Ep. 141 Monty Waldin interviews Daniele D'Anna Bortolotto (Cantine Umberto Bortolotti Winery) | Discover Italian Regions: Veneto

Italian wine podcast. Chinching with Italian wine people. Hello. This is the Italianie wine podcast in Montewood. My guest today is Daniellie Dana Bartolotti. Daniel is family winery. It's called Portolotti. Whereabouts is your winery? Our winery, it's, it's a family owned business, based in Valdo Vialene Village. Where's that? There's this, one of the two small villages of the, Coneliano, Vialene Proseco region in the Northeast part of Italy. Do you Venetto? No. We are in Venetto in Provice of Treviso. Okay. Six kilometers, Northern than Venice, and, nearly sixty kilometers from the Dalomites Alps. So just in the middle of a two main region, most renowned in, in Northern East, part of Italy. And, I'm the third generation, coming from a winery founded by my grandfather, Alberto in nineteen forty seven. And today, I'm presenting, our wines, together with my uncle Bruno, that is together with my mom, the boss of the company, basically, in the, in a town, in downtown of the village of Aldobbiadene. Now, what's the population of Waldobbiadene? Because you see it on so many bottles, like, millions of bottles of perspective? You're right. What is it like? Is it a big place a cinema football stadium with a tiny little village with just a couple of couple of dogs and a and an old man with his. Oh, maybe the second more. There are many more vines and bottles than people there. And can tell you that more or less ten thousand people just in the Volubiatani village, and we are actually at the moment. We are one of the seventy wineries in the Valuiatanese town. And seventy wineries in one town. Yeah. Just in the town. Yeah. And, all the appellation, the conalliano Meladene, the OCG appellation has more than, one hundred and ninety wineries who make sparkling wines there. And as a grower producer, great grower producer. You mean, you're you're making wine from your own grapes that you and your family have grown? No. We, we actually, we are Nikosiamani Pilan. We, we buy, acting the grapes from, growers of the Valobiadene village and some relatives, in an, closer area. But you can, imagine that Valobiadene has more or less seventy wineries, and, more or less one thousand five hundred growers, small, that's in agriculture there. So Greg growers. Greg growers. And, for seven thousand hectares, just in the Vadubiatan area. So that that's the curiosity about million bottles producing by the viadneux Village. So some people would say, oh, you know, you can't be very good because you don't grow enough grapes. And so what is the, obviously, this is what happens in Champagne, and it works for you. I said, what are the advantages of being able to grow some of your own and to have grapes that you buy from growing? You know, There was something that, my grandfather, umberto, was, telling, when he was there in charge is that, every person has its, responsibility in in doing what is, able to do. So in the chain of production. In the chain of production, so it was one of the first pioneer doing it because at there, there was just a quick growing. Some winemaking made, artisanally. Family consumption. Yeah. Local sale, like local restaurants. Yeah. Sells consumption and, for some, locals, assassinations, just from the surrounding areas. So when was you when was your grandfather? And it was in the nineteen fifties, nineteen fifties? Yes. He he started in nineteen forty seven To just offer more. Together with yeah. After world war two, together with other few pioneers, they collected the great growers, making new way of, of the white region, quality. Main grape was the the prosaico grape, was named, such as prosaico. And now called glare. Now called glare, exactly, to avoid to avoid confusion. To about confusion. Which is which is a rare thing and it's like We are Italian. Yeah. Me too. You must remember that we are Italian. We loved making confused people all around the world. So he collected the gray, the great proers together with other great row, other winemaker, other pioneers of Alderbietr and Colignano area. And so they collected from the ruins of the World War Second, the tradition of Creek Rowing, of, prosecco, of Verdieso, Gallqueta. So these are other, local indigenous grape variety, very close by the the prosecco grape. They collected the tradition in in the unification, and they, evolve hold to to a new to a new level of a sparkling production, thanks to new new technologies. Because, now we are recognized as one of the most important industrial deterrent for the Sharma method sparkling production system. Also, also called the multinotti method. Oh, notinotti or, a method of Italiano, or in our area, we probably call it method of Adobiada names. Right. Because we blend the busy dry breeze wine together with grape juice. That is the only place in Italy that is allowed to do it. And that creates the second fermentation. Yeah. Exactly. It's in a sealed tank under under pressure. Under pressure. And then it can be bottled when the the sparkling wine is ready. You sounded a bit like a queen's song, under pressure. Sorry. We will do a career for the matter. So, actually, the embedded a new sparkling wine in a region that was renowned for light white wines. Does that put the same as sparkling white wines? Does that put extra pressure on you as a family? Seeing is your your family had a key role to play in the creation, if we could say A little bit of inheritance I'm filling. Yeah. Yeah. To protect Yeah. A certain idea of, what prosecco it was before becoming popular and easy tough, cheap stuff, low perceived, all around the, the, with a low, low quality reputation. Yeah. That's the point. So But incredibly popular. It's incredibly popular. I mean, it was very local. It's a still very local. But now it's very popular with a low perception because that we were overtaking by the prosecco. So how do you how do you get people to trade up? I mean, you mentioned these other great varieties as well as the glarea or prosecco grape like Bianqueta and Verdiso. People growers and producers trying to, make the blends a little bit more interesting. You're shaking your head a little bit, not too good. Or is that just a bit of a marketing tool? No. To be different, I mean, we we have to start from the name. That's why we avoid to use the name prosseco the moment after ten years, in the last ten years after the achievement of the, the docG recommendation. So So what do you mean? You mean you're gonna just call the one, and instead of putting it up. Yeah. Because, it's quite, but it's not a big risk. Quite easy, is it can be a big risk, but we are still existing after ten years. You know, we started, together with other colleagues, actually, a bit strictly at the moment because we, we say that we are there is a lot of prosaic all around the world, but, oh, no, the prosecco come from Adobbiadene that is recognized to be one of the most important place for prosecco, higher quality. And lower and lower yields, a little bit lower. The lower yields. So you're talking about some second DOC against Valobbiadene, DOCG. So you made automatically this idea. Because when I say prosaico could come from Balderbier than me, but if Adderbier than me, it's automatically prosaico who comes from the Balderbier than me, especially, is it the terroir, the climate, the hill, the soil, the blend. So the terrar is the is the mix. Now, is a marketing mix of, of, the soils that are so diverse among the different ills. We are a long hill, Hilly land from, west, where is Valobiadene to east, that is a Coliano who gave the name of the the large population. There, you can find a diversity among officially forty three villages, such as this happens in Japan or in other areas in Italy, just to recognize a certain tradition and certain diverse city, there is among the hills of limestone soils, clay soils, rocks and soils. And And, obviously, the microclimate, because the further you get away from the adriatic, the further inland you get, it gets a bit cooler. You know, and we are just at the foothills of the pre ops. Yeah. And we have the dollar mix hubs in the in the behind of us. But isn't that why the blend is is best that the someone like you that is buying or has vineyards in different places just like in Champagne, as you say Yeah. To get the best of everything. Yeah. That's the idea. That's the idea. That's the idea. It's becoming popular among the producer, certain producers, because we have an an instrument. I let me call it. The instrument is the Macholribe is a brand new main shown. RIVE is r I v e. R I v e, like, the c front. Like riviera. Yeah. More or less, is a local dialect name of the steep hills, very steep. From a thirty, forty, sixty percent of steepness. So that's so if I go into a shop and I see the words prosecco and Rive Yep. I know that it's come from a hill slope. Yeah. And is it is the strictest is the most strict yield character. So low yields. Lower the lowest yield character, it has to be sparkling. It has to be recognized on the label and front in the back. There is a always rive, with rive d from the name with the name of the village. Okay. So what's the difference in taste? And I know you said that different villages have different, but in general, what if I just go and buy a basic Valdogbiad in it? I mean, basic, I mean, basic, and then, arive, wine. What am I gonna look for? Why? So hang on. This cost been extra three, four, four, five euros. What am I gonna get for my money? What am I looking for? You know, a blind from different vineyards could give you a certain from a marketing point of view. I will say, I will call it a still mezzone. So a certain style given by the white making. So, and Yeah. Consistently. Consistent from year to year. You will love to have a certain style every year. So it's like the top cuvee of the Miss only Champagne is, the sparkling blues are doing this as our fortyseventy is basic, the idea. And Rive, it's, in our example, just to mention us, we do four single vineyard Rive from small, very small vineyards. And there, you can you have obviously the vintage feeling. So the the bottle is vintage wines, are they? Of course, they must be vintage, and they must be sparkling wines. Usually, you can find a liver at the moment, be some time extra dry. There. So when extra dry actually means a little bit sweeter. Medium dry? Okay. Depending of the. That's another great. I love wine. It just makes life so easy for consumers. Yeah. But when you love it, you will be thinking they will be getting the names. Do these wines have a little bit more color as well that that need their wines? No. No. No. No. They are usually, they can be made with the same system. The Martinotysist. Martinotiana. System. Well, in our case, it's different is the time of release. For example, we are not yet released in twenty seventeen that can be already released. So you keep your mind back before. You can be you can be able to depend on the on the choice of producer. In a vet, obviously, no age barrel or in a vet on the old lease for two, three months. And then you put after a filtration, you put in the, in the, in the autoclave, and then you leave there for two, three months. Upon the stabler stabilization. So you leave the juice as juice. We leave the wine. The base wine obtained in the, from the first foundation. So it's like it would be a very acidic dry white wine. And then not very acidic. Okay. That's the nice natural point of the glarean, the Perez, the Perdiso, is that they are naturally acidic, but not citric. Right. Okay. So they are likely acidic. They're perfect to make easy going sparkling wine So then you In order to give, they can be more mineral. They can be more full body. They can be pleasantly perfumed. So full body would be from clay, for example, mineral would be from sandia soils, Olivia soils. Yeah. That's the nice point of the diversity from the flat land, Clara grape for prosseco DOC from the hilly prosseco superior area. And then the yields are lower in our heels, compared to the flatland prosseco. And then what you have is everything is craft. Okay. So you've got your base wine, but when you went for the diva, you've you've got this hillside base wine, which is quite a bit. And then you ferment it in the closed tank. Is the fermentation for the diva one a little bit slower? Do you slow that down, or do you just let it do what it compared to the normal Inventicolette in verticals per second. Is there any differences in in trying to get a slower fermentation for more integration on the yeast? The, the first fermentation, it's usually a bit slower, and then it keep longer time on the lease. Right. Usually between one until February. Actually, we keep on the lease. So that'd be about three months. No. I mean, from the mid depends, mid of end of September. Right. So five months. Yeah. It can be staying there to a achieve more body or roundness. But you don't stir it though, do you? We use it pop. Okay. So you you put the lees in suspension to give it a bit of extra creaminess. Yep. Does that change the color of the wine? Is it give it a bit deeper color? Well, yeah, what's your first question before? No, really. Okay. You know, there's back point for the color is that it's filtering at the end. Before the buckling, it's a bit filtering. So there is not the darkness. There is no more yellow color. Usually, it's, do you think you'll make a wine with, actually, that is bottled with a bit of yeast leaves that these cloudy wines, natural wines. I know you look a very smart guy within smart, you know, in our area, there is the Colfondo tradition. So Colfauna means bottle with the leaves with a with a with a with a a sediment. You like those? We drink it. My grandfather was used to do it. No. That was the old traditional way, wasn't it? It's still it's still lively there. It's a very popular. As a winery, we have never made it. And, I think we are not going to do it, because we are specialized in sparkling wines, since many decades. We, yeah, we we do some experimenting in winery, in the wine cellar, but, just to see how is the vintage there, but we love to. Okay. What are your main markets? To sell our sparkling wines, it's, fifty percent Italy, I would say. Is that mainly locally? No. Alright. So all of it to Rome, Naples. Yeah. We we we cross the borders. Amazing. But it's amazing. We we're selling Sicily. You can imagine. Yeah. My called Bruno is used to go in Polia, in Calabrio, in, basilica, tank, andania. To all these southern areas. Even in southern. Yeah. Even though we are a medium sized winery. See, you've already dealing with selling wine to the same people. I think you said third generation production and third generation buyers. Is that correct? For certain customer in Italy. Correct? Yes. Many. Employers. Correct. But as we have thousand customers in Italy, because are bars, restaurant, you know, it's an imperative wine. Obviously, then it's a restaurant bar, some hotels, but we have long lasting customers. Alex, in the export market, what are the most important ones? The most important here is a bit changing, but, Europe maybe can be it's fighting with US. Where are we? Is that number one for you USA export? No. No. No. The first one, it's usually Switzerland. It's, the historical one. Since twenty, twenty years more or less. And is that a premium market? It's a premium market. We are, I mean, we are focusing in a premium market all over the world, I will say, even in Italy. And in Switzerland, the UK is, coming, it's growing. Our forty seven is the only value beyond any exercise present at Harat's in London, for example. So just to figure out what is our position in the foreign markets. So even, US, it our third market at the moment and the main states. Main state in the US, as many other colleagues, I will say New Jersey, New York. And then, California is doing pretty well. And then, Midwest is doing well, Illinois, mice. Yeah. We are spread out in more or less fifteen states. Brilliant. Yeah. It's pretty good there. Cool. Okay. I just wanna say thanks to my guest today, Daniellidana Bar. Yeah. Been great to talk to Thank you, ma'am. Very enthusiastic chap. Thank you. And obviously passionate about what you do and, respectful of your family history. Thanks for coming in today. More or less. Well, more. You gotta say more, though. You're gonna say you're fantastic. If you will be drinking a glass, you will be much, much, much better. Okay. Alright. I'll remember that next time. Thanks very much for coming in. Thank you, Mati. There. Follow Italian wine podcast on Facebook and Instagram.