Ep. 151 Monty Waldin interviews Lisa and Luca Tommasini (San Gervasio Winery) | Discover Italian Regions: Tuscany / Toscana

Italian wine podcast. Chinching with Italian wine people. Hello. This is the italian wine podcast. My guests today are dad and daughter team, Thomasini family, Lisa and Luca, from the San Gervasio winery, which is near Pisa, on the dusk and coast. Yeah. Exactly. Okay. So who are we gonna start? Who's gonna who's gonna give us a bit of a little bit of family history? Well, me, I'm gonna start. No hesitation. No hesitation, man. Yeah. Well, Sanjay Vasio actually is the name of a little village in task in the Piza district, and it's property of our family since the sixties. So it's a it's a very long time. My grandfather bought the estate at that time. Yeah. Was he Tuscany? Yeah. Tuscany. Yeah. But was he from Seattle? Was he from Florida? Well, no. We are between Pisa and Florence, thirty kilometers from the coast. Okay. And dad? Did did you learn everything from dad, or how did that work? What's the family doing? Yeah. Well, actually, I learned a lot from my dad. But not too much. Staying? Yeah. Well, experience is is very important, actually. So I learned a lot staying at the boundary. So you took over from your father. Was that correct? Yes. So when was when when was that? My father was die in two thousand two. Mhmm. And the so my father bought the winery in nineteen sixty, and it was the moment that in my area, everybody don't want to stay in the countryside, but my father loved this. And, as the K Asian, and in the Finnish, he bought San Diego. Was it totally ruined when he bought it? Yes. The the the buildings? The buildings were we make a big, construction for it to make the, the, the renovation. Was it a mixed farm? Was it like cows and, was it just cereal crops, or was it vineyards? What was there at the time? At the time, it was the me mele was the the agriculture of the, the cereal, and the vineyard was the very little part. So, but but they we they produce only very traditional wine, and for only table wine, and not, and not the the wine that we are producing now. So I make the change. Okay. So when my father decided, I can take the the to the I have the the winery and, so in the finish, I decide to have, this way of production. So you planted vineyards? You planted some new vineyards? Yeah. I planted a new vineyard. I I make the renovation of the vineyards. He has seen by years step by step. And, but in in the first day, when I I start, I decide to have organic production in doing, because it's my lifestyle. So, and, I teach, to live my daughters. So this is the clean lifestyle. So that was quite unusual, even even, I know Tuscany's been quite far ahead in terms of, organics, but that was when were you starting organics then in the eighties? In, so before my father in in his simple, mind. So, he started to have this organic, but I started to have the certification in ninety four. Okay. Because, so at the moment, I understand that it is necessary to somebody the take the paper. So in Italy, it's an important paper, you know, but in the finish, we The certification token. The certification is important. And now for the market is very important, but so I make this decision when nobody believe in production. Okay. So you're organic pioneer. So, Lisa, what is what is the what are the what are the wines that you're making in the markets that you're going for? Do you sell them as organic? Would you just say, listen, we make a a good wine and it happens to organic? How was your approach? Well, our approach is to let people taste the wine first, and then we say that it's an organic wine as a added value. So for us, it's a, yeah, lifestyle, but it's an added value. Okay. Alright. So what are the main brands, the main wines, the main variety Well, main varieties, main variety is Sanjay Beza. Definitely. And what are you making? Are you making Kiente? Kiente? Piyani or not Pisa Hills? Kiente, DOCG. Kiente. Okay. So you've kind of opted you could be Colini. You could be Pisa Hills, but we decide to be Kianti, the OCG, Kianti Riza as well, and Assirio, it's our most important wine. So what is the blend of Assirio? It's a hundred percent sangiovese. So you really focus on Sanrivais? Definitely. Why does it work so well where you are why does it take so good from where you are? Well, mainly our wines are very fresh and tasty. This is because of our soil. So we have a very sandy soil with a lot of limestone, a lot of fossil shell, and this minerality is the main character of all of our wines. So from Sandy, so you're getting a, a very fluid Yeah. Sangiovese. That's really easy to appreciate. Yeah. Definitely. What about, look at what about on the on the on the, sorry, on the winemaking side. How easy is it to to work with Sandy soils? Because they're not always easy to work with. They're easy to work because they're quite popular. They're not always easy to work with if you're still in there. What's the secret? So, yeah, the secret is that, normally, we we make to reach the the the soil with the cereal because the the the roots, it's very important to come through the soil to have the oxygen and the water. So you're putting a cover crop in sufficient. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. So, basically, yeah. So, a cereal crop, that's really good at building organic match getting some substance Yeah. Into the soil so that it retains water. Yep. It's it's it's it's not only well or not only the water, but it also the oxygen is a very, really important part. And especially in the sandy soil is important for to because this kind, my soil is is close to the, to the feet of the plant. And that the plant may be a need more oxygen, and we were the soil with the machine for it to have more soft soil, and this is the very, really key. Also, we, in, in the place that we have no, no much rain normally. And, so in this, this, in this way, we help the plant for two the humidity in the soil and to have more oxygen. Yeah. So the the the serials are really good at building organic matter. It decomposes in the soil. It forms like a spongy humusy material and that when it rains, the rain is absorbed to the when the vine is thirties here, I can go to the fridge. I can take some water. No. Yeah. No about to don't know. We don't we don't take some more more water to the plant. Yeah. About the fridge. Yeah. I know what you mean. Now this is the rainwater, so that it Yeah. Yeah. And like sponge and then the grapes when they were the vines when they needed, they can drink. Yep. Do your neighbors think you're a little bit crazy? Obviously, you've been doing organics for a long time, and they've seen that you've had a lot of success with it. Do they ask you questions? Hey. What is the secret? Can you give us some tips? Or do they just think you're crazy. So I'm I think I'm a little a little bit crazy because so I decided also since two thousand and three to stop any chemicals. Pretty? Yeah. So I used the wild yeast, from two thousand and three. And In the wine where you're the when my makers. Yeah. Yeah. So I now at the first store I remember was very crazy because, I don't have experience, but after this long time, I think that this choices, very, the real key for, to to understand the wine of my area because I want that the people understand the wine of San Gerrazio. And I, for explaining the soil, it's necessary that you don't use any chemicals in the wine. Yeah. To have a wild yeast ferment, you gotta have a lot of microbology in the vineyard, happy microbology in the vineyard. Yeah. So when when you're out selling the wine, do people, obviously the price, the labeling, the packaging, all that kind of thing? Do they ask you, is it wild mented. You can ask that one? Well, if you are, in front of a wine lover, probably, yes, people are interested in asking what's about the the winemaking. So sometimes, for us, it's, it's interesting to to those people and explain them how we work in the vineyards and in the in the cellar as well. Well, the big public maybe maybe don't ask. The general public. The general public. They just want a good bottle of wine. You have like an agri tourism? Do you have like a combination? Yeah. We do. We have ten apartments that we rent at the estate. Do people care that you're organic? And we're like moms with kids, mothers with children? Do they ask her, or do they just not well, it's it's growing definitely. Well, at the beginning, as my father said, everybody thought that we were crazy, but now it's really part of a lifestyle more and more also in Italy their organic organic life, organic food, everything is is growing. It's a big big, big deal. Yeah. It's these number one in terms of, size of organic vineyard globally. Yeah. So when you guys contribute in in some small way. In terms of the the main wines, is it all red or white? So the main production is red. So maybe we put a ninety five percent. Do you make any rosato or is it? Yeah. So we mix sparkling, Rosie, San Jose. San Jose again. San Jose again, if we normally we start with the Sparkling, then we have a three different selection of Sanjay from Cantic, Cantris Erba, and a cereal is the wine on my head because it's dedicated to my grandfather. And, a cereal is the history of the winery. So in ninety five, in twenty fifteen, we have, the twentieth, sorry. Yeah. Being the wine of is the is the is the wine of the history of Sanjay. Yeah. So you are you happy? Obviously, you had a great relationship with your grandfather. Yeah. And he taught you a lot about respect for the soul. So, a, a, a, a, because when they he was died. So he was so, but so young, but so I remember that, he loved to to drink wine. So because at this time, it was very traditional, but in the Finnish, so when, we are here the opportunity to to test it, to to drink his wine, is changed. So it was very apt. But in the old days, it it sounds silly, but, I mean, it was fueled. It was, calories, energy. Yeah. Definitely. When you have really, tuscum was very, very poor until until quite recently. So, you know, we think The wine was lighter, but everybody was drinking big quantities. Yeah. Because, yes, you see, is a powerful for, his energy for, for the for the job. So, are you thinking in the sixty, seventy was the the the moment of the change, but many people work in the countryside and they need they don't need to no. No need too much, but drink. Do you grow food as well? Do you have any, like, do you grow your own vegetables? No. Not really. Well, we stop, we had, cereal sunflower seeds when I was very young, but then we stopped and we focused on, on a wind production. Mhmm. Okay. But at least you have that biodiversity in the vineyard with your cover crops and things like that. Yeah. Okay. I just wanna say thanks to Lisa and Luca, Thomasini, daughter, and dad. Thank you very much. You're a great team. I I don't think I've ever seen so many smiley, smiley faces when we got normally when it's when it's mom and dad, oh, sorry, mom and daughter or mom at the brother and so it's always that tension between, you know, the the older the parent is saying, I think I'm thinking in this interview and the young person, my parents are so you know, so it's great to see that you're such a wonderful team. Thank you. I remember my visit, it was a long time ago. It was about fifteen years ago, and I remember that day. I'm not saying that I saw this before going into you. It was one of those. There's a beautiful light that you get on the on the Tuscon coast. And I remember just I loved walking around your vineyards because the soil was really spongy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, it's always such a good sign. And at the time, you were one of the probably visited, I think, about sixty or seventy vineyard in Tuscany. And some of them are organic, but yours is the visit that really stuck in my in my memory. Wow. Thank you. It's so so nice to see you after so long. Nice to see you too. Yeah. And it's very good to see that you've, you've got a wonderful daughter She's gonna do a fantastic job. Thank you so much, Martin. Thanks a lot. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Follow Italian wine podcast on Facebook and Instagram.