Ep. 1728 Emma Gao | On The Road With Stevie Kim Throwback Instalive

The Italian wine podcast is the community driven platform for Italian winegeeks around the world. Support the show by donating at italian wine podcast dot com. Donate five or more Euros, and we'll send you a copy of our latest book, my Italian Great Geek journal. Absolutely free. To get your free copy of my Italian GreatGeek journal, click support us at italian wine podcast dot com, or wherever you get your pods. Welcome to another episode of On The Road Edition, hosted by Stevie Kim. Each week, she travels to incredible wine destinations interviewing some of the Italian wine scene's most interesting personalities, talking about wines, the foods, as well as the incredible travel destinations. Emma so great to see you. Natalie. Hi, Natalie. Natalie Wang from Hong Kong or France. So, first of all, welcome to the tasting panel. I am going to quickly introduce you to our tasting panel. So, of course, you know, Land. And then we have Rebecca. Cheeser, you said, educator in house, our Italian one end. Ambassador. And then we have Christina, our in house technologist. Then we have Susan. She's my friend and my classmate for diploma. And then we have Franco, who is our w school coordinator, Yakapo, our Italian wine ambassador, and diploma student. Oh my god. No. You are you did the course with Yakapo. Okay. And then, of course, you have shallots. So listen, this is our tasting No. The reason we're doing this is because, you know, I've actually started the diploma program. Okay? And so we started tasting all the different wines, and I thought, why don't we share, you know, the tasting notes? Especially since we are going to, you know, go through the program together. So Sean's doing the course with me. Susan is doing the course with me and also, Yakapo. He's a little behind, but he's doing the course with me. You know him? He's like he takes time and he's like the epitome of procrastination, but he's my classmates. So I thought that it would be nice to when we taste the wines that we do it together. So that we can also share with our students because we also have the school here, the w set a p p. Okay? So we will also share with our students. So I'll just tell you a little bit about what we're tasting today. So we have Of course, our two signature wines, Emma Reserve. This is one. And also this is the other one, the summit. These are actually her signature wines. So we will be going through these two lines, with the tasting panel today. So you're in hi now. Yes. I'm in Shanghai. Okay. So listen, Lan and I came toining shot, like, three years ago. Yeah. Or maybe four years ago, it's been a very, very long time. And of course, we had a chance to visit Ningsha, and we visited some of the wineries, as well as yours. But I think most of us have never been to Shanghai. And to be quite honest, How many of you have tasted Chinese lines before? Oh, this is amazing. You know why, though? It's because they tasted here with us. Would you like to tell us a little bit about Ningsha in general, and where your winery is located. Thank you, David, for this opportunity to be shared a little bit, China Wang and our family owned the vineyard, the Silver Heights, where it's close to the Mongolia. Yeah. North West of China, between the council and the Shen Sea province. And it's, very regular place because we are surrounded by the desert. But very lucky we have the mountain Kola Mountain and the yellow river to protect us from the Spirit code and the desert. Our family vineyard is called Silver Heights, and the name because of the city called the silver valet, and the height because the altitude, we're on the one thousand two hundred meter above sea level. South Carolina is like our father to protect our region from the Siberian code and the Mongolian desert. And it is a very ancient mountain. It has been a lot of earthquake. So here's, Alabama from the end of river between the, since a thousand thousand years, So we have a different kind of stones that sailed from flat water, a flating of yellow river and the grass from the ancient mountain. Also some microchist also, carbonate, limestone, limestone from the ancient ocean, like ice age. So on this plateau, we are living on this high altitude, one thousand two hundred meter above sea. And we planned the vineyard on the top of the slope of the mountain. So when we came, when Lan and I visited you, it was on the month of December, actually. Right? So when we visited your vineyard, first of all, we didn't see any in your what was up with that? Why didn't we see any vines? It was in December. I'm so sorry. Yes. It was quite cold, and you were with your black box too. Alright? Yes. Very courage. Yes. Yes. And that had nothing to say as well as well. It's minus twenty and the moment. And we just had a snow, two days before, then all the vents should be buried on the ground, like, think you need to, and the get to. So what do you do with your vines? I think people don't really quite get the challenging vineyard management situation that you guys have to really go through. So can you tell us a little bit about the vineyard management in terms of especially the vine bearing and when that takes place? How long you do that for, etcetera? Because it's really labor intensive. Right? Right. So, yes, this is very unique, extreme climate condition that is nowhere in this world can happen. But this practice we do in our region, we already sense one thousand years for the table grapes. So when we planted plenty of vineyard. We figure out that actually this is not a problem at all. Because the munchers, they're very tough. They seems to be good. They like dry and the astonished place. They like, we have some vineyard with very little earth on the, but only stones, different kind of colors of stones, but they can survive winter after winter. Of course, here's a more daily day every year since the young virus we planted can be thirty percent dead, but we compliant. So we replant. Once they could be survived, means they are really strong. That's why they the one we made is a little bit has the character because they have sometimes with the extreme condition. We could have also frost with the early spring. We could also have a lot of flocking water during the summertime, especially when the white grapes getting wet. But it's it's very dry, right? The the area. Yes. It's a very rock. The place, very dry, but we are very lucky. We have a lot of water resources in our region. We have seventy four lakes. It's very famous, place tourist place in our region. It's a sand place. It's kind of racist. It's because during the ancient time, during the ice age, the mountain movement, we have a lot of depth, hole is on the ground. So the water is stagnant there. So the whole region is covered with lakes and yellow So we're very, very lucky to have these water resources. Is there irrigation from the lake to your vineyards? Yes. We use the irrigation system from the Australian, techniques because this is a fantastic system. We can, economic order. In same time, we can manage it. When the vines need a little bit, not too much. Does anybody know the Israeli system of irrigation? It's drip irrigation. Right. Is that when you have to bury the vines. So you have to take off the drips before bearing it as well? Yes. We, usually in Europe, you have a print, you print the vines in spring before before summer. But we Right. In our region, we have to train before wintertime. So we have basically only one trunk. Only one tree can be lie down like that, and we put the earth on it. Top on it. How deep do you bury your vines? Oh, actually, it's a work between a family. You really need a couple. So wife, stand on the vineyard vines with little bit, strength for for for press down a little bit below. Then I spent put the earth on the vines. Not on the Okay. Listen. We all we are already thirteen minutes into the live. So I would like to start tasting the lies and then take some questions also from my panel. So tell us the first one we're going to be tasting. Are we going to taste the summit first or Emma reserve. Wonderful. We're going to taste the summit first. Okay. The summit first. Tell us a little bit about the wine, and then and then I think we're going to start off a question from, Shawanne, decanting because my wife usually opens through hours in advance, that double decant is in a very, traditional, way to do it. And natural yeast fermentation since twenty sixteen. Then, let us refer. We do, in our vineyard management organic. So for vignification, we do nothing less intervention possible, no nutrition, no additives. So and, a little, a little, pumping up, no oxygen almost. I know that it's the lost oxygen. They can finish the sugar, but we try to do only one time during the whole process of fermentation just to preserve all the of the environment. So our consumer, once they open the bottle, they can keep it for three, four days. No problem or open to appreciate all the process. A with a reductive, aroma until the development step by step of the, tasting. So this two thousand sixteen summit we're tasting. Sixteen is a very challenging vintage. We had a frost. We had a flat water. We had a very, local rain during summertime. So I called this vintage like a hero. Some here in Nixa's quite similar, like, twenty fifteen, to thirteen, twenty nine, easy to make one, sunshine, no ring, a lot of, energy easy to do organic one. But for sixteen, eighteen, as we do a biodynamic, we never do pestis seed, with, chemical things So it was, sophisticated two minutes, the vineyard. So would you consider your wines organic or biodynamic? We are certificate organic, with both, Chinese international, and next year we get the European certificate. We are applying a biodynamic certificate with some tutor from Indian. Someone has the perfect question. Hi, Emma. So my question is, like, how do you, like, make the connection between tai chi and the pandemic with the culture? Well, it's a result of values, philosophy. You know, it's our ancient wisdom. In our culture, we have twenty four solar terms. Basically, it's agriculture planning in China traditionally. We're following the twenty four solar terms, which is exactly every fifteen days. It's a season. Actually, the movement we do, it's like the earth move himself and move around the sunshine. All the universe cosmic universe is like a vortex. It's always moving like this. That's why you can observe the roses, the flower of roses, or other, the natural plant, they grow in like a vortex. So it's a In this harmony with universe cosmic, universe movement, you fix your body with the energy of cosmic. You know, like, the autonomic cooperation, we do, the the b d five hundred or b d five hundred one, we do like, infinity, like eight. Right? So it's, exactly the natural, a lot of movement like that, like these. The bees fly always this movement, right? And Kai is also the same. So human being with this kind of movement, it can fix, a lot of things. My myself, I studied about, biodynamic when I was got a problem with my back. I have never heard of my back because of heavy bottles, heavy grips, a lot of work in the cellar says young age. So one day, I got par paralized because, I have my disc removed. So the hospital told me that you have to go to operation. Otherwise, you'll go to you will be handicapped for your life. Then my sister find a Chinese traditional medicine. Just a one time, then it's fixed. Now I can work. See? I can work. I can I can to everything? Then I asked my doctor, so magic. What you did? You see, when I did this, is, my function of the inner lion. It's a balance of inner lion. Everything is, in a very long time. So listen, I don't really believe in cosmology to be quite honest. Are you enjoying this podcast? Don't forget to visit our YouTube channel. Mama jumbo shrimp for fascinating videos covering Stevie Kim and her travels across Italy and beyond, meeting winemakers, eating local foods, and taking in the scenery. Now back to the show. We're going to move on to the second line. Okay. Land is going to ask you a question because we have eight more minutes. Okay. Okay. Hey, man. Nice to see him. Hi, Lan. I've been I've been traveling very often in Nisha when I was working in China. So we don't care about that. I love Nisha by the way. My question is actually about the region. So you are one of the pennies of the region, of course, and you are also the face of the niche ones if you will. My question is, do you think niche one has a style defined already or how how is your one different from other stuff produces? Yes. Yes. Well, nature is a very young region since only twenty years will make one. Then, for quality one, we started only maybe, fifty years. To really understand. I think it's a long way to have, figure out, but we are on the way to to to try many experimentation, different variety, plenty different places, my father started nineteen ninety nine. First thing I planted close to the yellow river, where there's a lot of nutrition in the soil. So they could do, a lot of production, but the less quality. When he moved to the desert, then he's no, good quality neither. Then we move to south of, in China where it's a lot of stone, but big wind. So finally, we find out, vineyard. In science, and the dimension now planted in the, intro area, then we try different varieties. We think that in, we we we don't know exactly what style. Still still need to figure out. But we're open to all the different options. Right. Right. Yes. I know in India, there's many around the forty different wineries. They do greet. Marcelyn, they do greet, cabinet, sauvignon, some, good sparkling one, like, a shandong. We successfully made a pinot noir, which is got as a James Zachary ninety four. Meant to be fine. Brian, you know, commented on my Facebook saying that she makes great payment wrong this morning. Right. He's a great client. Yeah. Thank you. Then we, also our chardonnay is not bad. Two times to serve two state dinner, and we got the seventeen ninety one for Parker and the seventeen for James at JPS Robinson. So I think it's a good good to try the cold climate varieties. So we don't know what the study is, but in our region, we also have good Marbec, Marcelyn, and we try Tanani or next year. Oh, really? So let's figure out next time. Yes. So, you know, we are testing these two wines. They're basically, you know, we can say border lays blend. Right? So Why was that your choice? These are your two signature wines. Number one, what is the difference in terms of winemaking and style for these two wines between the summit and Emma's reserve? And even before that, why did you start with the bordeaux blend? I studied in two thousand and seven with my father when I finished my studying bordeaux. So it's naturally what I learned from school. And habanese Avenue, it's the most easy planting variety, especially in our region because we have, enough sunshine, enough temperature for these, late maturity groups. So our first one is blended with cabinets within your merlot, a little bit, Shiroir, a company furnished, a local variety. Then later, we tried, other varieties into experiment. Okay. Listen, I'm going to let Rebecca ask her question. Hi, Emma. I was interested in what you're considering planting for the future. Obviously, you've had this focus on bordeaux blends, but I see that you've got a little bit of riesling growing. I wondered if you're considering maybe a hundred percent reasonings or if there are other grapes that you have your eye on? Exactly. We try to also, so, sauvignon blanc, Italy, Italy, Italy, then riesling chardonnay, Vuny, Vuny from northern Rome, which are fantastic. It's a reflect a lot of minerality of our mountain soil. Then, our two white wine last of our eggs blended with, altogether because we don't have many grapes and to have that definitive. Only short on a hundred percent. We also tried some gourmet the future, and there's some jealousy as well. So we don't know. In the future, of course, you are next year, we are going to release a sihan, not that she has like a full body she has, the sihan with the traditional method, the whole bunch of fermentation carbonic maceration. Yeah. I'm quite happy. Have a lot of fun with my little vineyard nursery. Sounds great. I'm really excited. Thank you. And now we're going to counteract it. First of all, I want to give a huge shout out to Shirley Tan, who was who made the wines available to us. It got she helped us to get source your wines. So I I don't know how she did that, but thank you very much for organizing all of that. And I would be remiss if I didn't ask What is the situation now with COVID and the wine business in general? What is the latest? Can you give us a little bit of update from both Shanghai and Ningsha? Yes. For the main pipe damage of for hotels. Until now, not too many western people come over to China to travel. So hotel business is a little bit like a a forty percent job. But in China, in a China business, like online sales, it's, quite active. Usually, we have in Vineyard on a tourist that people come to visit us, start with, May. But this year, start with, August. As he is not, not possible that people go outside of China, so people all come to Nisha. So we were so busy to work on them. Yeah. Three thousand visitors came during two months. For us, little one million Oh my god. That's a lot of work to do, but I'm happy to share people come to have lots of one hour. Yes. So, actually, we increase the forty percent of ourselves. Also, this year, even epidemics, we export sixteen countries, including UK, US, knowledge, sun, Italy, Italian. So we are happy that people are welcome Chinese wine, and, give us possibility to show another kind of style on people asking. Alright. Listen, Emma, thank you very much. One last, last, last question. You know, I I posted your picture with you on, the side call. Did you see that on my Instagram? Where is that from your wine? Oh, yeah. What what was are you actually going around the vineyard with your sidecar with buddy the story with us. Yeah. While in India, there's a lot of people travel with motorcycles. So they come to our vineyard. I don't have motor, but they come very often, so we're friends. Sometimes they pick me up. So that's not just because somebody else's. You just you just took a picture of the photo off. French. Yeah. Yes. Sometimes they pick me up and we just go two days in the desert. Okay. That sounds great. So Sleeping in the dog's desert. We are going to organize a trip, a tasting panel to ningxia. Okay? So Wonderful. Wonderful. We can talk about that. Let's save you five, please. Emma. Bye. Cheers. Thank you for joining us on another installment of On The Road Edition, posted by Stev Kim. Join her again next week for more interesting content in the Italian wine scene. You can also find us at Italian wine podcast dot com or wherever you get your pods. You can also check out our YouTube channel. Mama jumbo shrimp to watch these interviews and the footage captured of each location.