Ep. 595 Luigi Rossi Luciani | Monty Waldin

Italian wine podcast. Chinchin with Italian wine people. Hello. This is the Italian wine podcast. My name is Monte Ward. My guest today is Louis Gerosi of the Levolpi winery in the Veneto region of Italy. You're in Coliogani, which is a very beautiful part of the world. And you are specialized in organics and also vegan and vegetarian wines. Can you explain, why you are so focused on those wines tiles that we need? Well, I think, this is a and, an important time, of wineries. I think in few years, most of the wineries would be we'll be producing organic wine. And, to me, it is important, also the vegan wine. There is not much difference I mean for. But the reason why I like that. It's not, I think, environment, and, as, of people is very cool. So we thought, we wanted to invest, and we wanted to go further along on, this, way of thinking. I mean, this year we shall begin product, not product, but machinery, which don't need any product, to to take the convenience. It will be done by put a valid, yeah. And, we should start, in few weeks. And the idea is, I mean, even if, even if you don't use chemical things, copper is certainly a heavy metal that, prevents the ground be generous. And it is not good alert of people. Just going back to the, to the vegan, aspect. So we we we know that the, beef industry is not great for the environment. In terms of the grain, you know, like, I think it's eight kilos of grain produces one kilo of meat. So is your your your main thing is not that you don't like eating meat, but you don't think that I have using products from animals is environmentally sustainable as well as obviously not always being good for the animals. Well, believe me, I am, not, an extremist. I do not, like, to exceed in any sort of, ideas. I don't think it's bad, we need it, but we should do more attention on what we do. We should leave, this sort of work in a better way, than we found it to our silence and brokers. So when did you start making, when did you start your your your estate is, certified organic? Let's just talk about the estate. Where is your vineyard? What are your main great varieties in the kali Ughani? Well, can you see? And I started producing wine as a hobby, and I started with a very small piece of bread. So, it is the characteristic that, prevented this area to be an important area on, while in business, the small property because there were a lot of small areas, families divided in small pieces, the ground, and, the vineyards. And, they had, not enough, economical, situation to produce good wine. I mean, it is, industries which, require investments, and, it is not always easy. So when I started, I bought a piece of piece of land which was small, and then another piece, and then another piece And I'm saying this to explain that we don't have word quality of wine, but of vineyards, but we have many probably too many or too much quality, too many qualities. And, we shall rationalize it in a a short while, but, at the moment, we keep, everything we have. So today, we have international grapes like Merlo cabernet Carminer as red wines, and then we have, as white wine, here, the situation is quite different because we have, which is typical of the air. And, in Culture, Mazonia, which is very typical of the air. And then we have some which we make wine and we'll make white wine with. Let me see if there are other important. I mean, we have some more of these. Luigi, in terms of your in terms of your wine range, you you have the the vegan wines, etcetera. What are your main markets for, wines that are organic and and vegan? Is it is it Germany? Is Germany your biggest market? Or is it domestic, Italy? Well, certainly Italy. But, we do sell a bit on Northern Europe where you cannot sell anything if it is not, vegan or organic. Okay. I would say organic or vegan is more organic is more important than vegan. Is the market for those kind of wines growing? Well, I think, in few years, we shall only see organic wine. This is because, customers are always more, asking, and, they want to have a safer and a better quality. And is it and who's who's treating them? Is it mainly is it mainly may male, males or females? Both. I would say both. And when you started, making those changes, obviously, you're the boss, but what did your employees, your staff, think about that. And even your family and friends, when you would maybe get invited by your friends for a lunch, and you obviously, you're a wine maker. Right? So you can turn up with a lovely three or four bottles of wine, and you turn up with vegan wines. What do they say to them? Oh my god. I'm not having that, or say how interesting? Well, at the beginning, there were, most of the people were thinking that, organic wine was not as good as the traditional one, and then they realized they were making a mistake. But, you see, what other people thought, it was not so important for me when I believe in something, I try to follow it until, until I can. Okay. So, in terms of talked a little bit about, markets, how about the domestic market in Italy? Is that of, you know, it's quite a sort of carnivorous country. The question was, in the Italian market, the domestic market, for organic wine and vegetarian and vegan wine, is that a market that is still quite underdeveloped in in your view? And we have a lot of organic wine shops around us in Maraim in Motagino with, you know, organically toothpaste and and all sorts of body care products. What about the, the, vegan and and, the vegan and vegetarian wines? I believe that, in this moment, the demand, for organic and vegan wine is increasing a lot. I see a lot of, competitors around, converting their production to organic, began. So I believe, that it is a trend that will not go back. And, I believe, in, in the future, we shall have stricter situation where the the the rule will be stricter because, we shall think more to the health of the people and to the quality of the ground. And the environment. So let's just go through talk about some of the wines that you that you make. You make a Venetto Bianco Delivolpi, which is a sauvignon blaux, manzoni Bianco, and Moscow Ojalo. That's that's an interesting interesting blend with two aromatic grapes and one very un aromatic grape. What do you drink that with? Well, those are the three main white grape, we have. So we develop them as, a single blend, but then we also make, the the white of the Volby, which is a blend of the tree mixed. It's a sort of, something we feel and we try to transmit, but those are our tastes. So I imagine that's a a wine for everyday drinking. It's, you know, it's light, fresh, fruity, easy to drink. Is that correct? Yes. Let's say that, a little water around here makes, very much, salty, full of taste, and aromatic, goods. And you have, in all kind of, grapes, the flavor of, orange, flowers, and lemon flowers, and, salty, I don't know how to translate it. But you have you're on volcanic soilani. You're you're in the, Coriogany, the Uganian Hills, So that must have a net effect on your wines. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, it's, if you drink one of those wine and you drink, the same vineyard producing a few kilometers from here, it's completely different. So you like that saltiness, and it's makes, I guess, it makes the wines a little bit more appetizing and, and, better better with food as well. Let's say that, I love this area, which is, not so well known, but, I have made, my house close to here, and I think that, also the grape are enjoying the, how do you say panorama? The, a landscape and, and the toward the, the mineral tea of the, of the ground. So I believe there is a magic, situation between, the beauty of the landscape, the beauty of, the the trees, the bushes, and the quality of the ground, and, those grapes that go with a very special taste even if they are the same, quality. So you make a red wine called, Venetorosso Ejiti, and it's called, Seimezi, or six months, and it's aged oak. What's that made from? And why do you call it? Semezi? Six months? Well, let's say that I took, the idea of cheese, but not only cheese, also ham. When they sell you, they tell you how many months Those products have been, in the care team, the care team paged. So I've taken the idea and, all the, in all the line, we have, the months of, the aging. Yeah. Seasoning, the how many year of seasoning, how many months of seasoning, we have, for the wine. So the the the need of the wine is six months, eight months, twelve months, twenty four months, and thirty six months. So, and you make, yes, you do the, you do a merlot with, eight months. And you say that the merlot comes from Mount Rusta and Mount Peraro. Are they are they both volcanic as well? They volcanic peaks. Those those areas. All, the group of fields around here are volcanics and, they are, similar. What is it good? What is your favorite, food dish with the cabernet franc? Do you like having with a cabernet franc? Let's say, a a rose meat, some very strong cheese. Do you have any cheeses from the area that are are are quite spicy, quite strong in flavor. Yes. On the area, restricted area around the, no, but, a bit wider. We have a lot of, a lot of, strong cheese. Yeah. What about the, the final wines? The, you make the kali Ughani fior de Rancio, which is a very sweet wine. Can you tell us What that is made from? Which Moscato is it made from? And how sweet is it? Well, Fjorda Rancho is not necessarily sweet. We produce some very dry Fjorda Rancho, which is my favorite wine. It is, a white wine, very aromatic, which is fantastic with the, asparagus. I don't know how to say aspar asparagus. Yeah. It's fantastic with oysters and fish, but, also as aperative. And, we make it in many different ways. So we make, the sweet ones sparkling. So we make, the pacito. We make, the dry one as I was describing. We make the a sparkling wine made of a classical. So for the sparkling wines, you make, prosecco doc, Brut, extra dry, gentle, sorry, a hundred percent glera. When you say extra dry, what do you mean by that? Well, there is a discipline which says how many grams of sugar you have to have, and we put ourself just on the middle. Not to not to sweet, though. I mean, is there a big difference between the the brute, extra dry, and the extra brute? Those two prossecco? Well, we yes. Now I don't remember exactly the the number of, gram of sugar there is, but, on the extra dry, I believe there is, five, six gram of sugar per, per, per, per, per liter, while you're on the other one, you go to the ten, twelve. And what about the pomante? You make, kodiogani, fyodorantios pomante, d o c g, fyor, lapi, which is, kind of the lapier, the, these. How how sweet is that one? That muscato gianna? The sparkling one is quite, sweet, but the sweetness of that muscato is balanced by a very good acidity, very high acidity, which is compensating the sugar left. And, so you have, a wine for the serve, which is sweet, but not too sweet, Fjordate, sparkling's Fjordate has eleven gram of sugar per liter. And, we choose the name Fjordate because, especially on the dry version, not sparkling, people, giving belief that it was a dry wine. So we had to choose, instead of Muscardo, we put, Fjordappe as, name of the bottle. And, this is the, the reason. But, this is the only really typical wine of the area. And, it is an important way. Yeah. And the well, the passito, the the still passito has about one hundred and twenty grams of residual sugar, which is obviously pretty, pretty sweet. Okay. Is there anything else is there anything that we've missed May may I say something about the red wine again? I think that the best expression of the area in any case is the red wine, which comes to the quality of wine, Meroux and Cabernet are the the the the best product of the area, and, cutting them together as, Tagio Bordaleza, we can make a very good product. This is a bit to the characteristic of the area. Okay. Just like to say thanks to my guest today, Luigi Rosi. Of the leborbi winery in the Venator in the Coli Ughani on those wonderful, organic soils. It's been a pleasure to meet you. I thank you very much. We wish you and your team every success in the future. Listen to the Italian wine podcast wherever you get your podcasts. We're on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, HimalISM, and more. Don't forget to subscribe cribe and rate the show. If you enjoy listening, please consider donating through Italian wine podcast dot com. 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