people can only  pursue in their wildest dreams. Zio Baffa is a surfer and filmmaker. He travels around the surfing world with a surfboard and film camera. He seems to have two passions, surfing and wine.

Three of his short film clips can be viewed on the website Ziobaffa. The clips include: Bella Vita Trailer, Making a Wine and Ziobaffa.

Currently Ziobaffa is responsible for two Filmaker’s organic wines: Toscana Red and Pinot Grigio. Also very involved with the wine is Chris Del Moro a surfer-artist-environmentalist. Filmmaker Jason Baffa was fortunate enough to meet Chris’ good friend, surfer, winemaker & art-patron, Piergiorgio Castellani.  This fortuatist meeting resulted in the Ziobaffa wines produced with organic Italian grapes. The wines are produced by the well-known Castellani Family in Italy. Castellani has been producing wines for five generations.

Ziobaffa Wines

The Ziobaffa wines are bio-dynamic and sustainable.

When you look for a bottle the ZioBaffa wines notice the special label. The labels are the limited edition artwork of Chris Del Moro. The paper is printed on FSC certified paper and bio-friendly glue is used. The owners focus on environmentally friendly practices when bottling. They also use the Helix re-use-able cork closure.

Two Ziobaffa wines were recently sent to us for tasting. It was interesting to try the Helix® re-useable cork. After removing the see-through plastic capsule, just twist and move the cork out.  The ZioBaffa  2012 Toscana red wine was made with grapes harvested from Poggio al Cason Vineyard. The wine was a very dark red color. It was fruit forward with intense cherry notes. Suggested food pairings included roasted/grilled meats, stews, pastas with red sauces, and pizza.

The Ziobaffa Pinot Grigio 2013, crafted with organically grown grapes, was a pleasant yellow color. The wine was filled with citrusy fruit.  The wine also had some tropical notes but were dominated by the citrus. The wine is equally good as an aperitif and with food. Suggested wine pairings included fish/shellfish, poultry, pastas in cream sauce and softer cheeses. It’s also an ideal aperitif. While tasting the Ziobaffa Pinot Grigio we enjoyed it with salty potato chips!

The  Pinot Grigio back label says, “I’ve been fortunate enough  to travel the world with my friends and a film-camera creating movies about our love for surfing. In August of 2012 a new adventure began, when I left California for Italy to document my friend surfer-artist-environmentalist, Chris Del Moro on a quest to re-connect with our mutual Italian roots and prove to all the existence of world-class-surfing waves in the Mediterranean Sea. What we discovered was a beautiful community of people, celebrating old-world-tradition while simultaneously cultivating a new Italian surfing sub-culture. The film is titled BELLA Vita and within a few days of filming the locals embraced our presence by nick-naming me, Zio Baffa (Uncle Baffa.).”

The Ziobaffa wines are available on the website wine.com for $14.99.

Cheers!
Kathy