
Ep. 867 John Irwin Interviews Bernardino Sani | Maze Row Wine Merchant
Maze Row Wine Merchant
Episode Summary
Content Analysis Key Themes and Main Ideas 1. The Rich History and Transformation of Argiano Estate: A deep dive into Argiano's heritage since 1580, contrasting its long history with the significant modern renovations and strategic shifts under new ownership. 2. Bernardino Sani's Leadership and Vision: The CEO and winemaker's pivotal role in steering Argiano towards a more elegant, terroir-driven winemaking philosophy and sustainable practices. 3. Innovations in Viticulture and Winemaking: Detailed discussion of Argiano's commitment to organic farming, micromapping vineyards, specific vine training (Guyot), heat mitigation strategies (Calino clay), and proprietary clone research. 4. Montalcino Terroir and Brunello di Montalcino Expression: Exploration of the diverse microclimates within Montalcino, particularly focusing on the Southwest region and how Argiano's wines reflect their origin, blending power with elegance. 5. Climate Change Adaptation in Viticulture: How Argiano is actively responding to global warming and extreme weather patterns through vineyard management techniques and water conservation. 6. The Argiano Wine Portfolio: Discussion of their flagship Brunello di Montalcino (especially Vigna del Solo) and their acclaimed Supertuscans (Solengo and NC). Summary In this episode, John Erwin from Mais Row Wine Merchant interviews Bernardino Sani, CEO and winemaker of Argiano, to discuss the estate's storied past and remarkable transformation. Sani recounts Argiano's history dating back to 1580, detailing its acquisition by a Brazilian family in 2013 and the subsequent ambitious renovation project encompassing vineyards, cellars, and the historic villa. A central theme is Argiano's shift towards organic farming and precision viticulture, including micromapping, experimenting with vine training systems like Guyot, and mitigating climate change impacts with techniques like Calino clay application and water management. Sani proudly presents their unique Vigna del Solo Brunello, a single-parcel wine, and discusses their acclaimed Supertuscans, Solengo and NC. He also provides insights into the diverse terroir of Montalcino, specifically the southwest region where Argiano is located, and offers a preview of upcoming Brunello vintages (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021). The conversation highlights the dedication of Argiano's team, emphasizing the balance between tradition and innovation. Takeaways * Argiano Estate boasts a history dating back to 1580 but has undergone significant modern renovations and strategic shifts since 2013. * Bernardino Sani has been instrumental in leading Argiano's transformation as CEO and winemaker since 2010. * The estate is committed to organic farming (certified since 2019) and innovative viticultural practices like micromapping and proprietary clone research. * Climate change poses significant challenges, prompting Argiano to adopt strategies such as increased yield, Calino clay application, and a new lake for water management. * Vigna del Solo is Argiano's esteemed single-parcel Brunello, produced only in top vintages and reflecting unique soil characteristics. * Montalcino's diverse microclimates influence wine styles, with Argiano's southwest location yielding more ""digestible"" and approachable Brunellos from a younger age. * Argiano produces both classic Brunello di Montalcino and highly regarded Supertuscans (Solengo and NC). * Upcoming Brunello vintages (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021) are highly anticipated, showcasing the combined effect of excellent vintages and vineyard/cellar investments. Notable Quotes * ""The history, as you know, is very deep. The estate, like it is now, dates back to the fifteen eighty."
About This Episode
During a series of interviews on Ar’s legacy and history, speakers discuss the success of their wine farming and vines in Argentina, Brazil, and the world. They also discuss the challenges of growing wines in Europe and the challenges of managing vines in Europe. The speakers emphasize the importance of winemaking style and managing a successful team for successful wines. They also mention the success of Arilo's winemaking facility and the upcoming vintage of Salango.
Transcript
Welcome to the Italian wine podcast. We are thrilled to be presenting a seven part series with our fantastic partner, May's Row wine merchant. We are proud to present this series of interviews, diving deep into the heritage and legacy of May's Rose excellent Italian producers tune in every Saturday from March fifth through to April sixteenth as we take an intimate look at these respected historic producers and their role as part of the Maize Row family of Luxury wines. And remember to check out our YouTube channel, mama jumbo shrimp, for incredible video content featuring a visit to Arjano. My name is John Erwin. I work with Maisra wine merchants in the United States. We are an importer. Wonderful wineries, states, curation, of incredible producers. And one of those that we are honored to import is Argiano in the US. And joining me today is the CEO and winemaker of Argiano Berenardino Sani. Bernardino Sani has been with the Argiano estate in Montalcino since two thousand and ten, transitioning to CEO and winemaker over time and bringing the estate some of the most acclaimed that it's ever had specifically as he returns to a more elegant style of Bernelo de Montalcino, and an ever, ever, ever improving, and and just beautifully, just beautifully powerful expression of Supertuscan called Salingo. So, Verdardino, thank you for joining us today. I just wanna go ahead and get started. I just wanna say, can you give us a little history of the RG Anno estate to get us situated? Hi, John. Hi, everybody. Good evening, everybody. And, it's a great pleasure to be here. And, yes, let's speak about our journey. The history, as you know, is very deep. The the estate, like it is now, dates back to the fifteen eighty. So there's really a lot of history on its back, and has been going through different owners, different family, pretty much all the most important noble families from Italy has been on in Argentina in the times because they started with the peachy family from Ciena, the ones who built the the castle of Argentina, then, the Guitanilovatelli from Roma, they had two popes in the family, then the Chinsano Maroney from Pittmont. And then eventually, in two thousand thirteen, which was sold to an amazing family, not a Nobel one at this time, but an amazing family from Brazil, the established family, And, with them, it started a big project all dedicated to the, renovation restoration of the of the place, not only the castle, but we started from the vineyards, then the cellar, then, we really wanted to put a lot of attention on making a a Teraltriven, classic, Brunoo de Montalino that tells you about the place So we we we work it a lot in the cellar. And then, it has been completed now, the restoration and renovation of the castle with the gardens, the Italian gardens in front, and, the main house, and especially the the the beautiful, original cell from Reina since time. Yeah. We spent a little time together, and I for the first time, I was able to see those, incredible Italian gardens. Is that the last piece a part of the rent restoration of the estate. Or will there be more projects that you guys are gonna do? Wow, John. There's a there's a lot of ideas and projects going on, but, so far. That is the last piece that was missing as, the castle in a is now fully restorated and renovated. And, and, everything gets in on place, and, is doing, I mean, we are we are very happy in this moment because, we didn't do something new, something that, aborted this big change into the place, but, it's like bringing back to its original splendor, a beautiful fix. So we are very proud of, what has been done so far in our journal. And, of course, many many more of things will come, especially in the in the vineyards, but, so far we are happy with that. So I wanna get to the vineyards piece that rich history going back to fifteen eighty, but I mentioned sort of hinted at at the beginning, that maybe one of the most important moments in Arjiana was actually current, in five hundred years of history. Can you believe at parentardino? You're one of the most important aspects of the last five hundred of years. And I I've told this story many times, but I think Argiano has done a lot over since you've joined the winery since that ownership changed changed hands to the established family. Can you talk about what specifically has changed in the winemaking and the farming over the last ten, twelve years. So when we started to think at what was needed to be done in a in Argentina, we immediately thought that the most important thing were the vineyards. So beside the deciding to be organic, and, mostly because we wanted to avoid pesticide and, chemical fertilizers, sir, and push our roots of the vines deeper down in the soil to get more of, the terrar sands. And, beside that, we started the project of micromapping all the winners of sangio Vese, trying to find out the best spot, the best parses of sangio Vese and Bruno de Montalcino, and we started to white make them separately. We restored it completely. The vigna del solo, that is the most important vineyards in our opinion of our channel because it's the oldest Divina of sangiovesse. We've all crones of sangiovesse. We're all crones of Conelo, and, it's the vineyard that, has the soil that is one of the most, complex and interesting one. It's a soil that is a mix of clays and limestone, sir. And, especially when the roots goes down, and they go down, for meters in the vineyardsolo, you really get an extraction of the limestone, sir, and those result in great complex, fresh longevity, Brunoo. And so the vineyards are the most important part, but not only because we wanted to make, terrible driven Bruno, and the Bruno that tells you a lot about the the place where we are. But the most important thing is that, in these times of, Google chain, Google warming, and, and weather change, and very traumatic sometime weather changes, having the vineyards in good balance with the environment. And changing something in the way we do the Viticulture. Really, it's, super good in order to have a fresh, bright acidity in the wine, and, longevity in our brunello. So there's a lot to unpack there from the idea of how farming affects that finished line. But when did your project to start organics begin? So we started to try the organic practice in the Vigna del solos since two thousand and twelve, and we started to be fully organic in, two thousand and twelve in our vineyard management, and, in two thousand fifteen. Sorry. And then from, two thousand nineteen, we are certified, organic producers in the vineyard. Okay. So Argiano is about fifty seven hectares under Vine. Is that right? Yes. Fifty eight. And, twenty. Fifty eight. Okay. So forty hectares are, San Giovanni. For, brunello de Montalcino, for Rosudimentalcino, and a little bit of IGT. And then, we have around eighteen actors of, French varieties, cabernet, Savignon, mostly, and then, let her go and So we did plant some, new vineyards in, Guilloz stylus. We believe that, in this time, I don't want to go deep in the taste, but, there's a difference between managing the vines in, I don't know, or, in Goyo or in other ways. And we believe that Goyo is, the way that in this historical moment, assure you the the freshness in the in the vines and assure you to have, always pretty much always, great, quality in the grapes. And with the what is the fundamental difference between planting to Guyo and and and spur spur or Cortone, I should say. So it's it's the cane. And then how does that how does that sort of affect the finish line? So, yes, Johnny, is the is the cane and is the the the fact that with Guyo, you always have a fresh, wood each season, and growing, growing wood. And so this helps a lot in maintaining, a little bit more of, of, of freshness and acidity in the grapes. And, beside that, the the method of, of, of training, it's, it's a much more, a sure, much more longevity to the to the to the vines. Saying that as we have it also in Argentina, and, it's a great, qualitative, method and, and, especially in, in some binds and then some old binds, sure a lot of complexity and a lot of concentration in the in the grapes. So you probably needed both, need them both, and, also, is, is different to you, the way you work in the, in the vineyard. And, in some cases, they will require a little bit more of work and manual work, but, but we're very happy. And we, again, we are trying because and we are experimenting because we want to face the the changements we see in the in the climate. I see. Okay. I asked about the total hectareage under Vine because I wanted to establish the context that You've been mentioning Vigna del Swallow or the Swolo vineyard, which is a four point four hectare parcel on your estate. You mentioned it has the most complex soil structure, and it also is the source of your single parcel bottling Vigna del Swolo, which you only release in top vintages, about five thousand bottles. And so you the first one was in the first release was in twenty fifteen. The second release was in twenty sixteen. I believe you just held you just have a few library bottles for posterity in the estate for the twenty seventeen vintage. Is that right? Yes. It's right. And, you know, why it's, it's not because the seventeen was, the quality of vineyard. So it wasn't there. Actually, it was the best vineyard even in the seventeen, but, the seventeen has been one of the driest year ever. It didn't rain, really rain until, November, by us. And, And so we'll had a loss of, production of around thirty, thirty five percent. And, we needed to use the the vineyard solo completely in the blend of a class echo brunello in order to go out and to guarantee the the the the quality and also the quantity because, we didn't have enough brunello, and we needed the quality of Viner and solo to go in the class echo brunello brand to to guarantee the freshness, the complexity, and, and the characteristic of a brunello. Yeah. The brunello that you're making on the estate, I had the opportunity to try the twenty seventeen, as well as try a lot of other producers twenty seventeen over the past few days. Here in Italy, and what is so remarkable about what you've achieved in the twenty seventeen vintage, especially being in Southwest Montalcino, which is known for having warmer temperatures, is just how much freshness the wine maintains a a certain vertical structure on the asset that really makes the wine really gastronomic. But I have to say, I just wanna mention for anybody who's on the call right now in the clubhouse or anybody who's listening to this podcast later. The Vigna Del swallow is a thrilling bottle of wine. Nothing short, than a thrilling bottle of wine. It has so much character. It is incredible in terms of its complexity and its aromatics. And the twenty sixteen was awarded red wine of the year by Gam Barra Rosa, well deserved. And I think, I just wanna say, Bernardino, it's a testament. I mean, it's sort of this shining beacon for everything that you and the Estebes family have accomplished over the last ten years. Along with you, I should mention you're agronomist, Franchesco Menari. And I had an opportunity to be in the vineyards with Franchesco last year, if you remember. And he told me about some really interesting things that you are doing. I mean, obviously, you had the soil studied, you're moving to organics, and you're changing to GEO, but also he mentioned, you know, reducing planting density in some cases as well as using sunscreen on the leaves. Can you talk about some of the other things that you're doing? And I've been here to help mitigate the incredible heat that's going on, as as we as the world gets a little bit warmer, I should say as the world gets almost more tropicalized, because, you know, sometimes it can be really rainy vintages and sometimes we really hop vintages depending on where you are. Yeah. Yeah. So it's, it's interesting maybe, to talk about what, what are the biggest challenge right now for, for, for for making wines and to grow wines in, in, in Europe. I will say Europe and all over the world. The first the first thing is usually that the winters are so cold and, anybody is usually warmer than drier. And this means for the vines that they start early, the the earlier. They grew in season. And then usually in April, you have, in April, May, you can have still some days where it's, it's colder, and you have the North Arctic winds arriving, and you can have some, some frost problems. Then, in the summertime, usually, you get, a couple of weeks in the in the beginning of August, end of July, beginning of August, where it's really super hot, much more than it used to be. And then, this is a good fit. The bad aspect, but the good things is, that you usually have, September, October, that is fabulous. So before it was the opposite, the biggest challenges were in, in the fall. So September could be rainy, and, October could be very cold and rainy. And this could damage the old, they all hear of growing season and, and your harvest. Now is the opposite. If you arrive in August, in the end of August, we've, a good quality in the in the in the in the vines and the plants, then you are pretty safe and sure that you can have, you can wait and start to to see a beautiful, beautiful ripening season in September, October. So the secret is to balance the vines in order to to survive well and to and to and to pass well at the very heat, ways of, that you may have in August, and then arriving in September prepared to have a fantastic, end of the season. In our case, what we did, as you said, we reduced the we increased a little bit the yield and reduced the density because, we were no more looking for concentration. If you if, twenty years ago, you were studying that, you needed, to make one kilo of grapes, for plant in order to have a great concentration and one, basically, one bottle of wine for plant, for vine, for single vine, in order to have great quality now. In these times, you need to make at least one point five kilos and have, a little bit more footprint in order to have not too much sugar, not to arrive at, eighteen, I've called, degrees, but, to make a fresh, and and and and bright and and clean wine. And so beside that, as I was telling you, the the the fact that in August, it can get super hot, and you can have, have heat waves, we use a clay called Calino that is gray, and it's totally organic, totally natural, and this reflect the sun. So, this is very useful to prevent sunburn on the on the grapes, and, and also strong and makes the the skins of the grapes even stronger and thicker. So it's a great help to spray that in order to prevent the the the the the the grapes to get burnt and sun burnt by by the very hot climate. And, then, you need to push, to keep your soil very open, very fresh, not so compact. And, in this case, being organic and planting, grass and flowers in the winter and springtime inside the fields. He's helping a lot, and you need to push your roots more down to get, to escape from from the dryness of the of the soils in the in the summer time. And, in some cases, when needed, you need, you need water. So we also made a lake in Argentina, and we we dig, a lake, well, that goes two hundred and fifty meters underneath in the soil, and, so we can have enough water for, when it's needed. Yeah. So in that swallow vineyard, you're talking about the roots going down. And with the vines that are fifty five to sixty five years old, you know, they're deep and so they have a lot of access to resources. But one of the other things I found really interesting in spending some time and have been your with you and and your agronomist Francesco, was, that you're working with what you think is a proprietary clone of San Giovanni. Can you talk a little bit about that and some of the research that's going in, going into that? Yes. So the the that is a very interesting project. And, what I love is to work with something that is really historical. Arjano to me is the history of, of mental Chino is the is part of the identity of Montal Chino. So I really love, to to do this project because it tells about the history of Arjano. We are studying with the University of, Latuschadet. He's a very, important university here in Italy. We are studying the clones of the vineyard as well. We did an experimental vineyard, replanting those, clones. And we will start this year, the first, microvinification of these different clones. We selected the the best inside the vineyard is solar. We replanted the we replicated the replanted, and we are starting them. There are six of them in order to select the most representative one. Why we do this, sir, because those clones are not, massive, massale selection done in the years, sir. And so the the commercial clones that you find, all over to Scani and all over Montalcino. Those clones are the original ones that you could find and have in Montalcino hundred years ago when they started the production of Bronello de Montalcino. And those clones are the original one of Sanioviso that was in Argiano, many, many years ago when they started the production of Bruno. So we will put a copyright at least on one clone that will be the Argiano clone of San Giovanni. Not because it's better than the other or or or worse than the other, but because it will be us. So it will be something very specifically made in Argentina. And, and, and that you can find only in Argentina. Yeah. This this idea of better or worse, it's really just about what makes it the most unique. How does it express a certain place? I I find that that conversation about the clones and and the work that you're doing there. Totally exciting because when you have your own unique place, of course, but then it's not terroir's not just about place and grape. It's also about time and how that grape changes. To a specific location and to have something that's molded to your specific vineyard, your specific estate over hundreds of years. It's pure unfettered terroir, and and that's probably a big big reason why that beneedale solar bottling. It's just so, so thrilling. But anyway, we've been talking a lot about San Giovanni. So I think we should also talk a little bit about the international varieties that are planted at Argiano. Can you, remind the folks you had mentioned it already? But can you remind everybody the international varieties that are planted and how you use those? Yes, John. So we have, And sovignon, and Petiverdo and Merlo. So Arjanos soils are, different, of course, is in fifty eight hectares of, of vines. There are many different soils, but The main difference is we do have a part that is, mostly, a place with lime stones, and there we have, sangiovese, and then we have some more alluvial soils on the board and, a part in southern part of the state that is a more red clay. And they're in those aloofian soil. And in the case, there are more there are more planted, the the the the French varieties. The history of Argentina, is huge. And, during, a a decade, a little bit more than a decade that they had one of the most iconic, one maker of Italy called, Chaco Motakis consulting for them. Jackelman was, an iconic winemaker in Italy because he made some of the most successful wines of Italy. It's a he started with Dignanello, then he did Zulaya, then he did the Terri Bruno in Sardinia, then he did see working for Saksaya. He finally arrived in, in Argentina. And, in ninety five, he started to to make Solango. That is a blend of, cover me fifty percent, Merlo, around twenty five, twenty, Petiverdo. So there's a lot of Petiverdo in the blend and, five percent of, San Juo, a little bit as we do Bruno de Montalcino, And, we want to make, not, a difference in quality, but a difference in taste there. So we want to make a brunello that is, complex, long gaging, a big wine and the rossetti Montalcino that is super castronomic, high quality sangiovese. The same thing we want to make with the Supertuscan. We have so language that is, big, powerful, Santa Steph, style of, kind of, burdo style wine, and, the n s c, the n c that is, a also blend of cover named, sovignon, with Melo and San Jose, that is a more fruity, fresh expression of a super tuscan, more gastronomic maybe a more easy to drink, on everyday basis? Yeah. It's, the CELango is a really exciting bottling, and Nancy is also fabulous. Though, the wines. How how many hectares again do you have planted to international varieties versus San Diego Vaisi? So we have around the twenty hectares of international varieties. And, and the rest is, San Giovanni. That's incredible. So I wanna come back to the, the estate itself. So dating back to fifteen eighty, Can you give us a little bit more detail? And and I think this is really fascinating. You when can you give us a little bit more detail on what the estate was like when you arrived and what some of the specific things you did? And and in this case, I know we've talked about the the vineyards, of course. But in this case, I'm talking about the Villa Bell area, which is at the center of the estate. What was that like when you arrived? And what have you done to, to change it since, since two thousand and ten? Villa Bellaria has always been, an amazing, beautiful place, but, it needed a huge restoration as, for many years, it was, almost abandoned as the family who lived there, Gaitanya Lovateli did sold the the pro thirteen at the end of the seventies, and, the new owners, did develop a new winemaking facility in Argentina, but, they didn't start the restoration of the villa. So, basically, two things were needed. And the first was the roof that was collapsing completely. And the second one was the cellar. The old cellar that was still used as a cellar needed a huge restoration because, was full of, water leaking, was, full of molds and was no more possible to use it as a good environment for aging the wines. So when we arrived, I stayed and, preached to do the owners to start thinking about, at least moving the wines out of the old, agent seller because it was not the greatest environment to to age the wines. And so a new underground seller was made to age the wine. And then we we started to to renovate and restore the Vilaria. We started from the roof, then we did the walls, the facade, then we did the cellar, the old cellar, And then after Dolby's was completed, we started to to work in the, in the offices that are in the main floor. We did a new, and, and, inside what was about room. We need, a tasting room and, and restaurant. And, we did the main house. And the last four, the the of the available area with the, art collection that is hosting a hard collection. That is a private hard collection. So we want don't want to to to speak too much about that, but, if someone visited our channel is invited to to see it as it's a beautiful collection from the times of the of the villavelaria. So only the people that are currently on Club House will be able to view these, these Renaissance paintings. I encourage anybody who is has the opportunity to visit Argiano. I had the great pleasure of being there last year. The only thing that I think wasn't done yet was the gardens, which were just completed But, it is a complete, completely stunning jewel in Montalcino, three hundred meters up like a tabletop overlooking, overlooking Santangelo and Colle in the southwest. You know, we've talked a lot about Argiano. Bernard, do you know, but, for the folks on the call, I also wanna provide some context to Montal Chino in general, little bit of knowledge on Bernelo. I said that you're located in Santangelo and Colle. How how do wines from Santangelo and Colle typically? How are they typically, how do they typically express versus wines from other parts of Montalcino? And then how does our Giano fit into there? So it is, it is a great question, and it's not easy to answer. As, a Montalcino has a a different aspect. So It's a it's a it's a big hill with the village on top of a hill. And so naturally, there's different, different sides and micro climates, a southwest versus, northeast, southeast versus north, northeast. And, historically, the two main region developed for, for winemaking. We are the Southwest the side where we are and the standing northeast where, other great producers are. If you want some more details about the producers, in the southwest area, you have, in our area, close to us, you have, You have Zantaristic two thousand. Gaia. You have Zoldera. You have, Jacob Mocapriley. You have Arjanno, and then down under us, there is a bumpy. There is, on the right side. Triskovaldi on the left side, they put Johnny. Then, the last, states in the south side of Montalcino are, on one side, called Dorce, and on the other, Antinori state. On the North East side, you have, biondi Santi, you have, a cousin over an area, and, you have Barbie, you have many, many other great producers. Montalcino is twenty four thousand, egg thirds of lands, but only two thousand are brunello vines. So the vines are not planted everywhere as it happened usually in the very, popular winemaking region, but, they have been planted only where there is a good soil and where there is a a where it's easy to make a high quality wine. So you have the the most important, aspect of, of, of the of these, of these different regions, in each in each winery. And, Do you hear me? Yeah. So Yeah. In, in Argentina, it's easy to make a very elegant wines and, and, and, it's easy to make a balance at y because the soils are, clays and limestones. The clays gives you the the power, and the limestones give you the vertical taste, the complexity, and, and, and the long gauging, possibility. While the another part of Argentina, you have more clays, maybe only, but in the brunello vine, so you have clays and limestone. So also you have, the altitude that helps you a lot because we are three hundred meters above the sea level. That is the average point, that that that is in the middle of the hill, and is a good point to make, balance wines with, a long gauging possibility and, and, and a lot of, and a and a lot of, personality. And, it is also a good, a good part of, Montalcino to make wines that, from the beginning are approachable because, it's, it's true that the tannins are a little bit softer. This doesn't mean that they are not able to age long, but, it means that they are more digestible from the beginning. You have other areas of Montecino where concentration, especially in the tannicity is a little bit more important. And this, helps a lot for, for making, a great wines also, but more long gaging, more structured, maybe, in the beginning, a little bit more, hard to digest. But it's not, really about only the position because, it's really about the winemaking style. It's about the the kind of soles that the Montalcino change a lot. So it's a lot of different aspects that, than, in the end makes the the the characteristic of the wines? Yeah. We were, at the Bernardo de Montalchino consortium, and we tasted through several wines. And I was surprised that I couldn't quite nail down a style based on geography. It did really seem to come down to, and maybe that's because of the warmth of the vintage, but it did seem to come down to a, maybe even a specific house style and the and the kinds of wines that they like to make in addition to where they're located in the region. So, we have the twenty seventeen vintage in the books. That's what's current release in the markets, around the world. Can you give us a little bit of a preview of twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen for, for brutality, Montecino, specifically? Yes. So the the Bruno, the vintage twenty nineteen, and the and sorry, John, you say twenty nineteen, and Twenty eighteen, the next the next couple of vintages. How does it look? It's, it's amazing for us because we have eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty first. So that, looks great. And, And, really, when I say it looks great is because, it's, you see the the effect of the vintage, come with the effect of the investments done in the vineyards and in the seller. So it's a double effect of the good vintages and, great, technical improvements and, team improvements, and, and attention in winemaking that, year after Yerskiv results in, in the in the Argentine wines. And, eighteen is a vintage that I love for being classic, being a little bit close to the thirteen vintage. For example, where you have an elegant style of Bruno, not too much concentration as, it was a pretty cool vintage. Then the nineteen is kind of a perfect vintage as it was the sixteen. So you have, a lot of, quality and also good quantity, a lot of color, a lot of complexity, a lot of flavors. Twenty is, like, the fifteen. It's a powerful, with great tonicity, but very soft and silky tonnins and, complex full body wine. Twenty first has been a very bad vintage for cold quantity because, it's, we had a frost, in, early May that reduced the the quantity a lot, but quality speaking is an in amazing vintage because, the the the the the the summer time was perfect. And, we also had some rains in the beginning of, September, and then a fabulous September month. So the ripening season was perfect. So it's, it's great because in front of us, we have the sea We have can see the vintage effect, but also the effect of the hard work done by everybody in our channel and the seller for the past years. Yeah. It's worth mentioning. Well, he probably doesn't get talked about enough, but You're also the CEO in addition to being, the head winemaker. And so I know you have a lot of responsibility on your shoulders. But what is very, evident is that you've done a wonderful job managing a pretty incredible team. And, every time I get an opportunity to interact with any of them, they have, they have nothing but wonderful things to say. So You know, you should probably also be celebrated for not just being a pretty good winemaker compared to Artino, but also a pretty good boss too. So complimenti. No. No. No. No. This is Actually, you know, you know, John, is a is a is actually the the the most difficult side of the job of being the CEO as a it's a it's a it's a more fun and easy and creative to be the winemaker. And so it's only thanks to to the great team of Arjano and, the great, owners of Arjano that Arjano is doing, is doing pretty good. And especially, I have to say you mentioned him already, but Francesco is, amazing in, what he's doing in Argentina, Franchesco. So Ricardo, my colleagues, to everybody, but Franchesco is really helping a lot in managing the the the estate. Yeah. As I was joking with you guys, you know, Francesco Menari is gonna have to start traveling the world. You know, his English is great. He looks great. He's got a lot to say. You need to kick kick your feet up, relax a little bit. Because I know you've got a lot going on Baronardino. I I I I I that that sounds great. So I just have to convince him as a he doesn't like to travel. You know, he's not is the the the people who who are really obsessive with the work in the in the in in the with the astronomical work and the and the and they want to meet always there. They want to supervise every single detail. So Francisco new, it's easy to find him in the vineyards, but it's difficult to find him, elsewhere. And especially if you ask him to have a lot of dinners and, and, and, and NPR then. I think he will, at this certain point, he will he will quit. So it's easier to come to Arjanno and find him in the Venus. And then he will explain everything to to everybody. Yeah. I think there's something, I think there's something important in there about the quality of the wines that are being made out of Argiano, the the quality of the farming, the passion that he brings to it. But he's able to bring that passion because he has incredible integrity about, making about doing the best possible thing, not only for the winery, but also for the sustainability of the environment. That's something, you know, we probably haven't talked enough about, but he's really passionate about. And, And I find it strangely comforting that he wants to stay in the vineyard. So I think that's probably where he needs to be despite the fact that he would be a pretty charming presence in the marketplace as well. Well, speaking of, you know, PR and marketing and spending time, you know, I think it, you know, you you do these things with us, have these conversations with folks, and and it's so greatly appreciated. But the thing that I wanna stress is that this is just the window dressing to some really incredibly hard work that you do day in and day out at the state in order to make increasingly elegant, increasingly complex, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful wines of place. And, the brunellity Montalcino is certainly a testament to that. The upcoming twenty nineteen vintage of Salango is absolutely a testament to that. And then, of course, that that expression that I've already probably spoken too much about, which is Vigna del swallow, totally thrilling line. And and when we cut whenever that vintage you decide to return to making Vigna D'Solo, maybe it'll be in the twenty eighteen, maybe it'll be in the twenty nineteen. But, that'll be, the number one bottle I look forward to tasting in the near future. Congratulations on all the success with the estate. Fair Nardino, thank you so much. Warm wishes. It was great seeing you this week, and congratulations, and continued success. Thank you, John. Let me say that, it's, thanks to people like you and, and the amazing partnership that we have with all of you in, in United States that we keep improving because you need some, If you if you don't have inputs from outside, then, if you don't have a great support as you are providing us, itself, is very is almost impossible to to keep improving, to keep achieving good results in the in the winemaking. So thank you for all you are all doing. And, mays Roy is an amazing project, and, and I'm sure it would be amazing in the future, even more amazing in the future. So it's a really an exciting moment for us to be to be part of this group. And, and so, yes, you're right. It's been Italy ended. It's a thanks to it's a also congratulations to the organization of Vineitally because it will, close, I'm sure it wasn't it hasn't been easy, but it was a great success. We can say because I'm I'm pretty exhausted as you can feel from my voice. So this is a good sign. Right? Yeah. I know. I that's that's probably thing that I I'm just so thankful for you to spend time with us because I can't even imagine how tired you are right now with, the amount of people that were at in Italy because it was such a great success. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Complimenty on on all of your, endeavors, and, thanks for spending the time with us. Everyone, this has been, John Erwin and Bernardino Sani, from Argiano, for Maisra wine merchant importer of wonderful wines in the United States. Thank you so much. We hope you enjoyed our new maze Row wine merchant series. The focus is on excellence, family, legacy, sincerity, and innovation. To learn more about maze Row wine merchant, and today's featured producer, see our show notes and visit their websites. Don't forget to subscribe and like our show and tune in to the Italian wine podcast wherever you get your pods. Hi, guys. I'm Joy Livingston, and I am the producer of the Italian wine podcast. Thank you for listening. We are the only wine podcast that has been doing a daily show since the pandemic began. This is a labor of love and we are committed to bringing you free content every day. Of course, this takes time and effort not to mention the cost of equipment, production, and editing. We would be grateful for your donations, suggestions, requests, and ideas. For more information on how to get in touch, go to Italian wine podcast dot com.
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