Ep. 57 Monty Waldin interviews Roberto Mazzoni (Piantate Lunghe Winery) | Discover Italian Regions: Marche

Italian wine podcast. Chinching with Italian wine people. Hello. This is the Italian wine podcast. My name is Monte Walden. My guest today is Roberto Matzoni. His winery is called the Pianta de Longe in the Marquay region on Italy's Adriatic coast. Now you have quite an interesting background. You moved to America at one stage before coming back to the winery, what happened? Yes. I started agronomy in, Italy, and I was founded in dairy cows, and they went in United States to work with dairy cows. Dairy cows. Dairy cow. Milk cows. Yes. Black and white. They Frigians. Frigians. Holustin Frigian. Yes. When I was in, Toronto showing the cows at, daily show, I met a man, who asked me to became the director of a big farm in Italy. And that time, I was, have some nostalgia in the of Italy, and I come back in Italy and start to direct this big, dairy farmer in cremona in the Pardona plane. To cremona whereabouts is that in the Pardona plane? Which region is that in? Cremona is in Lombardy. Pardona plane is the only big plane in, in Italy. So great if your account? Yes. Big cows. We have big cows. Big farm. We have had, one thousand baby cows there. And, when it was there from nine nineteen eighty two to nineteen eighty eight, I got married. And after one year, my wife was, in, cremona. He says, now you have to divorce from your Sure. Chief. Your boss. Or you divorced from me? Right. So it's basically you or your job, because you were the accounts. Yes. Yes. And which one did you choose? It's very difficult to live in cremona when, we are used to live in, in in the town, in the city, and in Encona. So I decided for my wife, and I came back here in the market region in Encona where I was born a lot of years ago. Were you happy to come back though to your Yes. Now I am happy. But not initially. No. No. I'm very happy because I started to produce wine. So when I come back in Italy, in the market region in Encona, my uncle, Rosini, and, Rosini is, was a painter here, an engineer and a Pinton. It was a very known painter, not Italy, but outside Italy. He asked me to to look after his land. So to look after his land. And, I do this. And in that land, there was only one line of grape, and I decided to cut off that grapes because I don't like grapes, and I am used to dairy cows, all the plan, all the the land was free from trees and some other plants. Just pasture. Yes. Okay. Did he go crazy? But my yes. But my uncle says, I want to drink my wine in all my life. So I have to produce wine for him, and I start love wine and, winnoyard. And when my uncle died four years, before I come back in the market region, I decided to plant in all his land, eight actors. I plan totally vineyard in two thousand one. And then I start to my company in two thousand four, and I start to produce wine from two thousand four to now. See, a lot of people won't realize that the Martkeer region is very biodiverse. It has a very strong farming tradition. Farm tradition. Yeah. I mean, you it's very agricultural, the Marquino. Yes. Very difficult, but not dairy cows. Yeah. Not dairy cows. Yes. Only grain and, beets and some other ground culture, but not dairy cows. But I started to produce wine. In which year? What was your first name? In two thousand four. How difficult was it for you, not just to change from one type of farming, dairy cows, animal to just the same thing. It's the same things. It's difficult to understand, but it's the same thing because, my work with dairy cows is, in artificial insemination, to get the Progyny better than the parents. Yes. It means a long time. We need a long time to have a good progeny from a cow, and we have to expect the pregnancy, and we have to grow the calves. And the we have, to inseminate the cows and the cows have To give birth. It means two years to earn enough after the insemination. With the wine, it's the same thing. You have to harvest the grapes, the branches, you have to take the branch in the cellar, you have to work with the the grapes, and you have to expect your results. And the results in our grapes in multiple channel grapes, we can add the wines after from two through three, four years before the harvest. So it's a very, very similar and, the satisfaction is, to see the result of your work. And when the result is good for me, It has, I'm very, very satisfied. So what, in your case, the result would be a rosso conoro or a conoro red wine? What are we looking for in a red wine based on the multiple chiana gray? Okay. I I would like to have this wine. I like red wine than white wines, and the mark region is known for the verdicchio that is white wine. But, unfortunately, the soil where I planted the, winter is a monte corner area. Monte corner is the only mountain in the in this area in the Dankona province is, on the sea, and they have the vineyard from two hundred fifty meters from two hundred seventy meters on the sea. And the maximum distance from the sea is one is less one kilometers from the sea. So you're incredibly close to the Adriaticus Yes. In the grapes in the Russell corner and in the corner of Jersey, what they want is to represent the territory is what I want and all the minerality of the sea, the salt of the sea, and all this, and and the sun and the sun because the Mark region is a very sunny region. And what I like more with my customer is to show them my area, second, my vineyard, and third, my wines. And when they taste my wines, they have to remember the soil. They c and the vineyard. My wines have to talk about the corner of area. So for your vineyard, do you obviously used to have cows or used to be involved with cows? Would you like to put some cows into your vineyard for their manure for fertility? Why not? Because the the soil is different. The winter, the a good wine. We need the the eels. And for cows, we have the plain. We need the plains. It's better. I would like to have, a small farm, some cows, but it's difficult to have in the in Italy, in the market region too. Well, we have finished the period of the quarter. We have a quarters to produce milk, and it's difficult to have the quarter. So when I come back from, the Padana plain in the market region, that my first job, I tried to to have a farm, my farming. That soil, that is is impossible to me. But I work with dairy cows now. I am a consulate consultant. In artificial insemination in genetics. So the strange things, I'm thinking about it is, that, I work with genetics and, I work with sex ed semen in the cows, and I work with the the genetic modification in the cows to have best result in the Progyny. And, in the same time, I would like to have the same things in the grapes, in the plants, but in my win yard, we are having this is the second year for organic wines. We are trying to produce organic wines. I see a contrast in this. Yeah. I mean, in the organics, we always say that cows are really important because of their if you have healthy cows and a healthy pasture, pascolo. They give you very nice manure. You can compost it and help your soil particularly in a hot climate as you are. I mean, for your terroir, you, obviously, next to the ocean, is it a very, very hot place the Coronoro mountain, this little mountain and it comes up against the sea. Yes. It's very, very hot. So what effect is that in the morning? This year. The sea is terrible. But I think that, I planted the vineyard in two thousand one, and, we have the two thousand three, very, very hot. And, all the other areas, is not so hot like two thousand three, but the temperature and the rain in this year's is, the medium temperature is increasing and the rain is decreasing in this period. So what effect is that having on the wine? Are they more alcoholic? Is it harder for you as a grower? The multiple channel grapes is a particular grapes is rich in tannins, multiple channel grapes, grow well in, in this climate in this soil, but, there are very, very sunny days. It has long period of sunny days. So the sugars and the grapes are very high, and they alcohol is must be very high. I don't want to put umbrellas of the the vineyards. So I would like to okay. My wines have to represent the territory. So the territory is a sunny territory. It's a very hard territory. The soil is very hard. There's a clay white soil, and this is the same things you have to find in the wines. So what tastes are we looking for in a rosso canola or a canola? It's typical of montepulciano or grape the red fruits is the most important red fruits, some other flowers. So when I taste in my wines, with my nose, some violet perfumes, and I am very, very satisfied because the violet is, very delicious flower, soft is, elegant. Roberto Mazzoni, thanks very much for coming in and talking cows and genetics. And, multiple China. Yes. And the Connero, of course, the Connero terroir. It's really great to me. Very interesting conversation. And, if I ever think about getting my own herd of cattle, you'll be the first guy I'm gonna call. And you come from England. Yeah. So I'm working with the in the British company with dairy cows. And I I sell my wine to genius company so the English people could drink a good multiple channel. Okay. We'll we'll trade, we'll trade milk or, we'll we'll find some way of trading. Thanks for coming in today. Thank you very much. That's it. Follow Italian wine podcast on Facebook and Instagram.