Ferrari

From a pioneering act to the benchmark of Italian sparkling wine

The history of Ferrari Trento begins in 1902 in Ravina near Trento — and with a man who thought too far ahead for his time. Giulio Ferrari, born in 1879 in Calceranica al Lago, had studied at the Istituto Agrario di San Michele all'Adige and subsequently traveled to Épernay, Montpellier, and Geisenheim. Upon his return, he was convinced: the terroir of Trentino is similar enough to that of Champagne to produce sparkling wines of equal quality. He was the first winemaker in Italy to plant Chardonnay on a significant scale, fermented according to the Méthode Classique, and thus laid the foundation for an entire appellation. In 1906, he won the first gold medal at the International Exhibition in Milan. Since Giulio Ferrari had no children, he carefully handed over the winery in 1952 to Bruno Lunelli, a Trentino wine merchant who shared his passion for precision and quality. This handover marked the beginning of a family history that continues today in the third generation: Matteo, Marcello, Camilla, and Alessandro Lunelli run the house together and carry the Trentodoc appellation — for whose recognition Ferrari fought significantly — out into the world.

Mountain viticulture, organic farming, and a carbon-negative cellar

Ferrari Trento manages around 135 hectares of its own vineyards in the hills around Trento, supplemented by a network of over 500 winegrowing families who have been supplying grapes for generations. All of their own sites have been officially organic certified since 2017 — the result of a more than twenty-year conversion process, scientifically accompanied by the Fondazione Edmund Mach. Synthetic herbicides and chemical fertilizers are prohibited; instead, green manure and soil analyses are used to monitor soil life down to the level of microorganisms. The supplier winemakers also follow the in-house protocol "The Ferrari Vineyard," which is certified by CSQA and designed for biodiversity — the winery carries the "Biodiversity Friend" seal from the World Biodiversity Association for this. The new cellar in Ravina, built directly next to the historic cantina, operates with a carbon-negative energy balance and uses natural glacial meltwater from the mountains for cooling.

Méthode Classique from the Alps: Chardonnay, long yeast aging, clear style

All wines from Ferrari Trento are produced exclusively using the Metodo Classico, the second bottle fermentation based on the Champagne model. The location in the Alpine valleys of Trentino — distinct temperature fluctuations between day and night, calcareous soil, high-altitude sites — provides Chardonnay and Pinot Noir with natural acidity structure and aromatic density. The range extends from the accessible Ferrari Brut Trentodoc to the prestige cuvée Giulio Ferrari Riserva del Fondatore, which matures on the lees for over a decade. Non-vintage cuvées are assembled from 70 to 80 different base wines, while vintage sparkling wines are made exclusively from their own harvest and 40 to 60 base wines from a single year. This care is reflected in the international competition record: at the Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships, Ferrari Trento was named "Sparkling Wine Producer of the Year" five times in a row and a total of eight times, most recently in 2025. Whether as an aperitif, for table culture, or as an accompaniment to crustaceans and creamy risottos — the wines from Ravina set the standard by which Italian sparkling wine has been measured for over a century.