Ep. 2140 Villa Sandi | On The Road With Stevie Kim

Would you describe Vila Sandi in one sentence? Family owned business based in Northern Italy that has always been established in the prosecco area and has a great belief of increasing the value of prosecco. In the future market. Welcome to another episode of On The Road Edition, hosted by Stevie Kim. Each week, Stevie travels to incredible wine destinations interviewing some of the Italian wine scene's most interesting analysis, talking about wines, the foods, as well as the incredible travel destinations. Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Italian wine podcast. This is the wine travel series. And today, we're in the prosecco in the heart of prosecco. And with siblings, to siblings, to my right, her name is Diva, to my left, Leonardo. So Diva, state your full name, your age and your role in Villasante. My full name is pretty long. So it's Diva Madalena Polygato moretti, and I'm thirty years old, and I'm the export, Ari manager for UK and US market. The same for you, Leo. Whereas my full name, it's leonardo Polllegatum Moreno. I'm twenty seven years old, and I take care of the operations of Elasani. Production lines means logistics, means buying of raw materials, all the parts that are less romantic about wine process. Okay. So, usually, I am more used to speaking to the third generation, their father, John Carlo, This is the fourth generation. So let's start with something new. I have asked them to choose their favorite wine because there are thirty labels, and they have chosen one each. Let's start with Leonardo. What have you chosen? Starting off with Riveta Chintovente, our signature Konegyanavadovia then a DOCG. In this case, the Chintovente means one hundred and twenty days of second fermentation. I chose this one because I'm very very close to the heels of Coronema to be Adone. I really enjoyed since I was young to spend my time between the vineyards, between the heels of Coronema to be Adone. And I think it really represents the territory itself. Okay. Alright, Diva. Tell me about your wine why you've chosen this wine. I've chosen the prossecco superiore, Azolo, DOCG, extra brewte, and I've chosen it because of two reasons. First is because I'm very close to the estate where it produces where I enjoy my Sundays or it's riding and it's state. And secondly, because we've sponsored. There's no polo in, Saint Morris in Switzerland, with this specific bottle, and this is actually the special edition that we did with the horse logo with the polar player on the label. Okay. So I'm going to they've poured us three wines I don't know. They look a little different, but I don't know if they poured us the same one. So we're going to do this. We're going to do a blind tasting. We're going to taste the wine and you tell me what we're drinking. Ready? I I go first. It's prosector. Yes. Definitely. You're not wrong. You're not wrong. What are you drinking? Can you tell? What I'm drinking, I would say it's, DOCG, in my opinion, means complexity, means hills, means territory. I would say that this one really represents the territory where it's produced. You're also an analogist. Right? You're not. You're fake. You're fake analogist. I studied economics, so it's also a different background. Okay. And what are you drinking? I'm drinking an extra brew In this case, the Azole extra brute, I get that, very dry finish, and that's rapidity given by this specific terroa that you find in in the Azolo EOCG, which is a riverbank type of soil with that strong component in the soil of iron. So number one. Perseco, DOC. Number two. Coneliano Valdo Biaadine, prossecco superiore. We're going to be here all night. And then and then and then Cartice. But Cartice is actually a small, very tiny part of subsection of Valdo bialyana. Yes. In fact, it's called prossecco superiore, decartice, docg, and it's the crew of So I have a million dollar question for both of you. How do you feel like approaching the wine introduction to your generation? It's a difficult question. Of course, habits, are changing, especially in the last decade, I would say. I'm the youngest of the gen zs because I'm from nineteen ninety seven. So I'm I'm coming from this new generation of of wine drinkers, and unfortunately a few of them actually wine drinkers. Most of them are cocktails. What are they drinking? Cocktails, ready to drinks. I would say mostly cocktails. What about beer? They also do drink beer, but I would not I would not say they drink more being than the than the previous generation. So you're talking about Italians mostly. Your friends are from Italy. Yes. But also unfortunately speaking with friends from abroad that I'm that are sharing the same age as me, they also share an habit that is really changing and it's really compared to previous generations. So the big question would be, how can we get gen zs closer to the wine industry? We're trying to, of course, gen zs or in general newer generations are looking for lower alcohol grades products. Proseco, from this point of view, it's quite lucky. Yeah. It's really low alcohol. It's already coming in a very low alcohol position compared to other populations, but also new trends are coming forward. Diicholized wines, partially deicholized wines are also a big thing a big thing. And I would say we should not turn our bags in front of the iconized products, but actually we should be more inclusive and anticipate what future trends will be. Do you, as Vila San do you have no or low alcohol prosseccos? It's not possible, of course, to call it prossecco. So we do not offer, low alcohol postcodes. As Vila Sandy, you are producing a no and low alcohol. Under the Vila Sandy family, there's a brand called La Josa. And under the brand La Josa, we do have a zero alcohol product. When did you start producing that? We started producing it five years ago, if I'm right, showing what the market is really looking for at the moment as a product. It's not just about packaging. These products, I'll actually have more things in common than most people would assume they have And Diva. So you're only three years older than, Leonardo. Right? And how how what is your opinion? Because you travel quite a bit and your market is, I believe, the US and the UK. Right? So and they tend to be kind of lead the trends. Yes. And what about the younger generation? Because it's a big question. All you read on the newspaper, on the, you know, on the newsreels, on breaking news is that the younger generation are drinking less and less wine. Right? What is what is your opinion? So I take care of two markets that are in a way the pioneers of the low and owe alcohol. So I've seen this phenomenon already at the beginning and before the pandemic, where I would be approaching the younger generation, the nineteen and twenty and twenty one in the UK and a little bit older in the US. Of course, because you are you can drink, legally at the age of twenty one, and they will already ask me what is the percentage of alcohol in your prosecco? It's a question that I wasn't asked before. Right. So that question made me already think there's an awareness here. And then, as I travel more often to the UK, I see larger and larger spaces in the supermarkets dedicated to the low and no alc. Where it's something that eight, nine years ago, I would barely see or hear about it. Right. So, like, you are actually officially a still a UK resident. Is that correct? Right? So that's your you know that market very well. Yes. It's the UK. It's it's a huge market for prosseco. It's one of the top three market of prosseco together with Germany and the US. And, it it's a big thing here that we are talking about low and no alcohol. Especially in the sparking category in these two major markets, the US. Do you see some light at the end of the tunnel in terms of the next generation and their attitude towards wine consumption? So I believe as trans come and live. In my opinion, this trend will come, and maybe in a few years, we'll take a leave. But the the consumption of alco that Don't have a very high percentage of alcohol inside, I think this will remain. And in fact, the category overall of prosecco is in the right place. What are the the greatest challenges that you faced in working in a family business. The challenges can be that sometimes, you're not told off enough, right? Whereas if you had a boss in your office, then it it's kinda different. That's why my boss always tell me if something is not right, if I should be doing something differently, and that's that's one thing. The other thing is that when you are involved in a family business, you're working yes in your compartment in your area with your team, but at the same time, you need to be open minded and you need to see outside your specific area within the company. And for me, that sometimes can be a little bit challenging. Right. And what about you, Leo? Is it difficult to work with your sister, older sister? I mean, we we both work in a same company, but honestly, we're opposite ends of the same chain. Oh, okay. It's like Eastend and Wing and West Wing. There's no way. So, I mean, of course, some of the of her decisions actually have an impact on what I'm doing in the company. And the same, I would say apply from from my side to to her side. But we do follow different different things at the moment. I I joined the company a couple of years ago, three years and a half now. I started off in the production lines, we with a consulting company working together with us in order to improve the efficiency of the production lines. And that's what I did for the first nine months. Then when the consulting company left the company, I continued the project and extended from one line to the other. So that was really limited, I would say, to just the the production department. Then from there, I moved to the buying of raw material department, and that's what experienced my second year in the company. So that was honestly during the supply chain crisis. So, in that time where bottles started to explode in term of crisis, all these things happened. So I would say it was the right time to be in that specific department because it taught me a lot. And now I now that I had my experience in both departments, I'm moving a bit more far away and having a view that it's broader on different departments on the company and not just on one at, at the single time. Okay. So, Tiva, what are your ambitions for the next five years for Vila Sandi and yourself? So in terms of, ambition, I think at this time, at this stage where we are in the planet, the main task here is to become fully sustainable one day. So at the moment, using our clean energies, coming from a solar panel and hydroelectric power plant, we can reach about forty five percent in sunny good days, forty five percent clean energy. And the task and the aim and the wish is to become one hundred percent clean using clean energy. Sources in five or ten years. Before we go, Leonardo, how would you describe Milan Sandy in one sentence? Family owned business based in Northern Italy. That has always been established in the prosecco area and has a great belief of increasing the value of prosecco in the future market. Okay. Excellent. And I know we went to the Palestra Lavinia Yes. Right? So I know you are also a great believer in the Vila Sandy for life, this project, that this philosophy, rather, and it's also about giving back to the community. Tell us a little bit about that for our audience. Yeah. So as we were before in the gym in the vineyards, it's a gym that it's open to everyone. Nobody needs to pay a membership to go. Nobody needs to go on opening times because it's open twenty four hours and it's outdoor. We have busy days, and we have less busy days when it's like November and dark at five PM, but the genie's there throughout the year since two thousand eighteen. And we do different initiatives to give back to our community. For example, I'm cofounder of a charity, constructing schools in Africa, in Ethiopia, and that's a commitment that I started in two thousand. Okay. So I think you will be seeing much more of both Diva and Leonardo, especially, if you're from America, she's been to the state side eight times already and it's only July. So you might be just seeing her right around the corner. And that is a wrap from for Secolanda, Salute. Salute. Change it. Thank you for joining us on another episode of On The Road Edition, hosted by Stev Kim. Join her again next week for more interesting content on the Italian wine scene. You can also find us at Italian wine podcast dot com or wherever you get your pods. You can check out our YouTube channel, Mama jumbo shrimp to watch these interviews and the footage captured at each location. Changing.