Ep. 2035 Luca Raccaro & Lavinia Zamaro | On The Road With Stevie Kim

Who wants to be the next Italian wine Ambassador? Join an exclusive network of four hundred Italian wine ambassadors across forty eight countries. Vineetly International Academy is coming to Chicago on October nineteenth is twenty first. And while Matikazakhstan from November sixteenth to eighteenth. Don't miss out. Register now at Vineeti dot com. 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. My name is Stevie Kim, and welcome come to call you. You've been following us for the past couple of days now. I've had a chance to visit different parts of the territory. And today, I'm here with Lavinia Samaro. She is the big boss. I mean, there is a president, David, but don't let him know he's the boss. Okay? We'll let him think he's the boss, but she's the real boss. And then, of course, we have Luca Racharo, whom you've met yesterday, because he is the two thousand and five world skating champion. And now He's moved on to another career, and he's a singer. So we'll have a taste of his singing a little later on. But now what I would love to do is to, first of all, Lavinia, tell us what we did yesterday and today in terms of the territories we visited. If you can kind of give us an overview. Okay. So, Steve yesterday, we left from Shuta, which is, in San Fernando Colio San Fernando Colio is, the municipality most, northeastern of Colia. So we started from here, and we drove down to Praval, which is this plane in the middle of Kallio, and we then drove over to the Capriva de Freuri area, moving forward to the hill of Pradis, which is in Cormont. Cormont is, I would say the heart of Kallio, which because it is the biggest municipality we have in Kallio. So from Praddis, we went through the Sabida area all the way up to the border with Luvina in the placeiva area, and then we drove down, following the hill of Rutarsen, which is, in the municipality of Delena delcasio, all the way to ONTO. SO WE DID A LITTLE TURR THROUGH OUT KAL YOU. AND IN THE AFTERNON, WE ENDED UP IN DOLINA, which IS THE MANICIPALITY IN THE UPA northwest. WE'RE VENICO WES. So for those who are less familiar, where is Kolio located exactly? Okay. Kolio is, in, in, is the northeastern region of Italy. Riding the border with Slovakia. So cardio is a half moon or banana shaped area. I love this this concept of the banana, you know, because banana is yellow, and call you is everything about being yellow. So I I think you should think about it as a banana. That kinda makes sense to me. It kinda looks like bananas will. Absolutely. So it's a small banana located on the border was living at in the far northeastern part of Italy. It's, about seven thousand hectares area, thirteen hundred of which are planted vineyards. So it's a very small area, and, trip that we took yesterday, it was about twenty two, twenty three kilometers. And we went from one side to exactly the opposite side of Calio in just twenty two kilometers. Yes. So it's It's actually very compact in a way. So anyone who comes here for us, it was our first time as a group, visiting the area. And we were able to pretty much move around within the entire territory, I would say, in two to three days. Yeah. That's right. So now I would like to give a little skinny overview. You know, like in the States, we say one zero one, like, you know, psychology one zero one. It's the first class introductory course you take to, subject. So let's do one zero one Colio wines, right? Because we know that you also produce red wines, but we won't be talking about the red wines today. We will, of course, focus on white wines. So who's going to talk about the wines? I guess it's the singer. The technician of watch. Thank you, sweetie, what? For first time winemaker. So no. But I see you somehow. I imagine you on your skates, in the cellar going like it is singing and making your wine. You know, I think I have that in my mind. Right? I think that it will be very difficult. Well, Lukea, of course, was generous enough to, drive the yellow Nespa yesterday. Yes. So we can have a look at that later. Okay. Let's go. Okay. Here in Colio, our production is dedicated on the, our indigenous varieties. And on the international varieties too. We can start with a that is the wine that in general, we consider an aperitivo wine, very fresh and acid. And then, we go on with pinot grillo. Pinot grillo is, the most Most planted grapes. Most planted grapes in our our territory. The third wine is Frulano. Frulano is that king, because it's considered the king of our outtalked on varieties, and the wine in general, every winery has in, their production. And the last one is our blend. Is called Colio as the area, and for us, is, the concentration of the territory. So just tokka Frulano. Now it's called Frulano. Yeah. How do you feel about it personally that they took away the tokai. In general, we still, consider it as Tokai Frulano. We call it Tokai Frulano. Amongst yourselves. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No. For us, was not very good thing when we lose this name, but we feel it as an opportunity to export the name of our region in all over the world, not only in Italy. And we lose this name, on the two thousand and eight or two thousand and nine. Now, I don't remember perfectly. But right now, I think that this wine, has his part of, the market, very good part of the market. Okay. So let's do a quick tasting. Mhmm. Okay. And for our audience, it'll be a dry tasting for them. But let's go through the wines and give me some distinctive characteristics about each wine and they eat grape variety from call you. Okay. So Ribola is, fresh wine. Yes. The first one. Yeah. It's a fresh wine. It's distinctive because it has this very, fresh acidity and it's very easy to drink. It. No. So we consider it a normal appetitive of wine for this reason. It's a very drinkable wine, and you can feel the freshness directly on the nose. It is a little bit flowering, but, fruity too. You know, David told me that the yellow color of the the consourcing of the Yeah. Of course yellow. Is that is that correct? It is because that the grape of Ribula Jala is very, very yellow. And this is a real characteristic of our territory. So we choose this color from this grapes. Yes. Is the last grape that we pick every year because it's the last grape that, has his maturation. The second one is pinot gris. The pinot gris in this case is a little bit, rosette, because the contact with skin gives this color at the wine, very, very short contact. Pinocree is, not a white grape, but is a little bit, colorated. It's a little bit, red. Actually, it's pink. Right? Yeah. It's pink. Okay. So, Luca. I'm going to ask you a cheeky question. Why are you ready? Well, you're used to peanut. Right? So you called it pinot gris, but it's really pinot gris, right? Because Why did you do that? I don't know because in general, when I speak in another language, I feel myself in this language, so I translate of the nature too. But isn't it a little bit more because you think that this wine, you know, grillo, although it's in Italy, have more affinity to pinot gris instead of the peanut grito that we're used to in a bigger scale? Are you sure? I'll give you a second chance. Okay. So even if, this white wine, is called pinot grigio. This international variety. Our territory can give at this variety a lot of, our characteristics. So the mark of the territory is always always present, and you can feel it directly in the wine because the wine is very great. It has this very strong body, and this minerality is given only from our soils, from our expositions, from our territory too. Yeah. I mean, what is the difference between this and what we hear in the market? Pino Grinchoramato. Okay. So What is the difference? The difference is only on the contact with skins. More is this contact, more the color is, not heavy, but is more intense. Intense. Okay. So for this reason, it's only the differences are only in this case for the maceration or not maceration. You can find a lot of pinot grito without any pink color because the maceration is not present. But you can leave these grapes on the on the skins for a very, very short period six hours is enough to have this result. It's very pink. Question. I'm just asking a lot of question about pinot grisha because everybody knows pinot grisha. Right? Okay. So this pinot grisha, This color, is it more typical of colia or the the pale lemon color? No. You can find both. Mhmm. Both results. No. One pink and one yellow too. And what's more common? The yellow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Let's move on to the next white line. The next is the, what I think that is the king of our territory that is the Frulano. Okay. First of all, how do you pronounce three. Ula. No. Yeah. It's called, a normal person of, from free, Ulybben, etcetera. Right. So, this wine has this characteristic that is, a little bit bitter. At the end. So when we drink it, we can feel this bitterness at the end. It is that special characteristic of this wine. In general, the population of Rili is very used to this bitter feeling, you know, on the mouth. We have a lot of, dishes that are bitter, and we love it. So we can refined these characteristics on this wine. So this wine is the typical mark, the typical taste of a normal Freivalent people. Better like almond, bitter? Yeah. It's called almond bitter. You know, you know, I'm making a very gross generalization here. Mhmm. Okay. But often, a lot of Italian wines actually have this bitter L and D finish. Would you agree with that as a winemaker? I think that is a little bit the characteristics of winemaking. Yes. But, at the same time, the characteristics of the variety too. Okay. Alright? No. General. Yes. The last one is Colio. Okay. Colio is the blend of our territory. So it's the wine that each producer can choose to make in a different way. Our rules are very simple. You can use all the varieties and that are subscribe on our regulation. You can use only the fifteen percent of the aromatic varieties that for us are, Tramina aromatico and Mueller Turcao. That are present in our territory for a very, very small part. So you can use, out talk to varieties and, international varieties too, together or only international only our talk tone. It depends from the choosing of the white maker. So when you say fifteen percent of aromatic varieties, you said, Tranina and Mula Chukau. So what about riesling? Riesling is not produced in a lot of quantity. Mhmm. So who produce it, makes one hundred percent alone and not blend. But would riesling be considered as an aromatic variety here? No. I don't think so because it has a little different characteristics from a normal riesling from Germany or France. So is Konya Bianco a most popular wine from Colia? Or is it Frulano? It's small. Right? Yeah. We know that. Pinocritio obviously is big. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Besides pinocritio, because we know that pinocritio, it it's the biggest production. Is the most planted. After that, what is the wine that is mostly popular? I think that after pinot grigio, we have Mhmm. Because it's very common in our vineyards. We have, very old vineyards in general. So we wants to maintain this, indigenous variety inside our old vineyards. So it's easy to find it. Then I think that there is the, call you bianco, because it's the representation of our territory. So it's true that, everyone can choose the composition but, the mark of the territory here in this wine came out very, very clearly. You can find the, freshness, the aromatic part that is not aromatic as an aromatic variety is a very, very intense, and, flower, and fruity part of levels. And at last, this very, very strong body, and the minerality that is really the characteristic of Colio. What about sauvignon? Is it into the blend? Sauvignon? Yes. It's possible to put it inside. But is it common? Not a common? Yeah. I think that it's common. Yes. It's more common use. In your Colio bianco, what grapes are you putting? In mine, can find, Ribula Jolla, Malvasia, and, very, very short percent of, so we know to less than ten percent. Okay. So I will now go back to the wines. Mhmm. And I would like for you to tell me what are the fruits aromas that you find in each class? Quickly. Go. Go. Okay. So You should know this. In the Ebola. In the Ebola, you can find this more acid fruits. So a little bit of lemon a little bit of, orange. Some plants too. In the pinot grillo, you can find these flavors more of, flowers, very white flowers, more, gently flowers. Okay. In the Frulan, we can find the apple or pear. So it's a very fruity wine. And in the last one, you can find, a little bit the mix of this flower part. And this, fruity part, but these are fruit, not acid fruit, but more sucrose fruit as, an apple or, peach. And what about what has the highest alcohol? Reibola is always the less alcohol wine that we have. And, then the highest alcohol, we can find it on Frulano and colobium. And what is the most expensive? Colobium. Alright. Okay. So I guess I would like to ask you, Lavinia. If you have a passport, an identity card, how would you five things about call you? To recognize, to remind people what call you is? Okay. Talking about wines, I would say freshness, body, separating, and, of course, the ability of the wines to age very, very well. Cause a very important characteristic that our wines have is to be able to age for up to twenty, twenty five years with no problem and still keep some freshness to them and still have all their body in the structure and the perfumes in the sense that Luca was telling you about before. And what about in terms of geology? We spoke a lot about punka. Yes. That's right. Luca said that Sri Lanka is the kanga of Kalia, and I like to say that punka is the queen. Because Bonka is the reason why our wines are like this. It is called flea in geological terms, and it is an, the layering of sandstone and marv. Coming from the rising of the bottom of the oceans in the eosanic age. So it is a soil that is very rich in minerals, and you can taste that in the wines that we produce. So, you know, if for people who've never tried call you bianco, for example, who would you recommend to try call you bianco? Like, for example, if you tried burgundy, then try call your bianco. Like, what kind of people should try call your bianco if they've never done it before? It's tough. Okay. I'm gonna give it to the vice president. Perfect. Thank you. The skater and the baritone singer. I think that Colio Bianco is not the first white wine that I recommend from Colio. Which which wine then? I think that the first is, But it's so tiny. Right? It's because it's easy to drink and to first start is easy to understand this wine. Then you can feel the characteristics of the territory at the same time. And, if you are curious, you can go on with, pinot grillo, and then at last, I think that Colobianco is the, concentration of all the wines. That are characterized this territory. So exactly in this order, you recommend trying to call you. In this order, yes. Yes. And if I can add something, I would suggest to try call Yobianco to people who like to enjoy a good glass of wine together with food because it is a very ethnically wine that pairs very well with a number of different foods. And at the same time, people who also like to put a little bit of effort into understanding a glass of wine, so it's not so immediate. Mhmm. You can, yes, you can have it with dinner, and it it can be quite easy. But if you give it a little bit more attention, it just opens up to a world of different characteristics. So we have two more minutes, Luca. You know what we have to do. Right? Okay. That's okay. So I'm the one that they see. Yeah. So so what what what panel Cheers. What would you like to sing? This is So I do not Is there anything calm down? Or So for me, it's difficult to sing something very easy. Okay. Try to think. Think card. I give you two seconds. One, two. Okay. Okay. Are you ready to sing? We're ready to listen. We only have ninety seconds now. Okay. And that is absolutely a wrap from calling you. Thank you for joining us on another installment of On The Road Edition, Hosted by Stevie 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.