Ep. 1214 Tommasella Perniciaro Interviews Domenica/Caterina Malaspina | Clubhouse Ambassador's Corner

Some of you have asked how you can help us, while most of us would say we want wine. Italian wine podcast is a publicly funded sponsor driven enter prize that needs the Moola. You can donate through Patreon or go fund me by heading to Italian wine podcast dot com. We would appreciate it. Oh, yeah. Welcome to this special Italian wine podcast broadcast. This episode is a recording off Clubhouse, the popular drop in audio chat. This clubhouse session was taken from the wine business club and Italian wine club. Listen in as wine lovers and experts alike engage in some great conversation on a range of topics in wine. If you enjoy listening, please consider donating through Italian wine podcast dot com. Any amount helps cover equipment, production, and publication costs, and remember to subscribe and rate our show wherever you tune in. Welcome to clubhouse Ambassador's Corner. My name is Joy Livingston. I'm standing in for Stevie Kim. Stevie is off yonder traveling and, doing wine related activities. So today, we have, Thomas A la Pernicaro, who is going to be interviewing Katarina and Dominica Malaspina. So clubhouse Ambassador's corner is always replayed on the Italian wine pot cast. It's done so because it's it's super popular on the podcast, and, of course, Clubhouse has sort of, petered out, but it has an amazing recording. So it's perfect to use Clubhouse Now I'm going to introduce Thomas. Tomisella, are you there? Yes. How are you? Hi. Good. Good. I can't very well. Good. Where are you right now? I'm in gothenburg in Sweden, where I live and work. Okay. I was gonna I was gonna ask you about that because you have such an Italian name, but you have all the Swedish credentials. So Yeah. No. No. No. But I'm originally from Italy, but I live in Sweden. Yes. Great. Where in Italy are you originally from? From Calabrio, actually. Oh, from Calabrio. Okay. And you're actually going to be interviewing a company in Calabrio. Okay. Great. No. No. That's great. So, let me just give you a a quick introduction and, I'm gonna ask you a couple of questions as well about your choice in producer. And then I will let you, you know, have the floor, and I'll I'll I'll meet myself after that. So, yeah, you are the CEO of Good wine habit, w Set approved program provider, and you have a wine consulting company in Gossenberg, Sweden, w Set diploma, graduate, and certified educator, a Via Ambassador, and Via certified Cater and a wine specialist for the Swedish market. Did I miss anything? That's a lot of It's perfect. Yes. That's great. Okay. So I wanted to ask you. How did you decide, how did you select this producer today, Katerilla and Dominica, Malaspina, from, the vinikola, Malaspina? Yes. Well, this is actually my second interview, after the one we with Adxjandra, Bachelieri from Calabrio, last March. So maybe you might wonder why I chose Calabrio again for the second interview. I believe that, this region is very, underrated. Compared to the other Italian wine producing regions despite of the clear and big improvements recently made in Viticulture and wine production. It's a fascinating land that conquers people very subtly. Creating a special bound that encourages them to go back. And Calabrio wines do the same. Once you try the good wines, you want to try and know more and more. And I think the Adienda Malaspina is one of the top knots that are contributing to put Calabrio back on the Italian wime up. They are located right in the southern tip of Calabrio where Rego Calabrio is. So quite far from the more well known denominations, like Chilol, for example, but this place is very enchanting and the vineyard sites are so diverse that, the resulting differences are expressed in the wines produced there. So, yeah, this is basically why I chose them. Okay. Great. And and, you you may have already touched on this next question that I'm gonna ask you, but what sort of things do you want us to the audience to learn from Katarina and Dominica today, what do you want us to take away from it in terms of learning objectives? Well, listening to Katarina Dominica Malaspina will give the opportunity to find out a bit more about the diversity of grapes and why styles the region has. It's a family story, based on love and respect for the Calabrian land and wine tradition with a new look at the future. I think that, tradition and innovation are tied together in the way they grow their wines and produce their wines. Okay. That's okay. Yeah. Okay. May I just ask, how did you when did you first taste the wines. Have you have you been there to the Athena Monaspina? Okay. And so you've tasted the wines, and have you met them in person? Yeah. Exactly. I I tasted the wine some years ago, and I was pleasantly surprised by the character these wines had. But it was only the last summer when I was in Calabrio that I decided to visit the winery. When I booked my visit, Dominican invited me to be part of the summer event, Aparity, Wombinia, which means aperitif in the vineyard. Where visitors have the chance not only to visit the vineyard sites, but also to enjoy a nice and cozy chat with the producer while having some tasty zero kilometers food, and wonderful wines in the middle of the vineyard facing the Strait of Messina. I had a memorable experience not only for the food, the wines, and the location. But especially for the warmth, the kindness and generosity, Katarina, and Dominican showed us to welcome us. It was a really sharing and and reaching experience, perfectly reflecting what wine in the end should be. Great. Actually, I'm I'm hoping that they talk a little bit more about the, zero kilometer foods. What kind of things because I'm I'm assuming that means it's stuff that they grow or have, and they're very, very close to their to their vineyard. Right? Yeah. Exactly. Yes. There were some products, made by the family, some local products made by neighbors as well. So it was really, really interesting to to taste them. Alright. Well, without further ado then, I guess I will call up Catetti. Are you there? Yes. Hi, Joy. Hi. Hi. I will I will mute myself. And at the end, I'll I'll come back and, if there's any questions and also to just close-up at the end. So go ahead, Thomas and, talk to you guys later. Okay. Great. Thank you so much, Joy. Will let just, tell a few words to introduce Katarina and Dominican, first, then they will, obviously, tell us, more about themselves. So the agenda Vinikola Malaspina is a family owned winery. The Malaspina family located in Melito de Porto Salvo in the southernmost tip of Calabria. Vineyards are located on theonian coast, the eastern side of the region. In the province of radio Calabria between the villages of Palaro and Palitsi. The focus on our talk to us wines is a passion shared by all the family members who will copper cooperated to create wines full of character and personality strongly linked to the to the territory. The winery was born in the nineteen sixty seven, and nowadays Conzolato, his founder, together with his wife, Franchesca, and their four daughters. Take care of the management and development of the company. So today we have two of the four daughters here with us, Katrina Domenica Malaspina, welcome, and thanks a lot for being with us today. I'm really happy you have accepted to share your story with us and to introduce us, your winery. Thank you, Thomas. I love thank you for inviting us here to share our our experience. Great. So let's start with the first questions. So, first of all, if you can tell us a little bit more about how and when the Adia Namalaspina was created. Okay. As you said, in nineteen sixty seven, my father, our father decided to transfer this patient for the world of wine into a family business. My mother joined him, joined him, and supported him since the very beginning in this project. And now my three sister and I are following their step. We have grown up together, and, we follow them, among the vines and the and the winery. And, as you can imagine, we have fallen in love with this job as well as done, and the rest is our story. Great. Fantastic. You are four sisters, you said. So are all of you working for the winery? What is the role each of you covers? Yes. Each of us have a role according to a one on a half institutes and the reliability. Everyone gives its contribution. I take care of the administrative aspect. Katarina is responsible for the production Hi Renee is the Joker. She's also for us. And Patricia takes care of the marketing. Okay. Great. Fantastic. Okay. So, you are located right on the tip of the Italian boost. You can almost touch Sicily from some of your vineyards. What makes your site so special and suited to the production of high quality wines like yours, wines that can speak of a territory? Oh, yeah. As you can say, the sites are very suitable and blessed place. The sun, the soil, the atmosphere, the sea breeze that blows to the eels are important element that play crucial roles on our wines character. Lastly, an important input is represented by the grapes, which is to grow that are indigenous varieties. And, we use a traditional training system called Alberlo. That means a little free and in English is freestanding training system. The broad is very, limited by a short dry pruning, the plant as a vigorous stem with the ache between fifty, sixty, centimetres that develops in three sports with three gents for each one. As you can imagine, the production, for plant, and the four actor is very very small. It is about forty quintals per hectare. And the training system are loose to the vine to adapt the elevator to the elevator temperature and the hydridex stress. This is the typical. This is typical in South Italy where we are. Yeah. Of course, I also think that whenever you have, like, albera, low training systems, you get less as you said, less, fluid, therefore a little bit more concentration of everything in the grapes. So, we, also expect more concentration even in the final wines. So how many actors do you have and what are the grape varieties you decided to work with? Yes. We have a little less than, connectors of vineyards. Different plots located in three different, communi or districts, you know, Reginalabria, where we have the The ancient vineyard, of the province of Trevalabria show a particular characteristic. Often, there are several including white, red, brown, together in the same plot. This, probably was due to the need to moderate the angle called content of the wines due to the, temperatures, and to obtain a red with a delicate red color ready to be drunk in a short time. We concentrated our work on identifying the wines that best reflected, all our philosophy. Which, in our opinion, had a greater link with the reward. Therefore, through the micro verification experiments, on the individual varieties. So we identify the the once that in our opinion, best express the the production area. We, transplanted the old vineyard and, and, replicated in a best rational, way, the same indigenous graves nocera, calabresenero Galo and Malo. This, require to eliminate the white grape wines and to replace the plants in a more regular planting pattern. Good. Very, very interesting. This aspect you're talking about. There has been a generational change of course from the father to his daughters. And furthermore, the consumer's taste and preferences have changed, in a recent year. So, is this change also reflected in the approach to beauty culture and winemaking? And, if so, how? We are very glad to understand that, cancer are now more sensitive than in the past, to the way everyone is born. There is a large representation of them that shows, a great interest, a small, winery production. And especially in quality and terroir wines. Wines, produce it with respect for environment, and these these allow us to focus our energy on producing quality and uniqueness, in our way, in an original style that show how we purse with constants, constancy, our way of research and innovation a respective tradition and not necessarily following the trends, but affirming the personality of the product. Okay. So, when I visited your vineers on the heels of Palaro, this summer, last summer. I was so nicely surprised by how you respect the environment and the topography of the area. It seems that you haven't adopted the site to your production goals. Having your vineyards adapted to the surroundings instead, being in the middle of pre copairs and other trees and plants and enjoying different outages and exposures to get the best out of what nature can give. Is there any difference in the way you manage different plots according to the size characteristics and how is this reflected in the wines you produce? We are very pleasant memories of the evening we spent together at Tomas. We felt the sensation of sharing emotion and point of view with open minds and very sensitive parts. So, as as you understand, we love our job, and we are very fortunate to work in such a such a fascinating and interesting field. We we are very strongly connected with our land and this after after, our decision and the course of action. We know that the healed of environment is very compromised by humans, human action. And, I think that we have to recognize and face this and now and seriously we have to change the wrong behaviors in a respectable and sustainable average. And we are small, but we want to do our part to give our contribution to the cows. This is the reason why as you said, we haven't adopted the site to the production goals. This is, why we practice a respect a respectful agriculture and vine care and responsible while making practice. And in pennsylvania, we preserve the the original vine planting. This is the reason why you find fake speech, and pure plants spread, throughout the vineyard. The different plots are managing the different ways, of course, related to the different variety exposure, soils, and altitudes, but with the same philosophy. For example, Impellero, the Calabresenero, Locera, and Delicante plants are on, on the different plots are placed in some vine roles, exposed to South and in the new plots to north, the altitude is about two hundred meter under the sea level. And the soil is medium texture with the prevalence of sand. It's a little stony, and, it is a Calvary soils. Soil. The wine we produce here is a fluid full body of bread with a good structure, softness, and delicate tenants. Valietz's plantation is relatively new, respect. Other. It is eight years old, almost nine. And it's located at six hundred meter under the sea level. Denochara and the Calabresanero, Albera Lovines placed in rows here, exposed to east and south. And here, the soil is medium texture with the prevalence of clay, so different by There is a good presence of calcareous is due, and this this element affect the wine who produced it. Policy is in fact, powerful red with the fourteen percent article, well strippedured, elegant, good tannins, remarkable acidity. And it is, aged in oak barrel for approx Madiv, ten, twelve a month. And it is a very long lived wine. And in Palitsi, you don't find you don't find three prands in the middle of the plot. But in, like in, the other vine, vineyard, during the spring season, butterflies, bees, and other nice insects share the beautiful landscape with our vines. The blooming is gorgeous. And here, we try to preserve a microenvironment as well as possible with positive reflection on the environmental equilibrium. And, we trust this precious little word to give something extra and make the difference in our wines. Well, that's fantastic to hear. I I I guess that you don't use any chemicals in the vineyards. Therefore, it's a quite organic or even natural approach to Yes. Yeah. We are very fortunate because, we don't need. I think that's, that are very, very blessed place because, There are not so Are windy windy, hard. Yeah. So the breeze is a good a good thing in for for the the plants because they They are there is not so much risk of pests or diseases. Exactly. Yeah. That's that's great. So if we come to, your wines, can you briefly tell us how many wines that you produce and what choices you make in the winery to contribute to their style. I don't know if you are experimenting with any specific techniques, also in relation to aging, for example. In our area, we produce IGT wines, in Italian, Indicazione geographical tipica, and, we produce four reds pallicos is the is a bread made, from gallopo and calabresanero. It is a simple fresh and fruity bread and for less than six months into no. And then Palitzimpeller that you have already, that's why you have already described. Patro Espro is the other bread we produce a very, very interesting, small production of manjoko grapes. Italian wine podcast brought to you by mama jumbo shrimp. We produce also one white called Mica. As our grandma from Greco Bianco and one rosette, rosaspina, from hundred percent Gallopo grapes. For each of them, we follow different protocols, of course. And protocols experience the more than twenty years of unification. The most significant choices, sir, that influenced the style of the wine are probably the moderate use of sulfite. The different time of maturation and the mix engaging in steel tanks and oak barrels. And the moderate use of oak barrels and the choice to introduce new borrowers in a very, very small percent per year about the five percent because we want to preserve the primaries, the primary aromas. We practice the Baton Rouge technique on white and rosette, especially in white with very satisfying result. That we choose to use only natural cork to close our bottle. About the batonage, is a French term to the finds that finds a process that allows to displace the expired cells at the bottom of a tank to the y, to doubt, to out the y to gentle agitation. We use a long metal tool called the bastogne, that means stick. And is it is it it is inserted, to the, the top opening of the of a wine tank and is, then use the to softly stir the wine. The sediment that builds up, at the bottom of the wine is known as Liz, which is, another word for deed or residual, his cells. By dispersing the list, throughout the wine in the tank, it allows, for an even texture and flower to be imparted to the wine as that essentially is, is the part of the process. And this process is an important, instrumented to that makes to obtain a a good balance of the wine and, preserve it by oxidation because the lids has a very good affinity with the oxygen absorption. This process is typically typically done, once a week. And the the winemaker know exactly the right amount of stirring that is needed to achieve the perfect balance in the wine. It, it is very fine to understand that step steps and extra steps like this are not going unassoci. It is available at an available, I'll put to reduce the sulfite contains. Yeah. I remember I tried the Micah, the white wine. And, what I, I noticed, for example, was the, this rich texture, due to the Batonage, of course, but also, a very lively acidity. So, it was not like drinking a wine that was really heavy in the end. It was a really, really, a product with a perfect balance between this freeminess softness, and the freshness from the acidity. So I guess you you also decide that year after year, vintage after vintage, if to go for Baton or not and how many, how how often you need to steer as well. So it's something like a process defined every year. Yeah. Yeah. Every year is is different. It depends by the the many different aspects as well. Yes. Yes. Great. Fantastic. So, we we talked about the wines. So, which one, if any specific best represents the Adienda Malaspina in your opinion? It is not easy for me to to give you a disaster. As you can imagine, everyone is special for us in a different way. Each of them has a different history that I'm so for alternate to follow from the blooming of the wine to the bottling. And in some case, I've carried, for them, for years, as well as the reds. I think that Patros is a very high quality small production of Malioco. And that's the reason why we called it, Pietro, like our beloved, grandfather. Tallo and Palitsi come out from two wonderful areas. And probably the, the project that we love the most. So each, each wine is expressive, India, and of a specific terroir. And, they are all special songs, who we say. Especially please. Yeah. You you it's not possible to choose from, just one. Well, that that is good for our listeners because they might be more interested now to try your wines, of course, which I definitely suggest doing. So by the way, if some of our listeners wanted to, source your wines abroad. Where are they available to purchase at the moment? It would be a pleasure. Currently, our wines are available in Europe. France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany, and, in United States. We are able to ship small quantities to provide, provide cost customers, to all European countries where our wine, are not misty wetted yet. Okay. I mean, United states? Do you know do you remember where exactly, what states? Oh, in California, in California, and in Pennsylvania. Okay. So and any, any project to go to the Farista. So like China or similar countries? Yes. Yes. Of course, the COVID, the stop, a lot of, of a lot of process and project, but now we are, we are starting again to keep in touch with them. So we ought to to to be there very soon. Good. Very good. So if some of our listeners wanted sorry. Do you have any new projects coming up in the near future? Oh, yes. We are going to build a small testing wooden home on Paloro Vineyard, and we are going to renovate a little ruin in Palizi. We hope to to do this very, very soon because, we want we could stand in the to the wintertime, the hospitality to our vineyards. And, we are planning to replant a small, very small lot of palerovine yard, because that needs to be renovated. And, we are This is this is our project for the near for yeah. Here for the near future. So when you refer to hospitality, what do you mean specifically, like, bed and breakfast or No. Just just, you know, because you you've been there, just to create a space, in the divine yard, where it's possible to ask people, when the weather is not good, when, is frozen outside. And so it's possible to to stay there and to enjoy the place, in the winter season too, in the winter season. Two. Yeah. Yeah. Because I remember when I was there with the, doing the aperitivo in in the vineyard. It was summertime, so it was quite easy to be outside. So, yeah, during wintertime, it might be better to be inside, of course. Joy asked about the, zero kilometers food. Would you like to explain a little bit more about that? Oh, yes. Yes. We we try to offer with our wines, not just wines or not just food, but a testing experience of the product of our our land because, we want people, can can try. It can, discover, our tipacity, our typical food. So we usually, when we asked people in, on on the fine art that we offer when we want to organize some Pahizi. We offer, Salumi, and traditional cheeses, homemade bread, honey, figs, marmalade, the producer, the with the fig that we pick up on the wide yard. And, all live, lives and, all the easy food that you can, you can try in our, in our area. Yeah. So now people have one more reason to go and visit you, by the way, but the food was really, really tasty. It was really nice and really good. Okay. So, well, the last questions, On your website, there is a very nice definition of Calabrio, a wild, proud, and fascinating land. If you had to describe this land to potential visitors and customers. So what would you say to convince them to come and visit the place where you produce wine? I think that Calabrio is a place you don't expect. It is the land of great many contradiction, but it is beautiful and this landscape are so various and fascinating. It's all around the peninsula. And change, from flat caribbean beach, just beautiful to a high cliff, very fascinating thing on the sea. The mountains are beautiful, and, in less than thirty minutes, from some place on the coast so you can reach the top of the mountain. And Calabrio was part of the My Magna Grisha. So would be interesting to visit the the remain site, and the museum where it's possible to enjoy incredible treasure, of classical art from the past, like Bronsie Diriache, and Bronsie Diriache, are two marvelous run statues, you naked warriors, warriors in all the earth's splendor. And, Calabia is a land that offer a gorgeous nature that is just cooled and very, very friendly and welcoming people and last but, normally, it's a wonderful wife. Of course, last but not least, I I you mentioned the the possibility of skiing, like thirty minutes far from where you are. And in fact, it's a very, I think it's it's a real treasure to be able to skin, while looking at the scene in front of you. It doesn't happen so often. You see the sisley is, there. There. You can touch it. Yeah. You can touch it. It's an experience that maybe I'm not very able to describe the feeling there, is something that you have to try. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. I think that whenever you go there, the the bond I I mentioned in my introduction starts to come out. So you you even if that the land, as you said, has many contradictions, It also has many points of beauty, and the people, especially are very, very special. So, I encourage always encourage people. I'm living in Sweden, and I'm promoting the region as much as I can. So I always tell people to go and enjoy, the the experience, of course. So well, I think we have, done with all the questions. So thank you so much for answering all these questions. It was a real pleasure for me to, interview, to interview you. So I I will give the room back to Joy now. I don't know if there are a Thank you. Thank you so much for that. And thank you, Joy. For Hi. Hi. No. That was wonderful. And and thank you. Was so interested in the food was because it's dinner time, and I'm really hungry. So I have other questions about the food. You mentioned cheeses. What kind of cheeses do you get? She chooses, and, ricotta cheese's cheese. And, sometime, we can offer Oh, all all all traditional, all all, cheese from, this area around us from the provincial of Redu Calabrio. If I'm not Okay. Not Very good. That's what I was thinking. No. That's wonderful. I I was, I was just, you know, I was thinking to myself. I wasn't sure if if it was the sheep's cheese or or from cows or so so I was just wondering that And, no, I think that's great. That's wonderful. And and and I love that. So I think also, Leica has a question as well. Leica, you wanna go ahead? Yeah. Hello. Hi, Dominic. Katrina. Actually, I I'm very curious about this question. Since hello. So since you have, I I I know that you you are in a family business of course. And, that's kind of I I could imagine how maybe it could be difficult to manage, the business together with, of course, like, family relationships. If you have any advice for any family businesses out there that are also in in the wine business, what would you advise to them? I think, that concentrated. My advice can be related to the concentration of the efforts on production of tapeacity. So because, we we, in the past, yeah, produced international, wines too for example, but we decide to to produce to concentrate our effort on the production of typical wines that, for us, it something very special because, to the wine we can, we can talk about our land. We can talk talk about our life because our wines are part of our life. It's everything is so. Sometimes we we used to to to do to to say that there's no limit between the house and the winery. We feel very deeply the love for what we do. That's a beautiful answer. So you were saying that, by not, by producing the wines that are typical in your region, it makes you feel proud and it's something like, it's part of you, something like that. Right? Yes. Yes. Okay. Beautiful. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Alright. Well, if, I'm not sure we have any questions. Like, has anyone raised their hand or left a question? Because if anybody does have any question, at any point, even when this gets released on Italian wine podcast, you can always email me or leica at info at italian wine podcast dot com, and we will forward the question to whomever it is for. Thomas, Dominica, anybody. So, at work at arena. Laika. Mhmm. I'm here. Hi. I was just wondering, before I before I close the room, can you, can you tell me who is coming up next on Clubhouse? Okay. So we have one for this Thursday. So Matt Bache is back. So he's going to interview Manfred Bing. He is the winemaker of, Cortabella. And then next week, actually, since Valentina is here, on Tuesday, She will be interviewing Semane Fati. So that's it for now. That's it. Cool. Thank you to all three of you. That was a really cool interview Thank you very much. That was wonderful. Thank you so much. Thank you for your opportunity, dear. Thank you. Thank you. Take care. Have a wonderful evening. Good night. Thanks. You too. Bye bye. Bye. Listen to the Italian wine podcast wherever you get your podcasts. We're on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, qualify himalaya FM and more. Don't forget to subscribe and rate the show. If you enjoy listening, please consider donating through Italianwine podcast dot com. Any amount helps cover equipment, production, and publication costs. Until next time, Chitching.