Details on Mattia Binotto's new life after leaving Ferrari

Mattia Binotto has decided: after his adventure with Ferrari, he will venture into winemaking and become a full-fledged viticulturist. No more French or German sirens to return to F1. Never! His future will continue to be red and passionate, yes, but it will be a passion linked to Bacchus, not to Maranello. And that’s just fine. A well-known saying goes, more or less, “If you do a job you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.” And, let’s face it, the Italian-Swiss with a taste for bitter pills has had to swallow quite a few in recent years.

From his time as team principal, memorable imitations by Crozza will remain, with the now infamous phrase “we must understand,” which has become an indelible mark to indicate that understanding had not really been achieved. Then there were the criticisms of that fake “Drive to Survive” stuff that rival team principals maliciously threw at him (in front of cameras) for the red team’s suicidal strategies. And there’s also the nickname “Pharaoh” that stuck (given by some joker at GES to summarize the total centralization of sports management under his hands).

You know, when you win, everyone praises you; when you lose, everyone blames you. So, scrutiny of his management began with a magnifying glass. Some mean journalists did the math: “He won half of what Arrivabene did” was the thing that hurt him the most! Phrases like “If it’s not a dragster, he’s not happy,” “You get pole positions that don’t count for anything but don’t win races!” Or “Nice negotiation with the FIA, which gave us two years of nothing” were many stiletto jabs thrown at a true Ferrari fan, who suddenly became a new Saint Sebastian.

Social media was even worse. With a group of few, generous, and tireless defenders of the bespectacled engineer fighting tooth and nail to defend Mattia. They were even called, ridiculing them, “unconsolable widows of Binotto.” In short, there was enough to get sick about. Yet, from the Swiss side, he learned the “zen” art of meditating, understanding, finding something to do to distance himself from that now-toxic world.

Perhaps few know, but Mattia has always loved cultivating the land and producing wine, albeit non-professionally. So, here comes the first experiment, the 2022 harvest on his land in Romagna. The harvest went very well, beyond the rosiest expectations, with the launch of two red wines (first among friends, then in a selected chain of restaurants), with “names” indicating Binotto’s self-irony, unfortunately unknown to many who continue to depict him as a person with a prickly character…

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Binotto: After the Ferrari period, the Future is Branded
The first wine, immediately a hit and born almost as a joke, was named “SF90.” According to enthusiasts, it has a powerful taste that doesn’t last long on the palate, leaving you wanting to try it again. Given the success of this wine, Mattia then proposed a rosé, “DC22” (which should mean “Dobbiamo capire,” vintage 2022, but this is our assumption), with a sincere, “self-indulgent,” and round taste. So, if you get such a gratifying, extraordinary, and unexpected success, why not try again, or even double down?

Thus, for this year’s harvest, in addition to reoffering “SF90” and “DC22,” Mattia has also released two high-proof spirits on the market, and even some GES engineers and mechanics, with whom he has remained on excellent terms, used steel scraps and more to prepare special “high-speed” stills (the “formula” of which remains secret, of course!).

Two spectacular grappas were born: the “Binotto,” with a high octane number, as humorously read on the label, and the Carbon Barrel-Aged Grappa “Pharaoh,” using exclusive smoked carbon fiber barrels (apparently, Mattia Binotto came up with the idea thinking about Carlos Sainz’s F1-75 whose power unit caught fire in Austria last year), giving a unique taste to the high-proof spirit.

To suggest innovative fermentation and distillation strategies, it seems to have been the brilliant Iñaki Rueda, with whom Mattia has a real friendship. The distillates in question are exceptional. Try it to believe it, with the caveat that you must be accustomed to the 75 (!) degrees of “Pharaoh,” while the Binotto settles at a more “modest” 55 degrees! These last two products, in particular, have received unanimous praise, and Mattia is even in the running to win several prestigious awards in the high-quality winemaking sector.

And it doesn’t end here! For next year, there are rumors of a “Sainz jr” special reserve that would be added to “Binotto” and “Pharaoh.” In short, all’s well that ends well! The great Italian-Swiss engineer has invented a new job, somehow embracing Steve Jobs’ motto that encapsulates the desire to never lose curiosity and ambition: “Stay foolish, stay hungry.” And maybe a little tipsy.