Our story

First a film, then a wine.

ZIOBAFFA was never meant to be a wine brand. It started with a surf film shot on the Italian coast, a harvest at Poggio, and a nickname a crew of local surfers gave to a Californian filmmaker. This is how it went.

A long table in the sun, everyone raising a glass of red wine The toast · 21:9 · zb-story-film-toast.webp
012012 · Poggio al Casone, Tuscany

The Bella Vita days.

Harvest 2012: a picker leans into a truck full of red grapes while the sound recordist listens in behind Harvest 2012 · 3:2 · zb-story-2012-harvest.webp

Bella Vita is a surf film by Jason Baffa, shot entirely on 35mm. It follows the surfer, artist and environmentalist Chris Del Moro back to his family's homeland on the Italian coast, looking for who he is — and finding a culture where old-world craft has grown into a modern surf life.

In September 2012 the film came to Poggio for the harvest. The crew and a group of friends helped pick the grapes of that vintage and sat down together at the harvest lunch. Jason wanted to show this Tuscan tradition as the small magic it is, so he filmed all of it, on 35mm.

Somewhere between the waves and the rows, Jason's passion for good food, thirst-quenching libation and a few late-night practical jokes earned him a name from the local surfers.

  • The camera on its tripod between an olive tree and a cypress Operator · 3:2 · zb-story-2012-operator.webp
  • A 35mm film camera on the table, the crew setting up behind it Camera · 3:2 · zb-story-2012-camera.webp
  • Black and white: a smiling surfer in sunglasses between the vines Portrait · 3:2 · zb-story-2012-portrait.webp
On the set · harvest 2012 · shot on film
They called him

Zio Baffa.

Uncle Baffa. That somewhat off-beat, fun-loving uncle we all may have.

02The idea

Three friends. One bottle.

The film ended; the friendship didn't. Piergiorgio Castellani, a fifth-generation winemaker, had the idea that turned a nickname into a wine: organic, Italian and Californian at once, made in the spirit of Zio Baffa.

  • The wine

    Piergiorgio Castellani

    Fifth generation of a Tuscan wine family. His was the idea — and the wine.

  • The eye

    Jason Baffa

    The filmmaker, and the name. He curated the bottle designs together with Piergiorgio.

  • The hand

    Chris Del Moro

    Surfer, artist, environmentalist. He drew the first labels by hand.

Surf, travel, organic food, family and wine.

What went into the first bottle
A long table between cypresses and olive trees, everyone raising a glass The long table · 3:2 · zb-story-reunion-table.webp
2012Where it all starts

The first bottle.

It all starts with the 2012 harvest. The grapes picked at Poggio al Casone that September, while Jason filmed, became the first bottle of ZIOBAFFA: the Toscana, vintage 2012.

The first edition came in magnums, closed with red wax and signed by hand by Piergiorgio.

A picker in sunglasses empties a bucket of red grapes into the steel bin, cypresses and vines behind Into the bin · 3:2 · zb-story-2012-pour.webp
The first edition: magnums of ZIOBAFFA Toscana 2012 with red wax seals, one signed in gold, in an open wooden case The first edition · 3:4 · zb-story-2012-first-magnum.webp
Pickers on both sides of a vineyard post, cutting bunches into red buckets The picking · 3:2 · zb-story-2012-pickers.webp
A picker in a flat cap smiling at a bunch of grapes in his hands, a row of cypresses at the end of the vines The bunch · 3:2 · zb-story-2012-bunch.webp
A bucket of grapes emptied into the bin while friends walk up the row with more, the villa behind the vines More buckets · 3:2 · zb-story-2012-bin.webp
The table laid for the harvest lunch at the edge of the vineyard, flowers and chillies in jars, the villa on the hill The harvest lunch · 2:1 · zb-story-2012-lunch.webp
Harvest 2012 · Poggio al Casone · 16 September 2012 The first edition · Toscana 2012 in magnum, signed by Piergiorgio Castellani
03The label

Same wine.
New face.

The first ZIOBAFFA label, Toscana 2014: Italy drawn in waves First label · zb-story-label-first.webp
The first label

Drawn by hand by Chris Del Moro: Italy made of waves, a compass for a seal, the name in striped capitals. Printed on FSC-certified paper.

The first ZIOBAFFA wordmark The first compass seal
The new ZIOBAFFA label, Toscana
The new label · Spring 2026

A complete graphic redesign of the brand: a new wordmark with the grain of a woodblock print, new waves, a new paper — the Materica behind this page. Only the look changed. The wine is the one it always was.

The new ZIOBAFFA wordmark
042023 harvest

Vermentino joins the family.

From the 2023 harvest a new grape came into the family: Vermentino, picked here in Tuscany. It stands beside the Pinot Grigio and the Toscana Rosso — the red that grows in the family vineyards where the Bella Vita harvest was filmed, and still the truest ambassador of the film's message.

  • ZIOBAFFA Toscana Rosso
    Toscana RossoThe ambassador
  • ZIOBAFFA Pinot Grigio
    Pinot GrigioSince the beginning
  • ZIOBAFFA Vermentino
    VermentinoPicked in Tuscany
05On the road

Wherever we go, the table gets longer.

The wine is the excuse. The point is the people around the table — and the waves between one table and the next.

  1. 2017 California · end of August #ZIODOESCALI

    Zio does Cali

    The first trip was to the other half of the family. At the end of the summer of 2017 we took ZIOBAFFA to California, where Jason comes from, and spent it with the people who make that coast what it is: Skoby Joe at his potter's wheel, the first cases of Prosecco coming out of the van, and longboards in the morning glass.

    From above: three surfers sitting on white longboards in deep blue water Longboards · 3:2 · zb-story-cali-aerial.webp
    Skoby Joe at the potter's wheel, hands white with clay, a bottle of ZIOBAFFA Toscana beside him Skoby Joe · zb-story-cali-skoby.webp
    A case of ZIOBAFFA Prosecco opened at the door of a green van, a dog leaning out to sniff it The van · zb-story-cali-box.webp

  2. 2017 Japan · October #ZIODOESJAPAN

    Zio does Japan

    Two months later, the other side of the Pacific. With the family from Italy and California we flew to Japan to join new friends for a few good sessions and a few good bottles. The Japanese surfers Yuma Takanuki and Kenta Ishikawa lit the way, and we rediscovered Japan's classic traditions with a glass of Zio in our hands — the thing we use to bring people together, whatever the culture.

    Six surfers in wetsuits standing on a kerb after a session, one holding a green longboard After the session · 4:3 · zb-story-japan-crew.webp
    A man in a ZIOBAFFA work jacket in front of a painted pirate ship on a blue container wall The mural · 4:3 · zb-story-japan-mural.webp

  3. 2019 Tuscany · the Family Reunion · end of September

    The whole family at one table

    At the end of September 2019 the ZIOBAFFA family came home, all of it: surfers, photographers, filmmakers, cooks and friends from America, Japan and Italy. A week of kitchens and long tables — tagliatelle with mushrooms, wild boar stew with olives, dinner under the lights between the vines — and the wine that had brought everyone there.

    The ambassadors' dinner was cooked by our friends Salt & Silver, Cozy and Jo, who travel, surf and cook out of Hamburg. The eggs and the meat came from Paolo and Filippo Parisi, father and son.

    Dinner at dusk on a long table between the vines, string lights overhead, the villa behind Vineyard dinner · 3:2 · zb-story-reunion-vineyard.webp
    The Salt & Silver crew in ZIOBAFFA aprons behind a table full of plates, one raising a bottle of ZIOBAFFA olive oil The cooks · zb-story-reunion-cooks.webp
    Paolo Parisi throwing a shaka, a friend and his son Filippo Parisi, a bottle of the first-label Toscana Shaka · zb-story-reunion-shaka.webp
    In the kitchen: two cooks at work while a signora points the way Kitchen · zb-story-reunion-kitchen.webp
    Dinner under brick arches, the walls covered in old photographs, someone standing to speak Dinner · zb-story-reunion-dinner.webp
    Black and white: glasses up by the fireplace Toast · zb-story-reunion-toast-bw.webp
    The whole crew, late at night, on a kerb in the village square The crew · 3:2 · zb-story-reunion-crew.webp
    The kitchen: Salt & Silver · Eggs and meat: Paolo & Filippo Parisi

  4. 2019 Brazil · end of the year #ZIODOESBRAZIL

    Zio does Brazil

    At the end of 2019 we went south and welcomed a new country into the Zio society: Andrew Serrano deep in the barrel, a Zio night at Casa Surf, Chef Eudes and his Taioba Gastronomia with us, and a tour shirt drawn by Ciro Bicudo of Organik World Lab.

    A surfer crouched deep inside a green barrelling wave, a hill behind In the barrel · 16:9 · zb-story-brazil-barrel.webp
    Andrew Serrano, Brazil
    ZIOBAFFA Brazilian Tour artwork: the Zio in his hat, #stayzio Brazil tour art · zb-story-brazil-art.webp
    Tour art: Ciro Bicudo · Organik World Lab

  5. 2020 Home

    We are what we eat.

    Then the world stopped: no flights, no tours, no long tables. From home, we kept telling the story the only way that was left — on film.

2020From home, everywhere

Keep the world open.

The Zio with his surfboard: Keep the world open Zio illustration · zb-story-ktwo-zio.webp

Locked in, we opened up. Everyone who had sat at the 2019 table made something from home — photographs, art, surf, film — and we stitched it all together into one collection from all over the world.

A new way to see the world has arrived. Are you ready for it?

#KEEPTHEWORLDOPEN

  1. 2020 Tuscany · the harvest

    Back in the rows

    When the world began to open again, we went back to where it all started: the vineyard at harvest time. Josh Hall, of the ZIOBAFFA family, joined us between the rows — the bridge between the long pause and the film series that came next.

    Josh Hall in a felt hat looking through the vines, a bunch of red grapes in each hand Josh Hall · 16:9 · zb-story-harvest-josh.webp
    Josh Hall, harvest
062021–2022 · A film series

The Med Diet Collective.

Of everything we have made, this is the one closest to home. A documentary series about the Mediterranean way of eating — not as a diet, as a way of living: who grows it, who makes it, who cooks it, and the table where it all ends up.

We drove the small roads close to home and knocked on doors: a family that has made pasta since 1926, a pizza oven, a baker, a grower among his tomatoes, the new olive oil poured straight from the tin. Old friends came back into the story — Paolo and Filippo Parisi for the eggs and the meat, Chef Eudes, who had been with us in Brazil, for the fish. It was the last big thing we did before the new look — and the one we are proudest of.

Hand-drawn Mediterranean food pyramid: bread, pasta and potatoes at the base, then fruit and vegetables, olive oil, fish, eggs and cheese, and meat and sweets at the top Pyramid · 1:1 · zb-story-md-pyramid.webp
Illustration: Cerise Zelenetz, New York
  1. The people behind the plate

    Who grows it, who makes it.

  2. A sky-blue Fiat 500 driving down a country lane between hedges and olive trees zb-story-md-road.webp
    July 2021On the roadSmall roads, an old Fiat 500, a list of doors to knock on.
  3. The Martelli pasta shop wall, painted yellow: famiglia di pastai dal 1926 zb-story-md-wall.webp
    July 2021MartelliA family of pasta makers since 1926.
  4. Luca of Martelli in yellow overalls and cap, in a white-tiled room zb-story-md-luca.webp
    July 2021LucaIn the pasta workshop, dressed in the house yellow.
  5. A grey-haired man biting into a folded pizza at an outdoor table zb-story-md-pizza.webp
    August 2021PizzaThe first bite is always the best one.
  6. A grower holding two ribbed tomatoes between tall rows of tomato plants zb-story-md-tomatoes.webp
    October 2021TomatoesAmong the plants, the last ones of the season in his hands.
  7. Two men tasting olive oil on bread at a wooden table, two green ZIOBAFFA oil tins between them zb-story-md-oil.webp
    December 2021Olive oilThe new oil, bread and a tin with our name on it.
  8. A baker in a white jacket and bandana holding a loaf of bread in front of the ovens zb-story-md-bread.webp
    January 2022BreadOut of the oven, into the hands.
  9. Paolo Parisi in a white apron holding an egg in his kitchen, the host of the series beside him zb-story-md-parisi-kitchen.webp
    Episode 5Paolo ParisiThe eggs of his hens, in the kitchen.
  10. Paolo Parisi, white-bearded, holding up an egg in his hen house zb-story-md-parisi-egg.webp
    Episode 5The ultimate eggAmong his hens, one egg held up to the light.
  11. Episode 5 · Part I

    Filippo Parisi. The meat.

    Paolo's son. The meat episode is his.

  12. Chef Eudes, in a Taioba t-shirt, arm in arm with a friend in a seaside restaurant zb-story-md-eudes.webp
    October 2022Chef EudesTaioba Gastronomia. He was with us on the Brazil tour, and came back for the fish.
  13. The series

    Pull up a chair.

07Still rolling

And the road goes on.

The latest from the ZIOBAFFA family. This part of the page grows as the story does.

  1. 2022 Crespina → Bolgheri · October

    Zio Bici Tour

    In October 2022 we rode it. From Poggio al Casone, in Crespina — Zio's home, where it all started — to Bolgheri on two wheels, a pack of friends and beards, the last stretch down the long line of cypresses.

    Made possible by Z-Adventure, the adventure cycling hub in Florence, and by Podere Arduino's Bolgheri Green.

    The pack of riders coming up the cypress avenue, the sea at the far end of the road The avenue · 9:16 · zb-story-bici-avenue.webp
    Two bearded riders leading the group along a road lined with tall cypresses The pack · zb-story-bici-riders.webp

  2. Next stop · to be written · #stayzio