Ep. 176 Monty Waldin interviews José Rallo (Donna Fugata) | Discover Italian Regions: Sicily / Sicilia

Italian wine podcast. Chinching with Italian wine people. Hello. This is the Italian one podcast. My name is going to order my guest today. He's hang on. Hang on. Hang on. Oh, she's quickly out of the blocks. Limey. Jose or Jose Raulo? Yes. From Donolfo Barta, which is in. Sicily. Right. Off you go. Yes. So which you're a member of the family, aren't you? A member of a family. I have a brother. We are running the winery together. Your brother is called? My brother is very good. It's much more better than me. What's he called? Antonio. Antonio. Okay. So let's tell you what, let's start with the name Donna Fugata. What does Donna Fugata mean? Donna Fugata means Donna woman in flight. So it's a woman that is the caving from something dangerous. And she was a queen. She took refuge in, western Sicily. So that was Maria Karolina, who was queen of Naples. Exactly. So you know the history very well. And she took refuge in the western part of Sicily in a palace that was called the palace of Donna Fogata. And around this palace near this palace, my mother inherited her vineyards, and so she decided to call the vineyard, Donah Frater vineyards. So she was fleeing in seventeen ninety nine, so quite a long time ago. Yeah. Yes. Very long ago. And, but, you know, the story makes a legend and the legend makes reality because, my mother, it was, also an escaping woman. She was, teacher. She was teaching English in the school when she narrated the vineyard, and then she decided to change her life. Did she get a lot of criticism for that? I mean, a teacher, that's a professional job. Why would she want to risk her career and and become a farmer? I can tell you that in the seventies, in what was not so normal that a woman abandoned such a profession like teaching and, became to be an entrepreneur in, in the country wearing trousers and giving instructions to men or didn't want a woman over them. And also, she was really a pioneer and was really a brave woman, one she is a wonderful woman. So she's still alive, your mom. She's still alive. Yes. Yeah. And is she proud of what you do? She's very proud. Sometime, I think she's too much proud. Really? Well, you're doing a great job so far. Well. So let's talk about the the estate itself in terms of the vineyards. Whereabouts in Sicily are you? Because Sicily is a pretty big place. Right? Sicily is quite big. You can count, I can tell you in kilometers, four hundred kilometers from the eastern point to the western point. So it's quite a big distance. We are an island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and Donna Fugada was born in the western part, in the middle of the western part with the vineyards I told you before, the one of the Queen, escaping Quinn, and then we have historical sellers in Marcella because my father was the fourth generation of a family involved in the wine business. What was his first name? Jacamo. Jacamo. He was the fourth generation of a family who started in eighteen fifty one, so I should be the fifth generation, and my children, the sixth generation. And then we moved also to Pantelleria, which is, very time a volcanic island between Sicily and North Africa. I think it's the southeast, European border. And, since a couple of years, two thousand and six steam. We're moving also to the eastern part of Sicily to Victoria and to Mount Aetna. Yes. So why not? We are always looking for new challenges. So that's quite a big quite a big business in this and it spread out. You got, you're on one island. You've got vineyards on another tiny little island, and on the big island that you're, honestly, you're getting vineyards, in various parts of the island. Yes. So logistics. I mean, you you guys are gonna be a pretty organized family. Are you an organized family. We are very well organized in the in the in such terms. I'm a very lucky woman. My brother works a lot. He travels a lot. He's the winemaker, and so he's run all the time, all over Sicily, but we also have a nice team. Not a big team, but quite a good number of people who are, you know, in charge of the different wineries and the different vineyards Fortunately, we have also a very long and ripening period for the grapes and very long harvest. We have a hundred days harvest long. Well, that's a lot. So if you start to finish, we start from the end of July, the thirty first of July, and we, and we finish at the end of October. So thirty first of July, I imagine would be grapes for the sparkling margarine exactly in pinot noir for the sparkling for the brute, and the last grapes are the one on the volcano Aetna at the end of October. For red or for white? For red. And what about the passito? The passito on the island of Panteleria, we start on, the middle of August fifteen, sixteen, seventeen of August. So we start with, best grapes to dry, to dry them on nets. This takes about three weeks. Then we go again into the vineyard and we have a second harvest. Always fresh grapes. We make must and then we, distem manually all the dried grapes and bury after bury. We add these magical synthesis of aromas and sugars, into the fermenting masts. And this is the way we make the the pacito. So for the sparkling wine, so I think that's quite interesting that you're doing that on what is a very in a very Mediterranean climate. Are you just using any old grapes or you use really selecting the vineyards for that? No. We we we are selecting the grapes, but most of all, and first of all, we have selected the vineyards. So we have chosen vineyards up on five hundred to six hundred meters on the level of the sea, which is very important for windy conditions and big excursion of temperature between night and day and, so ripening condition are perfect for grapes to make sparkling wine with very good acidity. Very nice crispiness. So the white ones. Do you have a a a single is it a single vehicle? Yes. It's a crew. Right. So where's that then? It is, in the middle of the western, Sicily, the area is called the Antelina. It's a great name, isn't it? It's a great name. Is it is a countess? It's not a countess. Okay. It's a it's a name coming from, the Romans. Right. Because there was an ancient, town called Antilia and Helena where the Romans were buying wine and the people who was cultivating the grapes and producing this wine were very ancient sicilian people staying there before the Romans came. So cultivation of rape is very, very ancient in in Sicily. Thousand and thousand of years. What about the Antilla? Antilla is a white wine made, based on, native grapes like Katarato. And, Ansonica and the Keracanico, and also a little, international grape variety. It's our one of our flagship is, is the wine mostly spread all over the world. So people who know Donna Fogata, very often know Antilia. So that's one of your biggest sellers, isn't it? Yes. It our big seller. What's a good food match for that? I mean, I'm talking sicilian food, not international food. Wow. What do you guys drink about at home? We we like very much with raw fish, you know, shrimps, or white fish just raw like fill it. It's fantastic. Also, with fried fish, we like very much. Do you put when you're frying a bit, is it gonna have a salty fry or is it an unsalty fry? No. It's salty. Right. Okay. Solty. Yes. Okay. That kinda kicks off some of the fish. And we fry always with olive oil. Right. Everybody at home. Remember that. That's very important. So, and you also make a wine from Zibibo. What is Zibibo? Uh-huh, Zibibo is a local name for, a type of a Moose cut of Alexandria. It's So it's Italian Moscatos. Moscato, the Alexandria. It's a grape coming from North Africa. It was brought by the Arabs to Pantelleria Island. And the the pairing, between a volcanic soil, a volcanic island with the aromatic grape variety is really explosive. Sepebo is a wonderful grape for making beautiful dry white wine. Our dried zbeebo is called the liguera, slightly sweet, Moscato, and also a braising wine, like the berry, which is the real passeto. Is a dry one, isn't it? It's a dry one. So it's a very versatile type of grape. Is there food matching for that? Kristasias, of course, and, anchovies, fresh cheese, olives, a little bit of so that sort of impression of sweetness that the muscat was a bit of a little bit of sweet. And then that the You say the right words because you have this flower, this, you know, orange blossom in your nose. You think it's a sweet one. But it's not. Okay. Let's get on to the reds. You got you have I don't know who names your wines, but you you should keep them here or her. You have a thousand and one nights, mille. A thousand and one night is our top red wine. Alright. Go on. And thousand and one night. It's, a wine that tells a lot of stories, a lot of fairy tales, like the work of art of the Orient literature. It was an idea of my mother to, put this name to this, very serious wine because my father was calling like that. No. This is our most important red wine, and we are giving such a such a name. You know, it was not so much, convincing. But So you thought it was a bit frivolous. Yes. Yeah. It's a bit frivolous, but but then my mother said, okay, okay, I will design the label and, something like two days after she came with the label, this blue label very elegant, the full of stars, golden stars, and the palace of Donna forgot in the middle of the label. So my father said, okay. As usual, I agree with you. But you're absolutely I mean, I I don't know, if I'm getting this right, but the the way you're dressed today, you are, you look like a an artist with your dress. It's very difficult for me to describe it. It's it's almost like a little mural, like a sort of a watercolor mural with a fantastic array of covers. So you your mom is obviously artistic, I guess. Yeah? Yes. My mother an artist in her heart, in her mind, in the in her way of thinking. She's the person who always find a creative solution for any problem. She's no in charge of. And, I like colors. Sicily for me is color. It's light. It's the color of the, you know, the blue sky, the blue sea, the color of of flowers during springtime. And for me, Sicily is just light and light is happiness. Right. That's a nice little line. And I believe you. I mean, I I guess your dad was like mister organized, and your mom was like the artist. Yeah. And you get the boast of get the get the boast you get the best of both worlds. This is too easy. Yeah. This is too easy. Yes. Because in my family, everyone has both, souls. Both sides. Okay. The male and the feminine the sensible and the rational myself too. I think to be rational. Sometimes I like numbers. I need numbers to be creative. Interesting. I'm in charge of management control budget forecast, but I'm charge also marketing and communication. So I need numbers to feel safe to see feel it at ease and then, okay, jump with a fantasy. But that's the marketing, but isn't it? Is it? Okay. Is it? Well, let's know what about, you make a red called Tancredi Yes. Which is Nelu, Dabbala and Caberne Souvignon. Yes. And, what where how did that blend come about? Because when my mother started, innovating, the vineyard she inherited. She had to plant international grape variety. We were speaking about, the eighties and, Sicily had not, colonial reserve it was very risky to plant some new Nero Davala vineyard or other native grapes. So she decided to cut certain risk and plant international variety It was a good idea anyway because producing a very good chardonnay with a Mediterranean character or a very good governance ofignon with our own personality. It was like demonstrating that our terroir, it's able to compare, to the international winemaking, world. No? So it was a good idea to introduce Sisley through this kind of wines. We had a blend of Ansonica with Chardonnay and the blend of Nero Davora and Cabernet sauvignon. And these were like, you know, the testimonial of the new Sicily. Okay. What about the the the Nurdadwala? What's that? Shirdzad, okay, some years later after, after a while, we started to make, you know, the first muscle select for the new vineyards of Nero davela, and these were working a little bit more. And, So what did you look for when you did the clonal selection? Are we looking for big berries, small berries? We are making vineyards, and we make micro patience. So we taste the the the different clones. There are clones that have a good acidity, which is very important for southern climate. No. There are clones that are more perfumed or they have more tannin or no, so you're looking for for something. Sometimes you need to have two or three clones, but then you can make the blend. Right. Then you can re with your rational, you can make the blend. And, Just again, though, there's again a sub mix of rationality and empiricisms, like, three claims, but they're all different. So we cover our bases and we have flexibility. Now, well, let's go into the dessert wines, which for many people in the wine trade, one of, Sicily's hidden secrets. It's always hard to convince people to drink, sweeter ones like Muscat. But whenever you whenever I give them to my friends, they go, I don't wanna they finish the bottle within, like, three seconds. It's really so it must be incredibly frustrating for you sometimes to make these wines, and they can be quite a hard sell. I went you open the door, people already get in to see you make a Moscato de panta de rier. One of those called Cabier. Is that right? And then the Ben Rayer. Perier. So you gotta just let's just do the names first. Yes. Why the names? Okay. Cabier. It's fun because it makes, the great. As in the great, as in like Alexander the great. Exactly. Exactly. The great because, it has a great, a great nose, a great palette is very, persists and even if it is not made with the addiction of, dried grapes. Yes. So he's just the strong, the naturally strength of the recipe bond. Okay? It likely but it's done there a little bit? Is it like a No. No. No. No. No. No. No. It has, something like hundred grams liter of sugar per liter. It's, the very nice wine for fruit, fruit dessert, crosstata. We say in Italian. Tart, jam tart, or even I like very much with fresh cheese like ricotta and anchovies and olives, very nice. So I mean, when you say fresh cheese, you mean cheese that isn't stegon artist? It's, freshly made, not a golden aged or really hard cheese. Yes. Yes. Just made. And the bean. Right? The berry is, is really, unique wine. It's, it's a dessert itself. It's very sweet but very fresh. And, in your mouth, you have, great aromas, and this freshness that cleans the mouth and brings you to say, I want another sip. And on the nose, the the beurier is just an explosion of, apricots, peaches, honey, aids, fights, roses, raisins, and whatever you like, it's really, explosive. So there was a journalist that defined it at the dessert itself. It's you can have it on itself. Is that your favorite wine? Very often. Very often. It is my my favorite wine, but I need time. I need time. I want time to sip Barriere. I don't have to be now. In a rush. Okay. Because it it's worthy. It's worthy to have time. So you sip it and then do some sort of work and then Yes. Maybe music, maybe reading, or maybe, I don't know, talking with friends or with my husband. I I like where very much having time. While if I'm very tired in the evening and I come back at home, I don't know, eight o'clock in the evening, I have to prepare dinner and so on. Your husband's been doing that? I do have a home. Yes. You've got a lot of the hard days where husband's at home with his feet. My husband says, what are we drinking and When I get him on this podcast, I'll sort him out. There's no way he can't do that. It's not on. You can't just, you know, sit at home waiting for you to come in. Does he do the arning at home? No. I'll do that. I'll do the arning You need you need you need to you need to you need to have a word with him. No. No. No. No. No. He plays he plays music. He plays music when he's at home. Yeah. What does he play? Oh, right. That's He has drums, precautions. All Brazilian precautions. And I see I sing. I sing. Ah, you sing? Yes. Really? Of course. So you play together, do you make music? We play together, especially Brazilian music. And when I'm drinking a very I'm thinking about Brazilian music. And depending on my mood, I can choose, bossa Nova, or if I'm very happy, I can I prefer a samba? Right. That's just you two at home. Would you have a band together? We have a band together. So how many people in the band? Depends. Depends. We can be three, four, five, six, seven. Depends. And do you play, like, in local bars with your, with family and friends? Or We have started playing in local bars, and then little by little. We have been in blue note in Milano, in blue note in New York, and then Shanghai for season, and then Moscow and then so on. Amazing. Absolutely you know, You got such a big smile on your face. And so far, that was absolutely outstanding. I need to change your ears. You know, I I'm just not cool enough to be like a DJ or It's fun. I like to present my wine singing. Really? Yes. From the stage, people has a glass. People has a glass in their hand, and, I will present the rhythm, the rhythm of the music, and the rhythm of the wine. Because wine is rhythm. Wine is energy. Super. Honestly never would have I didn't know about this. Honestly, anyways, I had no idea. You are, you know, you you are, you are beautifully dressed, like, not like a diva, but, I mean, I can see why you you just are you're a very artistic person. Are you? Do you feel a bit constrained or having to feel crunch numbers and do spreadsheets about sales and all this sort of stuff? Is is is that where how you let off steam with the music as a family? Was it just something that's inside you that's incredibly strong, the music? Music. I was born singing. I was born singing, but I I've never heard singing in my family neither my father, neither my mother, nobody. I don't know. Maybe some grand grandfather or grand grandmother has sent me in my blood and some genes. I'd always be singing in my life. Since I was very, yes, even when I was small. And, I was very happy to sing in the car us. In the car. Yeah. In the car. And till I was at university, I had a core of eighty elements, and it was great. It was great for me. It was like, I call it Scuala Divita. It was, school of life. Life. No. And then, and then, unfortunately, no, not unfortunately. Fortunately, I met my husband, and he put me on the stage in front of the public, and that was very, very different. And I had to go to school at that point. What? To learn a bit more about music instead? Yeah. Of course. I had to study a couple of years. I bet you're a good student, though. And, after two years, I started, you know, the technique, like, reaching autonomy, you know, like the pilot, you know, and I decided to stop to study because I wanted to preserve my personality, my style. I didn't want to copy anybody else. Yeah. You wanted to keep it individual. Yes. Just like this as it happens. Amazing. You got such an energy about you. Really? You do. I mean, it just sort of, you know, I didn't I had no idea that you were singing, but just, you you know, how you're dressed. It's a describe it particularly a bit, you know, you sort of radiate. You gotta know, you have one of those faces that radiates. You really do and then, you know, they're singing but fantastic. And just the names as well for your wine. I think it's obviously a very creative family. There's just so many wines that's really boring old names. So as you went into there's a lot. I feel like it'll be like fifteen hours long, but with you, and the way you explain the names Oh. This great logic. Well, I think that all our labels and most of the names are unconventional, informal, We don't like, you know, squares or Big stuck in a box. Yeah. Two geometric things. Also, you'll know, I mean, it's Jose. Yeah. Yes. Jose, short name of Jose Pina. But you prefer to be called Jose? Yes. Josier or Jose? It should be like like a French style, Jose. Yes. But it's okay. Your business guy, anybody, your business guy is trying to call it. That's you on the front, is it? Or is it your great role? It's our shaping woman. Okay. Our local. I thought now that Donna who escaped the Fucata. I just wanna say thanks to my guests today Jose Ralo Yes. From Donna Fucata in Sicily, a lady of many talents, mom. Thank you. Chef, singer, economist, promoter, public speaker. Yeah. And and and broadcaster. Honestly, never gonna forget this into you. No. I wanna tell them that. You know, it's absolutely cracking. You know, you got such a personality. You know, I just I just paled in comparison to that. You know, you should you would like a Vadet that start, you know. Yeah. Thank you for being with us. Yeah. Thank you for coming. Thank you very much. Follow Italian wine podcast on Facebook and Instagram.