Ep. 1318 Alan Kwok Interviews Alberto Cordero | Clubhouse Ambassador's Corner

By now, you've all heard of Italian wine Unplugged two point o. The latest book published by Mamma jumbo shrimp. It's more than just another wine book. The fully updated second edition was inspired by students of the Vin Italy International Academy and painstakingly reviewed and revised by an expert panel of certified Italian wine ambassadors from across the globe. The book also includes an addition by professor Atilio Shenza. Italy's leading vine geneticist. The benchmark producers feature is a particularly important aspect of this revised edition. The selection makes it easier for our readers to get their hands on a bottle of wine that truly represents a particular grape or region to pick up a copy, just head to Amazon dot com, or visit us at mama jumbo shrimp dot com. 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. Okay. Hello, everybody. We're a little bit early today. It's five PM in Thai in Time time. My name is TV Kimman. This is the Italian wine. On Clubhouse, Italian wine club on Clubhouse. It is what we call the Ambassador Corner. It's more like a fireside chat style of interviews from one of our leading experts of Italian wine, including the ambassadors from the International International Academy interviewing one of their favorite producers. And today we have very long name. I think I know his father. I don't I'm not sure if I've ever met I've met his father, I believe. I'm older much. So, this like I wrote to me, this is our actually eighty third episode. Is that correct? Like, like, of course, is our house manager. Ciao, like, you wanna train on a boat. You you're usually unavailable. Where are you today? Corey. Hi, Stevy. Yes. You're right. It's the eighty third episode so far. And where are you today? I'm in my Italian class. Oh, you're kidding. I can hear the echo. Okay. Yeah. I'm so happy. It's a problem. Okay. So let me just welcome Alan. Alan Quach. Chow, Alan. I I I was like, why are we doing so early today? And I realized because you're still in Hong Kong. Is that correct? Yes. So, it is just past midnight. And, I'm Oh, goodness. It's midnight there already. Listen, so Alan Quok, for those of you who are less familiar, he is what we call an Italian wine expert of Via, as of November two thousand twenty two, and he started his journey in the Via community. When when was that? Couple of years back? Two thousand Yeah. They both in twenty twenty. Yes. I love I love Alan's story because he started with the Maestro Program, which is a level below the Ambassador Ship, and then he did the Ambassador Program. And now he's become an expert, so incredibly disciplined and determined in the Via community. He is also a master of knights of Alba from Calvallierdi Taltuva. What does what does that even mean? It means that I am, like, I take care of the Hong Kong location for the Calvallierry. So we organize, eight chapters or for, the wines from Albert in Hong Kong. Oh, okay. That's what JC used to do. Right? When he was in Hong Kong? Yes. Yes. He was, he was the previous, maestro. Okay. So you took over from JC, basically? Yes. When he, returned to, Italy, then he became, part of the, Grand Council. So listen, how did you become to, in the Italian wine world. Like, where did you start? You've you've always lived in Hong Kong? Yes. No. I actually started in, Melbourne for fourteen years. So it was them that, I became interested in wine. And then, I like many others, and I really begin to read about wine critics. So I actually, besides those term wine, I started to drink, French wines, although in burgundy. Of course. It was really, when I discover, like, the wines of Italy, I feel there's much more passion and then more much more, characters in the wine. And that's when I try to discover more beyond, like, the normal Tuscany and Pemonte. And that's when I enrolled on, the VA program. I was actually one of the I think I was in the first batch of, my astro students. Oh, it's excellent. Very good. And who was your teacher? It was, Alice Wong, who really pulled me. Oh, he was Alice. Okay. And then at that time, yep. They are wondering a wine course together with Vincent, Felix, and, Anson. Yeah. So, and that cost is quite small. Only, three people. I think, yeah, it was really successful. Very good. Listen, Alan. You will, of course, come to Verona soon for Vinetley, and you will become one of our ch judges for five star wines. When are you leaving? So I think I'm arriving on the attendance okay. So just, Yeah. Just in time. Okay. Listen, what about, the restrictions now, the travel restriction? What is the current situation? Basically, everything is open. So there's no testing and there's no quarantine anymore. Finally, my goodness. Yep. Yeah. Finamenting. Yeah. So no testing at all now. It's just Yep. No testing at all. You can just, fry in and then fry out without any waste So if you want to come to Hong Kong, yeah, you have to go very well. Been to Hong Kong since the pandemic. So it's been more than three years now, which is a very, very long time for me. I used to go there quite often as you know. So listen, today, last time. Last time, I don't know if you've done clubhouse since, but I recall very well you interviewed Steph in the crazy Chinese man from, Edna. Yes. Last time. That was so and you know, we went to see him as the vehicle. Yes. Yes. I went about a story, and you opened the photo, I think, of the one thousand two hundred meters at the vineyard. And it drove us everywhere. We got lost. We got stuck in an alleyway crazy crazy winemaker, but super fun and great story. And today, you have Yes. So what why did you choose I bested today? I think, first of all, as you know, I've been reading and drinking a lot of barolo's. And, I think with time, I sort of realized that while, we always enter Barolo with, like, really famous names, and then also, like, vinyas, like, we look for structure, like, say, or no, the album, and so on. But as time move on, I realized that I really like the wines from Namoa. And, the Cortaro is one of the biggest name in Namoa. And, but what is most significant, I think, is that, They're really one of the pioneers who put up our role back on the map after the World War two together with, Jacob Mo or Darylo and Renato O'Rati. Mhmm. And I'm really fascinated that that they had already this vision to use, like, to look into the sellers and also experiments with different file types and clones and so on. And I think these kind of things, like, you can't really read in the books, and that's why I want to intervene. Okay. Excellent. And as you know, we're a very geeky, group at the v at the Vineetale International Academy. So we always want to know what the learning objectives from this call. What should we expect from you after this call with dog. So my burning question is really I want to hear the story of, Nipi Odo Bizhette because our battle family is one of the first to grow the bio type in the entire, biota. They're known as a bit more, like, experts where other languages would go and study this, biotype at the vineyards. And, also, I want to dig deep in the biolo community no more because I think it is a bit underrated. And also, I wanna discuss how the style of power law has changes, with with the global warming. Okay. So this is what I'm going to do is now I'm going to hand over the mic over to you. But before going, I just want to thank everyone for, joining us, but we replay this call. So this call that Alan is doing and every other podcast interviews on Clubhouse We were played on Italian wine podcast. So in case you miss it, you can tell your friends, if you find it interesting, you can have them come over to Italian wine podcast. I believe it's one of the leading podcasts in the world. Now we had about three million listens last year, so pretty significant. And the clubhouse Ambassador's quarter, believe it or not, although it it it's it's quite long. It's about, sixty minutes. It is one of everybody's favorites. So, keep tuned, and it's wherever you get your pod. You can get it anywhere. Spotify, SoundCloud, on the, on your Apple, you know, podcast, etcetera. So This is where I get to enjoy the conversation. I leave the room. I will mute my mic so I will shut up and then come back towards the end to see if there are any questions from the audience. Okay? Over to you, Alan. Thank you. So let me, introduce Avaro, my guest. Avaro is the nineteenth generation of the cordero, the monosimone family. Which is a owner of, the historical family farm in the heart of the village of Namoa in Bauwulu. Born in nineteen eighty one, he is the wine maker of the winery, which he manages together with his father Giovanni and sister, Most of the vineyards are located in the Hamlet of, Anunziata, which is also known as, the hill of Mount Palater. And a name, which is derived from Mount Pallet, or Monte the Fauleti. This is, of course, a reference to the famous Fauleti family, which is related to the Caudero family. And the property has been in this hand since thirteen forty, which is really long history. So, Chawa battle, and, welcome to the show. Chawalan, and hi, everybody. Thank you, Steve, for the introduction. Yes. I mean, you're right. You almost described I beat everything about the the long history of the of the family. It's a it's a quick and fast introduction of the of the property. But could you tell us a little bit more about the binary and, his tree, especially the relationships between the families. Absolutely. Let's say that the, you're right, Steve, is quite a long name. It's, it's my family name, and it's, A very old family from Pemonte region, was a noble family, Marquesi, so Marques, mostly related to the Royal King, Royal Family. Of Italy, the king, the the Saboyed family. And, was mostly involved in many different and important positions in the army and the diplomatic seen, specifically during the seventeen and eighteenth century. And this is when, the family got several different, properties in the southern part of the region of Pimonte. So around the city of Alba, but mainly, on the flat part, going to Terino, Turing City, and a little bit closer to the mountains. Let's say that the the relationship we have between the the location, where we do wine and where we grown our vineyards, comes not really from the cordero de Montecide, but mainly from the collective family side, which was the second, the of the second, the the the most important family, also noble Marquesi of the of the area of, barolo. There were many different branches of the filette family. And, one of them, the Falletti of La Mora, finally met, cordero de Munte Zemolo member, and they got married, a hundred and fifty years ago. So when they finally, that that was the, a lady, the falleti, the contesta region. So it was the the last one and the only child. So when she passed away, basically the property where they used to make wines, move to, to the, to the, to the, the sun, which is, obviously, my grandfather, and, Paulo, that obviously got the name, Cortero de Montezaimalov, from the father, and we we basically lost the the the Falletti part of the of the family name. That's why also the the name of the property comes from, because, Monteo basically comes from, as you said, from the Latin Monto, So the mountain of Falletti family. So, mountain is basically a hill. We are at three hundred meters above sea level. And, this is the location where, the entire history is related to So when you say, like, they got, the marriage, which happened one hundred and fifty years ago. And there was, of course, when they planted the famous, see the tree, which you can really see from, the La Mora. Exactly. This is a very famous tree. It's a cedar of Lebanon that dominates the entire properties on the highest point on the peak of the hill of Montaletto. And surrounding the historical, house, and all the vineyards, around the trees. It's a very, it's a very big tree, very famous, because, you can see from, from the tree at three sixty degrees, mostly the full Barolo area. And, yes, you're right. That was planted in eighteen fifty six. So a little bit longer in a in a marriage that was, with, before the last filette. So we still talking about the one generation before the the one that finally got to Falletti and Corteiro de Montezemiro. So I read that, the present day winery officially started in nineteen thirty eight. And it was one of the first to, winnifried, Baulo entirely from, labor. And as a family always has, the mom falazzo in the concession, Could you tell us if that's Paulo is only from one for lateral or it is a plan of grapes from different places? It is correct and, and not. Let's say that, most electoral property indicates specifically the hill where we we have the winery, we have the house where I live, and where we always, had the property. It's since the thirteen forty, so nineteen generations, and, most seven hundred years that we are, we are here. And, you're right. The still the the original property that my my processor, used to make, used to farm the vineyards and making wine. It's very difficult to say which is the first vintage we produced because it's, we have several documents, and, we have a we know that wines has been always produced here since, over, two hundred years. But you have to consider the Lange area two hundred or or simply hundred years ago, which is, a totally different seen and, condition compared to the one that we have in our day. So now a day, we are more, globally, exposed, well known people coming from all over the world. We have roads, train, highways, and so on. But, if you go back two hundred years ago, and if you look on the map, we were, in a very unlucky position, because it was very hard to to create the roads and to connect the the language with the the rest of the world and the rest of the world at that time was simply Italy, the Mediterranean Sea with the port of Geneva. And the the French, border, which is just a one hour drive from here, but is, dominate and, protected by the by the Alps. So it was very difficult to create, proper, business and market around the around the wine. So wine has been always a very important, part of the economy of the era, but was simply one of the many different, farming parts. So, growing cereals and breeding cows and sheep, making cheese, farming apples, peaches. So everything was extremely important. And wine was considered obviously, a good, a good part of it, but not the only one. So we have, basically, the different documents that the wine has been always a part of the of of the business of the era, but we don't have a specific year. We consider nineteen thirty eight. The first year that my grandfather, Paulo, started to promote the wine with, under his name. So we moved from, simply, multilateral state to, an official, let's say, a little bit more modern, brand as a Cortero de Monte demo. But you're right. The property is the same, and the wine has been, nowadays, is the same as, as it was, back to the day. It's okay. So Yifan, at this early stage, you are really, like, pranting your own grapes and making your own paolo instead of, sourcing the grapes from elsewhere? Yes. Exactly. The we do, which is not only on parole, but also on the other wise, is made with the Venus that we directly, manage. A part of the Montaletto, but that little part is also leased It's just the, beside the, vineyard, the, next to the next to the the Montalet of Hill, that we can consider, and we can include into the Montalet to final gland. And, but we manage the vineyard, then we have a very long lease in, like, over twenty years, contract. So we can farm everything. We can make verification. And so, yes, a hundred percent of the wine. Is entirely, sourced. And, would you, like, was biolo the main wine products at that time, or it was not? Yes. The the two, pillars of the winery have been always, Dorceto and the biolo. And Barolo for sure has been always, even if we look at the back, at the whole documents we have at the winery. It was always considered the most important one and, and the main production. But, secondary also extremely important. Was, the Dorceto, position. So Dorceto play the always, big, important role on the, daily wine consumption. Why but always been always considered a little bit the the first stages of wine and consumption? Yes. So, so I think, it really strike me that, like, you're really concentrating in the number of district besides, obviously, later, we will talk about, the n waco. So is there a particular reason besides that the mower is the most, pranded like, has the largest service area of the Biolo in Biolo. Could you tell us a little bit more about the style of, Nomola and, how you see this, in terms of all the commutes? Sure. Let's say that, we we tend to, to think about, a wine, mostly based on what happened in the last thirty or forty years or so. It's a quite recent history. But, most of the time, reasons, of something are more simple, and we just have to look, back, and to see what happened years and years before. So if we look, for example, at the origin of the barolo, so a hundred and fifty years ago, even more, let's say that the verdunon, for example, was the and a very important position, although, was a very smaller and tiny village because it was the closest to the train station. So the one that was more easy to, to connect with the rest of the world, with the transportation ship Pence and so on. Or you take Sarah Luga, but the lowest part of the village where, so the bottom of the hill, the Sarah Lumber is located because also, in that case, it was very easy to, to read to connect with the different roads, and because that was the the the state of the of the king of Italy, Victoria, manuel. Little by little, then we had a period in between the two world wars first and seconds. So we talk about the twenties, thirties, fourties where the entire era became, a struggle by, a very, hard, and difficult moment with a lot of troubles as you can imagine with the wars. And with the, the pathogens and the resistance. And then, afterwards, you you go to the, the fifties and sixties where there was the economic Italian boom, you know, the phenomena that exposed the entire area to the to the big cities. So most of the people moved to, Torino and Milano to, to reach, better expectation of life, with a new job and not, you know, working hard in the in the vineyards, with, which with a lot of stress and bigger commitments. At that stage, let's say that Lamora played a a an important role because it was the, the lucky position. If you look at the at the roads and the vineyard where it was more easy to work, more extended, portion of the land. So it was a bit easier to, to develop a a larger part of the new vineyards. And that's why, yes, Lamora, as you said, there is a mostly thirty percent of the entire, the nomination, at that stage, so we talk about, fifty, sixties, and seventies, several people, played an an important role as, as you said, my grandfather, Paulo, beside the Pietro Rati Jacobo, Odero, but we can also include other people. Like, you know, Bartolomascarello, Bruno Jacos, Angel guy, late a little bit later on in the seventeen eighty. So every if we look back to the history, everybody in, in their, age, played an important role. If you take, for example, the nineties, also another important role was played by the, what we call, Barolo boys. So the new generation, with a lot of, you know, innovative, ideas, that wanna break, with the tradition. Then, you know, twenty years later, we see a more, marriage, and and combination between, those, younger generation with the with the old one. So we we we have to consider, that, The tradition is only, is in constant evolution. So we are just here to to we don't have any any shoe, any sure, things to calculate on. We just have to look at, what we have and, and start and and try to, to do our best to, to improve, the the the know how and and to go to the next step? Well, I think what you said about, the location of Verduo and also, And I feel that it's really enlighten enlightening for me. So I thank you for the information. And I think it also go to explain why Montville is so famous because it's, the warmest site in Fudunal, and it is so close to the transportation. So I'm, yeah, I'm really happy that you share that with us. Yes. So I would, I would, I would next, want to go into details of the vineyards because, Gateva, which is, in Monfalato, is, I went in the box that is just one of the top ten vineyards in the entire barolo. So, could you tell us a little bit about the signature of the vineyard and what kind of wines you make, from this vineyard? Yeah. Sure. Gatera is the official name of what we call MGA, Mazonito Graph, what the, basically, the French, domine, domination or or producers, called the Clima. Or a crew. So is, is the official name of the of the single vineyard, which is pretty extended because our, twenty five excuse me, twenty eight hectares of the entire extension of Gatera. Not all of them are included, or exclusively, grown with Nebula because some of them are also grown with, Barbera, and Dolcshedo, and so on. And also other producers share this, crew, this MGA Gatera with us. We are the the major, owner and and producer. And this is, let's say, the seventy five percent or, of the Montalito wine, which is our largest production. And as I said before, is the the global, blend of all our vineyards. We have at the domain which are all here around the winery, but they are pretty extended. And so that's why we consider this as our, you know, largest production, the classic, version of Barolo. Besides this, we also produce only one tank So when we go to pick the grape, we typically make a selection of two, lots of the catera vineyard in two sites where we have a peculiar clones that produce little bunches and little size and very old vines. We make a selection of this grape to make only one, one tank of fermentation And finally, the wire, which is around the five thousand six thousand bottles per year, are bottled with their official name Gatera. The main characteristic of the land we are here is to have a bit higher portion of sand and a lot of magnesium, and is a very open part of the valet. So the hill, is a is in a very lucky spot because get a lot of sun. And so, typically, you have, a bit, just a little bit warmer area compared to many other sides of, Barolo, MGA. So the the the characteristic of the wine is to be always extremely gentle, extremely, smooth and ready to drink also when he's, only four, five years old. So Since the the release, it's a it's a bottle you can open and enjoy. And this is, the style which, you're looking for, isn't it? So you you you would not think, about maybe brand, maybe a little grapes from other communes, to this one. You always make this, from Namora. Yes. We always need the from Namora because at the end, we have already a pretty standard surface, to to work on because, the entire vineyards are, fifty six hectares, but we have to consider also the property. We have in alba and, in other parts. And we talk about also, Dolce, and barbier, and so on. If we go specifically, just on Barolo, we already work on seventeen hectares, which is, enough, honestly, at the moment for us. And, we replicate that, you know, it's, it's okay. We don't need extra extra vinegar. Of course, we are always keep our eyes open If there are any opportunities, we can see. But let's say that, and how are they became pretty hard, pretty difficult, and to get the new vineyards. First of all, because, you don't find many. And secondly, because the the price, rise up crazily, and so it's pretty hard to to buy something or to to rent something. So when I reset your wine, we noticed that, there's a top wine, which is only on sale, from the wine that we have bought with Metnam. So that's the Huawei reserve, corrected. And this is made from the same MGA, but a smaller plot with around seventy different Bureau clones. Since, most of us would not have the chance to try this point. Can you tell us, more about this one and how does it taste to Absolutely. This is a very particular product. It's a very, rare and exclusive, label because, the name of the wine is Barolo, liservagore. First of all, is the only reserve, but we reduced with the Appalachian reserve. Great day. It's not an official name, but, it's being always the name of this, parcel of the Montaleto that, is just below the tree, the the big tree we have on top of the cedar of Lebanon on top of the hill, and is the part that face, east, southeast, which is pretty extended. And so largest part of the grape is included in the Montaletto Barolo blend. But, in a very good vintages, in the central part of the plot, we have a seven rows, excuse me, five rows when we have a seventy different clones of Nebula that my grandfather next to my father selected in the seventies, with the University of Tarino, Viticulture. And we talked about the biolo coming from different and selected at that time from different vineyards in Barolo, Barbara Esco, but We also get the nebbiolo grape from, Alto Pimonte. So, Gatinara, again, meboca, and Bartelina as well. So from this vineyards, which was a experimental vineyards. We have a very high and big divi diversity of, of styles. And we like to make a tiny selection of this grape to make, a micro verification, you know, in a very tiny time tank. And, we we age the wines for about twenty month in barrels, as we do with all the other barrels, so it doesn't spend the extra time. But, the particular thing is that, it's just bottle in magnum size, one liter and a half, spend six years quiet, at the cellar to rest a bit. And then finally is available. But as you said, it's just available here at the winery. So we don't export. We don't ship. We don't put this bottle. In our catalogs, but it's only, it's a it's a job that it's, available for people that love baroque a lot and spend time to come to visit us. And finally, another very important thing, and then funny thing is to have the chance to buy any of the vintages we we produce from this bottle. So if you come today at the winery, You can buy a manual from ninety eight or two thousand and four, two thousand and nine, two thousand one. The recent release was two thousand thirteen. So any vintage you like, you can have it But, of course, you must become busy task, and you have to be here. And what did you learn from, planting all the different clumps? Like, what do you learn? What kind of clumps is most suitable to your site, that you how was the conclusion? But this is a funny, a funny question because, you know, when you do, a research, especially on on farming, at some time, it takes a long time to have a finally some feedback. And, when you finally have some feedbacks, you, you can use it, for a short period because at the end, the problem of making wine and and being in this business is that, the the variable, are constantly changing. And if you take the the global warming and the and what what happened nowadays to the to the war with the with the weather that is obviously, Ocean Barolo, different compared to the seventies and eighties. What we were looking for, four years ago is different from what we are, what we need nowaday. So that's why, you know, it's funny because you invest a lot to to learn something that at the end is not useful because you have to to try something different nowadays. But, it's also true that, you know, you learn something. You put on a side, and then you keep it for future experience. It's a constant, implement an improvement of your, your skills and your know how. So, most of the time, people ask us about, you know, what we did and what we, what was the the the secret of our good job in the seventies and eighties. And sometimes, what we did in the past, that was very, important to do and good is nowadays something that is, obsolete. I don't know is the right mean, but it's something that we we we can't use it anymore because the conditions are different. The way we farm nowaday is much more precise and might pay much more attention attention to details. We have an extra budget, compared to my grandfather time, more people, more more workers, higher, the technology helps a lot. And, beside that, also, the, the the weather is completely different. Just to give you an example, we every year, we we talk about, you know, this vintage is considered a hot vintage. But now if we look to see our datas, from the weather station. We have the, the winery. It's more than twenty years that it's hot. Every year is very hot. So we have to stop thinking about, you know, a hot vintage or a cold vintage because it's a fact that the weather is changed, and it's warmer nowadays compared to the past. So we adopt the technique. Also, the selection of clones that we use, obviously, are the clones of nebbiolo that are much better now with this condition that performed better, compared to the clones that, my grandfather and my father, were selecting and looking for, thirty years ago. So, coming back to this, I think, in recent win pages of our global, for example, in two thousand and seventeen, two thousand and nineteen. The French concentration is, like, so high that it's really approachable. And sometimes, like, I really think that they have a structure of a young burgundy. So do you think this is, entirely because of the global warming conditions, but all of this is possible change, in the one making decisions? Yeah. It is both. As I said before, is a combination of the two themes. Our job, and, and what we have to do is to interpretate, what's happening. Every we have only one chance. To make wine per year. So, first of all, we don't have to pay to make a big mistake. And this is Nandoahani. And secondary, we have to to to pay attention to just, look at what's happening around us. And if we do something, what is what is the the feedback and the result? You learn something and you, you follow, your, your idea. So nowadays, the vintages are all for not, I guess, not only for our winery, but, I have to say for a largest part of producers that there are much more, approachable ready and smooth compared to the pasta. And then beside that, as I said before, and you remind me, all our vineyards are in La Mora in Anunciata. We always had, a much more approachable style. So we don't follow this because we like this. We just follow this because, this is our terbar expression. If I had Venus in, in Seraloung, I would probably have a different, way of, of farming and interpreting the wine. But would you say that, the laceration condition is also different in terms of, temperature or the duration of the extraction method? Yes. Of course, every every time you you you implement, and you you set your, your style and your techniques with a little steps and little changes. But, I'm not so focused on, on on that. I mean, it makes no sense to me to talk about, yes, we we do fifteen days of maceration or twelve days or eighteen days. Because it's just a number. And, what we look is the the final result that has to be a good harmony. So all our wines, or what we try to do, it's to get a very beautiful, balance of all the components. The perfume, the tannins, the acidity, the the the sweetness, which is not the sugar receivable because it's zero, but it's the sweetness of the of the fluid you get from the glass. And so to do that, I I'm not so, rigid in, in, in following recipes, but, I'm just, you know, do, what they always did and try to do something different to see if I can perform better. So, yes, the temperature can be a little bit higher. Sometimes can be a little bit lower. It can be longer. It can be shorter. It's it doesn't matter. For me, it's just a a number. Italian wine podcast brought to you by mama jumbo shrimp. Yep. So, I think lastly, I would like go into the subject of our D. V. O. Long weekend. So, you'll find a way, I purchased two headsets of landing relatable, which is where you picked up our room every call, the sixth. So just, lastly, I would like on the subject of the biolo weekends. Like, I read that, the entire vineyard of your b level was planted with the biolo weekends, and it was, one hundred percent from this biweekly before. Can you share with us, your experience in this script and, how, like, what what makes you to change from one hundred percent me cats and back to, I think, nowadays, it's a blend of cats and monkeys. Yes. You're right. The only pa parcel we own, and we farm on, out of this, property around the the buildings, is, localized, localized in, Castidio, and precisely in Valero MGA, which is one of the best vineyards of, barolo. We share the vineyard, the the vineyard, part of Vilero with other very good producers, that include VA and many others. So just to give you some, some names. So it's a very top position, and, it's two point two hectares, that my grandfather bought in, in sixty five when, his, six child was born. And his name is Enrique. So, few years later, where he decided to make a single vineyard, from this wine, and he decided to dedicate this wine to the, to the new vineyard to celebrate, let's say, the new vineyard and the new sun, calling the wine, Barolo, and Rico the six. Valero, it's an area. It's the same altitude and same exposure here, more or less. We we don't have a big difference. The main difference is based on the, on the the the the clay that is quite rich in iron, and is a little bit more calcareous. It's also a bit fresher air at compared to Montalet. So, the barolo tends to be a little bit more, muscular, more masculine, with, more, full body, structure with more, tendines, more black foods and more earthy notes. This is more or less a generic, distinction, from bilateral. So from Barulio recosesto, compared to the wine, we produce here in La Mora, right now, that tends to be more feminine. So more, right, food. It's, sweet spices, more, linear and central part of your tank, the reception of tonnings, and, and so on. In terms of unification, honestly, we do basically the same and farming as well. And do you see that, by using a larger percentage of the vehicle that will be checked, then, it really makes better concentration for As I said before, we are not focused on market anymore as we, as we did and were in the eighties because, nowadays, we we have first of all, it's impossible to get a new make it. Because what you can find in the market is only lumpia. And it's globally this is not only here, but it's for everybody. Every plant we replant, is based on lumpia. And the new clones that are much better clones in Nava day, more balanced with more freshness, less concentration. Compared to the market that Nava day, yes, the old vintage is still very good and nice, but, the performance is is really, you know, more difficult to to to maintain in a certain consistency. Is that because it has a lot of smaller leaves? So it makes it difficult. Yeah. That is good to release. You know, Micat is with virus. So at the end, it's very unstable. It was considered super good in a period when we had the very rainy wind Vintages. So that why Makeda has been considered super good back to the seventies and eighties because those were vintages very rainy. Here's where we had the, very cloudy, sky. And so having, more, seen, and little, buds and leaves, water safer in terms of the the molds. With a lower production naturally without, you know, big intervention. Nowadays, it's not the opposite, because we don't have a and you don't need a high vygorosy of the of the plants, but you need the, leaves with a more extended, page. So very, very wide in order to maintain, a kind of, protection, like, an umbrella to the, productive part of the plant. Are you planting the builder Rosay as well? Because I read that. Nor Jose is more or less like Micate is mostly disappeared. So it's it's mostly impossible to get some plans of it. We have few rows. That are included in the Montalet, but, yeah, it's, like, probably three percent. I have no idea, honestly. And if you, so If you compare the free bubble rolls, you make, which is your free foot on. Obviously, our three three production of all model. So He drink as you can probably measure. And so it's impossible to Let's say that my my biggest problem is the barolo Montalet, for sure, because it's the the the the flagship wine is the most historical one. You play with, many and plots, more young, more older, a little bit lower on the hill, a higher, where you have a more drier soil, a little bit more fertilized, fertile soil. So you have to, to manage every single part with not crazy differences, but little, adjustments, to get finally, a very high balance of each plot. So that, finally, together make a very big harmony to the wine. So finally, I would like to ask, what do you like to drink at home alone? And, what is your favorite food to match with a bottle of a bowling water lot? Good question. I I like to first of all, I like to drink, a lot in any wines. Everything, comes, under my, my army, you know, he's opened. Right away. So, I love, Riesling's, obviously, Pino from Burgundy, although, you know, has been more and more difficult to find and to and to pay for it. Obviously, Old Nebiolos, from my colleagues, and our to Piedmont, the Ron wines, champagne, obviously, as a bottle of producers are here in the area, if you come, and you ask, we we drink, we love bubbles. You know, the Aetna wines, whites from to Aetna. I'm, you know, I I'd like to explore a lot and drink as much as I can to learn, to, to make compassion, to, to improve my might know how, which is, you know, why not at the end is good because, you, you never, finish to learn. Once you, you know, something, probably it's the opposite, the more you drink, and less, you know, or your, your, stereotype, drop down, you know. So it's, that's the beauty of our business. And in terms of, of, combination is the same. I mean, nowadays, cuisine is a is a mix, and match of, different influences, you know, the Asian, ingredients with, south American ingredients or Mediterranean with more Nordic ingredients. So it's it's very hard to say. What I like to say is that, Nipiolum, so I'm not talking about Barolo, but nebiola as a grave in general. It's a grave that is able to be extremely versatile. So, it depends more on what you're eating. The nebiolo in the glass is able to change and perform, differently and match always pretty well with, the the wide, the the the dish you have in front of you. It's funny that, you mentioned about all vintages of auto v monitor because, I recently have, some from the sixties and seventies from getting out. And I find that, like, the higher aesthetic structure and less food concentration makes it actually quite linear when it And you really have the feeling that, is almost like, or to the diversion of a white one because it has less of, the feed haze and the cam voltage and so on. So, the eligibility really surprises Hello? Yes. Yes. So should we go to the q and a session? Okay. So I'm back. So if there is a first of all, hold on one second. I'm gonna give you the special effects. There you go. You get you did you guys did such a wonderful job. Thank you very much for that informative session. I was just wondering, Alberto, can you just quickly? We don't have very much time, but Can you just quickly give us, an overview of the number of labels that you have and also in terms of the production volume? Sure. A little bit more about the market side. There you go. Sure. Our production is being extremely stable over the years because we have, at the end, only ten labels, and those are the same labels. We always, produced and have, since, decadates and decadates. So beside the the three barolo, we just mentioned it, and the barolo reserve, decorated the special one we just sell here at the winery, We, very important are also what we consider the varieties, label. So the classic ones are for a daily, consumption. So Dorcheted alba, Barbara, Langoni biolo, and as a white, Lange Arnaise, based on Arnaise gray. We also have a tiny production of a single vineyard, Barbera, a little bit more rich in Oakland, and a tiny production of chardonnay, more burgundy style made. Besides this, we have also tiny production of, Barolo Kinato, a very special product, and an Altalanga, so the classic docG, metido champenoise of Diera, which, my father started in eighty eight to make. So it's a long time we do it, but it's a tiny production of sparkling wine. And and that's it. As I said before, we only work with, our vineyards, and, we can calculate, around the fifty six sectors and an average production of three hundred thousand bottles when, you know, the vintages are regular and okay. In in total. Right? Yeah. In total for all labels together. Okay. And how many bottles or account for a barolo. Barolo is approximately seventy. That's always a twin in between twenty five and twenty eight percent of the total production. Okay. Alright. And do you have a particularly favorite wine for for you? No. As I said, you know, it's a it's a it's a the the difficult question when, when you ask a producer Let me ask you a personal question. How old are you? I'll do you. Forty two. Oh, so you're not that that, young. I thought you were much younger. Your dad is is your dad, Stephanie? Stefano is a cousin. The one living here. It's a cousin. Yeah. He is a cousin. No. My father is Giovanni, who's, retired right now. I mean, he's here almost every day. He's in a good shape. He's seventy five, but, let's say that, since COVID or a few years before COVID, he started to be more on a side, with all the, you know, the, responsibilities. So you have these, different labels for perhaps also the younger generation, but, of course, but although in terms of price, as well as the positioning. It's fairly for, let's say, a more mature, market. How are you, broaching the younger generation, the next generation of the wine lovers or wine drinkers, personal perspective. But, of course, you know, approaching new generations and new consumers, it's something that for our region, an area like Barolo, you can't do alone. So Yeah. It's it's the million dollar question. You know? Yes. So I think that the nowadays, what is good is that, you have a, let's say, a movement. And every producer in the area, are smart and play their role their old cards, better to, approach new consumers in different ways. Let's say that social media, obviously, nowadays, a lot in terms of, you know, show it quickly and and and fast and and and well what is, the offer of of an area. And, we offer a crazy, beautiful landscape as you know. And, excuse me, an excellent wines so and then we have a lot of, new young generation of producers. So I'm still young, of course. I'm only forty two, but let's say that people are already twenty years, I I'm on the road, so I consider myself not as young as other. But, if I look at around me, I see a lot of my colleagues, which are around forties, forty five or so. And the many that are, you know, twenty five and twenty eight thirties that are full of energy and, a lot of ideas, and they know how to, to connect and to talk and communicate to their, their their generation. So it's something that, again, I can't do myself only I just follow the way. So, I mean, are you very active in social media? I'm on your instagram right now. Are you doing the social media yourself? Do you have somebody doing it for you? I'm I'm very bad, honestly. So we have to to to, yeah, to hire. No. We have a a person that is more much smarter and good than me. So he does our social media stuff. No. I'm I'm super bad. Okay. So you have a, staff member doing that. Yep. Exactly. Okay. Alright. So check out his, social mediates. Cordero, the one word. Yes. Exactly. It's it's it's very long. Yeah. We like our difficult things. Yes. Exactly. And, you know, you said you've been working for about twenty plus years in in the winery in the in the family company. How has how has it evolved? What are the main differences from twenty years ago? You you know guys are extremely well. The the what's happening in the world since, iPhone, arriving in our life. So what I consider probably the biggest difference is the, the, the speed. Everything you do now has to be fast as to be, communicate quickly. And, it it's a plus. It's an advantage, and a disadvantage as you probably know. So that's probably the main big difference I noticed. So we we became much more, popular compared to the past. We can communicate much faster. On the same time, we we can lose everything, faster too. Beside that, you know, we still do the same job as we always did. Obviously, we change the tech the technology. The we we get older. We learn something We do some mistake. We we we we reach some goals. But at the end, our mind, our philosophy, our way of thinking, has been always the same. So put a lot of passion, trying to do our best, and and stop, you know, very simple. Okay. Great. Thank you so much. Mod squad for today, of course, is our Italian wine expert, Alan Quag. Thank you so much. Before we, hit out, I just wanna bring Leica back up. Like us. Hi, Stevie. Are you finished with your Classia? No. Not yet. Okay. I'm I'm glad you're learning Italian. That's fantastic. Okay. Yeah. So like, who is our next guest and when are we doing the call? So it's gonna be tomorrow. No. Tomorrow. Excellent. Yes. No. Because we have to fill up for the Minnesota marathon. Right. Right. Okay. It's just it it's just two for this week. So tomorrow, it's huge priest. He will be interviewing Viviana again, Jimmy. Okay. Excellent. So we'll be looking forward to, calling Hugh priest tomorrow. Of course, we had the, we were on the road show with Hugh in Princeton. He owns a bunch of restaurants. He never stops. He's working. He doesn't eat during the daytime. He is fascinating. Last time, I believe he interviewed Ariana Ocuinci, and that was by far one of our most listen to, podcasts. So there you go. Thank you very much. Listen to the Italian wine podcast wherever you get your podcasts. We're on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, email ifm, and more. Don't forget to subscribe and rate the show. If you enjoy listening, please consider donating through Italian wine podcast dot com. Any amount helps cover equipment, production, and publication until next time.