Ep. 126 Monty Waldin interviews Paolo Montioni (Montioni Winery) | Discover Italian Regions: Umbria

Italian wine podcast. Chinching with Italian wine people. Hello. This is Italian wine podcast. My name gone to Walden. My guest today is Paulo Montioni of the Montioni winery in Montefalco in umbria, famous Rich Sacramento reds. Welcome. Paulo. Welcome nice to meet you. I'm Paulo Montioni. Just give me a little bit about the family history when was the winery founded? Yes. Our family history, it's really easy. We are one of the oldest winery located in Montefalco. We have been here since the nineteenth century. And, we are located just three hundred meters from the city center of the village, of the Montefalco villager. The history is really important. It's a very attractive, for Montefalco village, because my grandfather started, seventy years ago to produce a olive oil, extra virgin olive oil, because it's another good product famous inumbria. And also my eye, when I finished the study twenty years ago, I decided to invest in a wine business, in a wine market. So your third generation, but the first to make wine. Yes, to make wine, and probably we just have ready the second because, my two young people are ready to enter in, my company. Your your children. Yes. My children. Jacumo and Matteo. The family is one of the holders, just I told you, and we invest a lot of passion to try to find the high quality in our vineyards and, in our cellar. Okay. So the winery is right in the town of Montefalco. Where about the vineyards, though? The the our vineyards is just located in the southeast of Montefalco, but also the particularly of our vignas. So it's a they are located in three different place of Montefalco. So so they're all in the all in the southeast Yes. In three different places of Montefalco, but all on the top of four hundred meter from the sea level. Is is that quite high for Montefalgar? Yes. Yes. But it's Montefalgar is a four fifty meter sea level. And our vignasa are four hundred meter from the sea level. It's very, very important to obtain the final quality wine. Why? Because, we don't have a humidity time or like frozen days. And also, we have about, a lot of sunny, hours, sunny days. Okay. So basically, what you could say, you could say, because we're at four hundred meters. Yes. We do not get frost in spring. Yes. What? Like like the past year. Okay. So what is the advantage of being at four hundred meters for those vineyards? There is is a lot of advantages because we can have a very good maturation of our grapes. We don't have a lot of bad fungus attack. So, for example, we don't use a lot of pesticide in our vineyard like, and also we we made the organic fertilization. And also another particularly, we can obtain it a lot of sugar and a lot of alcohol in our grades because in on four hundred meters from the sea level, we have a lot of son. You talk about, the management of the vineyard. Seguarantino's quite a tough grape, isn't it to get ripe and to make smooth? What are you doing in the vineyard and the winery to make a Segrentino that is relatively easy to drink? Yes. First of all, Sagrentino, as you know, is the indigenous grapes of Montefalgaria. It's prohibited, produced out of Montefalco district. In the harbor place near Montefalco, they can plant and produce Sagrentino wine. This is important. My philosophy, it's, produce an international fragranceino, very smooth and drinkable. So do you age the wine in small barrels or larger large erect? No. Absolutely. No. Only in a small barrel. And I think the unix one of the particularly to obtain it as smooth, as smooth, Argentina, it's, I think, use small barrels. And for sure, French, small birds. So do you use new oak every year? Was it a mix of new oak and older oak? Yeah. Of course. Depanda the the harvest. Depanda, what happened during the harvest? For example, if we have a sunny harvest with a lot of sun, for sure, I both, oldest barrels. Or if I have, like, raining harvester, for sure, I need new new barrels. But I choose the barrels at the end of the harvest. Okay. So you wait and see what the harvest is like before you move your barrels. Of course, and last things, to obtain the, a very drinkable, Argentina, there are a lot of steps. First of all, I must have a strong team. I have a very professional employment that all together with this decided what we do and what we'll do in our v vineyards, like in our salad. This is important. Second step, it's the quantity per hectars. It's really important to produce small quantity. So low yields. Yes. So a lot of less quantity, healthy grapes. This is important. So how are you reducing the yield? Do you do that at pruning? Yeah. Of course. Or do you do that in the spring by, removing shoots and in the late season by removing bunches? Both. First of all, in, January and February, we do a very hard pruning. Such as late in June and July, we'll do green pruning. So we'll leave a lot of leaves, and also we cut the bad grapes, and we chose only the healthy and the best grapes. In total, we produce about four thousand five hundred kilo per hectares. So it's four and a half tons. Yes. It's quite low. Yeah. Yes. Please note, for example, that, in one hectare of Proseco, they arrive about twenty two thousand kilo. Yeah. You'll, you'll when when do you start your job as the Proseco Envac today? No. No. No. No. No. No. It's the same. I like prossecco. It's one of my favorite sparkling wines, but I it's it's compared to the the quantity. Prosecco is a white sparkling, a very good sparkling white wine, but Sagrentino, I think, it would be a very one of the best red wine in Italy. Yes. It's only a competitor, but I'm, as a pro seiko fan. Okay. So, and another good things in the winery, a very good job in the winery. It's your winery on the ground. Of course. If you arrive in our place, in Montuny winery, you will see a very, like, Luna park, attractive company. Why? Because just three hundred meters of the sea of Motifal Co city, where you can arrive and look our oil meal for producing olive oil. You have your own oil, though. Yes. Of course, our own oil meal with five thousand with five thousand olive trees. Plus, we have four meters underground, the cellar. All the process to produce wine is for me that's underground. On the first floor, we have the wine testing area, a professional wine testing area with professional kitchen and a lot of space to arrange a private tour or private seventeen or testing. How many visitors do you get here then? Twelve thousand people. For each part of the world. Yes. That's a lot of We, actually, we are the best company on tripadvisor in umbria and the fourth in Italy. And do people buy wine, or can you send it to them when they Of course. When they go home? We have seven importer around of the world, plus, I fix a very good contract with UPS and FedEx to ship door to door in all parts of the world. And also, so in our place, seller, oil mill, and the future investment, it will be a very boutique hotel. We want. Yes. We want to give a lot of opportunity for how our clients or for how our visitors will stand a very wine relaxed in our place. So, I mean, is that you're gonna make the hotel in the existing buildings, or have you bought another building? No. I bought from a Hankel, from your uncle. Yeah. Last year. Is that next door to the winery then, the the building Just of course. Just in front? The visit does can arrive, can sleep in the very beautiful rooms, and twenty meters just in the cellar. Okay. So how many rooms do we have? With, six exclusive rooms with swimming pool. How do you get a swimming pool of, so close to the town of Monte it underground a swimming pool? No. I I bought that. The building plus four thousand square meter of soil around of the building. So it'll be an open air swimming pool. Yes. With a, imagine, with a fantastic view. Yes. So which Which way does the, obviously, Montefalco is on a hill. Yes. Which way will the swimming pool face and what will they see? Well, you see a cc. You see that the very right, the very beautiful view of honor CC. So on the historical cities of monte of umbria, like Sisi, Pello, Bevania, and Peru. Okay. You mentioned Bevania. Do you have any vines in Bevania? No. No. So what is this? I'm I'm a multifalco supporter. I live in Montefalco, and I promote multifalco We promote Multi Falco. So you are mister Montefalco based. Yes. Yes. So you got a hotel Yes. Swimming pool, oil mill, oil mill, winery. Yes. This is my final idea, but I must do thanks to my clients. When people come to your winery and taste the wines, are they surprised at Sagrantina that it is quite a it can be quite a ferocious wine, or do they think if they haven't had any experience of Sagrantina, they haven't got any, we say, preconceptions, they say, oh, this is, this is nice full energetic wine, what do they say? Yes. Correct. They will be surprised, for example, yesterday. I have an private, testing with, two Belgium journalists. And they was, surprised about, our idea, our quality, our not only for Argentina, but only of of our, products. Because, first of all, I'm a farmer. I like my job. I I have a passion of my job. And, I'm like manic. I like, of every cleaning, every, very, organasible, and, other things. My clients, I'm very happy to testing Montyoni. What about the argument that, some people say that Segrentino, you talked about oak barrels aging Segrentino because it is quite a tannic red in in the Sacramento. Yeah. Either the choice is either aging it in larger, older wood, bottigolande or in smaller, newer oak in French Barriques. Why did you choose the French Barri group rather than the the larger wooden cask or body? Because, it's easy for me. Sacramento, at the end of the fermentation is a very tonic, dry bitterness, wine. It's it's like, not it's, yes, it's a very strong wine. I think what is the, the unique and, modern solution? It's more than is aged, it's aged in the hook barrel. In a small hock barrels because the percentage from the wood and the wine is correct. So is this a balance between the tannin in the wine and the tannin in the No. And I don't buy tannic barrels. Okay. I buy good and fine barrels, because my idea, my final idea, it's, that the oxygen must ban through the wood on the Sacramento. Beneficial oxygenation. Yes. To polyvide. I don't. Yes. I don't need more tonic from the wood. Okay. So you're not using the oak barrels for you're using it to soften the tannins in the wine Yes. Rather than add oak tannins to the wines. Yes. This is my idea. And actually, I don't have a problem, unfortunately, to sell my wines. So it's a correct way. Okay. Have we is there anything else we should talk about? Yes. For sure. The good food for Argentina. Okay. Is is important because, I think that, Argentina it's not a table wine or like a daily wine. Sacramento is like our final dream. So when you open a Sacramento, first of all, open one hour before to drink because he need a little bit oxy gen two will be held again and will be perfect. Does it does it make sense to put it in a carafe as well? It will be perfect if you if you have. And so it will be perfect if you have the possibility to, hit, beef, beef, like, or grill at lamb, a good pasta with truffle, eggs, with truffle, or another good thing. It's brisket with porcini mushrooms. The last good things is, pork. Like, sausage. Because that because you've got the sweetness of the pork. And Yes. The sweeten yes. Of course. The the the the smell are very tender. Yes. So you so basically, it's a what you're saying is Sacramento is a wine for, in some cases, quite fatty food? Yes. Of course. Yes. So what you're saying is Sacramento is a is a good wine for slightly fatty dishes. Yes. So give me some examples of slightly dishes. Like a park, stick of park, beef, grilled lamb, wild boar. Wind boar is a perfect match from seventeen wines. But cooked cow though, wild boar. In, like, stupato. Do you know stupato? Which is, like a stew. Yes. So in its own juices, so it gets nice and tender, nice. Yes. And any other any other foods a a good truffle truffle truffle and porcini mushrooms. I like so much drink a bottle of Argentina, when I have a x with truffle, or brisket with truffle, or green lit porcini mushrooms. Rooms. So the truffles remember you're quite well known. What color are they? They're black. They're the black ones, aren't they? Yes. They're quite spicy. It's very aromatic, but not spicy. So what do you do? You you you grate them? Yes. Great on the bread. Add or directly on the pasta, but absolutely use a very good or extra virgin olive oil. And if you have possibility, montionial olive oil, or it's it's very good if you're cooking with the in an bowl, olive oil, garlic, and truffle. Okay. And and and mix it with a pasta. So you put the frying pan on the heat, a little bit of oil. Yes. Then a little garlic, salt, salt, and offer. Okay. And then you mix the pasta. Yeah. Of course. Yes. When the pasta will be ready, mix all together. Okay. So just a basic bowl of pasta. Yes. A little bit of seasoning. Yes. And a and a glass of Argentina. Yes. Perfect. And a bottle of Argentina. Okay. Paulo Montioni from the Montioni winery in Montefalco of Sagrantino fame. Thanks very much for coming in today. I think we've talked probably more about food Yes. Than we have about wine, but, your enthusiasm is very infectious. And you seem to have all the bases covered. You got your olive oil well. You could have your swimming pool. We got your winnie by the town. You're shipping wine all over the world. It's great. It's a very joined up business. Thank you very much for coming in. It's my pleasure. Goodbye. Follow Italian wine podcast on Facebook and Instagram.