Ep. 10 Monty Waldin interviews Meri Tessari of the Suavia Winery in Soave | Discover Italian Regions: Veneto

Italian wine podcast. Chinching with Italian wine people. Hello. My name is Monty Walden. I'm with Mary Tessari from the Swavia winery in Swave, which is a little bit complicated, but all will be revealed welcome, Mary. Thanks for coming in. Thank you. Congratulations. So I guess the first thing is you have a winery called Swavea, and you're in Swave in the north of Italy in the Venator region northeast of Italy. Just explain how your winery Swavea got the name. Soavia sounds similar to soave a name because it is a a large name of soave a town. And for this reason, my parents, when they started, with soave winery, they adopted these, particular, very nice name, for, the winery. Okay. So and you say the Swavea, winery, how old is it? I mean, when how old is the piece of ground it's on? So swabia s one. Really? Yeah. I mean, the actual the place where you are. It's very ancient. Yeah? It's very ancient. Yes. Because, a, is from, a thousand three hundred years. Okay. So it was, in in the year, one thousand three hundred? Yes. Okay. So that was really the base of that was So the region, Swave got its name from, the place where you are, where your winery is? Yes. From, from Swaveton, whoever is very beautiful castle because in the past, Swave was a Swavea. So, I mean, what is so important about the place? Why is Swavius so significantly cited? What's so special about the place? But because we are in the best area of a Soviet classical, we are in the heart of a Soviet classical, and we are surrounded by the best vineyards of traditional grapes, which are Gergan again Trebiano Vistava. And for this reason, we decided my parents decided, and now we still continue on on this way to be specialized, more and more in of these two traditional grapes, so which are Gerganaga and Trebiano Dsoave. Now, we would like, to know more and more about Trebiano Dsoave because, nowadays, is almost disappeared. And this is our aim to know better and better, better. Why is Treviano D' Swavig almost disappeared from the Swave region? For a business situation because during the seventies year, people needed to produce a lot because the request of Swave was very huge. And then, people needed a lot of grapes. And the Garganaga is, more generous than Treba and D'SUave. And for visa, a particular reason, and now is almost disappeared. So so people got rid of it because it didn't yield very much. They could just make more money, make more bottles by going gargalinga. So when you say, talked about the sight of your vineyard, you you're in the highest part of Swaver. Yeah. Correct. So that was, I guess, in the middle ages, that was strategically important for, you know, for to stop invaders or people coming into the region and pillaging the region. Is that right? Yes. It's very important as I saw it is very is a beautiful place. And then people come to see to visit this place and to know the particular business that his wine is the vineyards that, so I've ever had. Okay. So, just let's go back to your, you start your family started making wine in which year. As I, my parents started in nineteen eighty two with but this is the fourth generation that we have a property. And so your your generation four with your sisters. Right? So then your parents were generation three. So who would generation number one and two? And what did they why didn't they make any wine themselves? I think that, the production was very low. And for this reason, there is not, the need to, to sell other grapes or to, to, to, we remember that, the grandfather start with grapes to the cooperative, but in small, in a small quantity. And then he unified, on, himself. So, basically, he sent most of his grapes to the cooperative, and he made a little bit for family family consumption. So what changed in nineteen eighty two when you started making your wine? Why why was that the moment when you started saying, hang on, rather than sending our grapes to the cooperative. We're gonna do it ourselves. We're gonna bottle the wine ourselves and we're gonna launch our Swavia brand of Swave. Yes. Because, in my parents my my father say, I don't accept that, my, the grape, my own grape, then we, will be mixed, mixed with the other one. And then, for this reason, he decided that we have with my mom, to winify on Vamsalfa and Burna Swavia. Because he he is, he is very proud about, the production, his production. Okay. So he's like one of the traditional, he's one of the kind of heroes of, of small production, Swave? Yes. Correct. Yeah. Okay. So tell me a little, what about tell me a little bit about the sisters that you work within your in your winery? Because, there was more than one of you that works in the winery. Yeah. As we, as a CC we started in, two thousand one, working with, with Schwab. Yeah. And now Valentina is, is a winemaker, and then where is Alessandra and I, follow-up before market, Italian, and foreign market. Okay. He's family winery. Okay. I mean, it's quite unusual having three sisters working together, isn't it? It's quite. I mean, it's good. We are we are friends. No. No. No. I'm I'm sure you are. But I mean, I mean, in terms of, going out into the market, you know, having sort of female dominated wineries. Is it, I mean, Italy can be quite masculine, a little bit sort of old fashioned male dominated. How do you deal with that? I think of it, is is still, masculine, a word. Shubbiness. Even, yeah, even, even there are many women who work in a serious way in a professional way, but we have a lot to do. We we have to work more than, than the man. You have to work harder. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. How big is your vineyard? How how many how many hectares of vines you have? As well, we have, twenty five hectares. Right. That sounds about sixty acres. And, tell me about, are you wanting to swab his fame for this sort of volcanic soil? Yes. This is our, richness, volcanic soil, very basaltic stones, and we would like to transmit to our production, with a particular identity of a visaco area. We have So, I mean, what is that? What how would you pick that up in the wine when you're tasting it? The wine, does it make the wine very soft? Does it make it very sort of saline? What what's the what are the characteristics? Good freshness. You can taste a long and a big freshness. Aviso is your entity in our wine ring, our production. But also is it hard the fact that you're small and very traditional and you've maintained the traditional choice of grapes. There's no chardonnay. You don't have any serving your own blog. You're just with the traditional suave grapes. Do you think, wouldn't it just be easier to say, you know what, people love the taste of serving your blog? I mean, let's just buy some serving your blog and stick that in our wine. Why don't you do that? We say, you can't find just in the soave classical and there is no sense for us to produce the international whips that you can cultivate and you can find everywhere. This is our aim. Our aim is to transmit the knowledge and the the identity of a specific and unique territory. Which is a soviet classical. So when you pick the grapes, what's the difference with Garganaga and, the trebbianna dishwasher, what color do they go when they're ripe near picking autumn? Treviano, the ripeness is earlier about two weeks earlier than Garganaga. The color is, is similar. Even, is, is a pink, more than, Garganaga. The color are beautiful for Gerganaga and, Trebien guisava. It's a magic moment is a magical season of the harvest in so the classical. Yeah. So I love the color of those grapes. Also, as you say, much more exciting than having chardonnay or sauvignon blanc. So what do you drink? What what what what, you know, you talked about your volcanic soil and that kind of slightly sort of the the texture you get in the wine. What what what is a good match food wise for Swave? What do you drink it with at home? The match of I think is either the fee fee seafood. There's a fish in general. Fish is very, but it's very nice as a operative, if I think of sort of a classic I think it's perfect for a priority for the first second course is on white meat, for example, and then you can uh-uh have a different type of food and we have a South classical. What are the traditional dishes of Swava? Is it? You're called polintoni aren't you up in the north? Pol. Yeah. Okay. We have a a really big tradition with a result of, for example, and then, now there's a a a tradition with aspera juice, for example, then the result with aspera juice or, resulting in the peas. And then, we have really different traditional, this year. We we are really lucky because we are really in one of the best, area in Italy. Because you got the fish from the, lakes, fish from the Adriatic. Yeah. No, ma'am. We have a big garden lake and you can find, particular fish, specifically in in the Garden Lake, and then there is a a good advantage to cuisine. So if if if somebody came to you tomorrow and to listen, I'm sorry. You can't make wine anymore. You gotta leave your your family wine. You said, what would you do? Would your career choice be? I don't know. Go on. You have a try going. No. No. No idea. Even even I have, I have, what is, a degree in, Italian literature. But, I, I didn't, work in a in a school. And my, my life is is mine. Okay. I've got a degree in English literature, and that that doesn't get you a job either. So just to let you know, and history, which even worse. Nobody nobody will ever give you a job if you got a degree in history. Okay. Listen, it's been fantastic talking to you. If I can meet your sisters one day in the Swavea, winery in Swave. Yeah. We wait for you. Okay. That's very kind. And thanks for talking to me. Thank you. Thank you. Follow us at Italian wine podcast on Facebook.