We’re happy to share the interview by Marta Gatti for Donna Moderna, featuring Ilaria Felluga’s journey: a story of family roots, passion for wine, and a forward-looking vision.
ILARIA’S WINES
We met at a lunch in Milan, and I left a little drunk. Not from the wine, though there was plenty (and it was very good), but from the stories. Ilaria Felluga, 29, loves to talk about what came before she became the sixth generation at the helm of the two wineries, Marco Felluga and Russiz Superiore, in the Friulian Collio region. “Together, the two estates have over 800 years of history. If you’ve got time, I’ll tell you all of it!” Her voice is gentle but confident. She doesn’t have a Friulian accent because she lived for years in Liguria. After finishing school, she moved to London to learn English. And it was there, almost by chance, that something clicked: her father, traveling with an importer, asked her to join him. “It was my first real business dinner, and I showed up in jeans and Converse at a Michelin-starred restaurant!”
That evening, listening to her father describe every glass and every bottle, she realized that wine could be her path, too. “I came back to Italy and enrolled in Viticulture and Enology at the University of Udine.” Several years later, Ilaria’s father passed away, and she took up his legacy. “I was the boss’s daughter, the youngest, a woman. Yhere were a lot of preconceptions I had to work against.”
“Today, I honor the company’s tradition, but I also try to bring a sense of freshness. I organize horseback rides, yoga sessions among the vines, and stargazing nights with a telescope. It’s my vision of a business that stays rooted while constantly renewing itself.” She looks at me, we sip a Pinot Grigio and smile. “I love talking about a centuries-old legacy that, for me, is both work and family. But do you know what my grandfather used to say? A sip is worth more than a speech.”
