Project | Terroir Milano

Our

SOUL

Terroir Milano is the natural outcome of the theorical studies and the expertise we have built in the biological sector by selecting the best natural and artisanal producers and offering their products. It is based on the global value we perceive in these producers, who stand independently from brand or official certifications.

We believe that the global value we bring is not only the product per se, but is in the ideals, the life projects and the great passions of producers. Our favourite producers sell their products directly to the market without intermediation channels. However, despite the excellent quality, their products often are invisible to the complex and competitive market of Milan. Supermarkets, even those specializing in this sector still rely mostly on historical distribution channels, and small and artisanal producers who lack in organization, management cannot attract large distributors.

Terroir Milano selects many biological and natural products not dealt by the conventional distribution system. We devote a special attention to the products of Presidi Slow Food, the innovative project aiming to support and strengthen the following:

products / producers fated to disappear
villages, hamlets in demographic decline
hilly and mountain territories who are victims of a long dated environmental degradation

VALUE OF COUNSELLING

Selling biological and natural products is a complex activity that requires the decisive role of counselling. What we sell is not just the product. If a producer says to you, “In that glass you find the wine too”, they are actually telling you that in that glass you find not only the wine but also a territory, a tradition, a culture, and last but not least the work of the people.

That wine is the perfect expression of the Terroir, the French word which collides with the basic concept of our latin culture: genius loci.

Our past experiences in the retail store business and deep knowledge in the products can ensure you an informative and interactive service, dedicated to your specific needs. We aim to be the meeting point for the network that starts from a natural and artisanal agriculture, empowering and defending the territories and creating a future with a more value-added agriculture by adding new jobs in less developed areas.

TERROIR

From the Roman genius loci to the French Terroir

Our inspiration comes from many that have paved the path before us.

Places have a soul and we must discover it in the same way we discover soul in human beings. — James Hillman, The Soul of Places (2004)

In a conversation with the Italian architect Carlo Truppi, the American psychoanalyst and philosopher James Hillman traces the relationship between nature and culture, and the ability of places in absorbing thoughts and traditions of human beings. In the search of the true meaning of Terroir, Angelo Peretti, director of The Internet Gourmet starts from this dialogue to think deeper into the relations between territories and people. He recalls the words of the Italian writer and wine expert Luigi Veronelli;

Soil remembers even the blood of people poured over it and wine produced by those vines is even able to transfer those memories. — Luigi Veronelli

Peretti continues by stating that the complex meaning of the word terroir has the following roots.

Wine is not produced through technicalities, but by memory imprinted in things. — Angelo Peretti

Our understanding is that the history of the word Terroir, that is usually referred to the French tradition of the XVI century cannot be fully understood without tracing back to the Greeks.

The Greeks spread viticulture only through specific places — in the eastern countries of the Mediterranean, because in those places Mediterranean Flora flourished. When Ulysses landed to Sicily he understood that the place was suitable to production of quality wine. Afterwards, the Romans innovated the Hellenic tradition by spreading viticulture from the Southern regions to the North. They too were in search of the best quality and chose sunny hills and slopes to cultivate vines. The expression genius loci was introduced here — by the Romans in order to identify the spirit/soul of a place and its immaterial features. French are practically smart debtors to Romans and to their genius loci.

Terroir / genius loci is a virtuous mix of material and immaterial factors such as:

Geographic Space
Ecology (Flora, Fauna…)
Subsoil
Climate (Humidity, Temperature and Temperature Range, Exposition to the sun and winds…)
History, Traditions, and Culture, built in centuries of human activity

As Jamie Goode, the London-based wine writer refers to Pinot Noir in German Ahr Valley:

Alchemy of people, place and time. All are involved in forging and enjoying great Pinot Noir. — Jamie Goode

Places had souls for Greeks and Romans who built temples and towns on them. However, throughout centuries their souls and uniqueness have been lost. Terroir/genius loci has a soul and a memory too and we believe that a place without a soul will grow products without a soul. If we respect and protect the land, and do not ruin it by devastating into a “non place“, then we are able to listen to its unique and universal soul, without exploiting from it.

Via Macedonio Melloni, 33

20129 – Milano

Monday: 3:30pm – 8:00pm

Tuesday – Friday:

11:00am-2:00pm | 3:30pm-8:00pm

Saturday: 10:15am – 7:30pm

Phone: +39 0238246796

Fax: +39 0237927850

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