Ep. 140 Monty Waldin interviews Giusy Moretti (Moretti Omero Winery) | Discover Italian Regions: Umbria

Italian wine podcast. Chinching with Italian wine people. Hello. This is the Italian in wine podcast. My name is Monte Gordon. My guest today is Josie Moretti. Josie's family winery is in the Montefalco region of umbrisco, Moretti Omero. Yes. Why the name Moretti Omero? Who was Omero Moretti? Omero is my father. And, in the area, it's, quite normal to have unusual name. In fact, omero, it's an ancient Greek poet. Really? Yes. And so my name is juicy, very normal name because my grandfather name Giuseppe. It's a catholic name, but, after the second World War, a lot of people had a not catholic name because of the resistance. Okay. The so that's why. So tell us a little bit about your your family, sir, how big is your vineyard and whereabouts is it in, the Montefalco area, which commune are you in, which village are you in? We are in Janno delumbria that is, the highest one in sea level. I mean. The highest the highest village in the Montefalco area. Yes. So how high? We are at five hundred forty, but not all that one. Forty meters. That's pretty high. Not all our, vines are at that level. Medium level is four hundred. That's still quite high, though, isn't it? Yes. Yes. So is it easy to ripen the Sacramento there? So it's quite as hard grapes to get ripe, isn't it? Sometimes Well, the sugar is pretty high usually. Okay. But the problem is our tannins. So we have a lot of work to do, especially because, Sacramento vines produce a lot of leaves and in organic farming we have to have the grape very clean without leaves to permit the copper and the sulfur to be spried on the grapes. How how big is your vineyard? We have got thirteen. Very difficult. Thirteen hectares. Thirteen hectares. And That's been yours. And you have olives as well? Yes. How much how many olives? Sixteen olives. Sixteen trees or sixteen hectares. Sixteen trees. And do you have any other crops, cereal crops or animals? No. We are specialized on vineyards and on a whole group. So all your your estate is in just one place. You don't have vines in different villages or do you? In this parts of umbria, our provider is very divided into pieces because we bought some fields each year by year. Does that make organic farming difficult? If you have neighbors that are spraying things that are not allowed in organics. Does that make it tricky? Yes. It's very, very tricky because, Sacramento is a late harvest one, and, it produces lots of leaves. So we have to cut leaves five times, or also six times per vintage. That means a lot of work that is good because you can stay outside a lot of hours, but then you have to make, all the job in the office. So Okay. So breakout. What you're saying, we were gonna especially with segment units prevention rather than cure to avoid disease, you've got to go out there and make sure that around the grape bunches. You have to pluck away some leaves to make sure that the bunches a ripen and get some sun and they get the airflow they need to stay healthy. Correct. Okay. Tell me a little bit about your family. My family is the very funny one. The And you said it. The couple for me, yeah, the boss is my grandma. Okay. She's from Montefalco. What's her name? Quinta. Quinta. That is, the fifth. She was the fifth in the family. Because she was the fifth daughter. How many other children? How many other brothers and sisters did she have? Seven. Okay. Contraception obviously wasn't a big big issue in those days. I'm joking. No, no, no, before, no, but because they need some people to help them to cultivate it, vines. They had, they used to help Sagrentino, the family of my grandma, the family of my grandfather, not really, because they were not specialized. So they put together, Malvasia, Graceto, together. My grandma's family used to give the grades to Scatcha diable. Another winery. So you used to sell the used to sell the grapes to Scatcha diable. She used to sell grapes to Scatcha diable because Scatcha diable was the bigger one, and, they used to call, Cantinone, the big, container Okay. For all the people. In terms of, the Sacramento. So apart from Sacramento, what else do you make? Which other ones do you make? We make also that is the most re cultivated variety in umbria, more than sangueza. So you made that as a dry white wine. Yes. As a fresh one. And what are the typical flavors of Geketa? The final almond almond taste. Nothing. So, and also, it's Palatino that this grape that was cultivated also in the past here in the area It's named it after the municipality of Spolato, very close, from here. And, we produced a a metadoclass to go with, spolatino grape. The classic a classic method sparkling wine. Mhmm. So what are the flavors of the spolatino? It's a it's a dry white wine. Preasy aromatic wine, and it has got, later ripening such as Garantino. So it's pretty hard to have, until mid October, two of our best grapes, still on the vines. It's pretty distressing for us. So with these two late ripe in grapes to spot at Tina for white wine and the second antenna for red wine. You say, both are quite vigorous. They produce quite a lot of leaves. How do you make sure that the bunches stay healthy? We ensure that, the grapes arrive very healthy at our container, cutting off the leaves and it is very important and we repeat this, work, this job, five, six time per year. So when you say taking away leaves, where are you taking the leaves from? From the top of the vine or the bottom of the vine? From the bottom, where are the grapes are, place it? So you're getting you're getting a lot of airflow through that tip by taking these leaves away? Yes. Prevention rather than cure. Obviously, Humbry is very well known as a tourist region. Do you do direct sale? Are people people come to your winery and say, we really want to try your wine because you're organic or they just come to your winery and say, we just want a bottle of wine because we're in umbran. We want to take something home. Usually, they come in our in our container because they taste it in a restaurant and they really enjoyed the wine so they visit us. But some of them, they book before the guided tour. And, we are pretty well known also for, cooking from cooking license. Oh, you have a cooking school? Yes. Really? Yes. Well, that sounds good. Oh, that's nice. Yes. And you can see in our website, some recipes. We tape it air while she's cooking. We because we want to preserve the way of making pasta because it's, an ability that probably will be lost. So how does your grandmother make pasta? What makes it exceptionally in an exceptional way? Go on. Explain. What is the classic way of making pasta? What are the ingredients for pasta, first of all? In the past, they used to put also wine in the dough. In the dough? Yes. Really? Yes. How do you how do you make the dough? Just let's keep it. So how do you make the dough first of all? So you put the flower on the table. You make, you make a sort of cracker. Make a little, yeah, like, you make a little, so you make a mound of, a ounce and a flower with a hole. Then a little, yeah, like a crater in the top. Yes. And then And you put eggs. If you have So eggs when you say eggs, the yellow of the egg or the white of the egg or the whole egg? No. The whole egg. The whole egg. Okay. Yes. And if you have vegan people at your table, don't say that you put. I'm saying it because we are we have been making also vegan class because, probably you don't suspected it, but kushina is traditionally like vegan. Because in the past, they don't have so many money to afford having so much meat. Both. Traditionally to lack of money, poverty meant Yes. Meat was seen as a real luxury. Yes. So how do you make the pasta? Flower, eggs, and water. So you start with the flour? Yes. You put you, not me. You never seen me cook. We are a teacher. You'll need you'll need several you'll need several teachers for me, I think. You can repeat this. The whole team. I don't know of them. You put the flower in a table with the shape of, mountain. Little hill of, a little hill of flower. Yeah. Yes. And then you make a an oval. It would be similar to a crater. A crater. Yep. You break the hex and you put inside this to the white and the yellow? Yes. And then you take the fork and you make, a vortex of our necks and move and move and move again. So you mix them together? Then you put, water, but it has to be warm water, not hot, and not cold, and you mix together with the, with the, sort of, with the back of your hand. Correct. It. So you just you keep mixing together for how long roughly does it take for everything to combine? Depending on the strength of your of your hands. For my grandma, you need just one minutes. And for you. For the rest of people five minutes. Okay. Even if she's eighty four, she's got a lot of, strength. So then when it when it moves here, then you shape the, the dough into the pasta that you're making. What is the traditional shape of pasta inumbria and this part ofumbria? There's an additional shape of pasta is, a square section. Square. Yes. Is it a flat square then? Yes. Because it's almost like you're making ravioli then, isn't it? Because the flat and go has to be about, one centimeter thick. Half centimeters. Half a centimeter thick. And then you have two cuts, half a centimeter of two. How you cut them in half? Lengthways. Yes. And And then when so how when you put the pasta in the water to cook it, how many minutes would that normally take to cook? Not so much time. User needs so much time because, it's already cooked because it's just flour and, water and some wine. So just three minutes. So which sauce would go on top of that? I know you talk about vegetarianism, but if it would it be a meat sauce or or a vegetarian sauce? What would two options be for the for the sauce on the top of the pasta? Usually, when you put wine instead of water in it. That is the traditional recipe. You put just, pomodoro tomato tomato with, onion. So that is vegetarian. And other choices would be. You can also make Carugu made of rabbit. Rabbit meat. Yeah. And, usually, we put also some sausages as usual. With tomato as well, though. Yes. With tomato and sausages. The sausages like, I mean, ground sausage meat quite small, not huge pieces of sausage. At rounded pieces of sausages. And my mom, she put on top of everything sausages. Ready? Yes. She a big lady. Yes. Definitely. She is. She puts on everything that she would like to put also on breakfast time. Well, she should live in England. Yeah. Probably. Sausages, eggs, and bacon for breakfast. Oh, yes. Probably. Yeah. How easy is it being an organic winery in Umbria? We always think of Umbria as the green heart of Italy. It's it can be quite wet. Is it easy or difficult seeing is that you've got these vigorous varieties, these quite leafy varieties, in Sacramento and Creketo. It's pretty difficult. In fact, for us, the best vintages were the two thousand and fifteen and the two thousand and seventeen because we had the occasion to have very healthy grapes without working so much. Makes sense, you know, because they were very sunny with integers. And, we had no problems, very big bunches, and, without any diseases. You're obviously a fairly fairly historic organic estate here from the early nineteen nineties. Is there a lot of communication between the organic growers in this part of Lund Bureau? Or do you just everybody just does their own thing? Do you collaborate with each other? Are you friendly with each other? Yes. Yes. A lot. Why does that help? It helps a lot, and, contracted to the LaVini Monte Fargo. To the Montefalco Growers, group organization. Made a Tuzering about the pruning and also we collaborate altogether regarding the temperature levels with some, patio station together with the consortium to set up any montefelt Where did that project start? Who's idea was that? Was that the growers? Did the growers get together and tell us, and it would really make sense if we all collected information about, you know, climate data, rainfall sunshine hours, and and shared the data. Whose idea was that? Everybody's together. So that's unusual. We always think, it's a very stereotypical view, but, you know, Italian is a very individualistic that everybody collaborate with each other, but you're saying absolutely not the case in Montefalco. You are working as a team. You're individuals, but you're working as a team. Yes. And is organic growing here? Is it a more winery's going organic or not? We were the first one, but nowadays there are about five, six organic farming because nowadays it's easy to be an organic container. Why? Because the customers understand the value of making this incredible and very hard job on the vines. But before in the beginning, I used to go at the fairs with my father other. And, we had to not say that it was organic. So you used to have to keep it a secret. Yes. Why? Because there there were lots of prejudices about organic wine. What's the president? All the people used to to drink that it was no good because it was organically made. Now it's the reverse. It's fancy to be an organic farmer. Fancy. That's a nice word. Yeah. So is that also a bit disappointing if people come to your winery and say, I don't care what it tastes like. It's organic and I know I can sell it because it's organic or biodynamic because that's the trend now of, like, especially, you know, sommeliers and influencers what organic and biodynamic. Would you rather just people come to a wine and say, I'm gonna do a merlot, they make great wine. I'm gonna a bar bottle. Would you prefer that? Or are you very proud to be organic at all? I am such proud of being an organic farmer. So I I feel very good when people come and say, even if the vintage is not perfect. I really appreciate the work you made with your father, with your sister, with your mother. And, I will buy hate, sir, even if it's not perfect because we are obsessed by keeping the farms of the grape by keeping the best way of making the wine, not about the perfection of the wine. Okay. So slight imperfection is okay. Yes. So what about the social aspect organic. Do you have more? Because you're organic, do you have more employees? Do you spend more money? Yes. How much more expensive is it for you to be organic in the vineyard? Had nine. Twenty percent more? Even more. Because if you are, a conventional way maker, you can put some products on the vines and they will receive for a month. If you are in the organic while making, you have to work more and more. So we have some employees. We have workers from Machedonia. They have a cooperative. They work, altogether. They are about, fifteen people coming altogether. So it's, very fantastic for us because in one day they make an actor. And what are they doing? They're taking leaves away to make, to give the grapes a bunches a bit more sunlight and air to prevent disease. Yes. So they're quite skilled? Yes. Yeah. And they're very and you said they're quick as well. Very quick. And it's very good for us. What about, wildlife? Have you noticed what kind of wildlife do you have? Do you have, Capriori here? Bambi, Brobuk. Do you have Perfect Bambi to be cooking? Yeah. He prefer to eat Bambi. Yeah. Because they can be of a pain, bambi when she comes here and eats all the grapes and the bugs in the in the early spring. What about wild boar? You have wild boar? Yes. Are they a real problem? Yes. They are. Until we end up when your grandmother's your grandmother's kitchen. Yes. And then they're not so much of a problem. We have also a lot of wolves. Wolfs, pretty? Yes. Yes. Yes. So what are your main markets for your Sacramento? Our main market is North Europe and Central Europe more than the states. So about the two areas that we would say can be quite cold. Do they the clients in those two areas take the wines because Sacramento's got a big, warming wine. Is that the reason why? Yes. So they're not afraid of a white, a red wine that's quite forthright and quite tannic. Correct. Because they have very dark days and they need something to be. Got these poor people. How can they live in these countries? You know, staying alive with a glass of cigarette, Tina, you know, they get rationed every time. It's the sun. It's the sun for them, We spark the sunshine and the bottles. Oh, that's a good strapline for a a fragrant, you know, tourist. Yeah, if the, if not if the amount of it works out, if if something terrible happens, then you could always work for the PR department. You know, glass of sunshine, that's a good line. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Alright. Let's talk about your sparkling wine. What do you your classic method sparkling wine? What is that made from? It is made from spolatino grape, and it is a thirty month on the least one. And, it was a desire from me because I was intended to enter in, my father, Katina, but it's pretty difficult to collaborate, father and daughter. And so we tried with a neutral wine. I'm in a second you know, it's pretty traditional one. And, there were no way to be into this production. So we decided to to do together something new. In that way, I can answer my father way of making wine. So you're saying you're making a sparkling wine, which is white from red grapes from Sacramento? No. From San from San from San Bernardino. Antino. Not really. Because, from in the Sacramento skin, there are a lot of prueing and, I know that the prueing ruins the bubbles. The prueing, which is the white film around the on the grapes. Yes. Why does that ruin the bubbles? Because it's fatty. Okay. And it's not good. It will be so difficult to make, matters of classical from Sacramento grapes. So you make it from a white wine grape instead. And how dry is it? I mean, how much how much residual sugar does it contain technical question, but it's nine grams per liter because we don't add any sugar and And how long does it stay on the lease normally in bottle before you discard you? Thirteen months on the lease. Yes. Why'd you leave it so long on the on the lease? Because we want the best quality that we can do. Okay. And what does that add that aging extra ingredients? Does it make it more creamy, creamy tasting? Exactly. Creaming bubbles, and also the parfums will be more and more refinement. So which perfumes are you getting getting about an obvious kind of buttery biscuity flavors? What else are you getting in the? Also the floral part of the spolatino grape. Okay. So if you have a sparkling spolatino, your traditional method of spolatino, and you have a, just a normal still dry spolatino, can you see if you smell them both? Are you gonna have similar smells? Or does the fact that the champagne sorry, the traditional method style has been aged on the lees. They're very, very different, or can you see that they're the same, same origin? You can recognize the fruity notes, the same ones. Which are what fruity notes are they? They are for to be a number one, they are pretty, yellow fruits such as, peach, very ripenate. And Right peach. Yeah. But the rest is pretty different because the list very are very invasive to the the performance. So they they change. They make a personalization of Joshua rumors. So what is it? What would you if having a sparkling wine, normally people drink it on its own, but if I'm if I'm in the kitchen with your grandmother, what would she what dish would she make for a sparkling wine for your sparkling wine or a chocolate sparklings? Unfortunately, she doesn't drink any white wine. She thinks that white wine are not good. Okay. Because she's from Montefalco and she cannot drink any white wines. For my father, she was a terrible mother. Okay. I mean, she's not quite It's sort of been recorded. You know that lady. But it's the truth. She's always demanding a better quality on red wines. So the only answer for my father was concentrated in mine too white wines because she doesn't drink any white wine. So, basically, because she doesn't drink white wine, he has a bit of peace, yeah. Yeah. Because she doesn't drink that. You know what? I'm gonna I think we should forget the podcast. I I need to make a TV documentary on your family. Yeah. I know there's a lot I think there's a lot of material there. We could we could be looking at like a fly on the wall. You know, like a twelve month show, it'd be great. Please come with a psychologist. Yeah. Yeah. We could probably have put in need two. One for the production team and one for the family. It's pretty awkward. That's better. So what it do you are you positive about the future for Sacramento? Yes. Ten years ago, was seen as a very tough wine, even twenty years ago, a very tough, almost unsellable wine. Now it's really in fashion. There's a real boom of, new blood here, money coming in, people establishing wineries. Have have do you see that as a good thing or a bad thing? It's a very good thing to have people from North, Italy coming here and, finding new winery. And, it's also very good to have a young Waime makers that are helping the denomination multifalco to be more and more famous because the more you are young, the the more possibility you have to be in the of our market and to be That's okay. And so what just what is the percentage of wine that you sell directly from your winery? You have presume you have tourists, people can come and buy, and how much do you and what is the percentage that you export? The export is the first percent of the production. So what when people come to Umbria and they maybe as tourists and they on a tourist trip and they don't know much about wine, when they taste Sanrentino for the first time in your winery, are they what is their normal reaction if they if they don't have any preconceptions, you know, we win the wine trade. Oh, it's really tannic blah blah blah. Just a normal regular couple come in and say, oh, can we try you? We see you make a red wine. We've never heard a second. I don't know what it is. Can we try a glass, please? What do they say? What's their first impression? Normally? Normally? Normally? They really love Sagrentino at the news because it's very clean and very straight. You can recognize, very easily the red berries on it. So people really love this kind of style, very fresh and very genuine one. And when they taste it? And then when they taste, they say, I never taste it. I, a wine like this. So where they they say that, what do they mean? Something that's very has a strong personality. It has got a strong personality on the mouth and it is, unique. So you, you absolutely have to try hit once in your life. But are they happy though? Do they say, oh, we we need to bullbar bottle of that because, we've never tried anything like that before, do they think, oh, that San Bernardino is not for me. Usually, they bring some parts of the tomb and they became ambassador of Sanrentino. They want also different to take sagarantino, which is great. I mean, that just shows sometimes how, you know, if you read articles on second and Tina, every time I get asked to write an article on something, you know, the editor will always say, oh, you must mention, you know, the fact that it's because it's very panic and, dada, and you think, why don't we just talk about? It's a it's a very individualistic red wine. Let's not talk about things that are gonna give not a negative image, but, start start with sounding positive rather than something that's not positive. Not positive. Yeah. Yeah. They should. Yeah. It's like, if you said every time you write an article on chardonnay, I'd say it's a really boring grape Chardonnay is a really boring grape, but in Burgundy, they make one, Chardonnay. You would never do that. Would you? No. You wouldn't. You know, but you kinda get here. Oh my god. Anyway, so, right. So, okay, I just wanna say thanks to Jui Moretti from the Mauretio Mero winery in the Monteo region. In Umbria. It's a historic winery, very family oriented, organic farming, and a fantastic, cooking school. Definitely worth a visit. Gotta Follow Italian wine podcast on Facebook and Instagram.