Ep. 1979 Piemonte Travel Series: Anna & Valentina Abbona | On The Road With Stevie Kim

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 pots. 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. Hello, everyone. My name is Stevie Kim, and welcome to the Italian wine podcast. On the road edition. And you know what that means. It is mama jumbo shrimp, our YouTube channel. So if you haven't subscribed, please click below and push the subscribe button. And if you'd like to give a thumbs up, even better. Today, we're in Barolo and with one of our favorite families. And with me today, I know I have two ladies. It's a little bit unusual. It is Anna Lamama Okay. Abona, Marquesili Barolo. And of course, Valentina, who you can't tell, but she's also going to be a mama very, very soon. Right? How far are you in into your pregnancy. Six months, so still free to go. Okay. So when is the due date? When will you be officially, mama? Let's say end of July. End of July. Okay. Fantastic. Are you ready to be nonna, more than ready? Okay. So that's I think she's ready than me. Yeah. Probably. Okay. So today, of course, it's been raining. We've been here for a couple of days, and it's been raining. So so it's going to be all about just eating and drinking. And sometimes drinking and eating. And today we have present here. We have from the restaurant of Mach de Barolo. We have a very typical dish which is. Okay. So I know we have a a short recipe for this. So you will follow us and you can find out. And the chef's name is Walda. Is he from this area? Yes, Mhmm. Okay. How long has Valda been? That is with us for more around fifteen years. Wow. That's a long time. Yes. Right? So, and what is because of the family, and besides the which it it is a typical piemontezi dish. Right? Yeah. Of course. Dish, and it is one of the most well known appetizer from the region. Okay. And what else does Volcher make? Which is very typical from this area. They make, more or less all the the the typical traditional dishes from the We have many appetizer as a language region. Mhmm. And then we have, homemade pasta, and, tayarina, Anulothi, and Doctor Barolo. I'm getting really hungry now and so is the Avi Day who's behind the camera. So I want to talk to you about today this new one you have, which is called Picchit, which means, small. Yeah. I think also invented though, right? What do you say in Venetor? Piccini. Piccini. So I think it's kind of the same. So why is this called Piccid? And what is it? So diapylation is a alba, d o see is quite an unknown appellation because of the challenges that making this wine implies. So it's a blend of the two varieties, Nebula, but as grapes, not as the result wise from these two varieties. So the challenge stays in finding venues that allow you to have verbera and the biolo ripening at about the same time. Mhmm. But as you know, ripening times are quite different, verbera is a little bit early compared to Nubiolo, which is late ripening variety. So we were lucky enough to have a very dedicated, our David, my brother Mhmm. Who's, our vineyard manager that, found the assumed locations, where given the, exposure, the altitude, the soy top of the two vineyards, in one, the other one, the barbera could grow and mature ripen at about the same time. So that we were finally able to make this blend. Seventy percent, Nebiolo, thirty percent Bervira. So compared to the big and important populations of the region, the noble populations such as Barolo, the king of wine or Barbarisco, which sometimes we call the queen of our wines. This is a smaller, like a little prince. So that's why it's called Piccito. Exactly. And how many bottles are you making? So this is the very first vintage. It's still a test, which is how it works. It's experimental. A lot of success is very much enjoyed because the blend actually works very well together. The two grapes are very complimentary. Nebiola provides with the elegance, the finesse, soft tannins, but barbera on the nose, really gives a lot of fruits and juiciness, and lifts it with a nice freshness in the acidity. We started making around, eight to ten thousand bottles more or less, we'll see in the future years. So in in total, how many labels do you have? You have tons of labels We have many of it around the thirty six. Thirty six labels. Yes. It's almost like Alto Adica. But we are we feel like, you know. So thirty six labels, and how many bottles in total? In total, one million, three hundred thousand. Depends from the year. It could be a little bit more. Right. And what is your, signature wine? If you were to choose one line out of the thirty six labels. Yeah. What would be your Just one, mama. Just one. I really did. I know. That's why I asked you. But I can say, Right. Because you represent the blend of the vineyard that we have in Barolo, and it is something that, we test before we blend like. That's As a family. As a family. So how do you I mean, I am imagining you have you're making thirty six labels. So you have vineyards all over. Right? So how do you manage managing the different parcels? This is the reason why we can make so many different labels. So because of our vineyard, being in locations, which are so different one from the other. Mhmm. Even though the area is small, because we are really looking at a south of piedmont, that's it. You're not extending anywhere else. Our land offers so many opportunity of different expressions of the very few variety that here we grow, specifically in the bjorn Barbera, the two main red varieties of the region, change very much according to where they're grown, Barbera from Alba, like, in this case, is actually a Barbera from Barolo because it grows in the town of Barolo delivers different profiles, different notes, different expressions compared to a Barbera from our the same as the of course with Nebula from Barolo, Nebula from Barbaresco, Nebula from the general alba. So there are many different voices that we would like to bring to the table, and Vineyards have to be managed differently of according to the And, mister war. Is also part of our tradition because, as a family and, many families in the past, they did. The same is better to have different situation because, we can have also the risk, but some some situation, they can't, some region. They can have problem in term of the weather. So that is it helped us a lot hot. In the past, it was very, very used to this. Mhmm. So how many years, have your family been producing wine for Marques civarolo? For the Marques civarolo, we started in nineteen twenty nine, when the family decided to by the propriety of the Mckenzie Barolo from the operapilla. Mhmm. In that time, they were very excited and very proud of what they did, that they were few one of the few families in Barolo, they were already producing wine with the label of Bona. We have after you have still have a house in front of the castle where they were looking at the Yeah. This is a very strategic. I remember when there was Colizione, of course, you know, I got a chance to know you better because we were watching all the concerts from your balcony your paris. Yes. No more Colizioni. Right? No more Colizioni. What happened to Colizioni? Colizioni finished with the COVID situation. Unfortunately, and they didn't win went back. Italian wine podcast. If you think you love wine as much as we do, then give us a like and a follow anywhere you get your pods. Valentina has a sibling, your son, David. Mhmm. And then you have one husband Ernesto. Exactly just one. Yeah. So you you now have one husband as well. So there are four of you. Yeah. And you're all working in the family business. Yeah. So who's doing what? How do you get on? Because you also live together? Yes. So isn't that crazy? Like, working and living together twenty four seven. What is this secret recipe to survive? Working and living together? You go first. We we we are totally free of saying what we think. And sometimes we argue. Sometimes we go on very well. And, it is a beautiful experience because, I feel fortunate for this. Because, It's not easy to be together and having a lot of joy. Some not always, but a lot of joy in in general. Yeah. I think that the luck we have is that we we are very different. One from the other main is, different personalities, different way of reaching objectives. But the final goal is very much the same. So sharing this, sharing this project and disambition, I think that leads us as somehow to get along very well. We, you know, besides the business time or in our private time, we do spend a lot of moments together. And there's a lot of Mhmm. But it's also very beautiful on the other side. Okay. I don't know if I could do that, but I mean, you know, congratulations. I'm not saying you're like Molino Bianca, but almost. But, that is something different because also having the winery open, we are open every day as a restaurant, as a visitor, tour visit. What is the name of the restaurant, by the way? It's Marquezie de Barolo for Esteria. Okay. But, adding people every day, we are not just us. We are always sharing. We're sharing. Yeah. Of course. That is very exciting. I can tell. It's very something special. We travel a lot. And when, this morning, I receive a phone call from people from, Philly, Philadelphia. Mhmm. They will come next week, and we met two weeks ago. That is for me something that, it helped to live this everyday life in our family and with, with our dream. Listen. So I see that you bought another wine. First of all, just one more question for a peachy. Is this the first blend of nebulan vibra wine that you're doing, or you've done others before? No. As a blend of grapes, this was the very first, time when you tried it. Yeah. So it's incredible all these years, and you never thought of doing this. Only Davide. Only Davide. Well, I don't have the competence of doing this. So I can speak about the wine. I can drink the wine but we needed him in order to lead us through the process. So it's, that's because he said yes, I can try. Yeah. Okay. Very good. Okay. Then let's talk just briefly about the other Pieragal So what is this doing here? This is a barbera. It's on the table just because this wine comes from the venue just on the side of the of the wall. Yeah. And our back is a barbera, the albus, but it's actually a barbera from Barolo. Davinia. What does that mean? I'm confused. Oh, right? You should taste it. I am sure you can understand what I mean, mama. Do you care for some? So the intensity that the Torora, but also gives to the wine, the richness, in the florals, in the fruit, indeed juiciness of the wine together with the softer tannins that's in the most likely, but they are relaxed but in this case, very much evident are given just by the soil type of the soil type would deter war in general, so the altitude exposure, the microclimate. Here, we have a lot more richness than what usually you would find in Barbera. And this one was, one of the first challenges for mom and dad, because it was a vineyard planted in nineteen eighty when they got married. Mhmm. They decided to take away in Abiodos. And, basically, they returned the divine seven. Yeah. But instead of substituting them with San de Biola, they decided to plant a different variety, Barrera, which, you know, as always been proud of our tradition, but to have it in the very central barolo was quite unusual, especially for those years. The idea was to bring back that authenticity that Berbera can show and to share our to war with more people as Barbera is more accessible, more affordable, and definitely part of our tradition. Know you have thirty six labels. Okay. But we and maybe some more. Yeah. Okay. We don't know. Maybe thirty six plus labels. But is a this I just wanna say because there's a a lot of different labels is a lot of different wines. Mhmm. It's not just different labels for the same wine. It's very different expressions of our land. That's what they say not to add it yet too. You see. Okay. And when we we talk about a million of bottle, I mean, me get a bottle of of of many different types. And small production for each one of them. Because of some wine we have. Okay. So my question, again, is you have thirty six plus labels. Which wine best suits for Vitello Tonato. Well, of course, we can pick and choose, a number of them. We can have some, I think that Bara in the more accessible Nebula like the one in the alba that has a little blend with verbera are just perfect with the softness of the tuna saucer with the delicacy of D' Vitello. So if you were to choose one, which one would you choose By better, alba, Pirrigal, or Pichit? I will go with the Pichit because I'm an Abiolo fan. I will go on to Pirrigal for sure because this is my favorite. Alright. I think with that, we can close But is this also like for a younger generation maybe in terms of because I see the the packaging? So, actually, the drawing is a drawing that I did when I was Oh, you're kidding. Now you're telling me. Very important. Very important. You are very talented. Look at that. I was. Not anymore. Ten years old? Oh, it's ten years old. Ten years old. She was very talented. And they still ask her to do something. That's that's that's very, very cute. So Jay dear of making this wine was there for many years, but we have to wait the right time in order to make it happen. Okay. Alright. With that, I think we're going to close because Davi De is drooling because he's very getting very hungry. So with that, this was a very unexpected improvised visit, but thank you for having us. And that's what we say, Chinchin with Italian wine people. Of course. Chinchin. One of the best surprise for Chinchin. Thank you. Listen to the Italian wine podcast wherever you get your podcasts. We're on SoundCloud Apple Podcasts, Spotify, EmLIFM, and more. Don't forget to subscribe and rate the show. If you enjoy listening, please consider donating through Italian wine podcast dot com. Any amount helps cover equipment, production, and publication costs. Until next time.