Ep. 773 Catherine Stratton Interviews Giulia Monteleone | Clubhouse Ambassador's Corner

Welcome to this special Italian wine podcast broadcast. This episode is a recording of 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. Hello everybody. Welcome to Italian wine club. My name is Stevie Kim. And this is the Italian wine club for Clubhouse. This is the twenty fifth edition, I believe, episode of siras Kona. And today we have Katherine Stratton, who will be interviewing Julia Monteleone. Hi, Steve. Hey. How are you? Good. What's going on? Where where are you? I am in lingua Glosa. Oh my god. You're in Italy. You're in Aetna. Yes. And where are you staying? I'm currently at the Shali Resort where I stayed last night. Oh my gosh. I stayed there. They have a great restaurant. It's I think it's still one star. Right? Yeah. Still one star. It's I didn't eat either this time. We ate at Caboox last night. And what are you what are you doing there? Well, I mean, I came to see Julia because we had other things we had to talk about, not just the Oh, excellent. Are you guys together now? No. She's at I think she's in her apartment. Oh, okay. Great. Wow. And how long are you staying? I actually leave tomorrow morning. First thing, I've been here almost two so. Okay. What is what's going on in California? What is the COVID situation? I, you know, I mean, my parents still live in California. They said it's it's like everywhere. I moved to Portland a year ago. Oh, okay. I didn't realize that. So this session is recorded and will be replayed on Italian wine podcast. I was saying yesterday that we're extremely, extremely happy, especially about the clubhouse Ambassador Corners, episodes. It's been hugely successful. We've reached nine hundred thousand listens just on SoundCloud last year. And that is a long way since two thousand seventeen when we've started. We had twenty three thousand listens on SoundCloud. So and that's not counting, of course, Spotify, Himalaya, all of the other channels. So incredibly great work, great teamwork from Joy. Joyce Joyce actually just right next door. She's hovering with her new dog. Name is Lily. And I have my dogs here today, and their names are Kim and Chi. Kim Chi. Italians don't quite get that, but anyways, they're all here with us on the in the podcast booth right now. So thank you for joining us. For those of you who are unfamiliar or less familiar with our moderator today, Catherine Stratton. She is, of course, our Italian wine Ambassador from the Financial International Academy community. And she herself is a an educator and she owns a importing business and also the owner of CS selections and sales manager for Maybe you can tell us a little bit about that. What is Prada Bianca in CS selections? CS selection is my own company, which is the brokerage side of things. So that I am contracted by importers to manage sales. But also help find the new producers and things. So I, I live in Portland. I manage a sales team, basically on the West Coast for them. They're a direct importer of Italian wines. So are you highly specialized in Italian wines? Italian French and Greek and Greek. Yes. Uh-huh. Okay. I didn't I didn't know that. So she is originally from Los Angeles and but she also studied in UCLA where she got her certificate in wine education and management, Italian wine specialist from North American Sommelia Association and a certified yoga instructor. How does that work? Wine and yoga? They balance each other out. That's so cheesy. I did not expect that from you, Catherine. Because sometimes the obvious answer is the best answer. Okay. So like she said, she's moved to Oregon now. She's like she has so much on her CV. I'll let her get on with her show right now. But before that, Catherine, why did you choose Julia Monteleone as your favorite producer and your guest producer today. Because she's fabulous. Not just not just in the sense of making wine, which I I found her Instagram, I think it was in twenty eighteen. Like, she had just started. Just bought the vineyard. I don't even know if the wines were released yet, but it was a really good Instagram page, and she's awesome fashion sense. And I just Oh my god. I'm really cool. Instagram now. She's I thought she was really cool. And then we actually ended up chatting a couple of times, and then I got to taste her wines, and then meet her when we did our, our field trip here a couple of years ago. So we've kept we've kept in contact, and hopefully we will begin importing her wines this year. Alrighty. Great. Fantastic. Okay. And as you know, we're all about learning objectives. So what are we supposed to, what are the takeaways that we should expect from your interview with your chat with Julia Monteleone Energy. Really interesting. My my my focus sort of shifted today after visiting the vineyard because it is, I think an unusual location, and I want her to to spend some time educating us as to why she chose to make her wine there and why it's so different. And because Aetna, you know, we always we've done so much in-depth study, especially ever they've been in the via community. Has spent quite a bit of time understanding the the the interesting, complete opposites of the area. And the altitude and the soil and everything that affects the way that the wine comes out, and there are some areas in Aetna that maybe are a little less recognized and, I'm gonna have her give us some education about that. But also, of course, you know, women and wine like to focus on being the minority. And I wanna know what it's like for her being one of the few here on Aetna because it's a very male dominated, both agriculturally and winemaking. When we come those are the two things we're gonna be working on today. Okay. Fantastic, guys. We can never get enough of Aetna. We were just there, on a Chinctescholastic at at end of October. I see Paul Bologna. He was with he came on the trip with us. So, fantastic. I'm going to grab my drink now and take it away, and I'll come back if you should there be enough time for some q and a. Sure. Tow. Tow. So, I think I wanna let Julie I've introduced Julia a bit, but I think part of what we're gonna do is let her give her own bio as an introduction as to how she ended up in Aetna making wine. So Julia, I know that you were born in Palermo and started writing as a journalist. But what brought you to the world of wine to begin with before we get into how you went from journalism to wine making. Hello, everyone. First of all, thank you for having me. I'm very, I'm very proud and excited to can speak about my project and my beloved Mount Aetna. So as Catherine told, I was, I used to be a voice journalist, and I can say maybe tactic, but I can say that love brought me to the wine, in the wine world in a way making in particular because I met my husband, Bernadetto. He is our maker. So It changed completely my vision of wine. Of course, I always, I always always be very passionate about wine. I'm Italian. So I can say that wine runs through my veins, but I think that this meeting with him changed everything, also my approach to the wine. So it was very, very interesting to me, understand what is behind the scenes of wine. Not only the tasting, not only the events, but also the win making. And he helped me a lot. He helped me a lot in, in this. So I'm very I'm very happy to to compare with him on my project. And I can say that we run together the the the company, the winery, and is is very difficult because we are a a couple in a in life. So, we're partnering crimes one hundred percent, but it's very it's beautiful. It's beautiful. And it's not so common because it's you know, CCD pattern very well. And also, Stev, a new very well, sisley, and you can say that it is a beautiful highland, but it's very complicated for young people. There are also many occasions, but we together, I think that we are growing and we are building something interesting. And the Mount Aetna is the perfect place for us because it's quite interesting. It's a beautiful landscape and our indigenous varieties and our soil are so unique, so different. And I think that we we can do very, very, very well here. So, I can say that love brought me into the wine world for sure. And so why, why change? I mean, you already in the wine world. You could have learned about wine and continued writing, but you decided instead to by Avanyardanetna. Why? Why? But you can say you can say why it's simple because Aetna is such a beautiful place. I really felt in love with Aetna. You know, I'm from Palermo, so I'm from the west side of Sicily. My first time on it now, I think I was I was ten years old. So I was a younger, but not so young. So, but the first time that I saw the volcano, I, I was it was a it was a terrific display. So, when I started with my my wine, experience, as a journalist, I understand the potentiality of Mount Aetna and of these wise wines. So when metadata and I, met, we decided immediately to search something on Mount Edna. And we found a beautiful place, I think, on the north side of Mount Aetna in two thousand seventeen. So two thousand seventeen was our first vintage and was quite complicated to find a place to find a vineyard because a lot of companies from everywhere from Sicily but also from other part of the world was and were were searching for a vineyard on the north side of Mount Aetna. So it was very difficult to find a inter interesting place. And we found it in twenty seventeen. You already visited the today. So you visited the the the vineyard and to me is the perfect place, because it's quite different We are in the north side in the area of Cassia, but we are very close to the river Al Campara. And the river the river Camara is, called the river. So we have a particular microclimate the the the the climate the Micah climate is is very cool and, full of humidity. And, we have a small percentage of clay in the soil, and this is unique on Mount Etana because, of course, normally, you you have only a volcanic soil. So made of ashes and sand, but in this case, we have a small percentage between the five to the fifteen percent of clay of limestone So we we find we found this amazing place and we decide to start from from there. So this was our I can I can say that we felt in love with this place? Was very I I I can explain it because it was so natural when I when I saw this whole vineyard because it's a very old vineyard, I I immediately told that Everything is clear about why Aetna? Yes. No. I mean, I understand why one would choose Aetna, but it's interesting. I sort of look at Sicily as a as a miniature continent. Yeah. It is not just as part of Italy or even as an island in in I agree. I agree. I agree. Each little part is, like, its own miniature differences. So every little corner is in both weather soil wise, attitude, even variations in accent and dialect and things like that. So I'm imagining And who's you? Of course. Yeah. And I know I know, of course, palermo in the West of the island very well because that's where I help make some wine. And so I know that the the attitude of, say, a woman coming into the business from outside Yeah. It's quite difficult. They just sort of look at me like I'm a little crazy. You know, like, it's fine. But I didn't buy a vineyard. You bought a vineyard on the other side of the island. Yeah. We don't know where you're from, and I'm just gonna be. Yeah. Yeah. I'm insane, maybe. It was very difficult at at the beginning because, as you told, I was, an outsider on Mountetna. So I remember when I arrived on Mountetna, that, everyone laughing about me because they, they, didn't believe that I can run, a wannery. I, I have to say that Bernadeto help me, help me a lot. Because he's a young guy and a smart one, a clever one. So he helped me a lot in order to prove. If there's something to prove, in order in order to prove that we are doing well. That I can do it. So the first time were difficult, but I can say that now everyone is very kind with me, all my neighbors, all the white people that I met in the last year's year, Montana are very kind with me. So I can say that now the situation is different, but, if you are a woman, you have to prove more. You have to prove that you are good in what you do. So it is difficult, but at the end, we can do it. You must be a little bit insane as you as you say. Yeah. No. No. You just have to be crazy to work in the wine. Yeah. Yeah. This is the pepper on life. So We are not willing to be insane, but the I would venture to say that you have been pretty darn successful considering you only really started four years ago. Oh, thank you. Thank you. You're kind. I don't know. What happened? Well, maybe you made some choices. You made some good choices, and some of those choices I would venture to guess have to do with the location of this property and what makes it so unique. Yeah. So, I'm not sure how many people listening know what wines you make and and how many different kinds and why you chose those wines to say come from specific plots based on I would assume mostly soil type after we'd walked around a day and saw how much it changes even within a distance of a couple of meters. Mhmm. Would you give us a little bit of a rundown Sure. Of your wines and and Sure. Of course. Of course. Of course. Of course. It's very interesting because you say that Cisle is a continent, but Aetna is a continent too. So Aetna is very different from, each side of the volcano. Everything changed. So the north side, the base, the west, everything changed, and everything can change also in a few meters. So I I fell in love with this place with our first vineyard because the position. So because we are very close to very rural Campara, and we have three or four different types of soils. So we have a small percentage of clay in the in the lowest terrace that, that we planted with Caricante one year ago. We have the fifteen percent of clay, and we will produce our at La Blanco from this terrace. And I'm very curious about the result. And, we also in the same state. We also hone a small old vineyard from nineteen thirty five. So he's an eighty five years old vineyard and we made a wine couba from this vineyard and the day the soil condition are different, but we are fifteen meters from the other terrace. So everything can change. So right now, we produce five wines, three from the north face and two at Navianco from the his face. The space of Mount Aetna, the area of meadow and Santalfia is completely different because altitude. Our vineyard is nine hundred meters above sea level. So it's very high. It's a real mount Viticulture of mountain city culture. One hundred percent. And the area of the middle is very cool and rainy. And so we, produce in this area, and we have a lot of acidity, a lot of, minerality in the wine, so saltiness, prefer to say saltiness than minerality, and everything is different because, the soil. The soil on of of the east side is one hundred percent, well, a volcanic soil. So made of ashes and sand. But in the in the north side, in our state, everything is different. And I I believe that our at Narosa and our kuba at Narosa, so the two at Narosa that we produce from the main estate in Konta, are very friend. Because they are more smooth, not so creepy, not aggressive. So our, speaks in another way. And we also have a small, a very small, is is a garden, not a vineyard because he's, zero point two actor, also in the north face, but in another contrada, ninety. So it's a an higher, an higher area, but it's very interesting. And we have not any, any situation also with the with the river because the river is very is very far from the from this vineyard and everything changed because the soil is one hundred percent volcanic. So I can say everything is different and, each each plot can can give different wines. So it's true. When I was a journalist and when I visited, different one, there is a year in Montana, I I didn't believe in in these in these differences between each plot, but it's true. Everything can change in few meters. So I think that this is the most interesting and peculiar thing of Mount Aetna of our video culture and, And also is another interesting thing that maybe, no one say, but, to me, it's very important also the the vineyard. So the, also, the vines are different because, for example, in our small vineyard of Cuba, you can find different varieties. Not only, which is, and the other old variety, the manera, the ma'amiano, and everything. So, also the the, yeah, the biological variety of, of the grape can change the result of of a wine. So it's plot is different. And if you own an old vineyard, this difference is is bigger. So in terms of the way that you're treating, say, each each plot differently from each other. Do you find that you have quite a lot of need to farm differently in each one of these plots also, or is there a relative amount of consistency? Are you harvesting within a few days of each area? But I'm curious whether or not the the clay with its amount of, say, retained water allows you to harvest later or Yeah. It's an interesting question. Yeah. We we learn we learn it because, for us, was a new experience, you're the Viticulture of Mount That's not Benadetos. I told you, he's a winemaker, but he, always runs a winery on the west side. So, is a completely different variety and the the soil and the climb, the microclimate condition of Mount Aetna are different. So, we learn here by here. And I can say that, of course, we, we farm in different, in a different way. For example, we harvest the Karicante grape from the his side, at the end of October, first days of November, sometimes depend on the on on the vintage. And, we, we always begun with our so we, we we began with our crew, with the grip of our crew, because, as I told you, we have a small percentage of Alicante of, and we always prefer to, take it before the the which is one hundred percent, So everything can change. And of course, the the the weather of each vintage can change the the thing because for example, twenty eighteen was a very cool and rainy vintage. So We, harvest very, very early, but the two thousand nineteen was a beautiful, I think a perfect vintage with a a fantastic spring and a nice summer too. So when so we wait more time for harvesting. So, of course, it depends not only in the condition of soil and exposition of the of the vineyards, but also in the in the vintage characteristics, so the weather. And, as you know, with the climate changing, everything is is is changed. So, we are lucky because the the clay in the main estate, the clay is like a pounds. So clay absorb water and the, clay can help us a lot during summer. For example, the last vintage, the two thousand twenty one, was very dry. We had no rain for four months. So we without clay, it's difficult. But clay helped us a lot also the river with these micro climates because we have a a coolest weather. So you would say that, your choice in location is looking towards the future. In a lot. Yeah. I can say so. I can we are we were lucky, but I can say so easy. The the the fact that you have the small percentage of clay that the Yeah. This is very. This is protection. Exactly. The vines, yeah, the fire the vines are very healthy because we have this, this amount of clay that help us during the summer. Yeah. So I know that when, generally in the world of wine, when people start talking about humidity. And, obviously, the river is allowing you to have more humid area than other parts of Aetna. And I think one immediately thinks with humidity comes disease. Do you find that this vineyard is susceptible disease because of the humidity or is it a different kind of humidity? I think it's a different kind of humidity. We have no, problems. We work organic. So I can say that it is more, I, maybe I can say, yeah, It's not a problem. We we never had problem with humidity. It's all we have, biggest differences between night and day in terms of temperature because we have a very, very hot days because we are at five hundred meters above sea level. So we are not so high. And the night is very cool and, and and fresh. And we have no problem with humidity also because we are in the valley of Alcantona. So we have a lot of wind from the sea, and the wind help us a lot in terms of, of quality of the grape and the the healthiness of the of the vines. So the wind from the sea to the the valley of Alcantara El Paso. So it's a good humidity, I can say. Yeah. It's freshness more than humidity. So it's more of a a cooling temperature. On the river rather than it being, humid situation. Yeah. Yeah. Windal Passaloicy. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. So the, all of these new vines that you put in was last year. Correct? Yeah. Yeah. The last winter. And you chose to plant them all in Alvarado? Yeah. We are very passionate about the traditional Viticulture here, Montana. So we decided to to plug it by Alvarado. And, he's also no, agronomic decision decision because, Alberto is always the, to me, the best, the best way here in Mount Edna. In particular, in this area, which is very close to the river. So we have this humidity. Of course, we have wind. We have no problems with humidity, but, of course, Alberto is always the the most the most good solution for, for Viticulture, Mount Aetna. Because it helps a lot, the binds to our healthier and, and say the the grapes are always yeah. The the quality is always better than another way of, of pruning system. So Alberto to me is the perfect choice on Mountetna. And I I believe that is the good choice because you did the additional one. So you, preserve also the landscape of Mount Aetna. Monteetna is a natural park. So you have to protect and, respect this. And I think that umbrella with a, with a chestnut pole is the perfect solution in terms of quality, but also in terms of landscape and respect of the landscape. So are you making changes to the existing vineyards that were there before? The ones planted in nineteen seventy and nineteen thirty five? I can't. I can't because, I will kill the, yeah, I, I risk to kill the the vines, but I do it with a kuba, with kuba vineyard because kuba vineyard was, Naldorello from nineteen thirty five, but the previous owner changed the pruning, a little bit, the pruning system, but the the binds were albrelli in any case. So we, dismissed the, the whole, the held pole and we put the new one that says not Paul in order to restore the, the vineyard. So if we can do it, we, we do it. But, for example, with the vineyard of ninety seventy, we cannot do it. We we will keep the the plant. So we prefer to to stay in the actual situation, but, for the new implant, for the new vineyard, I'm sure that I will, I will always just buy the Alberto. Alberto to me is always the best solution on Mountet, you know. And, namely, not just because it's traditional, obviously, because it's No. No. No. It's it's helpful. Yeah. Yeah. It's helpful. It's a quality choice and, and also our landscape. So I, as we told you, Aetna is a natural park. And we, with my estate, we are in two different national parks because we are in, in, in the Hetna Natural park, and in the the river, I'll come to the natural parks. So we have to respect, of course, the landscape and the, of the, of our, of our, or our vineyard, and, actually, believe in the, importance of their respective nature and, of, of course, the, the landscape, which is amazing. And I, I don't want to destroy anything. I want to, also to improve the damage of Mount Atna in the world. My Does that affect your your choice in farming practices? The fact that international parks? Yeah. Of course. Of course. We always be organic. And I, I really believe that respect. The respect of nature is one of the most important thing now. And also, the wine lovers are very, you know, they they ask for this. So the customers now ask for respect for our natural approach, and to me natural project meaning, non meaning that you have to produce natural wine, but you have to respect nature. It's different. And we try to respect nature one hundred percent. Be because also I I leave, I I leave here. So I want to preserve my place because it is the place in which, which I spend my time. So I I truly believe that we have to respect our, environment and I I I live here. So to me, it's the most important thing to respect the nature. So we are one hundred percent organic, and we we want to to be more than organic in the next year. What what direction do you wanna take it in? I can say that we are very, very, careful on the all the pratings or the agronomics projects. So we don't use nothing which is chemical. And also in the vinification, we are very respectful of the grape. I believe that if you want to produce wine that speaks about speak about the territory, so the place in which you are, you have to be respectful. And in this way, you can you can obtain a fantastic result and a very typical result. So if you run Well, your countryside, your vineyard, you can have an incredible, result on the wine. You can obtain elegant wine and, wine that are very bounded to the the territory, so to the hairy in which you produce wine. And to me, this is the perfect receipt for, a good wine, an elegant but true wine. Yeah. A true wine. So we're in, say, in the spectrum of all of these producers that we love in Aetna, where do you think your wines fit? Say both stylistically, as well as, how are they representative of the area? Oh, this is a diff a difficult question. It is. But, I mean, like, where would you slide yourself in? Really, really, really. I do no. It's not a problem for me because I I think that we we play our our game. So, of course I'm very curious about what the other producer, are doing. And I, always taste a different one from a producer. I'm, I can say that I'm a friend of a lot of producers here on Mount Aetna, and I'm proud to be, friend of a lot of producer, but, I want to do my, my game. So, we, we do me and Bernadetto. Yeah. We do have our choice. And, I don't know if are the right, the, the, the best one, but I believe that if you have your idea, and we have also another thing that we are very small. So if you are a small winery, if you, you can, you have the, you can have the, the lack sorry to do what you want, what you like. So we are very small and we can do what we really like. So maybe sometimes our our wines are different because our very bound it to what we are. So, I, I, I, I, I have not, an answer for your person because I, I don't know. I think that we are doing well. I can say that, but, I, Are you particularly inspired by any of the other Aetna producers and On a lot of different wine producers for different reason. I'm a big fan of Cornelizum, Frank Cornelizum, because, he is very passionate about Aetna. He, he lives here all the here alone. So this is great and this is not so common because we have a lot of wineries of, wine producers that stay here only for the harvest, but he always he's always here. And to me, this is very important because he knows the the territory very well, and this is, amazing. And, but also I'm a a friend of Alberto Glass And, I I like the the wines. I all I also like, Francetti, wines. And, I think that I fell in love with aetna wines because Francetti. So, yeah, Franketti was very important for me because my first first meeting with with Aetna was, in his winery and, it was amazing. I have an amazing, the memory of this occasion. And I, I love these wines, but there are a lot of different wine producers that that are doing very, very well. So I'm always inspired by Aetna producer battles from other producer around the world. When I have the occasion, I I love to to travel in Italy and the other country, France, Germany, in order to discover new reality, new wineries, and always I I discover something new and maybe I try to use it in my own business in my in my winery. So I think that if you drink a lot of wine, of different wine from everywhere, you can have a perfect idea of what you you want, what what result do you you want to to obtain. So this is very important for me. So I would say you're probably pretty happy with your results so far. Yes. Oh, yeah. But maybe I have to drink more. And to be the only one or three more. Yeah. Yeah. Everyone. But I I was saying you you've won Thrayby County twice now in Yeah. The four years that you've released wine. Correct? Yep. So, what did you win them for? Which one? I I remember very well the the moment because that moment because, I was confused. When when we when we know that we won the Tabicari with the Cuba, eighteen, when I were confused and we say, oh, it's possible because Cuba is a very small production. The two thousand nineteen were only, one thousand eight hundred bottles. So a very, very small quantity of wine, and we want to be carried. So it was amazing. It was amazing. And I remember that the the day after the award, the Tabicare award, I received a lot of calls from different wine people, also producers or agronomists or or simple wine lovers, and they asked me, where is contact? Where exactly is contact? Because no one knows. So, to me, this was very, very nice because I understand that we, we were doing well. And, Kontara Kuba, our hera was really interesting in term of quality. And, and we we led a spotlight Now, we on on this place, and I'm very proud of this result. So I think there's Maybe it's gonna take more two seconds to talk about Cuba. Sure. The place. Like, why why is it contrada cubba? Where's the name? It's name because no one else make wine there. Yeah. Yeah. Clearly. It's just good wine. So what's wrong? What's wrong with all of them and what made me so far? Because because because it's, it's not so hard. In the last year, everyone speak about Aetna in terms of altitude. And altitude of altitude, of course, is a is very important on Mount Aetna because, Mount Mount Aetna is a mountain. So it's a volcano, but it's a mountain. So Kontrada is very is very low because we are five hundred meters above sea level. But I felt in love with that place because it's the birthplace of Viticulture, Mountetna. They, as in Greeks, when they arrived on Jardining access and Tormina, they, they planted their home vineyard in this area in our area because the river. So they need water. And they decided to plant the the vineyard in Conto da, Cuba, the Cuba of Santa Dominica is also a beautiful church. He's a Byzantine church from the ninth century. He's a lavish stone and limestone church. So it's quite unique and because the river because this old church is the only that you can find, is the only one that you can find in the East Coast of Sicily. So we have another Cuba in the area of, in the west side of of Sicily, very close to Palermo, but a lava stone Cuba, a our love story, Cuba, is the the only one in the west side. So this place is amazing, and is very different. And when, other, when producer come to visit my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, senior, They are astonished by the situation. The river, sometimes, I I feel like I'm in Scotland because it's so different. It's you can you can you can say it. You visited the the the state today, so you can say it. It's quite different. And I think that this is our strength. We are different. And our wines too. So, in a in any case, we do we do another, as I told you, we play our game. So, continuing forward with the second wine, that won Trebiquiri, which is your one of your whites. And if you wanna tell us about that, I thought the your story of the first vintage release was really interesting with that too. Even though that's not the one, I think. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We want to be carry with antennas two thousand nineteen, and Tammy is one at our at Navianco. We produced two at Navianco. And the the story of Antonianco is interesting because we we start we started with this project in two thousand eighteen. The two thousand eighteen was a very cool and rainy vintage. And, as I told you, we produce, time is from the his side of of the volcano. So the area of Milo and Santalfio. Milo and Santalfio are very rainy and cool, every vintages, every vintages. So, the eighteen was the big amount of rain. So the the grape, have a lot to add a add a lot of acidity. And, and, always, the Karicante from the area of Santal Fermelo, is very very salty, very fresh. But in the two thousand eighteen, maybe it was too much. So we decided to, to buy too, to know, and we put we put the wine inside the tunnel. And so we, invent this unification because we need to, to have more smoothness to have a more, richness in the wine because it was very, very, a a city can maybe too much. And so we we decide to to do this verification in to know So we, did the wine stay in turn off for almost one year and then nine months of, of bottle. And, I think it was a a nice surprise at the end because Karicante is perfect for aging, and the and the use of the to know El Paso in terms of potential of aging of this wine. But you can say it So we're very proud because we want a big carry with two very different wines. So with the first vintage with Cuba from the north side and the the second vintage with the pandemic, from the east side. So I think that we are doing well with the reds and with the white. And to me, this is very important because, the the the the main state of course is in the north side, but we truly believe in the potential also of the his side of Mount Aetna. And Karicante from the east side is very interesting. So, I'm very proud of these results. And as, You're talking about earlier today, your plans for the future. What, your current, like, what's what's the current production and what's your maximum future production? Yeah. How's the winery and the rom? I mean, all of these things where you're in this state of change Yeah. Right now, we produce, around seven, yeah, seventeen thousand bottles. So we are very small. With the new implants, they saw with a new vineyard that you you saw today, We will produce around twenty six, twenty seven thousand bottles. So we will remain small, a small winery because we want to have the control, maybe I'm a mania of the control. So I want to have the control of everything. And this, in this way, with this small production, I can do it. And, Bernadette and I, run the the state together and alone. So we have a lot of things to do and I think that the this, dimension is perfect for us. Of course, we have. Right. He's around. We have we have six sectors, but five of vineyard. Yeah. So it's five actors of vineyard between the the north face and the his face of the volcano. But the main estate is in the north face. So in, another big project is to restore the Talmento. We own a a horrible Talmento from the seventy, but we are we are going to restore it. And in order to create a proper winery, with everything. So, I I believe, and I hope that, the next harvest, we we will do the next harvest in our, winery, in our apartment. To. So this is the main project. And, of course, Aetna is always full of occasions. So, I don't know. Maybe I will find something a new vineyard small one in a beautiful place, and I will, bite. We will see. But, for, for sure, the, the most important thing for us now, our goal is to create our winery because we we want to be free to to express ourselves one hundred percent, and you can do it if you have your own winery. This is very important. And we had a lot of problem with COVID because the bureaucracy here in Italy is crazy. And in the last two years, is more than crazy. Is worst. So, we, we lose our we lost a lot of time, with all the papers and everything. But at the end, I think that we are going to to obtain all the authorization in order to build the the winery. So do you think you would have been in a different place in terms of your production and sales at this point if the pandemic hadn't happened, or do you feel like you were successful through the whole thing? No. I I think we are lucky. We were lucky because we are a startup. So, for a startup, two years, like the twenty twenty, twenty twenty one, maybe, are too much. But we were because we found some distributor around the world, and so we we always sell our wine also in the most difficult period. But for sure, our growth was stopped by the pandemic situation. And also, we, and I think it's the mo, the most sad thing that, we had no opportunity to speak personally about our wine, our work, because without events, without traveling, everything was was stopped. This is what a very hard period for us, for us to stop because, we started with the vintage twenty seventeen. So we we sold the first bottles of our wine in the how to of, twenty nineteen. And after only six months, everything was closed, so it was very difficult. But at the end, I can say that we are lucky because, we survived. We survived. It it seems is that in the same sort of sense, the the the company in Oregon that we're talking about doing Yeah. On your line, we we literally started in the fall of twenty nineteen. Yeah. Same thing. You have to get scrappy and do what you can do to make it work. And I think you've done an exceptional job. And Oh, thank you. They like to leave a little bit of time at the end for people to ask questions, and there's certainly people in Sure. Sure. Sure. Stevie, do you wanna open up Q and A? Yeah. So first of all, it'll be like that, my That was a really great, great. We can never, never, ever get enough of Aetna. So thank you very much for that, both Katherine and Julia. I feel like an idiot because Julia, actually, you are married to And I I guess I didn't I did not have no idea. So we saw, of course, Benadetto in at the end of October. I know. I know. Yeah. We came to visit. So we do have a question for from Melissa let me try to bring her up. Tell Melissa. How are you? Happy New Year. Have you got a question for Catherine or Julia? Yes. I do. Have a question. Thank you. So Julia, It's so nice to hear your voice again. And, I remember when we were there for Chitos Galastica, you were in New York. And, and so I'm really happy to hear that, despite it all, you know, things are moving ahead because I know y'all like to get out to travel and promote your wine, and I feel so lucky to have have tasted it and visited your estate. My question is to you. Back to the question that Katherine had about your training systems in Alvarado and going through your different, plots on Aetna. I'm always speaking also about labor issues. And I was wondering when you talk about traditional systems like Alvarado, And having been to Sicily and work some harvest and also seen pruning, would you say that alborello and your new plantings and maintaining your vineyards also preserves traditional labor, on your estate as well. And that helps you with your workforce. Yeah. You're right because as I told before, Alberto is not only a traditional way. To cultivate the divine, but is also a quality choice. In particular, in the microclimate of Mount Aetna because you have to to produce quality grapes a small amount, and, of course, you can, you can produce a small amount of grapes. So it help you in terms of quality of the wine at the end, but you know it's really very well, Melissa, and you, you know that there are a lot of a, alberlo pruning system around Sicily because alberlo was not only from Montana, but also from the west coast of Sicily. In the area of Alcamo, of camporeale, but also other side of Sicily. But they dismissed Salvador because the the quantity of the production, a lot of, Viticulture used to sell the wine, the the grape. So they have to produce more. And the alvarado is not a good choice. If you want to produce more more quantity, more more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, great. But for us, Berello is always a good choice in term of quality, and we had a lot of vineyard of Albrello in the west and in the east side of Sicily, but in the mounted, now they survived because, the Viticulture here was no searching for quantity, but for quality. And this is the main differences between the east side and the west side. And I believe that is not only tradition, but is a really important choice. If you want to have quality in a in grape and then in online. Thank you so much, Julie. Jose, do you have, Julia, do you have a number of people that help you in your harvest? Or are you guys doing everything yourself? Yeah. We have two guys, two workers all the year long. But for example, vanadet and I, used to pruning every year because to me, the pruning is very important. In particular, when you, you hone hold points. So with the whole vineyard, you have to prune very well, because it's, it's quite simple to kill a vine. So we we choose to do it by ourselves. And during our best, we are, six or seven. Depends. Because the set is small, and we used to harvest in different days. So we start as I as I told you with the cuba vineyard, and then we passed to the, it's not also vineyard. We used to, harvest the de caricante in, in the end of October, the first days of November. So we have time to organize the harvest and with six or seven people that we can run it easily. Hey. Thank you so much. So we have come to the end. We will not be taking any more questions. Thank you very much, Catherine and Julia, Melissa, for your question. Please come back next week. We'll be at actually five pm Eastern Standard European time, which is with Giuseppe Lokasho and Angela Macoulan. Then we will have Rob Miller the week after that with Diego Corrade. And then Marsha Ham from with Lorenzo Marotti Campi and Stefan Metzworth Clemens Lager and on and on. So don't forget to come back. Thank you all so much for making this happen. Thank you, everybody, and see you next time. Chata Gatsi. Sniff. Sniff. Sniff. Once again, here we go. Listen to the Italian wine podcast wherever you get your podcasts. We're on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, EmailIFM, and more. Don't forget to subscribe and break 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, Jin Chin. Hi, everybody. Italian wine podcast on the Brades' fourth anniversary this year. And we all love the great content they put out every day. Chinching with Italian wine people has become a big part of our day, and the team in verona needs to feel our love. Producing the show is not easy folks, hurting all those hosts, getting the interviews, dropping the clubhouse recordings, not to mention editing all the material. Let's give them a tangible fan hug with a contribution to all their costs. 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