Ep. 14 Monty Waldin interviews Renzo Rosso of Diesel Farm | Discover Italian Regions: Veneto

Italian wine podcast. Chinching with Italian wine people. I'm with Renzo Russo, who's a jeans genius and also a wine producer in Northern Italy welcome Renzo. Thank you. Tell me a little bit about, when you were a small boy growing up on your family farm, where was it, and what was life like? I was born in Padua. I was in a little village just the two thousand people lives there and I was born in a farmer. So my parents educate me with the, you know, at that time, it was nothing there in the I helping them to doing everything in the farm, working, the land, the wines, all the agriculture production. So this was my job. But I am still very proud of my education because my father gave me the value of the life, out to be loyal with the people, and how to respect the people, some kind of education today. It's quite difficult to find on the young, new generation. Did you have animals on your farm? What were you growing? Yeah. We have animals So all kind of animals, sir. So you were milking cows when you were small and things like that? Yes. Yes. It was a very good experience to do that. So were you a physically strong boy when you were when you were small? A strong boy. I don't know if it was a strong boy. Yeah. It was a boy that, it be my father to run-in, you know, daily after school, to do something for the survival. And were you good in school? I was good in the beginning of the school. I was not So nice, the secondary secondary school. I know it was that because, was the secondary school just boys or was it boys and girls? Boys and girls, but that was a, you know, I really don't like so much to study after I went to the fashion industry and that's, was much more easy for me. Because it was a school without teachers, school where you can do what you like. And at the end, I succeed. That's great. Did you have a sense when you were small that you you had like a kind of intuition rather than you say you didn't didn't realize studying and maybe formality? You maybe had do you have like an intuition connection with nature? When I was young, I have intuition that I can do something. So I don't care about who I can become. I just want to be a little bit more than a simple person, somebody that can run-in, running a team. Because even when I was very young, when I play soccer with my people, we we play soccer on the garden. We play soccer everywhere in front of the church. And I was the one that I have at the ball. I was the one that they say a divided theme. So, some kind of leadership. Yeah. So you were very well organized and good at motivation. I am Virgo, so Virgo are very well recognized and precise. So obviously the job that you do in terms of fashion and and making wine, they're they're team sports. How how do they differ when you can't control nature when you make wine? But you can control the fabric you use for some of your famous jeans. But, yeah, it's very different. Have are in a farm when you are on the fashion industry, the fashion industry, I think it's a very clean industry because we don't have a dirty things, but at the same time, it's quite impossible to produce real organic bottles because I try even with the box in Uganda to do that. And, let's say that you can, but it's not at the end, so one hundred percent organic. It's much, much more easy when you're producing food. Because of producing food, if you're working well and you are tough. You are serious. Are you controlling the agriculture that were from the beginning, to the end. You are sure that you have the right product and is organic. Now that I have into Natoula C that is a beyond organic company in Italy, quite, quite important company. I am inside in this company. And I see when a people, they give me an incredible education about that. And that you can see when the people are eating organic and when the people doesn't, the difference, especially on the children's, the doctors send the children, sir, they have problems on the skin after two weeks, sir, that they're eating organic. The, everything disappears. The food at the end is true. You are what you eat. But when you were small, what were you, and what did you eat on your farm? Were you were you growing? Everything was not organic and mentality. It was just, survival. It just survived. Yeah. Because, it was, okay, it was not a poor, but it was, we live or we would do with what do we have. Did you have machinery while you're working with animals and to to say plow the soil? Yeah. We have the tractor. I can I I remember that I I started to drive the tractor at five years? And, you know, all my friends was like, they don't believe it. I said, come on guys come to see me, you know, it was a it was nice grow at the end. It was nice though. Do you sometimes feel very sort of detached from that a simple life because you, you know, you are globally famous. You're a global brand. You're always traveling around. Does it sometimes you do think I wish I could go back to those days? That simplicity, or would that be too boring for you? I am back on my simplicity because I travel all over the world every week. And at the end, for me, it's very nice to be home. They live in a very simple way. I think, to eat the well, it's a luxury today. To have a nice wine, it's a luxury. To have all the facility at home is a luxury sir. But I am very simple. I like to stay home inviting my friends, my, my, I am there with my family, my children. And, I don't like the, to go out in the night, to do crazy things. Simplicity, I think, and, they got bottle of wine and good food and, and, say a lot of bullshit and cry just because you're happy with your friends. That's fantastic. Kind of ironically. I mean, your genes must be born in every single night club around the world. On every single night of the week and you quite like going going home and just having a quiet pizza with your family. So what are your plans with your farm? Explain a little bit about your farm and and how it came into your into your hands. I bought the farmer just because it was a beautiful property that was on the market. And, I keep it to the farm, very, very wide, like, was at that moment, and now it's like, natural oil park where people's going to work, where people can go to take the fruits, people's going to enjoy during the weekend. So where is the farm exactly? And what's what's the name of the village? The village is in Marustica, and the farmer is a three hundred meter on the sea level. But, it's fantastic because, is it new and where? Where's it? What's the nearest city there? It's not a city, but it's a it looks like a city is Vasal de grappa, fifty five thousand people lives there. The city is Vicenza. Okay. Your nearest city is Vincenza, right? And which sort of Appalachian wine region are you in? Is your vineyard and farming? They do them a lot, chardonnay, this very classical wine. But you can see, for example, we have a famous wine producer there, like Maculan, for example. So you in Braganza? Yeah. It's very close, very close. And the same quality wine, from where we are and where our Maculan, the wine is very different. Is because we are three hundred meters on the chile when it makes a totally different product. And you have a very volcanic soil, don't you? Why is that important? Yeah. We have that. Yes. I don't know because, that's the nature That's the nature. So it's, just a stone. It's not land. And, you cannot do any agricultural production or you just have a tree and a tree. So we have wine and the olive oil, and, we have a, okay, vegetables for us. You've worked with lots of famous photographers. You've been famous not just for your jeans, but for your advertising campaigns. Yes. And, wine marketing is often incredibly boring and unimaginative. How would you what suggestions would you to people marketing wine? How can you reach, the, particularly the younger generation of consumers? I think you can follow, maybe, some, some nice trend when you're doing, ironic advertising advertising with the impetty advertising that the mix, in relation with the consumer, I think that's, is something that is a totally missing in, in, on the wine, business. People sometime, in this category or product are too serious. You need to be a little bit more funny, a little bit more enjoyed life. And I think if you're doing this kind of a task, you can gain even more, more success. More loyalty from people. Yes. Because that even the new generation, they're looking for something like this. Otherwise, the the the wine, the wine area is too serious, you know, and too conservative and maybe too old. You need to becoming a little bit more younger When you were small, did you did you imagine you would end up where you are now as a globally recognized fashion icon? No, really. Can never think of stuff like this. I just want to be a little bit more than somewhere, but I can never imagine to arrive where I am. And when I started my business, I'm thinking, wow, I can either the day that I can do fifty million euro sales. I mean, if you reached that, No. No. We reached that many years ago. Now we're doing one point six billion. So it is great. So what's your next challenge? You've a successful fashion icon, vineyard wine producer. What's next? Any other? No. Me, I my dreamer, today we are here for wine, and my dream is really to becoming a nice boutique, wine, wine labels. So not something, so commercial, not something for everybody, but I want to work for the First, I want to be really sure that we have an incredible quality like my jeans. When I do, I saw my jeans there, I can compare, you can buy ten pair of different jeans. I can put them different brand. You can put on the table and I can show you why diesel jeans is so different from the others. So my dream is one day to buy ten bottles of a beautiful quality wine, maybe without to know the name and people say, wow, this wine is fantastic too. One of the things you mentioned was the importance of diet and healthy food for children. You obviously now have a farm. You have animals on your farm and you've got a vineyard. Do you think there is a future for returning to that kind of Italian ideal of a mixed farm where people are getting physically active on the on the farming and and having fresh air? From the moment that the ancient accuracy, I start to deal our with our Italian government for, to do a special loan to bring the property just for land and not for building houses. So the land cannot increase the price every day. And in this way, we can bring the young people to work in a farm, to work in the land. For example, organic production are great because, you can survive. You can gain money. It's not like, today, if you're doing normal agricultural production, you're losing money. You know, with the organic, you have possibility to gain money. And is it a good phenomenon right now in California, especially in San Francisco, of the young people that start to be a farmer and the and producing organic food. I tried to do the same, and in Italy with the notoriously. So when you were going back again to when you were small, what did what did you wear? What did your parents dress you in? Did that influence a daughter. They give you I mean, my parents gave me horrible clothes to wear. Was it the same for you? Was that what influenced? Until until twelve years, I just wear the trouser on my old brother because they passed to me. Yeah. Hand me down at twelve, finally, I went to the market and my mom bought me the first pair of jeans. And I I, at the end, I I wear a revise until, until nineteen, nineteen eighty when I I I started to see the diesel jeans. After diesel jeans, I never never be back to other brands because, I find that, I love so much. So what, what, you know, why do people get so obsessed about their jeans? Because people do, don't they? Like we do about wine, what is what is it that makes the jeans such an iconic piece of clay. Yeah. I studied. I studied why the reason is that genes means how to be rebroad gene. It's out to be different. Genes is, is, to be comfort genes is the weekend Gins is the green garden, gins is the blue sky, gins is the, you know, how to to feel free. And for this reason, even, I say it's actually the same thing. So on the nineteen seventy eight, when I started with my company, and I say, genes must be a piece of, something that they can be in every single wardrobe. You know, I I remember people at that time doesn't wear so much in denim. And you can see today, denim is everywhere. So what do you think the future of fashion is in terms of design or or sourcing? It's a change a lot, especially now with the digital, especially now with the social network. It's very big change. What is very difficult now to do product that the consumer dream? Because today, the consumer, they have everything. So, and also they have a lot of information. They don't are any more loyal with the brands. They go to see what they exist in the market. And after they decide what to buy, so our, way that we're working today, especially with the communication, to create on the consumer, a desire, a dream for to buy our product. This is the most difficult things I think for every brand. Very nice to talk to you, Rentha. It's amazing to to meet you. I'd love to come and see your farm at some place. Check out all your biodiversity. I went to you there. I went to you there because it's a really beautiful place. Thanks very much. I look forward to seeing you. Thank you. Thanks to you. Follow us at Italian wine podcast. On Facebook.