Ep. 2144 Cynthia Chaplin interviews Al-Cantàra winery | Clubhouse Ambassadors’ Corner

So we go into the row in different times, maybe also into the same row to pick different bunches at different stage of ripeness. This is also we can say also our secrets please don't say to anyone. For each kind of label, alcantara, pick his own branches to develop, characteristic labels that are definitely unique. Welcome to the special club house session of the Italian wine podcast. Listen in as members of the Italian wine community engage in fascinating conversations about contemporary wine topics. If you enjoyed the show, please consider donating through italian wine podcast dot com and remember to subscribe and rate the Italian wine podcast wherever you get your pods. Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Ambassador's Corner. My name is Carla Ramirez. And today, I'm pleased to welcome a dearest colleague of mine, Cynthia Chaplin, and her guest, Salvatore and from Alcantara winery. Welcome, everybody. Hi, Alecandra, here we are. And, so, Cynthia is gonna be the host later on in the interview. And she is a certified Italian wine ambassador, a sommelier with fondantin Italian Saommelier, and a professor of Italian wine and culture. She is a freelance consultant and the hosts of voices for Italian wine podcast and the old wine podcast. She has spent few fifteen years specializing in Italian wine. So my first question for you, Cynthia, is, why did you decide to invite Salvador here with us today? Well, I fell in love with Alcantara winery a few years ago. And Salvatorre is the analogist. So in the past few years, I've had the chance to meet him on several occasions and even visit the winery with him. And he is a the perfect voice to talk about Alcantara And Alejandro is the, marketing and an export manager. So he is very, very knowledgeable about how alcantara is taken out into the world. And how did you discover the wines of alcantara? Well, happily enough, it was at Vinitalee a few years ago when Alcantara was named winery of the year by five star wine and wine without walls. And several members of Alcantara, including the owner, PUTigi Frida, were there to accept the prize. And the owner, stood up and he read a poem and sang a song and everyone cried, the wines were wonderful, but it was a very emotional experience for everyone in the room. So, it was a wonderful way to discover their winery. It's so funny to hear that many Italian wine ambassadors actually have discovered some gems and have started building special relationships with wineries that discovered here at Vin Italy. So I'm very, very much glad to hear that. One last question. What are the learning objectives that we should expect from this interview? Well, everyone who's listening to this interview should learn a little bit about how to market to new consumers and younger consumers also about sustainability in Sicily and innovation and experimentation in Sicily. Well, so enough of my with my questions. I'll leave the room up to you and I'm curious to hear your story. Thank you, Carla. Well, I'm really happy to have Salvatorre and Alessandro here with me today. So the Salvatorre Rizuto is a very accomplished technologist with huge experience in the wine sector. He had his has his degree from Viticulture and analogy from the University of Turin, and he began working in Piamonte with very well known wineries such as Fontana Frreda and Desiani And in two thousand and eight, he dedicated his experience to Aetna based wineries. He's doing a lot of interesting work there as well as being a technical wine consultant. He also serves as an examiner for specialization projects in Viticulture, and he's involved with industry training. He sits on many association boards, including Italian Association of Inologist and Enno technicians. So he is a an amazing person to talk to about Cicilian wine and particularly Aetna wine. And Alessandro is the marketing export and marketing director for the company. He has huge experience in commercial management and international sales. He's worked with very famous luxury products such as White Truffle in international markets like New York and London with brands such as Dean and DeLuca and Harris. So, lots of hospitality and sales management skills. So now he is also channeling all of his energy and all of his experience into the wine sector to help Alcantara develop marketing strategies to enhance the global presence of wine products. So welcome to both of you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Nice to be with you. It would be a lot more fun if we were together in Sicily, but I'm happy to talk to you both today. So I will kick off the questions. I know Alcantara began in two thousand and five, and it was the brainchild of Pucci Gio Frida. So mister Gio Frida was an accountant beforehand. So what made him decide to start a winery? And why did he decide to base the winery on poetry and art and literature? Oh, well, are you well citizens because it will be a long sorry. I'm joking, but let me say you that Mr. Frida is still an accountant, but what made him professionally in in that field it was for, passing the days, like, of the responsibilities to have a stable job. But, you know, like many other people, you develop in something that will be good for your life, but sometime not listening till the end your internal voice. Well, mister Jushrida, in his inspirational personal inspiration, he had later to poems, art and wine as a treasure for his soul. And he was after long times and years in working with, her money and accountants to start to develop something that was wearing the other side of his life. The personal one, the restoration one, the very full of life one. So but in the days, he was inspired in the simplicity of the things. He was inspired by, beautiful wires that a friend of him had in his, villas on Vietnam. And during the years, he was, really fascinated for the care that this beautiful woman has had means, flowers in between the row. I mean, you know, the, like the, heaven garden that you can imagine. And so slowly slowly, it was pushing him to develop something like that, but on his own. Well, after sometimes our research He found this beautiful estate of twenty hectares. And, he decided thanks also, the location of this state that is very close to the river of Alcantara. That is important. We know that in translating in Arabic, Alcantara meets breach. So he decided to develop a concept as a bridge connecting wine, poetry, literature, and arts. So in that way, began the alcantara concept. And, you know, that, Cynthia was saying something important because, during the exhibition of, the Italy, there were some people. There was a way also crying close to Alcata SENSE. Let me tell you that at the beginning, I can't tell a born in two thousand and five, you said. But in two thousand and eight, it was the first exhibition for alcantara with just two labels. It was one, and it was one, two rats. Another one was, well, they took the first nomination and the only one on the Aetna. They were able to keep the first two nomination of the tissue labels for the first time. And he was, used to say that, he was expecting, thanks to the nomination that many people was coming to the sand to ask about the wine and to, discover the brand that there was a win nominated by the the fair, but no one is coming. So he spent the first two days of the exhibition without no one coming and stands. So he's so struggling for that and start to say, Hey, I'm here. So I have to do something. Then it's such to stop people, stopping, he met a woman and it is explaining her the wine explaining her, the poem in the back of the label is with the with the vision of the of the beautiful label. This woman, after some men decide to cry cry and cry. And imagine it happened for maybe twenty minutes. He was a bit embraced, mister Tustrida. And he said to help the lady, but This one was the sign that he was doing and going in the right direction. When you are able to touch the emotion of the people, it seems that you are doing something very important. So he was, for sure after that occasion that the experience to develop and to continue in the experience of the winery. It's such an amazing story that he got that reaction before the winery was even well known. He only had two labels, but his ability to evoke an emotional response from people is really huge. And we know that we face so many challenges in the global wine market these days you know, not the least of which is trying to attract new and and young consumers. So the labels you mentioned just now that were created for Alcantara wines are really different and really eye catching and the names of each wine are very interesting. So, you mentioned, you know, the the the dark wine, the red wine. There's also the white wine lucci, which is light. So who chooses the label art for Alcantara and the names for each wine. Do you think it's useful in marketing and positioning these wines, you know, not only in Italy, but also in foreign markets? What kind of feedback do you get about the the labels and the names and the artwork? Well, Cynthia, let me say thank you for this question. And this is a very important question. Let me tell you why. When you start a business, anyway, you have to decide the way the people will see your in between many other bottles, why many other products like yours. So it was that was the ease of trying to elevate and putting out your uh-uh his production in consideration of the other many other bottles of wine. But considering the soul, the concept of alcantara, it was easily to receive an answer about and he was using the arts. So get deeply into the culture of Sicily. In a way, imagine that Sicily is a culture that was inspired and contaminated by very many different kind of people like Greece, Arabic people, northern Europe. So we are definitely a melting pot. Thanks to this, and this is a nice tricky, way of he decided to first give a name of each label by a poem. A poem that is coming from this is serial poetry like verga and So he keep inspiration by the poems and that each label has nominated by, cultural a deep interest in asylum poem literature. So, thanks to the poem in the back of each label, an artist, as a senior artist would get inspired to paint the label and, imagine this What was making born this idea was an idea, very personal, very important to mister Josleda. It was very full of lives and full of the joyful and young powerful life of like a young people, a young man because of this is still the power of mister Jesrida. So he was touching his childhood emotional way of approaching. And that's why the label of Ankantara are very full of color and with a beautiful draw that every young and pure children can make it aspiring by us. They really are so unique and so different. The labels really stand out on Michelle. If you can see them from far away, they're very attractive and make people curious, I think. So I like the story behind that. And I know you've got a lot of new projects going on since you won the five star wines and wine without walls winery of the year. So I want to ask you about some of the innovations and the experiments going on I know when I was there with Salvatorre in the spring, he showed me, first of all, the creation of a wastewater collection and cleaning ponds. So where did this idea come from? And what's the aim of the project? How will it help sustainability at Alcantara? Well, you touch a very important issue. So nowadays, I think that you can't avoid to have an environmental responsibilities. And he mentioned that the wine there's and the the winery is in a beautiful country side landscape. And the the main resources used in each winery is a lot of water and water is a very, an important resources nowadays for everyone in our world. And, imagine that in a wine, fills for each bottle of wine that products you use four liter of water. So it was not anymore able to be blind of this issue and that we start, partnerships with the University of, Catania to develop a fetal separation three steps like water process. So thanks to the natural process of water throwing from one lake to the other lake in different level. Thanks also by the use of some bacteria. We are cleaning this water and using again, this water for irrigating the olive trees in our estate. So we don't waste water and we use the same waters to nutrition, our olive oil cultivation. And I think this is so important because, of course, we know Sicily has had a lot of drought issues in the past few years, which I expect will probably continue to have. So the understanding how important it is to conserve the water to reuse it to clean it and to put it back into the vineyard and into the olive grove is something that I think other wineries should be looking at doing too. So I know that, the vineyard is just over about twenty hectares now, and you've also got an experimental vineyard. So which varietals are you growing in the experimental vineyard? And what are the plans? What wines are you hoping to make with those experiments? We are, first of all, with the same university of Catania. We're also working with a very ancient race or graves. That, there's still a very raised trace on Vietnam. And, it's four years now that we are collaborating with, in partnership with the university, to develop and, to grow up hundreds plans for each race of four or an instant races of grape on the Aetna called Marbarosa called Modanaera called Madama White and grilled easy, the first two in red wine and the second two in white wine. This year for the first year, we will able to gather around fifty kilos of bunches to then start the verification that is made in the University of Trapani and understanding how this, race of grapes, good to make wine, and maybe guys in the future, we can discover another of the more than two hundred kind of race of grapes that Italy has. Also, something you may maybe will be amazing new flavor of of wine. But it's also important that uh-uh we know that alcantara has its own particular environment characteristic that, anyway, helps to play with, the main sicilian ethnic grapes, like, and and you use the grapes that are only grown in your own vineyard, you know, for your Aetna, DOC wines, and your Terre Cicerillane, EGP wines. So tell us about this. What makes the terroir so special in your vineyards? You're very close to the Cantada River. And the Nebrody mountains, obviously being on volcanic soils at Mount Aetna. But what makes your location so crucial to the quality of your wine compared to other vineyards on the volcano? Well, imagine that the volcano is a mountain, and of course, and, you have it from one side. For example, the north side, the teal the south are very different micro flameades environments. I'm talking about alcantara. We are, in an estate of fourteen exs as well in a way, fourteen are cultivated in one year. Where, the three main Turoa presence. And one is, the closer to the river of Alcantara is, Turoa that with an amount of nutrients much more higher than the main and the classic volcanic one is a terabid has a a higher percentage of calcar. Then we have the main volcanic one made with stone and made with dust that is coming from the volcano. And the last one is that it has a million amount of up to fifteen percent of our estates is made with a strong skeleton and is made with a higher percentage of big stone. So this for the first time characterize the Jira of alcantara, but then the position of the east states is a position where we are also close to a chain of mountains of jeopardy and also the mountain of Aetna. So in this like that we can call corridor, is a floating winds that help all these states to have a very healthy hair that taking out some risky bacteria or that can, be a risk for the whiners and for the cultivation of the wine. Thank you for that. It's so interesting when we think of Mount Aetna, we normally just think of the Japanese stones and the ash from the volcano, but it's very interesting to hear that that the soil nearer to the river has that calcareous soil and those nutrients. So thank you for explaining that to us. I know that you're using one vineyard in particular to grow grapes per sparkling and still red and rose. So I got to see this vineyard with you Salvatore when I was there. Can you explain why this particular piece of the vineyard is so nurturing for the Norello Masca lazy and so helpful to make wines in so many different styles in just this one place. How do you harvest that vineyard different from other vineyards? Thank you Cindy for your question. Where this one could be considered in a way they keen the case zone of alcantara. But let me start, to tell you why. First, we are cultivating this beautiful, it's an amazing, and it's a very eclectic, if we can start to say, because thanks to his own acidity, thanks, for his own, strength and elegance. This way, we will be used for making a different one. Because if you do the, the classic, the champagne method, the like we produce and you get crazy. If you use us, to making, blonde de noir is amazing. If you wanna make the feel this beautiful freshness is important. We can say with this word. Freshness is a combination of minerality and acids together. So this freshness in the in the white wine. And then Samantha is an amazing powerful trees, a great profile to make this kind of wine. But when we consider also, the power of this, grape and the elegance that these grape is characterized help to develop a beautiful elegant and very long and fast in the years as it's so is the one that can stand very long in the years red wine. But, let me tell you that this is the grade. We were also talking about terroa. Also terroa is a an important key factor to develop a different bunches. But, all of this information are gathered by methods of harvesting. Because considering the characteristic of the Nero Loma Saliza to be good for different kind of wines. Considering the different around we have. Thanks to Salvo. We discover and we develop the methods that we can say of the one yards listener Let me tell you what does it mean. I'm not crazy. We are not crazy, but, thanks, Salbo, thanks for his knowledge and sensibilities, help to manage the harvesting, keeping and picking in the same row, different kind of grapes at different stage of bunches in different times. So we go into the row in different times, maybe also into the same row, in different times to pick different bunches at different stage of ripeness. This is the key point. This is also we can say also our secrets. Please don't say to anyone that's, help us to have, great verification of the wine considering together the same kind of stage of, boundaries. Cynthia had the chance when he was visiting us to discover how in the same one years. So in the same maybe, fifty square meter, there were maybe four different kinds of sage or ripeness, or characteristic of, bodges by the same, kind of, plants from the same one. Just because imagine that, one of the particularities that is in our estate. That is the same one. You can have the inflammation of some water, for example, that is in some parts with the in higher amounts because maybe aetna is full of water, and there is probably a vein of water that's running through a sun blindness and made these plants much stronger much powerful. And, anyway, in the same one is where maybe two meters far, there are different, different boundaries. So, we can't keep all the winers, all the branches to harvest all the or the winers in the same times because we will have bunches a difference in characteristic in amount of water, in amount of sugar, in how big is the are the bounces. So for each kind of label, alcantara peak is own bounces to develop, characteristic labels that are definitely unique. Thank you for such a good explanation. It's an amazing piece of vineyard to see. As you said, just in one small square few meters, all of these different things can happen with the Norella Maskaleesi. So It's really a magical vineyard, and you explain it so well. So I have a question for you, and this is something I've wondered about since I got to know Alcantara, you make almost every style of wine, red, rose, white, still, sparkling, passito, even grappa, you know, not made at the vineyard, obviously, but you have grappa made. So you have this big portfolio with lots of work to maintain so many different labels Why is it important to Alcantara to continue to make this big number of wines? Well, Cynthia, thanks again for this question because considering what I'm saying you before, and adding with the wheels of, a young profile and powerful, lifely owner, like, Mr. Resrida, to research into experiments and thanks to the characteristic that it was, like, until now I'm saying to you that that is very eclectic that, the wines that give you different kind of bunches. So thanks to all of this information. We are in a way in the possibilities to develop just three red and two white or keep all the characteristics that this land, this environment, this kind of grape and the knowledge of of a salvo can do for the production. So thanks to the discultracy, we were needed to produce a different and particular side of the same grapes because this is an opportunity for us to discover also the strength of this land. Well, I hope Salvo always stays there because I love all of the wines of Alcantara, and there are many. So it's a lot of work to make so many different styles of wine, but it's worth the effort because they really are special. So I also wanted to ask you, we know that artificial intelligence in vineyards is a very hot topic right now, and I wondered how does Alcantara make use of technology like artificial intelligence and How do you see it being used in the future at your winery? A traditional intelligence is, nowadays, should be an ally for every business since we can develop and manage better our work. In the whiners and wine, environments, artificial intelligence is important regarding the weather because the study tends to the algorithms and thanks to the how strong is the process, the processing of the information of the, artificial intelligence to develop in the weather forecast, in the weather a examination of the winers. We can understand the curve of the ripeness of the winers, and we can understand if there will be any risks of areas of the wine that says it would be more fragile able to be affected by some pathogenous bacteria. So AI will help us to use in case we should some, very local treatments in case the one has need. But, what does it mean everything that we avoid as much as we can to use chemical things. And as you probably know, Alcantara is cultivating one nurse in the organic method. Also, like, giving, personalization using other plants from them mixed into the ground to give, the right nutrients to the plants. So going straight on these files to see, we will use also artificial intelligence also to manage the healthy status of the whiners and to work in case we have a very local area when it's needed. Thank you for that. I know that, the harvest goes very late in Aetna as well, so probably still some harvesting going on now. And last year was a particularly difficult vintage. So what has the twenty twenty four vintage been like at Alcantara? What was the most successful grapes this year and the least successful grapes this year? Well, GCI, you made it in two thousand and two to see He's a definitely forgotten vintage. Everyone of us definitely knows about. But twenty twenty four is an amazing vintage, but let me tell you why at the beginning, at the winter, then all the winter, then spring, there was a really low amount of rain. And this helps, to avoid it, but on those foreign effects. So to have a dry winter giving us a healthy wine just because there was not enough humidity to let it grow some fungus. But then when they started July and August, it was this really halved are really hot with definitely a few amounts of rain. But in the end of August after Sargoso, in September, they will come in after lunch And for sometimes during the afternoon, for every day, some we call it, summer rain. They're very intense and short. Okay? That the from the end of August, the end of August and September, set to give the right water to the wires. What gives this give the the wires this uh-uh rain in the afternoon was giving first to develop again after the very dry environment. There was July and August to start the biological power of the plants. So new leaves, the plants start to grow up again. Then gives a very beautiful and perfect, ripeness of the bunches and imagine with an amount of sugar and, of course, an alcholot very high. One of the highest. The suburb was saying me today that, for the red wine, we reach fifteen point five, for the red wine of a school of school. So at We have in in this year, a beautiful wine made with a very healthy Bouches and with a beautiful perfume made by the ripeness of the grape, So we made, some red, beautiful, intense, producible with these amazing freshness, and thanks to the excursion of temperature that are very difficult to the on the Aetna and during July and August was very hot during the day and, very cold during the night. But this is the environments the climate conditions that are common here in Vietnam. But anyway, for the white wine, this one was very helpful because it stopped the moderation for the white, the race of rape. He stopped the moderation, and developed some white wire with this beautiful freshness, but not as much as the red heiniger presentation of alcohols. Well, I'm very excited to hear that because that means I will have some very good wines to look forward to tasting in the spring next year when twenty twenty four gets bottled. So that's very good news for all of us who are listening and who like the wines from Aetna. So before I let you go, I wanted to ask you what new projects are coming for Alcantara? Do you have plans to expand or make new wines or what fluctuations in the global market? And, you know, this threat from the European Union of ripping up vines How are these things affecting the decisions being made at Alcantara? Oh, well, new projects definitely are made. I mean, Alcantara decide, first of all, to develop a very performing casing experience and making developing new areas of the wine. Definitely, we want to continue to taking a strong care of the, wine that's so working hard, see working very hard in the agriculture because, having the raw material and you can develop a beautiful production. So definitely we still be of the old school of the work hard to have a very healthy plans that produce a very healthy bouches, then also to, continuing with the process that the that the self establish in the mitigation or like still working with a noble gas, like a nitrogen, or carbon the oxygen to avoid every, starting process of oxygenation of the wine and still working with the temperature to manage the fermentation of the wine and the process of maturation. So, using as less as possible, to use chemical helps and to manage with temperature, avoiding oxygenation, so having care of the the wine to still produce a very quality wine. But, Salvo, that is supposed to really want to say something. Sabvo, do you want to say something to them? He want to talk about the EU, UV, law to change the race of warriors. And it's important to know that considering that this European, the new law, Aetna area, he works in the offices. He means that we have too much, an amount of, of, is very high. And so this, European law is not working for us because we are blocked in, changing the wires. Consider like a, tremendous to later on. Nowadays, by the Aetna consortium, you can't implant and develop more than fifty eight tasks in total three. So on the Aetna, we're trying to reach new fields to put more of this one. Yes. So we don't need to take out about we need to plant more wines. Thank you. Thank you both so much. Thank you Salba for that contribution. I think these new laws are going to be very controversial in many places, but I liked what you had to say that the market demand for Aetna wine is contrary to other places in Europe where the demand has gone down. So it's interesting to see how these laws will affect what happens next on Aetna. And I'm very grateful to both of you for giving us your time today and speaking to us all the way from Sicily. It's a pleasure to hear from you and to learn so much about what you're doing at Alcantara. Thank you. Thank you. See you. And, we want to say thanks for the chance to, anyway, talk about, our reality. And, so we are sending, worm hacks from the Edna volcano, and we are now around eight hundred and fifty meter up to the sea level, with an amazing view of the of the sea. So from this beautiful environment, we send you our, high I think that's a wrap. So thank you everybody for joining us today and being here with us. Listen to the Italian wine podcast. Wherever you get your podcast, We're on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, PayMLIFM, 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 costs. Until next time.