Ep. 138 Monty Waldin interviews Lamberto Spacchetti (Colle Ciocco Winery) | Discover Italian Regions: Umbria

Italian wine podcast. Chinching with Italian wine people. Hello. This is the Italian wine podcast. My name is Walter Waller. Today's guest is Lamberto Spaghetti. Lambert's winery is called Colle Choco, and it's located in the town of Montefalco, which is part of the Sacramento de Montefalco region inumbria in Central Italy. Lambert, welcome. Thank you very much. Give me a little bit of the history of your estate. Was it obviously got your Cori Choco. What does Cori Choco mean? Colony Choco is topolima of the area where it's born the the snl. Okay. Topolimi is like a place name. It's a word in front, like a UDE. So what makes is it a hill then, Kole? Say, so you're on a on a little hill somewhere? Yes. Choco is the olivo plate. Oh, really. Is it an uffrian word for an olive tree? Yes. I produce the oil and the wine. How big is your olive grow? How many hectares? Nine eight stars of the if, plain, and, ten, of, for the wine. Do you have any other crops like cereals, ceriani? I produce free type of a red wine, Sacramento, and the dessert, the Sacramento dessert. Aceto. Aceto. You make white wine? Three type of white wine and water rosette. I produce one type of the wine is a blend. The base is vignonier, and the forty four Saint Greek, twenty ten percent the name of this one is Clariano. Clariano. Clariano. Clariano is the name of the old actor. It's born in Montefalco. Oh, he's a famous actor, was he? Yes. Okay. And what about red wines? Red wines is Montefaca Rosa. Montefaca is a blend. The base is Centroviso in seventeen four fifteen for center, Sacramento. The other fifty is below. It spent one year in the hook medium, twenty five atollate, and two years in the bottom before to sell. So what is your most important market is it local, the local market here with tourists, or do you have an international market? Yeah. I I shipping the wine in Canada Toronto, in Luzburg, Netherlands, Belgium, and many bottles in Germany, and they're in Japan. For your vineyards, do you pick everything by hand, or do you pick by machine? By hand, only by hand, and they separate, the better grip, is for the Sacramento. And the other for the table wine. What is the terroir like where you are? You say Corli Choco is a hill, the olive Yes. What is your altitude? It says four hundred and twenty. So that's quite high. Yeah. He's at the one miles from here. One mile from Montefalco. From this where. Obviously, this is the historic zone of Montefalco. Yes. It's a very old history because it's the medieval what about the soil type? What soil type do you have on the hill? Is it sand? Is it clay? Is it a mix of sand and clay? It's, is this a clay and, it's a clay and clean. Is it difficult to work? It's difficult to work because, it's a rich of the skin and the stones. Yes. It's coming this turn during the summer time, and this is is dangerous. Because, the harvest of the Sacramento is late. So is it difficult to work the soil if it rains? During the summertime, is it not to come in the rain for the grapes is necessary. It is coming the rain one time each month about So for your Sacramento, when you ferment your Sacramento grapes for your Sacramento, are you fermenting in steel or concrete tanks, cement tanks, wooden vats? And, fermentory in steel, only steel, after the fermentation, When it's clean, I put the second, you know, in the room, and the remain for two years in the walk. And after returning the steel for to prepare with the booting the batteries. And the remainder for three years in the border. I don't sell the second, you know, before five years. So was this your family land or or are you from, Alco. Alright. So you're montefalco. So tell me about your parents, did they were they Contadini? Did they grow wine? Yes, sir. My parents everyday, pharma, from two hundred years about, and the remaining every time I monte Falko, but, the main job before is another. What was your what was your career before you took over the family vineyard? My job is a navy officer at Really? Military. Yeah. But you do have like a sailor's beer that I could say. I spent forty years, in the navy. And when I come back in Montecalco, is it my father after five years, did they. And the I and the my brother, say, thank you. You took over the vineyard? Yes. The light vocation. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. Did you did you miss the sea though? Yes. I stayed in twenty two years in the ship, Garibaldi, Doria, and the state in, around the the world, New York during the cuba Christ in Cina during the war at Israel and the ship. In in Jakarta when it's the war with the Malaysia and in Korea when it's the the price from Northern and the South Korea. Were you always on the boat though? You didn't have to go on the land and start fighting, did you? Were you just observing during these conflicts? So, obviously, the Cuba crisis, nothing in the end happened, but were you were you scared? No. No. No. No. See, very common. Cuba crisis is fine. In Cuba, during the Cuba crisis state in Jacksonville near Mayport. And, for three days, the situation is not clear, very dangerous, during the October in ninety six two. Yeah. The Cuba, Mississaras. Yes. When you came back to Italy, were you happy to take over the vineyard, or did you think, oh, I'd rather just enjoy my retirement and relax? Relax. But not for divine, but just for the relax. I mean, how difficult was it for you to change? Obviously, you're on a boat all of your life traveling around. And obviously being in the military, you have certain things, you know, you obviously have to look after your uniform, but you have, like, you get given food and you have somewhere to live. When you come back to the to the vineyard, you can't control the weather. Obviously, so that must be a bit of a stress. Now is, to check the weather is not the not difficult, easy, because, there is the totality and, is easy. But, I have a many experience during the, my service in the sea. Okay. For weather prediction? Yeah. Yes. When he is, coming the window from Nord. He's not dangerous. So when he's coming the window from South, it's dangerous. Why? Because that can dry the grapes? Yes. You don't make a Sacramento passito or no? Yes. I make a second. So how do you how do you do that? Do you pick when do you pick the grapes before you dry them? Yes. I I pick the grape just, ten days before they harvest it. Before the main harvest. Yes, sir. And the when is the weather is, the window from, is clean. The sun, when is the window is from north, when he is, from the moon, he's, he is down. Yes. So which, sorry, when you when you're picking your grapes for the Pasadena, Sacramento, you talked about the wind. Do you prefer the cold north wind or the warmer southern wind? No. No. No. From north. Do you want a cool wind? And, yes, and, I pick the grape. Only in the late morning. So late morning or better in the afternoon. Because Why do you do it in the late morning, though, when it's a bit warmer? So you want cold weather, but the warmest part of the day? Yes, sir. Why? With the warming, it takes the case in the women. It's a great solution, the gate to put it in the room in, up the slot. Okay. To dry the grapes even more. For three months, and the I work the grapes during the Christmas time about. So that's when you make the wine. Yes. So you dry them and you pick them in just before the main segment dinner harvest, then you dry them inside, and you press them around about Christmas I would be December. Yes, sir. And the remaining for the fermentation, the tender for the sugar, but about, fifteen days. What do you drink your sacarentina with? What is your favorite Abhinometa? Yes. I'm sorry. Lit up. I I prefer to dig in the second dinner dessert wine with the cheese. Picorino, gorgonzola. So Picorino is a sheep's cheese, and gorgonzor is a blue cheese. Blue cheese. Yes. Okay. What about the normal Sacramento, just the Sacramento, the Montefaca normale. They're just the straight. What do you what is your favorite dish with that? I prefer, with the lamb roast, with the lamb roast, with the wild pork, with the sticky, or truffle. This is is the second deal. The second you know, it's very important wine. It provides a strong taste. So you use when it's important when you mean, it's quite a strong. It's a big it's a big wine. It's a hefty wine. That's what you mean. So it's interesting. All the dishes you've chosen are all local dishes. So, you know, you have a lot of wild boar here. Yeah. Yes. So Tbow and Steak also initially, they call it the, Fjarantino not. Fjordino. Fjordino. Fjordino. Yes. So, I mean, when you say truffle, do you mean, like, a dish of pasta with some truffle shaved on the top? Truffle with the or the lamb with the truffle. Lamba truffle. So when you just go back to your manager again. When you in the navy. Was the food good or terrible? No. It's good. Oh, Italian boater has to be good. You know, the English navy eating terrible food. The French navy, they'd have five star cuisine. You'd alliance sailors would have seven star cuisine. So what were your favorite dishes on the on the in the navy? What were what were the dishes of the crew that the navy people loved on the boat? The Sacramento is not good with the fish. Okay. But I'll leave with the meeting. Do you make a white wine? Yes, sir. Okay. Just just tell me again about your white wine. Oh, my white wine is with the Guercito and the vionnier. Oh, really? Okay. The vionnier or Tri Biano's Palatino is our doctorate and grape, four Montefalco Bianco, DOC, and the twenty four center of a Vienna, because I like a vigner. Why do you like vigner? Vigner is a very good grapes, for blend. So that's a blend of vigner and sportino. Yes, sir. So what is a good dish for that? With the fish or with the white to me. So when you say fish, though, do you mean oily fish, sea fish, or Free fish. Fresh of water fish, sea fish? So give an example of a sea fish that is good with your quality no bionne. Yeah. It is a blue fish or Langostin, which is, lobster. Yeah. Yes. You have very I can't see who you're a man with very exotic tastes. Expiling with that. Okay. And then with, so that was thepolitino and vionier. So what is a good, is a different. I prefer, Clariano is, Guerquito and the vigner, with the fish of Farapetitiv, and Trebiano, and the vigner, we the white meat, a softer cheese. Mozzarella mozzarella mozzarella mozzarella mozzarella mozzarella mozzarella mozzarella mozzarella. Okay. And any other soft cheeses? Atre is, yes, is a blue cheese, but but no stronger or stragino. So just one final question. When you were in the navy, were you you weren't the squad or you weren't the ship? No. No. Okay. You weren't. I gave me the officer Okay. For the commander. Really? Yes. You're the commander of the ship. Commander edition. So how many men were on your ship? In a it depends on the big of the ship. The man's repair is a seventy, zero, and the crew is seventy. But the cruisers is four hundred four hundred and fifty. That's a huge responsibility. Bad time. Yes. Yeah. Well, it sounds like a good time. Okay. Thank you. But, I mean, obviously, there wasn't anything about previous job is you have to really, really understand the weather. The weather is the absolutely primordial thing for the safety of your men, and for, obviously, of course, for you, as well as the military stuff. And now that you're, you've come back on to, we say, Teleferma, the land, the weather is also incredibly important for for wine growing. In the morning, when you get up, I imagine the first thing you do Yes. I see the weather, today is good today, but, I see the after known the day before. Okay. Tomorrow is is good weather, and is the time for the harvest, the grape, or the olive. Let's just talk about the what are the main winds, Yventi, that that traverse the Montefalco area. They're different winds. What are they and what are they called? In the maistrale. Maistrale. Oh, straw. Oh, oh, oh, when did I thought? Okay. So tell me about these. So what is the tramontana? Tremontana is coming from Lord. So that's the mountain wind. Yes. Shidoki. It's coming from, Syria. North Africa. Yes. I would know the Africa. Yeah. Order Libya. Yep. Yes. That's a Shidoka. That's a hot wind. Seeidoka, which is a cold. Nice travel is coming from France. Really? Yes, sir. Oh, it's coming from Oh, okay. I got it. And then the next one is coming from Grish. And the final wind, Ostro is coming from west. And which is the best, obviously, sir Oco is good. It can dry the grapes. It's good that when it is the window from north. From a. From a. So you they're your two favorite ones. Why? Because, it's a it's not that there is the humidity. It's the fresh. It's the cool cool cool way. That's it. The grape good when it's not in sicily. He picked the grape during the night because during the day is stored. Just tell me again, why do you like the wine from the north? Is that because it calls the grapes down in the late season? Because the, Francana is a dry wind. Okay. It's not everyday. So you don't And you avoid your eyes. The humidity is not good. And it is fresh. It's cool. But, yes, cold. The window is that much humidity is, very odd. So when it's And the the gray, when is to put the debris in the case, is starting the fermentation. So you like the cool northwind, the tramontime, or the mountain wind. Yes. What you don't want is a humid warm wind because that will cause rot, and will cause premature fermentation. Okay. So I'll say thanks very much to Limberto Spagetti from Coli Choco. Listen, if the wine career doesn't work out, you'd make a great weatherman, a great TV weatherman on the TV. Thank you. You know what the TV, I'm talking about. Yeah. Yes. I'll say you in the If you want, you come in in the cellar for to taste in the wine, the second, you know, and the wheat. I have a good restaurant in Rome in, Your words are in the in the in some of the top restaurants. In Rome, in Nivona Square, I have a three steps, three scalini, in, in Prati. I have, the, Graki, a good restaurant, where it's possible to eat the fish and the meat, or in in, in Maryland, in Belgium. To say thanks to Lamberto Spaghetti from Colony Choco, winery Montefalco, fascinating change of career from sailing the seven seas to ending up in, making Sacramento in Montefalco thanks very much, Lambert, for coming. It's been fascinating. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. It was great. Follow Italian wine podcast on Facebook and Instagram.