Ep. 142 Monty Waldin interviews Leonardo Raspini (Tenuta Raspini) | Discover Italian Regions: Umbria

Italian wine podcast. Chinching with Italian wine people. Hello. This is the Italian wine podcast. My name is Montewood. My guest today is leonardo Espini. Leonardo is the general manager for tenuta al Zatura, which is in Montefalco, and Tenuta Altaura is owned by the Czechi family, which is based in Kean tikka. Yes. In Castelina in Kia, the High Montei. Oh, no. So just tell me very briefly about the Czechi family. Yes. They're very well known. They own several estates throughout Italy. This year, we are at, one hundred and twenty fifth anniversary. Okay. So the check-in is two brothers. Right? Two brothers. And what are they called? Andrea and Chessari. And they're from Tuscany, and they're from Tuscany, absolutely from the area between CN and floor and Right. And so they have, winery in San Guimignano, in the Maem. Inianti Glassu, Aria with Vila Cerna. And in Sacramento, what is the winery called in Sacramento Motifalco? Sorry. Alsatura. Alsatura. Yes. He's a tenured Alsatura. And this is just an area very close to to to Monte Fargo. And, with three different terroir in our vineyards. How big is the estate in total? He's twenty six, twenty seven actors. And when did the Czechi brothers buy it? We buy in nineteen ninety six and the first, real production was in two thousand. Okay. So the vines are quite mature now. Yes. Now we have, beautiful vineyards that can give us the expression, re expression of Argentina. We have thirteen actors. Saguin and Sanrentino. And the rest is, a mix between San Jose and Merlo. So let's talk about the Sacramento first. What is your terroir like? The altitude, the soil type. We have three different blocks. One is in the area close, to the north of the domination. And, and there we have a mix, medium, with a lot of gravels. So there we produce, a Sanarantino very classic, very elegant. In Azatura close to the to the cellar, we have more clays and, there we can give to the one more body. And the third, blocks are very close. Monteuto is the the name, and it is not the Huawei state. There we produce, the mix is a lime and clay soil. So we can have the good good mix to every every year the opportunity to choose the right ripening for the Sacramento. That is not an easy variety, but, in these terms, we can have different opportunities. Okay. So that's helpful for blending too. You may a segmentino de Montefarco. Yeah. Do you also make a Montefarcorosa? Yeah. We make Montefarcorosa. So what is the difference between the two? My Montefarcor also, we have, the maximum ten, fifteen percent of a segmenti. And the rest will be. The rest is San Jose. And metal. So at tenuta Alzatore, you make, your two main red wines are Yeah. The first one is the Sacramento de montevarco. Yeah. And you make the montevarco. Doroso. So what is the difference in the blend, the grape varieties that you put in those two particular wines? To Vaccio. Duvacho for for San Antonio is one hundred percent, Sacramento. Okay. And for Montefar close, he's, eighteen, eighty five percent San Juoise and Merlo, and only the fifteen percent is, Sacramento. So, San Antonio is just a little portion of, of the blend. In terms of marketing, you say, obviously, Sacramento is is always considered a bit of a difficult grape because it can be quite tannic. How do you convince people to to like Sacramento or to drink it maybe with the right food? What are your what are your sales tactics? When, familiar check is started in, in the beginning of two thousand, to produce the Argentina, of course, in Dutch period, the Argentina was a wine that, to bring with the it, the force, the structure, the tenons, and that was a very, but, we drink. Not only we produce the wine. So we know very well that, we added to change something to give to the consumer something more about the Argentina and Sacramento have a particularity that is very original. So in this in this years, thanks to the to to to the job of, our staff, and to the job of all the production or the producers of the area, we have discovered that Sanrentino can be managed by extract the the pleasure, not only the force. So in this moment, of course, the contact during the fermentation with the skins is, lower than in the past, and, the the the timing of machination is very, very accurate. So in these terms, you can obtain more fluidy, the San Antonio where the the The tenant is made. Trainings. Right? It's more about maintaining the particular aspects of Sacramento. So when you're doing the fermentation, are you trying to ferment a little bit cooler or a bit warmer or a little bit shorter? What are the A little bit shorter first. So in terms of, the the the fermentation and machinades period, we depending on the year's course, but, we try to maintain from fifteen to twenty days maximum. This is very important in the in the good years because during the the good year, right, two thousand for example, twenty sixteen in partially, the producers try to have a challenge with the the good skins, the good grapes, and, over extract any time. So two thousand fourteen that today we have presented as an anti prima as preview of the sovereignty, of course, is another kind of in touch where there are attention is, was well balanced with the force of Argentina. So that Azouts is in more pressured wine. So what when you when people come to your winery, Alta Torres, I'm sure, as I'm sure they do, what and they say, listen, we'd like to Babolo of Argentina. What food should I have it with? We're talking about, say, foreign tourists who come here, not one locator. What would you recommend? What is a classic or a few classic dishes for a what you're saying, alzadora is a lighter style or maybe a softer style of Sagrentino. In this moment, I can see that, Artatura is a softer style of Argentina. In in inside the village of, Montefalco, we have joined it, a from the area at Luigi Dijago, and then we so we have the Forest area to do a restaurant that is very close to the center of the of the of the village. And there are the Luigi has beautiful dishes in faster with, Lambda or with Capriola or others, Capriola's baby girl. Yeah. Very, very well done. And, with the the very soft touch in in kitchen, and for us, it's the same soft touch, you have to be it for the Sacramento. So we are in well, our skill is to produce the Sacramento where the pleasure is, is enough to drink butter and not not only. Do they come in the, butts in spring in the vineyard? Capleone. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. A lot of damage to vineyards in spring. Yes. A lot of damage in in vineyards. You're like Don't preserve, the vineyards against them. They can have particularly during the the bad birds because there, they can eat a lot of production, of course. The white bird, of course, have another effects because they eat only the grapes. And so it's more immediate because you can see directly the the day major on the on the on the production. But, you know, back then to the season. At the beginning of the season, you got bambi coming in and eating the buds. And at the end of the season, you got the wild boar coming in eating the grass. So, yep, in the perfect timing for damage every every for the time of the year. So, obviously, you work a lot with international markets. Yeah. So when you're out selling a Sacramento in foreign markets, is your sales tactic different, say, if you go to Scandinavia or you go to America or Canada or Germany, or do you always tell the same story. How do you tailor your sales pitch knowing that San Latino is is seen as a very tanning red? In the last years, we have had good results in particular in Scandinavian, Scandinavian, in particular in Denmark and in Sweden. Why do they like saying guarantino then? Because they have the the the the the San Antonio has the structure and the in the soft terms and the soft aspects of the Sacramento, they can have the good, feeling in this kind of, structured wines, good, small, small, small, thin, small, small, small, and so. Is that a product? Is that the fact that, you know, we think of Scandinavia, you know, it's colder, and this is a very big warming wine, like, almost like a winter wine, Sacramento, isn't it? Yes. It's a winter wine. Yeah. We can stay in front of the of the fire during, as in, in Monte Fargo. Today is, very cold days. And so I can imagine that, it's convenient, like, they, like, can lap shade in these days, something like this. But we have to to think that, is better to to drink, a pleasure, a smoothy wine that, very hard wine. San Antonio needs to to go around the world because, it's a mergers, grapes. But we have to go ahead in the experimentation and in the capacity to to go versus the the consumers. When you go out selling the wine, is it is it often the case that it helps when you can share the wine with food with a potential client to say, look, this is here in Sacramento. We can taste it on its own, but we can taste it with and food. Is that does that work as a sales tactic to as a as a restaurant wine? Yes. It's a restaurant wine with, today with some, our colleagues we have discussed about restaurant restaurant wines. Santino is absolutely a lesson of wine, but the wine is very ripe, very ripe and he's well aged. Santino could have a incredible impression because, we are producers of Sanjuvese. Sanjuvese from Sanjay Classic from Mar and we'll say it's not bad for the montefelt Corosso is mainly San Giovanni. Yes. And Montifacroso has a lot of sangiovese but the fifteen percent of, Sacramento give to the wines, a person right. And so this means that, in a tasting section just to do during, a good imperative, of course, so with something to eat. You they all the consumers can appreciate the originality of this wine. And, so it's a little portion of Italy, but able to be well focalized, focalized it, in terms of, markets. And we are sure that the disease can, this can, sanctified opportunity. Now, do you handle cells in the Italian market as well? Yes. Yes. What's the difference between between the Italian market? What's your sales pitch when you're in Italy compared to say Scandinavia or America or Canada or Germany? In in Italy, is it harder or is it harder or easier to sell to Italians or, foreigners. Probably Don't give me the diplomatic answer. Give me, don't put anything. In the in the in the foreign countries, of course. It's harder. Yes. Really? Yes. Because, Sacramento is very second team of de montefalco. So in Italy, the people's nose with montefalco plus or minus, but they know of montefalco, umbria. So they formalize the formula. They can't formalize the the area where the facade container is produced. So this is a a sell, opportunity to talk about the wine. So in, USA or in other countries, it's more difficult. You have more difficulty to to give the message of umbria and Argentina and Montefalcone. But, we are Tuscany. We are from Tuscany, and so we we we started from Tuscany to to to to go here. The Czech family in particular, the the father, the Andreas, and, Czech's father, Luigi, was in in love with the Monte Fargo. He arrived here and, discovered a villager that, have everything to be appreciated from from him. And he realized that in one, in one in one day, the legend say that he bought the the Azaturra and the the build where we have now the forresteria. To try the restaurant. So Sanantino is, a place that the Sanantino is a wine that you can be in love or not. So in the restaurant that you have, what do you what is a classic dish that you serve the Sagrantino. Martagliati with bambi, multagliati, which is, like, or lamb, lamb, and different, aspects. Sortagliati, just to explain. Matagliati is pasta, of course, is, short, short pieces of pasta. Yeah. Not the one that is cut in half. Is it? No. It's not, like, long as it's a short pasta. Okay. Is it got a very funny shape? Yeah. It looks like it's almost not been rolled. Yes. My value means, not made well. Yeah. Matall yachty means that it's a bad bad cut it. Okay. So and you'd serve that with, with a meat sauce. Yes. Yes. But, without two methods. Why is that important? Why is why important to have no tomatoes when you're having the pasta with, with, Sacramento. You're saying that this pasta isn't the the source. It's just meat but no tomato. Yeah. Not tomato. Only only only only only meat. And you could have, you said, you could have, deer, roebuck. You could have a beef. Course. Yes. Rabbit. Yeah. And then you have that with Sacramento. The the the the good, Abinato. They did match. They did match. The good match is absolutely with Lamblers for me. Really? Lamb? Because today, my last dish that I've made, that I've eat was a beautiful lamb. And so it tasted the beautiful Sacramento from two thousand and five. Okay. And, so you you recommend lamb with Yeah. Okay. Are you a good cook? Oh, no. I prefer to eat. Okay. So I wanna say thank you very much, to my guests today, which is a leonardo Raspini. Leonardo works for the Czechi family from Canti classico in Tuscany. We've been talking about Sacramento, and we've been talking a lot about food and, and deer as well. Thank you, Monty. And thanks very much, Leonardo Espini from the, Czechi Family winery. Thanks for coming in today, talking about Sacramento Follow Italian wine podcast on Facebook and Instagram.