Ep. 152 Monty Waldin interviews Isidoro Vajra (G. D. Vajra) | Discover Italian Regions: Piedmont / Piemonte

Italian wine podcast. Chinching with Italian wine people. Hello. This is the Italian wine podcast. My name is Monty Ward. My guest today is Isolor Rivaira from the Gdivaira winery in Piamonte. Barolo. Barolo. Okay. Yes. But it's. Yeah. Yeah. So is he just tell me a little bit about your fantastic family. I think your your family, the Virofam is one of the most liked families in Italy in terms of wine. You're all of are just so nice. How do you do it? You know, you're great actors or or what? Yeah. It's, it's a strange story. Everything born thanks to our father, and his name is. And, our family, the region of our family are in Barolla, but our grandfather after the second world war, he started to work to the Italian secret service. And the secret service. Exactly. But it's Italian. Not the USA. So he moved in to Reno. So our father, he he born in the city. This was very important because he had the dedication of the city. So more open wide, education. And then, was in a sixty eight when US, there were the monuments against war in Vietnam. We have something of similar in Europe in Italy. Tarina is a very warm city about politics. So one day, so our father had decided to wind in the streets to a demonstration. Unfortunately, or fortunately, the people passed close to the office of our grandfather that he was not happy about this. So So he didn't like all the noise and confusion and potential for anger and violence and things like that. Yeah. In the heart. Yes. But, yeah, the punishment to our father was to to to spend his, free time in the countryside. How the life of the time was totally different from today, more hard. But, yeah, became the this was the occasion opportunity to about to start to love this work. And, So he bought some land, did he? Yeah. We had before. Yeah. Yeah. But he start with nothing, a zero point reactor of vineyards. Really? And that big dreams. And now how big is the winery? We grow more than sixty. It's a lot. There is a motivation in eighty six Hellstrom destroy everything. And that's was the moment when papa and mama, they understand that it's important to have a big dreams in, in their life. So, basically, what what you're saying is you have a backup. So if one vineyard gets held on, you've still got grape supply hopefully somewhere else. Yeah? Yeah. We yeah. So what do you make? We have a we have a winery, but to us, it's like to have four different winery because, the work in, Barolo or in Santo Severno Bellmore in Doliani is, is is very different. But Yeah. So tell us about your most famous vineyard sites. I think it's Brico de La to us because it's our heart is where we live where we are. So what is a brickell? Brickell means the the top of the hill. Mhmm. The summit. And viollet. And viollet is the violet to the flower. So that's the, it's violet hill. Beautiful name. Yeah. It's a it's violet. So you have to have violets growing between the vines too. Exactly. Exactly. It must be a nice thing to work when you're out and and you see the flowers come out. Yeah. Does a wine taste fire? It's nebula that you have in the vineyard. Somebody say, yes. Yeah. But, yeah, it's it's a beautiful place you work inside of the the Brico Delaviole, you you are on the top. Now you see all of the hill of the language region and and then you, yeah, you look on the east and you see all of the the hug of the mountains. The Alps you Exactly. The movies. Do you see snow on them? I just a lot. We hope to see a lot of snow. Anyway, yeah, it's a great place. Inside these vineyards, you you see all of the curiosity of our father before and now all of the, all of my brother, Josepe, our sister, Franchesca and me, You work very well as a team, don't you? We believe in the team. Yeah. In the family, in the team. So every time we try divine, for example, is minimums six, seven people, family, and then the guys that work with us in, you know, in the winery So So so what are your main in terms of your main production? Just give me the numbers again. How how many hectares do you have in total? Yeah. A little bit more than sixty. Which is very large, isn't it? And how much of that is, thirty, forty percent that is bottle is, or Barolo, Babresco, buff. Okay. Barolo, especially in Nipiolo, langenipiolo, and then Berbera, and then Delceto. To tell me about Babi, it's a great that I love. Okay. What's special about Babara? Is, is the motivation that our mother, that decide to married our father is the Berbera. So Really? It's a family show because Yeah. Yeah. She loved the the the wine, the Barbera from papa. So he seduced her with the Balbera. Right? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Oh, he's, he's a great moment to Barolo, but, the crazy things of Vaira is that, yes, we are happy to then Biola to Barolo, but we believe in our roots. That's the motivation that, yeah, we grow something like sixteen different kind of grape. So what do out for white wine. Oh, riesling. Riesling. And, sauvignon, Naschetta. That is a white chocolate grape. What does that taste of? It's a great acidity. And some vintage, especially the, the most warm, there is also a smell like, remember the hock, the acacia. Okay. That is, is semi aromatic grapes. We love in a blanks because, also with the riesling gave a lot of acidity. So the riesling gives the, the backbone and the, a shete gives the the perfume. Exactly. Yeah. And then off, we have a lot of white grapes. I hope in the next weeks that we start to plant it, some baro to chat. Some what? Exactly. There are two hacks in all of the words. Say that again. Bara to chat. Bara to chat. Adiro and a Snyder. So Anna Ana Schneider is, professor of, Viticulture, but she's an expert in identifying great varieties, but looking at the leaves and the stems, and it's etcetera, etcetera, which is an amperographer. So Biologous, I should say. We want to preserve our roots. So in the last years, and in the next years, we have a project to plant it a lot of this whole kind of grape. Are you finding them in your vineyard? Is she going around and saying, right, there's a row of, say, a hundred vines, and all of them are whatever they are, Barbbarra, and it'll be out of whatever. And then she sees one and says, hang on, that leaf and the experiment, that's completely different. Then she goes back to her lab, and she does all sorts of measurements and tests. She actually, that's a completely different variety. And then she's taking cuttings from that and propagating it and allowing you then to replant. Exactly. So are you kind of pioneers with that? Or is Anna Snyder working with other producers in Piamonte to really try and resurrect some of these forgotten or lost or thought to be lost varieties? She was work with some winery, especially, I think, in the past with Casalo de Naver from Barbarisco area. And, yeah, we fire a big work. Because we did a last summer, I was at it was winery, the Vada winery, and Anashita was there. And we she gave us a briefing on on how to identify the various grapes, you know, the leaf shape of the leaf and all that sort of stuff, and whether the the leaf was serrated had like jacket edges or not. And we all took notes, and I have to say I was absolutely hopeless when we were told to, you know, walk five paces this way that you'll see a vine on your left. What is it? And, I was just like the bottom of the class. Do you find it difficult identifying these varieties? No. No. No. Yes. Give me some solidarity. I feel terrible. Is that is the holy, how do you say exam at university that I take? The the max was the recognized device. And you got the top marks, did you? Yeah. The holy only exam that I take, Turkey, that I I love to stay in the vineyards. That's the points. And, I when, okay, if you know Anna Snyder, you love the person, you love everything she should talk about, you know, so. So when you're in the vineyard, I know that you love, being in the vineyard, you're quite a shy, you you are a shy, but you're quite a solitary guy, quite a shy person. You love a little bit of solitude out in the vineyard doing your stuff. I love freedom. Yeah. Our father, he made his work to the freedom. And if my brother, I, our sister, everybody continues work is, is that because we love freedom. When you are in the vineyards, you work is is hard. No. We say that, no. The the the earth is low. Yeah. So it's not easy to work, but sometimes you your heads go up and you see nature and you see the mountains that helps, you listen to birds and, nothing this give freedom to the heart. Yes. You're very smartly dressed today, but you you consider yourself a I love shirts. Yeah. I can see that. A very smart, smartly dressy, but normally when you see is in his in his vineyard, he's got his shorts on and, t shirt. And, you are like a a noble farmer. Contini can literally translate as a peasant, but that's not what I'm trying to say. He's, you know, you really do feel that ease you're you're not very at ease behind answering emails. I know that from from meeting you. You're not very at ease when I take photographs of you. I managed to get a nice one of you. You are a guy that's, very much you love being at, you love hearing the birds sing, don't you when they're flying around and the flowers that you find in vineyard. Yeah. Yeah. That's the motivation that I decide to continue this work. Yeah. Your smile when I talk about that, because I know that you're quite shy. When I talk about all these things you're doing the video, your smile just gets bigger and bigger and bigger. This must be very bad that you in the glass box, which is what our studio is, with with wires and cables and plugs and things like that. That's a very unnatural environment. And you you got your arms firmly crossed. And so, I know for you being interviewed like talking about yourself because you're a little bit shy, but, but when you open up, you come out with some some some fantastic little, lines. I mean, are you really into the birds flying around your vineyard? So your family because a lot of families don't like having birds flying around because eat the grapes, but you don't have that view. Do you? Yeah. We we like in in a way of the organic, we we start to think about, all of the water that we use in, in the cellar to to cleaning, you know, to filter and to use again, you know. So we created this, little like It's not a little, but it's it's a lake close to the winery and, it's beautiful because it became a reserve of nature to animals and and ducks, wild ducks, and, fox, and, everything your neighbors and friends that they think you're a little bit crazy. If one day we start to have also cow, I think so. Is is that what you want? Yeah. But you're not gonna go by a dynamic. You just want that. You would have them just for them and newer to make compost or because you love the animals because we want to to have like, self sufficient. Exactly. A cycle of a farm. A cycle of life. In in the past was, like this and then there was, like, a specialization. Yeah. So, monoculture. Exactly. To the poly culture. But yeah, we want to think in a different way. This is our desire. Maybe. So would the cows go near where you you created a lake? Or was I needed to drink a lot of water to stay healthy, obviously, grass as well? But would they would they be go near the lake so they could treat. We want to have freedom. We have a lot of lands that were also vineyard is not good to plant it. It's a land where we have a lot of grass, so a lot of humidity. So they can graze. Exactly. We want freedom. But would you be, would they be milk cows or would they just be cows that ate and, grazed and, and left them a newer? I don't know now because we have a lot of idea, a lot of dreaming the family. Yeah. We, we want to have, a hundred percent farm you know, like a closed, like a closed cycle self sufficient farm. So is your, I mean, this Francesca? Does she love the idea of cows? Your sister? Yep. And your mom and dad? I think that, yes, the family of our mother, they they had, a farm just with cow. So there's that history in the family. Yeah. When we were kids with Giuseppe, Franchesca and our cuisine, our dream was to be, a laboratory. So we, which is a big thing in Pier Monte, the beach is very well known and highly loved. And we, we had our business plan. So we start with a little cow, and then we help to grow, and then we sell, and we buy two. And, and, we had our grandfather that he he made his work. So that was our dream where we were kids. And then, yeah, life now is is where we are. And, but this is, when you are a kid, you have a dream and, and you have a simplicity in your heart. And so this is, I think, we want to to be like kids, not that, no mental, stress. Yeah, bored and, you want to stimulate them. Yeah. We want to to have the freedom of of the kids. So what what we often forget, if you if you go to a vineyard, it's often silent. There's no birds flying around there are no cows mooing or owls, you know, flying or insects buzzing around, and really as a barometer of of wine quality, anybody that goes to taste wine, don't spend you all of your time in the in the in the tasting room, get out into the vineyards and see what's going on. If you go to viral winery. It's so obvious why their wines are so good. You walk around. It's just everything is grass. There's there's flowers all over the place. As you say, the birds flying around there, so there's noise, there are smells, there's sounds, and there's that biodiversity when you walk in through the vineyards because we've spent that day doing it. Trying to identify the the the great writer of Anna Schneider. And you feel this lovely spongy soil and you think, oh, this has obviously got lots of worms in it, lots of microbiology. And then you go and taste the wines and they're clean and they're bright and they're clear and they taste the variety and of the sense of place, something you're advertising for you. But that is it's like, and there's no it's not like a secret or a or or a coincidence that when you go to the viral run you, win me the wines taste as they do because of what they are doing and what they're not doing in the vineyard, which is messing things up by letting nature have as much freedom as possible. So I wanna, when you get the cows, you gotta let me know, mate, and I'm gonna come back and check them out. Yeah. I love cows. You know that. But my brother and sister, they are very jealous to to me because, like, as you're coming today. Yeah, but also because I have this freedom, but, looks, I'm this is What free time to come and be interviewed? Well, I I'll write to Franchesca. I'll let him know. I gave you a really hard grilling. And, no. I mean, it's great to see you, is he from the GDVire winery in Piamonte. Thanks for sharing with us some insights in your family, really. I think that's a bit nicer thing I can say. You know, you got a family that is universally liked. The kids, you know, your parents have done a wonderful job. You got these kids that have rounded and really hardworking and fun and modest, you know, famous wine region, but you're all incredibly modest as as humans. And, and that is why I think you have this rapport with nature and, with with animals both large and small. Thanks, Sizzie. Just one, Fings. Go on. Last one. When Zep, he was sixteen, he would like to be a doctor, an engineer and the white maker. Just remind us who Giuseppe is is my brother, the oldest, the first one, especially he would like to be a doctor because he said that, the social motivation is is to help the life of the people. No? And one day he was sixteen. One days he come back from high school and he asked it to our father, papa, what is the social of motivation to make wine. So this was a a big question. In our living room, we have one paints, and Papahi looked this paints, and he said giselle. A painter painting. Painting, he said giselle will work. It's like this. You do not need to have a life. But also, you do not need to read a book to have a good life or or listen music or also drink a glass of wine, but life without these things is is not a good kind of life, you know. So this is Vaira. No. So our desire is especially today when you read the open newspaper, you read the bad news, what is whining in this words? No. So we try to to open the heart of everybody, you know, and maybe we are not perfect, but this is our Sizzie. Thanks to everybody. Thanks, Jesse for coming today. For the GDE, Vidal winery in Pimonte. Fantastic family, very articulate, and, got a great sensibility about you. Thanks, Zizzie. Welcome. 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