Ep. 1235 Chiara Lungarotti | Get US Market Ready With Italian Wine People

Coming soon to a city near you, Vineita Lee Road Show. Have you ever wondered how to attend Vineita Lee for free? Are you a wine trade professional interested in a sponsored trip to Vienie to the International Academy, or Vien Italy, the wine and spirits exhibition. Coming soon to Princeton, New Jersey, Harlem, New York, and Chinatown in New York City, Cardiff in Wales, London, in England, and Roost in Austria. We'll be giving away our new textbook Italian Wine Unplug two point zero. Find out more about these exciting events, and for details on how to attend, go to liveshop. Vineitally dot com. Limited spots available. Sign up now. We'll see you soon. Thanks for tuning in to Get US Market Ready with Italian wine people. On the Italian wine podcast. I'm Steve Ray, your host, and this podcast features interviews with the people actually making a difference in the Italian wine market in America. Their experiences, challenges, and personal stories. And I'll be adding a practical focus to the conversation based on my thirty years in the business. So if you're interested in not just learning how, but also how else, then this pod is for you. Hello. Welcome to this week's edition of get US market ready with Italian wine people. I'm your host, Steve Ray. And my guest this week is Kiara Mogarati, who's the doyenne these days of, Mogarati Marnory. Tiara, welcome to the show. Hello, Steve. Yeah. One of the things that I've always enjoyed about Lungarati, and I've known the brand now for over thirty five years, is that you're located in Torsheim in Humbry. Can you tell us a story about Torsano and, the role of Janice Well, Turgiano is a tiny little village in the really hurt of the green hurt of Italy. That's umbria. We are between Peru and the Sisi and the name Turgiano, comes from, tower that during, Roman time was dedicated to the Roman god Janus, the god with the two phases. And, so because of this, this tradition was also the reason why my, my, my, my parents decided to use the name, so the tower dedicated to Janice, as name of one of our wine. That's a a white fresh tree's white wine called Dorodie journal. And one of my favorites, and I just love the story in my twenties. Thank you. One of the other things that defines Linda Roddy and we'll get into that a little bit more detail, but let's start at the top with, you have a museum. Can you tell us about the museum? How that developed and who comes there? And if somebody listening to this monitor to come in, how they would go? In the sixties, my parents were traveling all around Europe to see how things were developing about wine in other countries and in other wine areas. My father realized that in every single wine area, important wine area, there was either a museum or a research study center about wine. So once back home, he decided that even Thorgiano and even Umbria had to have its own wine museum. My mother is an art historian. And so for her, at that time, museum were just major arts, museum, painting, sculpture. We are talking about the sixties. And, but my father insisted that even here, we needed a wine museum. So my mother started to create a wonderful project that, and in our museum, we rebuilt the history of wine and, of its links with all the civilization that rose on the Mediterranean shores since the very beginning till nowadays. And these are going through archaeological collection. Going through ceramic collection from middle age to nowadays, engravings from Montana in the fifteenth century to Picasso in the twentieth century. So five centuries of, engravings all about wine and wine themed. And then there is the unscentediting collection. And of course, also an ethnographic collection about, how important has been the way of cultivation, the vineyard, and then the winemaking in our area since the last in the last two thousand years. So in this museum, we truly find the importance of wine and, for our tradition, for our history, for our for our everyday culture. And, New York Times considered the Museum, the wine Museum, the best of Italy, and one of the most important worldwide. Wow. Okay. It's on my bucket list. I have not visited it, but, you know, by far greater than New York Times, so, come come. The other part of the museum is you've also expanded it to include olive water. The great the great wish of my father before he passed away nineteen ninety nine, was to give to the other great column of umbria agriculture that's extra virgin olive oil, the same promotional tool that, he had given that our family gave to wine almost twenty five years before. One museum was opened to the public in nineteen seventy four. And, olive oil, instead, it was opened in two thousand. My mother really wanted to and all the family really wanted to accomplish to this great desire. And so was, in a old meal in within the the worlds, the city walls of Torgiano, the town walls of Torgiano, was opened this other museum where there is everything about the history of olive oil, extra virgin olive oil, it's different uses through the centuries from the the not just as nourishment, but also a source of light. It's, what is the importance. It's, a pharmaceutical importance as well, or, and also in the cosmetic. So there are these two great products of our land of our territory, wine on one side and extra virgin olive oil on the other side that are really announced in this two little museum that are two little jewels that tourists love to come to visit. And there's a third for, right on that stool, and that is the no tourism. You've converted the house and the vineyard for people to stay. We are actually have, worked a lot on wine tourists. We have, we have been a really pioneer in this. Our family has been pioneer in this sector in Italy. Was in nineteen seventy eight when, my parents opened a little in in the center of the village of Georgiano, that soon became a five star boutique hotel. Where it could be possible to host people coming to visit the museum or the winery, because in Georgia, there was not even a where people could stop and grab a bite to match with our wines. Then, we opened in nineteen ninety four. We opened the first Agridurismo, old farmhouse in the middle of the vineyards, where people could find a much more related to the nature lifestyle, surrounded by the vineyards of Rubisco with a very, easygoing, everyday life. Compared to the five star boutique hotel. Today, we decided not to run directly, the the hotel, but we continue to run directly. They agree toismo that much more related to two hour lifestyle to a winemaker's lifestyle because country and vineyard, especially, it's the most important part of our work, of our everyday work. So let's let's jump right to that. It's an idea of sustainability, the heritage, legacy, all of these things. There's three generations in the Longrati family so far. And, you guys have really, if not pioneered, certainly adopted and and led the transition to sustainable production in Italy. Can you talk more about that, the role that that plays and how that's impacted the way you run the one way and the way as you are. Steve, I strongly believe that, we borrowed the land from our from the previous generation to pass over to the following generation. That was my father taught. Actually, our family is deeply rooted in this part of Umbria since a couple of centuries, till the end of the eighteenth centuries. But was, and wine was just one of the several production of the estate. Was my father that after World War II decided to focus on winemaking. And, the respect on the environment is part of our DNA because, from the environment, depends on our future life. And we see, especially in these last years, how difficult the summer's weather has been and how much we have to deal and how much we have to work in order to have a great product, great, great to give good wines. Anyway, what we do, it's something that's not just best started a couple of years ago. But, for instance, we have, five meter station among our winners here in Turjano and one in Montefago. And the ones here in Turjano were settled down already in nineteen ninety six. These in those years helped us to reduce drastically the number of the treatments in the vineyard. We do not use her beside, but we you work below the line to plug out and plug in later, the soil to take away all the weeds. In this way, we obtain two objectives. First of all, to take away the weeds and then work in the land We allow the roots of the vines not to rest on the surface, but to go deeper in the soil to find the nourishment and especially the water they need in tough years, like twenty twenty two has been. In the middle of the of the lines, we usually pass soon after they harvest the manure. That's the organic fertilization that we use together with cover crop. Because we do not use chemical fertilizer in our dinners. And then, of course, beside that, great respect, of our landscape, in terms of maintaining all the little woods, that for us are so important, not just because of the woods by themselves, but because, they help us to gain the biodiversity. We can say that, all the different. We try never when we prepare a new vineyard. We does we never pass with the with the plug, and we don't turn over the land, but we go just with a reaper in the in the in the depths to to move. In this way, we keep the the fertile soil on the in the surface and the unfertile soil in the depth of the soil. This is very important as well to maintain the proper fertility of the soil, protecting it. So there are many, many different things we do. We, of course, also the the the the kind of management is very important in order to reduce as much as we can, the impacts of the the the the changing of the climate. For instance, sir, we tried to to pass with Kalin Ozale on the clusters to avoid they can be get burnt by the sunshine, by the summer sunshine. One of the critical issues that everyone is facing these days and particularly so, in Italy obviously is is a challenge of global warming. And one of the ways it impacts grades is the intensity or the sunlight, on the bunches. And so one of the tools that many lawmakers are using, you know, included is Kathy Management. Can you talk more about that to help preserve the freshness of city and balance, of of the grades? Absolutely. Because, first of all, we do not do the least on the sunny side, but we try to keep the cluster cover, but at the same time having the air passing through the canopy. Thanks to the way how we pull it up and in the way how we keep it up for all the the for all the season. And then in summertime, we pass on the clusters with Zelle lead or Kallen. In the in so that we manage to co we cover with this kind with with this powder that's soil. Your problem is just clay. Right? Yeah. It's a rocket turned into powder. And, we cover the clusters. With a white, it's it is white. And so it reflects the sunshine. It's exactly. It's a sort of. I have to use a lot. It's, as a clear skin, in a for myself, but, we have now to use a different kind of that that's valid and cowling on the clusters. In this way, the clusters don't get burned. And you maintain all the fruity and the freshness, the acidity that are requested in long aging red wines. Okay. You'll also talk about, part of this being carbon sequestration and vine height. You're talking about that? Cabin's sequestration, it's a another great, topic for us. And the four d cover cover crop is something that really helps a lot. Because we try when we we we plant the cover crop, then, we fix it, for instance, all the leguminous legumes help to fix the nitrogen in the soil, but they also fix In the in the plant, it's also fixed carbon. When, it's, the the the season is changing and the heat is coming. It's almost when the, when the cover crops arrive to the the the length of the first wire. And at that time, we cut it and we buried. In this way, we managed to fix the carbon of the of the cover prop again in the soil. During wintertime, every two lines, one is so wet, with the different seeds, and the other is with the cover crop. Manure and cover crop. So it's another way how to fix the carbon. We try to be extremely attentive in this because, I think that's something extremely important Before we were talking about sustainability, I I spoke about sustainability in the vineyard, but also sustainability at the winery is so important. We have, almost thirteen hundred, thirteen hundred, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, seventy, something like square meters of solar panels to provide the energy we need. At the winery. We cover just forty percent more or less of our everyday energy need, but we are going to implement in two thousand and twenty three and two thousand and twenty four. We are going to implement the surface of the of the panels. Thanks to another building, we have not far away from the from the winery. And then also the use of of a light glass is very important. In twenty twenty one, we turned from, the traditional six hundred and fifty grams bottles for Rubiscan touradigiano, and not just for this wine, but also for the loom white and red, we turned to four hundred and twenty grams. So we have all light bottles, and this really helped us to reduce our carbon footprint in a very important way. Besides that, the glass, it's a big part of the glass is recycled, almost seventy percent. And it comes from, a glass factory that's in, based inumbria. So it's almost at zero kilometers, not zero, but just a few kilometers. Italian wine podcast, part of the Mama jumbo shrimp family. The Lungarati commitment, in a sustainability, it's also, demonstrated and also witnessed by the certification we got. We got the Viva certification for Torgiana state, while in our Monte Fargo state, just twenty hectares in the other docG, Abumbria. We have been growing the estate organically since two thousand and ten, and we are certified organic, of course. But, while everybody knows about organic certification, Viva, it's something typical of Italy. It's a certification wanted by the ministry of the environment, Italian ministry of the environment, and certifies the states according four different parameters. The air, so the carbon footprint, the water, that's the water footprint. The soil, that means the soil biodiversity and the soil preservation. And then the what they call environment that to say all the social impact that the state that the the the the that our family state has on our territory. So it the people that work with us, that they all are regularly employed, all the laws are respected, and then, what we do for our community. That's, of course, not just the Y Museum and the Alibaba Museum that brings a lot of visitors every year to Tatiana, and that's something very important from the total economy of the this legal village. But also, for instance, many other things that we have been doing in these last years for the community, like building the the the the seat of the Caribbean that otherwise would have left Torgiano. And, this is very important for the local community because in Italy, there is always, to two important, pillars of the, of the, of each single village are the church with a priest and, Caserma de Carabinery with the local Marishalo. So it's something important we did for our community. Okay. One of the changes that you've made is, you've changed the structure of importation into the US. Can you tell us how that happened, why that happened, and how you are structured now? Well, since the beginning of, like, of this year, so since, beginning twenty twenty two, we decided to go directly to US market. And, that's, because, in this way, we can work on the brand value. We can decide strategies directly with the distributors for the brand future developments. And, of course, we can also short the wines time to the market. Even thanks to our to the deposit we have in New Jersey, to the the warehouse we have in New Jersey, so that we are able to avoid to go out of stock on the market. And in these last years, this we saw, especially after twenty twenty, we saw that this was a big problem due to the to the lack of the containers. That all the work went through. That's our the reason why we decided to to do that. And, I have to say that, we start and we are looking forward to see. So when when was the change actually made from a a traditional agent? The decision was taken, at the beginning of twenty twenty two, and the organization started after the Italy. And the first order was shipped in summertime. Oh, okay. So this is all very new. It's very very new. Yes. Your nephew is managing it as the US one? Yes. My nephew Francesco is our export manager and is the one who travels a lot all over the US, but, of course, this kind of organization really requires a constant presence on the market. And, of course, we also have a person based in US who takes care about that. So one of the the big questions. I I I see this as an issue that a lot of, you know, suppliers have, which is to say, I don't feel I'm getting enough attention to my brand. I think I'd be better off if I manage it myself, but the flip side of that is the reasonable member of an agency, brand structure in the first place. In your case, it was, like, wasn't a decision. It was the way things were done for many, many years. Was, because they had the relationships the distribution with the distributors and the distribution, which is great. Now you have a track record of distribution in US strength in certain markets. You're now responsible for your own future. Which means your own future is dependent on the things that you do that a traditional agency grant employer long term. How are you gonna handle things like PR, distributor relationships? So sales meetings, work with, insco tastings, discounting, all those kinds of things that are We are planning them with all we are all these things planning with the with our distributors in different states. And, there is, Franchesco and this person that works with us, in a in US market that are taking care about this all these things and all these aspects. And, of course, concerning PR, it's something that we will start to do directly as we used to do many years ago. Okay. Change gears a little bit too. You talked about Montifalco, being the other DOC area in Columbia. Monteifalco or Sacramento, the Monteifalco is what I would call a challenging grade. And so we said his history of being extremely panicked, and that could be off putting to a lot of people. Talk about why you, purchased or set up the, seventeen o state and what your philosophy is with those ones. Lungarati has always been synonymous at Wumbria, and, Montefico is an important part of Wumbria. That's the reason why in, nineteen ninety nine, with with our family decided to invest in the other docG area of the region. Even because, the doc arrived in Montefeico in nineteen seventy nine, also thanks to Georgio Lumberotti. Who was driving around theumbria, the president and the vice president of DOC Committee to show them how what a great wine country all the region is. So we decided for this reason to go to Monte Farco, and we bought this, just ten hectares in the beginning, and then soon after we doubled the surface. And today, it's almost twenty hectares surface with a winery just in the, in the middle. And it's a winery that's completely gravity underground. And all the ground floor is that is dedicated to hospitality activities. Montefico, today, it's a it's a it's a well known. It's very well known area, especially Sanrentino. Is a a well known, varietal in US. And this, I have to say, I guess, that's the, that's a extremely well done communication job, operated by the consortium. Demontifalco on Segrantino. Segrantino, it's like a a wild horse. You have to save this horse before riding. And how can you tame? You tame, first of all, in the vineyard, working on the proper yields per plant. And the second point, you tame in the winery, paying a great attention to the temperature of the fermentation and especially of especially of moderation, paying a great attention to the length of the maturation. Paying a great attention to the kind of wood you use to age the wine and, of course, to a long time in Buffalo before releasing it on the market. So Thanks to all these little, things we we pay attention to, we managed to have an extremely enjoyable to drink, Argentina. And, that's rather it was rather unusual for this such full bodied and so rich in polyphenols, varietal. I am very glad that the style of Sabrentino today has changed compared to what it was twenty or even ten years ago. And, it has come towards a style more elegant with a longer life. In phase. And I'm very confident that this will be more and more, the the trend of, that great area as well of the whole region of Bumbria. A region that's, it's really, a new frontier of, Italian winemaking. Not so well known. In its complexity from many markets around the world. But it does have that that long term history of doing it. It's it's not like, bulgari or it was Martian, I think, before they started buying a grape in there recently for the, quote, unquote, super tuscans. But that's something that you guys have done too. You had done some blending in left pure standardized expressions. And that was pretty innovative at the time. Like, you imagine it brought a lot of different folks? Well, actually the very first blend of Sanjay with an international varietal that's Cabernie, civilian, was, created by my father in nineteen seventy seven. You have to know that, international varietals had disappeared from umbria after the phylloxera. And, the and so my father decided to reintroduce first cabernet in the sixties. And then in very early, seventies, he reintroduce Merlo, Chardonnay, pino grape, pinot gris, pinot gris, pinot gris, pinot gris, pinot gris, to see which result could give in our area. It's so that most of them were giving very interesting result. While some others, like Givio Stromina, was not. So they give you Stromina, and the others that were not giving good results were cut and regrafted soon. While all the others, we continued to to to to cultivate even today, even if in, in a smaller part of the estate compared to the indigenous varietals. But, Cabron, was found a great climate and a great terrace here in Georgiano. And, so, my father decided to, create a San Georgio that was a blend of San Jose and, and Cabernet. The name was after the name of the vineyards of Cabernet Sevignon. That at that time was called San Georgia. Today, San Georgia is fifty percent Cabernet and fifty percent, San Jose, coming from Vigna Montecchio. That's the vineyard from which come our most iconic wine, the Rubescore, Vigna Montecchio. That's our flagship. So speaking of Rubesto, that was also, I think, an innovative thing at the time, still is, I guess, your, probably best distributed product or SKU. And it's a blend of centuries and Corino. Right? Yes, it is. The very first vintage of Rubescore released on Market was nineteen sixty two. This year, we are celebrating the sixties anniversary of this wine. And, it was, already since then, it was a blend. You have to imagine that in those years, in Italy, the wine were called either with the name of the territory. Cianti Barolo, or with the name of the varietals, that to say, San Jose is, ayanico, or or Barbara. And whatever. But that was a blend and was coming from a territory that nobody knew. And therefore, my father decided to create a fantasy name, to give it a fantasy name. And my mother invented the name Rubisco that comes from the Latin word Rubish today. It means blush. And what's nicer to blush for a nice glass of wine? Oh, wow. I think I learned that story. That's great. You are flesh line before flesh line was cool. And, and today, Rubisco, the young, what we call young Rubisco is a blend of ninety percent centralism, ten percent Colorado. Why it's a reserve version comes from a single vineyard called Vigna Montecchio, and it's a hundred percent Sanjay. Cool. Perfect. And it's considered one when every year in Italy, there there are some important guys that are whose scores are crossed. And from the result of the scoring, of these six different guys, very important in, of, in Italy. There is a they make a ranking. And the Rubisco della Montecchio is always, among the first ten red wines of Italy. Sometimes this number four, sometimes it's number three, sometimes it's number one, sometimes it's number two, depending on the vintage. Cool. That's one of my go to lines. And, if you haven't had it, definitely one you should try. We're coming to the end of, title up, that we have here. One of the ways I like to end my conversations is with a question about what's the big takeaway? We talked about a number of things and how it's impacted Mularati and the evolution from when your, father had started the thing that you're in the third generation now. What is the big takeaway from people listening to this that that they can put to use immediately upon so many things? Somebody who's gonna take away one idea what's the most practical one that we talked about. In this, especially in this last decade since the beginning of two thousand, but even before, as, as it was the examples of the previous generation that, we always have very clear in in front of us. It's, how to turn, a family state coming from umbria a wonderful region, the green heart of Italy, whatever you like, but not a well known region. Into a winery that exports in more than fifty countries around the world and that's recognized for its quality products. Well, what we do and, what we try and we apply to do every day is to update our knowledge continuously about the scientific knowledge in the vineyard as well as in the winery in terms we make research program in terms to improve our wine once year after year, but always keeping you clear who we are and where we are from. And of course, having the opportunity. Once you are in Italy, to come to visit us, you can discover the everyday great passion that all the people working with us share with the family. That's the secret. Wow. I love it. I love it. Well, thank you very much. We've been speaking this week with, Tiara Linguarati. Who is the second generation of the litterati family. We're a trans or her sister, Theresa ran the warning, I guess, remember it before you. She's focusing on the, the museum and the agri tourism film. Thank you very much for sharing your time. I mean, I see you all the time when I go to Corona. You guys are always among the opera wine top one hundred because of the best going on that. And I kind of always expect that you're going to be there, but it's a story that I think a lot of people need to know. That that at least that don't. I kind of feel lucky because I have a history working with the winery that, looked at the don't. This is an opportunity for them to get to know. So, Sharon, thank you very much for sharing your time. Thank you, Steve. It has been a great opportunity you gave me to tell about our family and, and and god's hunger disease stands for and what we do every day. So thank you so much, and then truly looking forward to see you again soon, not just in verona, but also inumbria. Thanks again for listening. This is Steve Ray with Get US Market Ready with Italian wine people on the Italian wine podcast.