Ep. 1702 Erik Schneider Interviews Federico Ceretto | Clubhouse Ambassadors’ Corner

The Italian wine podcast is the community driven platform for Italian winegeeks around the world. Support the show by donating at italian wine podcast dot com. Donate five or more Euros, and we'll send you a copy of our latest book, my Italian Great Geek journal. Absolutely free. To get your free copy of my Italian GreatGeek journal, click support us at italian wine podcast dot com, or wherever you get your pots. 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 is 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. Oh. This is also the birthday of Eric. So Oh my goodness. Done today. Yes. Alright, Eric. Yeah. Alrighty. Eric, it's your birthday. They say so. Welcome to my fifty six years. Oh my goodness. Congratulations. You have an energy of a of of a young boy. That's for sure. Well, that's why I connect with Ferrego Choleto. Yeah. How where are you today? I'm in Malna in, booze, what do you call it? Sound truth booze, or room, in Malna, olive? What are your plans for your birthday? Well, actually drinking some champagne after this, with knowing that federico will do the same. So that's about it, with family. And, you know, Champagne keeps the doctor away and all that. Fantastic. Have you got a favorite champagne? No. I'm not. Yes. Of course, I have. I mean, I love Delamont. I love Jaxelos, but, today, it happens to be. Okay. Well, they're Italian. They're affiliated with the Italian, so that's that works for us. Trust. They're also beyond DeSanti for us, and they're also us, Islam Elena. So we're we're happy with your choice today. So Good. Everybody, welcome. This is, of course, called the Ambassador Kona. We've been doing this for a long time now. And today, it's a fireside chat with Federico Cereto. Let me tell you a little bit about our birthday boy. He is born in Sweden always in Mala. No. Not actually. Marie starred leaving abroad. Ah, okay. And then you grew up also in Germany and France, according to your bio. Hey, Satament. My Swedish mother gave birth to her kids in Sweden not trusting the German or French hospitals. Ryan. Good job. And then you also had a stint in Italy as well. Right? Well, that was when I was growing up and fulfilled my dream about learning Italian which I think I did Right. Okay with. So moving there at ninety two, ninety three. Oh, where did you live in Italy? La Gudecomo, one year, and then the rest in Rome. So that's what people, you know, can hear sometimes when I'm trying to. Speak at Romano. So, and then I'll move back to suite at ninety six. Of course, Eric Shenaida is our Italian wine Ambassador at large, but what else what else do you do in life? Tell us That's a great question. Well, beyond, helping kids in school, I've translated Champions League for your vendors and mama f f, but otherwise, I do wine trips. Yeah. What is that all about? What does that mean? That means that Malmer, the the team of Malmer, Malmer, FF f f, was qualified to champion's league, and we met youventus. Of course, we didn't have any chance. But they called me and asked me if I could provide my Italian, which I did. And I don't regret it, but when I said yes, I was wondering why did I say yes. And, I was in direct for six hundred million viewers on Sally on the Presscraft conference. What? I'm gonna send you a picture. It's crazy with a lady looking at me writing down. So I was simultaneously translating, and that was one of the coolest challenges I did by her. What year was that? This must be seven years ago, seven or eight years ago. Okay. Alrighty. So, okay, getting back to our show, why did you select vederico Cereco as your favorite producer today? Well, it's the seven reasons, but first of all, he introduced me to the core of Langge, to Piamante in a very passionate way. And, just when he was, yeah, and And, you know, I I just got mesmerized. You know, he, when he was about to take a greater responsibility of his own family winery, most of all, he was explaining to me about the Chareto's deep relationship with food and art. Talking about their connection, you know, with an obvious cultural bond of of wine people in nature of lilamia, and, their journey towards, biodynamic producers, for me, one of the most mess mesmerizing wine journeys a wine producer can do. And creating two restaurants within their dreams, being all wine and food lovers, you know, must go to destination places is yet another achievement showing Chiresa's wishes of sharing and caring. So that's that's enough, you know, and I love federico. So what should I say? Yeah. It's kind of a big deal. They also have, of course, the three star Michelin restaurant, in Alibaba, an incredible place. So I I know. Are you am I mistaken or you also import Chareto, as an agent? I did. I I did. And this is how I get to know him. So we had, just started with Pemonte, and, we got set on the portfolio. He was very quick to come over to Sweden, and we did some wonderful winemakers dinner, with Jalo Capica, and we did, fantastic shows. I was down in Barolo for the for the second time in my life. I was there when I was living in Como. And, and the rest is is history. I was really proud. And I think I I did a good job introducing Cereto as they were as if they were me when I was presenting them in Sweden with my experience from Milan, you know? Okay. So as you know here at Italian wine podcast, especially for the Ambassador Corner with our Italian wine ambassadors at large, get a little bit geeky around you as you very well know. So what are their learning objectives that we should expect from you today from this call? I'd say to learn about the same journey as I usually have during my wine tastings and storytelling that many top Italian wine producers did since the nineties, that Charetto is and was visionary commercializing Arnese, which was near extension in the seventies, you know, a grape for white wines, and trusting the potential of one of the greatest grapes in the world, our beloved Limiola. And together with other key producers, this was the start of the Barolo BarBaresco International fame. This fascinating trusts in their to do the rest with a lesser intervention. I think that's a very interesting for the listeners to to follow-up. Okay. Very good. So this, as you know, and I will now, lead the mic over to you. And come back. This is the bit where I get to. Usually, I have a glass of wine with me. It's kind of early for me. Where's your champagne? I know it's like half past three, but, we'll see what we can do. So I will shut off my mic turn it over to you and then come back maybe towards the end to see if there are any additional questions for federico. Federico is the youngest of the family, son of Bruno born in nineteen seventy seven. After high school, he choose the university diploma course in business administration. And while continuing his studies, he already entered the heart of his profession, beginning to deal with Ciletto's commercial management, and especially with foreign markets, hence where we met in Sweden actually collaborating mainly with importers. Thank you for that. And also following the sales network in Italy, supporting agents in their visits to customers. Dynamic, sociable, and a great wine lover He immediately invested a lot of time and dedication in the search for new export markets, exploring new countries that prove to be very interesting for market development. As you say, my generation is lucky to have inherited solid basis and strong values built in the past years by my father and uncle. Our challenge now is to commit to following this path with a new and fresher vision. And says, federico, for foreign markets, high level public relations, and direct customer relationships will be increasingly important. So Federico is the CEO of and he's taking care of the family restaurants. La Piola on the first floor and the second floor, Piazza Domino, Piazza domri alba, with the chef enrico Crippa. Happy birthday to you. Chow, my friend. Hello, everybody. Hello, Steve. It's a big honor in this special day for you. You know, I thought it was a special day for me, but it's a great special day for you. Who's interviewing you now? Actually, it says discussion. So, so happy to hear your your Dolce, federico, and Thank you. And so so how are you doing? This beautiful November day meets the white truffle season. I guess you are in Alba. I am in Alba. I will be sorry. I will be traveling for the first ten minutes, then I will be, more, less noisy. But, thank you for the introduction. Yes. I am in, you know, I am in probably the only place in the world when he's, November, a little bit cold, foggy, and humid. Everybody is so happy to be in the line eating truffles and drinking butter. So this is, for us, is the big high season, and we are running like crazy. I'm happy to hear because usually in November, it's like everybody's getting depressed. It's gray. And I just say, yeah, hey, it's my birthday. Who cares? You know? And and I know that the truffle is, medicina. For for the for the soul, you know. And, so you are a true passionate ambassador for Le Lange. It's wines, food, it's people, and culture. And the creation of the first three star Michelin restaurant, Piamonte, historical. A Piazza dominoza rank amongst the top fifty best restaurants in the world. Do you have any other dreams to fulfill involving langue culture or the Chiretta portfolio or anything involving Piamonteza fruit? Okay. So, yes, we are a full of dreams. This could be the great answer. The very best time to say that we finally got the approval for the bill action of a further restaurant. This will be in the heart of a Bernata, where, we have the Barolo Chapel, the, the piece of a land art that you, you know, well, Eric. Yes. Yes. Yes. And, no, my dream, if this is the question, my personal dream. Indeed. It is. It's, to uplift another step in, wine and food, hospitality. So high end gastronomy and the top wines, hospitality. And maybe, maybe, doing something in, also for the accommodation. I think we are ready now to have some very good wine hotels if we have to make it very simple in the area. So if I have to see my third career after being a salesperson and our restaurant manager or supervisor. I don't want to take any merit, any credit. My team at the restaurant, they do a hundred percent of the job. I supervise them. I help Enrique Crip to take, strategies and decisions. We are a great team. We are really doing great together. And I thought was very difficult to deal with, such a talented and such a, obsessed, hardworking guy with his, with his job. In reality, it is the most exciting and and really it's my my everyday happy moment when I go to the restaurant and I speak with the with the chef. I've seldom met a humble chef as as Eneco Crippa, and it's a joy, every time. So this restaurant you talked about in Bruno, is this a two thousand twenty four, twenty five, or when do we have the honor to visit that that restaurant? Okay. Now you ask too much because it's not gonna Okay. Next question then. Okay. No. No. Spring at two thousand twenty five. Wow. Perfect. Fantastic. And then Yeah. So, yeah, you and your cousin, Alessandro, you decided many years ago to change the direction of Cereto's land farming. So using the biodynamic philosophy practices, what results could we, listeners, and followers, expect as consumers in the glass? Well, this is the very precise question. And finally, finally, after fifteen years, we did the the the fifteenth, harvest for Barolo and fourteenth for, Barbara Esco in a full biodynamic farming. So basically, twenty, twenty five years ago, it was not clear that that, the model was being a burgundy style or being a Bordeaux and Champpei style. I mean, Bordeaux and Champpei style means that the style of the house, the style of the maison, it's more important than the the vineyard, origin. But in Piamonte, we were deeply, we were deeply, deeply, thinking of that our future would have been the burgundy style. And the burgundy style means you have to know your terroir. And this is what we did first. We started with Lydia Claude Bergine. They are soil expert, and they teach us how to understand and manage our soil in a biodynamic way. A small parcel after smaller parcel. We loved it. Then we moved into the we continue with the red grapes. So in the state where we have the language also, the barbera, the Nebula, and the Dolcshedo. And, and this was a big challenge because we're talking about almost thirty hectares and converting twenty thirty hectares is very different than converting one and a half factor of Brikorocca, for example. That was a big success. Then is when we decided to convert in organic, the RNAs, that it's one hundred and ten actors, and then the mosquito that is almost thirty hectares. So in total, we're talking about one hundred and eighty hectares of conversion between biodynamic and organic. We will soon, being a hundred percent biodynamic. We just have a couple of, not clear, answers from the wine, but that made also as being more, let me see. It's more, aware No more conscious about the style of unification. No more selected East. No more, standardization. No more, blah blah blah blah things that you all know because you are all great, one ambassador. You've been studying a lot, so you know exactly what I'm talking about. I don't want to go again. I spent the first twenty years of my life dealing with the modern Eastern tradition is that I I won't go there. Anymore in my life, or choose what you like. But but in our wine today, we have the precision of the terroir, and I tell you how to prove it. After thirty years, we decided to take out the parcel of Rocketti Castiliana in Castilio Foleto out of our Barolo classic or the blend of our multiple vineyards that we released as a as a barolo, story, you know, the the the the classic recipe for the barolo in the in the last three hundred years. We took it out because now we are able to vinify roque de Castigliano, that is the vineyard that it's, next to Brick Croque. So we have two parcels, thirty meters away, and two very distinctive, micro climates. A two very distinctive soils because one is east, south and west, the other one is only Easter. And when you will try the one, you will find differences, very clear differences, and to be able today to have in the glass, not the hand of mister Charetto Waimecker. But the finesse of the both of the terwar that are so clearly expressed and so pure that is, when we watched each other, we said, okay. Mission accomplished. We did it. We are now able to vinify thinking of the Venus, not only hoping we will make it a great wine, but now we know how to take a terroir expression into the glass. Because, you know, when you've been traveling and testing in burgundy, the dream of going in in the sellers in burgundy is that every little sample of wine they give you, it's a different journey. It's a different expression. It's a different explosion of, of, peculiarities. Now we can do it. And my generation is the very first generation that we'll be able to do it. With finesse, with balance, with the purity of the fruit, with the clean wines. And so we are play we are now entitled to play in the champions league. Because about all has been always one day you will be like burgundy. One day you will pay this the day that finally we play the final in the Champions League. And and now it's a bigger responsibility because when you go and play the final, you have to to be very good. Yeah. You have to perform. So now that now the challenge is to be able to sit at this table because the in the glass, we are definitely there. Then there are other things that is my job, to make sure that, the wines are well represented, like you did in Sweden for many years or the the the the people that are listening this podcast, you are all now having the great time of drinking great bar olas more age, the young, fresh, new, and all the boss bottle, I can see your faces now, but I I see your hands going up and down, say, oh, yes. I know. Every time I open a bottle, but all of now, it's a fantastic wine. It's a golden golden time of, of Barolo, of Nebiola. It is. I I love that because now I hope you also, you're gonna call this stuff in Montsordo for tomorrow to prepare several bottles of hell, I'll leave it all out. I'm asking, I wanna have to listen to this one. It's funny. That is a challenge. Yeah. So, and then what other Italian wine region can you best identify yourself with? Well, I, loved them very much when I did the the first tasting of the contrada from Aetna with my friend Alberto Tasca in a parallel tasting with the single vineyards of a parolo and the contrada from Aetna. I love the from the very first time, the wonderful hospitality of the planet, family with all the different size they have. And all the whines. Plus, you know, the the Karicante producers, white wine producers, you know, you can name them all, you know, on the on the Aetna. So I will retire and spend the happiest moment of my fifth career in Sicily. Sicily has my dream also because in Sicily for the for the if if I have to identify you know, place has to be a place where food and wine are great and sicily sicily is the best. I loved it. I was there a week ago with the Jita Skolastica from Vineital International Academy. Thank you very much. Amazing Place. It's an amazing story. So we have to to talk more about that one day with a Karicante with a Nerello Maskalese, which leads me to another But it's not only it's not only Aetna, Sicily. I wanna Sicily has personality in every city, in every farming activity they do. Citi has a big roots, cultural roots, omic roots, human being, some of the nicest people in the world can come to see. It's paradise. It's really paradise, you know. We had a common friend, that printed, make a dull shetteau great again on a tee on a t shirt. Can you tell us the story behind it and why I also love to wear it, you know, with proud? A lot of the chip is a great example of how in, in, in one generation, things can be one generation in one life. Things things can be this can be circular. Okay? Mhmm. So Doljeta was the house wine that every family used to drink, by Gallones, by Damien Jones, you know, in Piamonte for one hundred and fifty years. Alba was the town of Delceto. My grandfather produced four Delcettos. Okay? And one barolo. Today, we produce seven bar dollars and one dollar check. Okay? And the question was, it's a, you know, the old, the old people. Oh, you kids, so you don't know what you're losing, blah, blah, blah, you know, back in the days, we used to blah, blah, So how do how can that's my job. Sometimes I do I work, and I sell wine. How can we sell Mordercet? How can we sell Mordercet? How can we sell Mordercetto? Well, you know what? Now, this has been a a a Dolcheto's been struggling for twenty years. Yep. Today, when I come with a bottle of Delceto, and I join, a group of friends. I join you and your, Italian, ambassadors, France in your next trip. And I bring a couple of bottles of Dorceto. I can always show up with a bottle of Dorceto from, ma'am, you choose, because these things in the world, it doesn't happen anywhere else. A bottle of Dorceto, that is the brother of the of the of the in in Bergland, you know. But here, we have, Bruno Chacosa, who does Dolce to, domenico clerical, you you name it. All the very best, the Mascarello, Renal, the whatever. All the very best that we have a bottle of Velceto from great vineyards. Okay? Those are producers, we are I'd includeulating this group. We are top producers, top vineyards. This wine represents so well the the style of the wine, profile of a language and it's more immediate than an Abiola, but has a personality, has a big, white maker behind it, has a great vineyard. Today is the coolest glass of red wine, you can drink from, Pemonta. Of course, we we want to drink a a glass of Montecino every day, but it's a little bit ax unaccessible. Okay? But if you want to have a wonderful glass of lung spirit, you can pick, many of the very best producers. They have the dulce to their dulce to our dulcetos are great. And when you serve it to the people, they tell you, wow, this is a fantastic wine. Imagine it. My grandfather used to do it in damage. And now I I put it in butter for you. I can ship it all over the world. You can have, a piece of a soul, you know, a sip of the soul of a language. And then maybe you're gonna drink but we, now it's time to make their check to great again. And of course, the t shirt is a it's a joke for Donald Trump. Make a America great again. Make a great game. Well, I I like to wear it when we do the, when we do the tasting in the US, and sometimes people get a little bit, get a little bit, you know, guys, we make wine for happy people to exactly to make a happy moment. So, you know, don't want it. Don't be don't be upset. Have a glass of wine with me. Sit down with me. I have a good time. Dolcette is a great wine to have a good time. I agree. So it's funny because, you know, instead of doing tattoos, I wear old t shirts with with the messages, and I had in Sicily, meno, like a minus, meno, minus Arogante, and Pew Carigante. And that was that's the teacher that said, I love that t shirt because that's a saying, you know, you you laugh. You see, it makes people laugh. Yeah. You make people laugh. But the and and there is also the message of, you know, have a have a happier life. Real life. This. Italian wine podcast brought to you by mama jumbo shrimp. So another thing that I love about Pemonte, how you speak together, you know, like, I've seen different wine regions maybe not so much in Italy, but other places where producers are more in competition than, understanding that the more you collaborate, the better it is for the region. So what are the biggest challenges for today's Pemonto producers and how often Do you meet other Phemont to produce to discuss them? I was thinking about the climate change, the mass tourism versus maybe ecotourism, competition, with other wine regions, and so on. A lot of the competition, thank god, we are now in a very strong position and we we can relax not too much, but we can relax and and finally share all the credits that the many, many generations before me, they built. So now we can finally harvest all this, investments, you know, all these seeds that they planted over the last fifty years. So we are privileged, in this moment. Challenges is a climate change. Definitely. That's a big, big, big deal. I see people with the different ideas. So there is not yet a clear direction while there there has been a clear direction of how to finally quantify the wines. So the ultra modernists are more moderate. The ultra tradition is more, updated. So now the style of, the nebial expression is more clear for everybody. And this is good. This is very good. No more extravaganza, more classics. Now we are ready to be great classics. What else? We well, we meet actually three, four times a year in different in different occasions. What is probably the big question is that our wines today are way more balanced less hyper phenolic, so less ultratonic wine, much more balance, much more, when integrating into the fruit because we are having fantastic harvest today. Harvest thing in a in a manga is not like my grandfather where harvest time was a was a drama. It was a big fight against the fog, humidity, and the rain, and the cold, and everything today. We harvest. We all the wedding, beautiful t shirts, shorts, singing, having a great time and coming home with excellent fluids that then we transform in excellent wine. Are this the ultra phenolic wines? No. Are they much more enjoyable and much more understandable? Yes. Terwar is more, it's better expressed. Yes. Because we don't we don't punch any more people in their teeth with the tennis and the acidity. The big question is, are we trading, aging, ability with the finesse and balance and Terwar? In my opinion, yes. But remember that, our vision of, about all today, it's still to be a great one for the next twenty five to fifty years. So I don't know if our great great son will drink uh-uh seventy five, eighty years old, but all, like, we do today. But the the barolo, you know, the forty seven, the sixty four we drink today in this, you know, never ending one for sixty five things, fifty six. Sixty seven. Sixty seven. Yes. I don't think we will able to to do it. Or or maybe all in very, very few vintages. So now we have to understand that what we consider a great vintage. In my opinion, a great vintage is a great vintage of balance and the terroir expression, not anymore the austerity of the Nebula novel novelty and and the unaccessible wise. Those wise are not in my personal opinion. In my taste, are not interesting anymore. When a wine is an accessible, no, I don't like it anymore. I want the balance. I want, I want to understand where the wine come from. I want to recognize the vintage. And I want to recognize, that the elevation of the vineyard because I want to understand if it's a real grand cru or not because a lot of blah blah blah blah about the vineyards, but, you know, great vineyard has, peculiarities that are very clear, and I want to find it in the glass. I don't want to find it in a brochure on our website and on our Instagram story. I want to find it in the glass, and I want to climb the hill invite you to climb the hill with me, be in the vineyard with me and say, now I tell you, you know, breathe, brunate, and then let's go and open the bottle of wine, and you will feel it in the glass. I love that expression. That's, the best birthday present I could get. So imagine, I mean, Bruno with a glass of Brunato today. It's just amazing to escape. So my next question would be, the de the has risen a lot to last year. Is there still markets that haven't yet discovered your wines? And if yes, what markets are they? And how do you introduce the language wines to those people? A lot of markets, in case of merit, we are missing Middle East and South America. A little bit of, Brazil. We are approaching now Peru and and Argentina, and Uruguay, but very, very little things, and, Middle East, I don't see any interest, commercially, to go there. No. Because there are too many. It's too to my they have wine, but there are traders and broker what they do. I I I don't know. And I and we have a our restaurant in Doha with the Erica Cripa, but it's not a easy market for alcoholic beverages. We'll see what happened with Russia later. At the moment. It's a totally unpredictable. Asia, it's all done, US and Canada. So North America, very well done. Europe, of course, a few places in Africa, but that is more of a continental issue rather than than than than wine. And, also, it's very complicated to ship, over in, in, in Africa. You know what? I think we have to relax. And, yes, the new places are the great new wine driven places that are that that keep, open every day, every month in the best countries. Because now wine, it's great, drinking culture. Yeah. And there are many, many more places where food is more informal because people prefer to to do the formula, and this will be the formula of our new restaurant. Tell me what you drink, and then I will follow with some food. Exactly. And, yeah, so those are probably the the new the new places. And for us, it could be also this, amazing network of, natural and biodynamic only wine bars and wine shops. At the moment, they are still a little bit too much, committed to too much on their own. So a winner, like, should I put still a consider it a little bit suspicious? Should I buy it or not? You know, they are a brand, and now we only wanted the leader farmer who does nature by dynamic wise, but slowly, they opened their they open a little bit their their mind, and and you know what? At the end, at the end, when you open a bottle of wine, the wine is very good. People get it immediately. And so, you know, wine ex solve every conflict. I agree. And, the thing is I I'll let you know when I open my next wine bar anyway. So the next question is, so our listeners, they come from all over the world and have the passion for wine in common. They work with the wine. If you had a gigantesk, bottle to share with us. Which one would it be and what would what would be your storytelling behind this bottle? No limits. It can be as big as possible because we have one bottle to share and we have thousands. One bottle to share, from Charette. Let's do this thing. Of course. One from Charette and one not Charette or Chared or Yeah. Barbaresco Bricasil in ninety six. That is, in my opinion, still the perfect wine. It was one hundred percent, my uncle Marcello, but at this, at the moment, is the perfect wine. A la son of my car's indeed, something unbelievable with the barolo Saraluna proper two thousand ten. But Barbara is in ninety six, is the is the first one that I tasted in front of a big, big panel. And I had to sit and say, sorry guys. Now we all sit everybody quiet and you know, three minutes of attention for this one. The other, because you because in the world, we all love champagne, my respect, my respect. I should say salon because I import salon and, honestly, salon is the is the is the, you know, the heaven of a chardonnay in a mini Surge. But for me, the winery with the can we say the biggest balls? The biggest I don't say that. Yeah. Exactly. For me, when you vinify the way you unify with the such a complexity, and their quality result you get. And, you manage, I don't know how many thousand of actors, and you release that don't put in your own at that quality with this number, the number of butter with all these grape sources everywhere plus their own vineyards and everything. For me, the winemaker of Don Perignon is the man with the hardest balls in the universe of wine. Some big respect. So every time I I I every time I hear people, blah blah blah blah blah blah. Listen. Let's drink a bottle of the opinion. Let's start from the basics. These are gigantic, gigantic wise. And so I would say I would say I know you would expect me to say something more. No. I don't know. I don't have a total two weeks ago. I love I love I love the icons. I love the icons. The day I die, I open a bottle of a pergola torte, pergola torte for me. For me, but this this will be only for me. Not for me. My my my life's journey in wine will be me and a bottle of pergola torte Wow. I'm I'm I'm sure the listeners will not say no to a glass of don't, that's for sure. And, so, another curious, is it officially announced that you'll soon add a d o c g in your portfolio, or could you tell us, can you tell us more about it? Bravi, you you you dig in our, you know, our family affairs. A lot of it's a individual project of my sister Roberta, my sister, Robert, and her husband, giuseppe. So it's, called, because they leave, they have a house up there in Atlanta where, most of the people do. They rip it off of venues of Delcito, not not all of them. San Venus, they bought other land, and they started with the consultancy of a French white maker. They started this dream and, amazing. They made it happen from nothing, and they were, well, of course, Roberto's sister. She's not a beginner. But, but she does a public relation in media communication, not, vineer management or not, farming or no, winemaking. So they did it. They released this wine. It's beautiful. Of course, Roberta does all our art project for for the family. So the label, it's a very special label from Francesco Clemente artist, but who cares? The wine is amazing. The wine is amazing. And you know what is amazing of the Alta langue in Alta langue at at at the moment. You see, I like the Dolceo. You see a list of amazing producers that are doing Alta langue. So for sure, Alta langue has to improve a little bit in terms of overall quality. Yeah. It's still a little bit rustic. It's not yet refined, but guys, it's ten years. Fifteen years, they they they they that this one exists. And it's a very complicated protocol because it's like Champagne and everything. So, Altrailanga will happen. This is the ambulance for me to come in to pick me. Oh, I still receive my mic, sweetie. I was like, what came with my best? So No. So, no, my about, you know, in our drawing, I want to tell you this. There is a lot of excitement because people remember when the land, in Marlin, Barbara, was, let's say, cheaper or very accessible, and you could have produced wonderful things. Now this is happening, Alan, Altranga. Altranga. Altranga now is the best investment you can do in the language. Because Barrozco, it's a ten million euro per hectare. Finito. Finito. Finito. Finito. The the small producers, the young producer, the very young producers, they are in a trap now. And this is unfair. One day, we will find, how to help some of them. You I know you moved. So how has it changed your life moving from the middle of Alba? And now literally waking up amongst some of the greatest vines in Barolo. A lot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of first of all, when you see all the landscape pictures with this, foggy clouds in the bottom and the hills that jump out of the clouds and everything seems a magic. Well, that is my terrace every day in the in November. So it is a it is a privilege. How do you feel? You feel that you are the luckiest man, on earth? It's really It's really unbelievable. And then I love, I love the community of Castino Felito. Good friend, a wonderful producer. He welcoming Castiglito telling me, Felico, we have a problem We have been a community of six hundred inhabitants for the last two hundred years. Now you moved in with your family, and now we are seven hundred and two. That's a this is a problem. There's a problem. We are going too fast. And, and, but you know what? I learned, I know it sounds strange because I, you know, me, Eric. I've been a I've been a everyday ambassador of Barolo as deeply as I could really put the seats in everybody to to think of drinking more and more Barolo and BarBaresco. But the sense of respect that you feel in a village that has a hundred percent of the land territory of of the village territory of Casa Freto is in within the barolo population. They you know, in barolo and in Castillo Foleto, we feel we are the baro listers, you know, and when you are baro lister in Italy, it's like you are a artista, you know? It's something, in your DNA. And this is, I'm learning this. I'm I'm living this every day, and I'm, I am very proudly, castiglione Falletto, citizen now. And, forget about Alba. Alba. That was that was a good that was that was a good move. So, now I'd like to introduce you. When I grew up in in Paris, I followed a program called apostrophe. So I will introduce some questions inspired by the great journalist de Berachivo, inspired by the writer, Marcel Proust, if I may. So what is your favorite word in the world? Could be any language, you know, could be in it could be in French, could be in English, could be in German, Well, Gracia. For Churi is also. Gracia is the first award that my daughter, Sophia, she said, Gracia. And when you see a little girl, you know, watching you and try she tried to say grazia, you know, she couldn't even say it, but she she tried grazia. And then, grazia. So thank you. It's something, Italian that everybody recognize around the world. Yeah. Gracier, you know, with more Gracier saying, you can, achieve connection with people that is deeper, and it's more solid, and it's more real than many other things. So Gracia is, something we should say more and more and more to people. In our job in our family, in our, work, in our, we are people that share their lives with many other peoples. Where, if we say granted to each other for what people do for you, little things or big things, life would be much, much easier for everybody. I agree. That's that's I love that. How how do you think that's in Swedish? I don't know. Tact. So what sound or noise do you love? Well, sound, for me, is the guitar of Jimmy Hendrix. Wow. The guitar of Jimmy Hendrix, you know, I I I'm a I'm a guy that, for me, music finished in the end of the seventies. Maybe little things in the early eighties. The noise that I like, it's when I drop my food and my barbecue. That's the noise that I like. You know? The sound of the barbecue. It's, yeah. And, I'm not talking about the meat. I'm talking about really me and my barbecue, and, in in collaboration, we are a great orchestra. He sounds really well. Wow. That's that's good. So if you could try any profession existing or non existing, what would it be? Well, unfortunately, I'm, really bad in, was it, designing. Okay. Yeah. So I tried, when I was younger, but they couldn't make it. There was a moment in my life that I thought I wanted to be the guy that tried the stories for the comic books. So I wanted to be the guy who create, all the stories for the the comic books. And still today, it's one of my great, passion. I would have, love to write, stories for my kids. Wow. But then, of course, those are the things that you don't you never have time and you regret. But, I I think that what you read and learn when you are very little, can have a good influence on your, new things. So less TikTok more comic books. I agree. That could be the next, the next t shirt. I I think that's my kids as well. Let's tick tock and and more comic books. I love that. So if heaven exists, what would you like to hear god say when you arrive at the Pearl Gates in hundred years? You know what I'm Hey, bro. Come in the cellar with me. That's a good one. I I I I'd love to hear. You did good with your with your kids. It with your family. You're done. Come come here and relax. Yeah. That's what I that's what I want to hear. Yes. You did enough for all your kids for your family. Come here now. Have a good time. I hope you're gonna have well, we have enough good time here, but I hope it's gonna be a game more good time. There must be a great seller up there. I hope you have that's what I was thinking. When you said, welcome to my seller, that must be, like, more a dream, coming through, you know, next dream, the next time. Open what you want. Exactly. Welcome to the life after life. What turns you on creatively, spiritually, or emotionally. A lot. As spiritually, I must say, I've been traveling a lot. And I spent thousands of hours alone on a plane. On on a train alone on a waiting room, of a airport or whatever. And, there are moments where I understand the reason why you are, keep doing it. And you find your motivation because you are alone. You're alone. And this is something you have to do. You know, when you travel, you're alone, and people don't realize this, that nobody nobody helps you. So you have to find your motivation. So spirituality for me means when I am alone with myself, I find my patience. Emotionally no. Emotionally, my kids. My kids. Emotions are are my kids, and, at the moment, he has at the moment, you know, I one is eight. She's thirteen. I'm having a great time with them. And what was the other one? Creatively. Yeah. What does your creatively, you learn, well, oh, yeah. I am a creative, every single, almost every single day because, again, when you do the kind of job I did, and you are on your own, you have to find also the solution to problems. And, also, you are the last word of the company. So, you know, it's not only creativity. It's a responsibility. You have to find solution. But, you know, consider that, unfortunately, my My thing is a little bit, less engaging for the people that are listening to this podcast. The guy who needs to have a creativity and vision, is the winemaker. Is my cousin alysan or the producer or the producer or Erika Crippa. I could this is a question that if you ask to Erika Crippa, the answer could be, life changing, you know, for me, Yeah. The creativity is, is if if my creativity is a little bit more, no. I don't want to say commercial, but down to earth. Hands to earth. Yeah. And, finally, could you please send us info where we can find the mouth watering chocolate from Relanga, your chocolate factory. That is more like a Christmas, you know, I would love to have two bites here in Sweden. I would love to know where we can have that because I love your chocolate, and that's another passion that we can have it in other podcasts maybe. I don't know how how time left we have, but, Remember that the recipe of the lingo to the janduya chocolate with the crunchy biscuits in it that you cut a, like, a gigantic, piece of chocolate. It's my personal recipe. So that is my real contribution to this world. When I die, I want to have on my, my grave, and I he made the lingotto. You can buy it online. Eric. I think, today, you can buy it online. Okay. Okay. Or you call you call me. You are all you know what? You come and visit Chareta. We're gonna, don't worry. Come spend some time with me, guys. And then I I will make sure that you will, you will discover that every, every great things we produce. Sounds amazing. I don't know if we, we'll have a stevie coming in or if we how much time we have left? There you go. I I'm back. I'm back. So first of all, happy birthday again, Eric, but congratulations, federico. It sounds I love this conversation. I really enjoyed thoroughly enjoyed listening to you, because it sounds like two friends at a bar. It's minus the wine. It is. However, I would be, remiss not to ask if he can just kind of give us an overview of his wineries and the wine. So for for those who are less familiar and not as friendly with federico, personally, can you just give us a quick quick snapshot of your wines? Okay. Yes. Of course. The the iconic wines that we we produce are a range of single vineyards of a barolo. That includes, the flagship wine that is Bricorocca. There is a monopole in Barolo, brunate, from La Mora, Pra, from Montorta, and, it cannot be Salorenzo from, from Barolo plus, Barolo classical where we blind multiple, parcels. The same in Barbarresco. We have, Azile, we have a Bernadotte, from Theresa. We have a Galina from NEver, and Azilia, of course, from Barbaresco Village and a barbaresco classical. Then the three great populations of alba, Dolce de alba, Barbara, and then we are super proud to be one of the three, major, a composite pioneer in, Arneza together with the VAT family and the and the and the and the Brunoza. Winery, where where we create sorry for this. We created the, this amazing successor, of course, with the support of the managerations of the grape growers. Plus, our family heritage come from the Santa Stefano Belbo village. I want to be very specific because you guys have been studying a lot in your book. So you have to, but, you know, you have to know all this information. We come from Santo Stefro Belba. So we have this fourth winery, called the Vignaioli di Santo stefano. Not easy to pronounce where we produce Muscatatosti and, as this point So Chareto is, Arnes deulieto, barbera and and also for most sort of briccaroque winery for the single vineer barrolas and, bricca's re winery for the single vineer, Barbara. For for places where we produce wine since the, early thirties. And we are a land. We are vineyard owner. We are vineyard owner from the late sixties. Okay. So, I mean, those are lots of wines. How many labels in total, if I let it go? Including Barolo Kinato, I think, these are four Barbararesco, seven burrows, eleven, three, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen labels. Okay. Seventeen labels. So for Too much. Yeah. March. They they used to be grabbed. I used to be riesling. Yeah. I killed them all. A grandpa riesling pinot noir, Sheridan, sauvignon, Dionne, I killed them all. I, the classics. Stay focused on the classics. Okay. So you're you've, yeah, you've trimmed, you're pruning your portfolio. So for, our listeners, because this does get replayed on the Italian wine podcast, and it's not just for our Italian wine ambassadors. How do our listeners approaching, Cherreta, for the first time? How do they navigate all of these wines? Where do they start? And what are your signature wines? Signature wines are, I would say, well. I have to say, Barolo Bernate is probably the first, vineyard of Barolo we identified as a single vineyard. The the great experience is a brick rock because it's a grand cru in Casa and it's a monopole. So it's unique. Arnaise, Blanger, our pleasure. It's, distinctively Italian, everyday fine wine. So it's if you really want to try, the the palette of a distinctively Italian white wines in the category of, an oct easy drinking, Arnese Blanger. It's a a true icon. So I would say I don't say this often enough. It's the best vineyard of any bill we have. Okay. Excellent. Thank you very much for that. And on that's it. We don't really have time for much else. I have to close-up the room. Happy birthday again, Eric Schneider. That's similar, Steve. Okay. That's a perfect room. Big champagne for everybody. But did he go. Okay. And thanks again, everybody. Listen to the Italian wine podcast, wherever you get your podcasts. We're on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, ImLIFM, and more. Don't forget to subscribe and rate the show. 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