The vines of the Boccafolle estate were originally imported by the Greeks. Beginning in the VIII c. BC the Greek colonization of the coasts of the Ionic Sea brought numerous settlements in what is known today as the region Calabria. The city of Sibari, developed alongside the river Crati was among these new colonies. The historical Sibarian valley is the location of the Boccafolle estate. The Greek colonizers integrated with the indigenous populations and created an improved agricultural and pastoral economy. The Greek mercantile tradition helped the local farmers learn how to trade their goods. An intense commerce of cereal, legumes, vegetables, oil and wine rapidly developed along the roads that connected the Ionic to the Tyrrhenian Sea. Numerous artifacts have been found along those routes that are a testament of this florid mercantile activity. A bronze votive ax dated VII-VI c. BC found on the shores of the river Rosa that flanks the part of the vineyard in 1846 is currently displayed at the British Museum and is part of the logo of the winery.

In the Sibarian valley the outpost of Balbia was established for the rest and re-supply of merchants along their trading routes. On those fertile and undulating hills multiple agriculture-based activities were flourishing, in particular: apiculture, farming, aviculture and viticulture. The wines produced in what is now the region of Alta Calabria were appreciated well beyond the limits of nearby territories as proven by the research of the Consortium for the Preservation of the PDO (protected designation of origin) “Terre di Cosenza”. From the writing of Francesco di Marco Datini (1335-1410) it is possible to have a sense of the extents of the wine trade: from the territories of Alta Calabria reaching as far as Spain, England and France. References to a red-grape wine named “Balbino” can be found in written testimony as old as the notes of Pliny the Elder.

For many centuries the agricultural property in Calabria had been characterized by large feudal estates. In modern times those estates were partitioned in smaller parcels not allowing the establishment, the retention or the transmission of the original wine-making traditions. The mission of the Boccafolle winery has been to precisely restore the historical vines and revive those ancient wine-making traditions. In the last fifteen years, systematic research and ad-hoc interventions were aimed to recover the antique vine species that were able to survive. The company was established in the early 2000s with the objective to identify local vintage vines based on fragments of documentation and on the little verbal tradition available. As of today, Boccafolle was able to replant four indigenous qualities of vine: “Greco Nero”, “Magliocco”, “Vujnu” and “Duraca” which are now flourishing in family properties that had been always devoted to viniculture.