Ep. 220 Monty Waldin interviews Gabriele Brugnoni (Bisci)

Italian wine podcast. Chinching with Italian wine people. This podcast is brought to you by Native Grape Odyssey. Native Grape Odyssey is an educational project financed by the European Union to promote European wine in Canada, Japan, and Russia. Enjoy. It's from Europe. Hello. This is the Italian wine podcast with me Monte Walden. My guest today is Gabrielli Bruno. Gabrielli is the export manager for the Bishi winery in the Matellica region of the Marquis? Yes. You were right. Thankfully. I can keep my job a little bit longer. Yes. I hope so. I mean, I hope, I would do the same after this interview. Six. How it goes? So your region, the metallica region is one of my favorite white wine regions. Super. Yep. That's a good start. Yeah. And, my first ever press trip to Italy was in the Marqui, and we went to metallica Meta, obviously, Vodigu, the Yay area. So let's talk a little bit about Vedicchio, the grape. That's your main all your wines are made with the Vedicchio grape. Is that correct? Yeah. We are mainly white producer. We are always known and be known. And nowadays, we are as, considered as a sort of reference producer in, in the market for Everdicchio. Verdicchio, it comes in two different denominations, Yazzy Matelica. Main difference is one is looking at the ocean. It gets the influence of the ocean, as, looking at talking about, weather. That's Yese? That's Yese. So that's the woman talking about the ocean we're talking about, the adriatic sea. Yeah. And while the metallic is the one closer to the mountain, apart from that, this is, the only valley in the market that is looking north ways. So in that means that, the weather is much cooler than the easy one. Big important, thermal scratch in summertime, and that's great for keeping acidity and the freshness, and the fragrance of the skin of the grape. So you get warm days, not as warm as the yeazy area, but you do get very cool nights because you're in you're effectively in a mountain range, the pre apennines, aren't you? Exactly. Exactly. Let's talk about you're the export manager for the Bishi winery. Let's talk a little bit about, is it family owned? Is it the Bishi family who owns Bishi? Bishi's owned by the Bishi family. It's they start as two brothers, Gicep and Gerino. Nobody is, is in the hand of Mauro and Tito that are son of, Giuseppe. So when did their parents start there or their father start at the moment? They the parents started in seventy four, they bought a land, and first bottle came out in eighty two. Right. So they really saw the the potential for for the region is that far back? Yeah. The the the they were wood carpenter, and they still have some business in, the wood carpenter activities. And they always wanted to have, produce wine, and they knew in the area from the old people that that place was a good place to produce. That was already vignette over there. When they bought, they removed some of the old ones, some not really in a good shape and then, replanted the leak. Right. So what's roughly, what's the total production of Vodicchio white from the the winery? Total production is around, a hundred and twenty thousand bottles. So what are the brand you have like a reserve, do you do a reserve, or do you do a met do a metallica normani? How does it work? We do have the entry vertical in metallica, where we have the main production there. We can arrive at around eighty thousand bottles. We probably increase about another ten thousand because we replanted some some vineyard. Again, Virdicchio. So that's basically called Virdicchio D meterica, DOC or DOCG? No. It's DOC. DOC? Yes. Okay. So the next one would be. The next one is, selection is a crew from a single vineyard, four hectares, old vines, in average, we can say thirty five years old. Not only that, best selection, one year in in cement, by the way, we only use cement. We only use cement. You know, at all stainless steel only for some fermentation on the reds because we also have adios, a little plot of reds. So what's the, what is this second wine called Zemen name? The second wine, the selection, the crew is vignetto Vignano, the name of the video. So how do you spell that? Sorry. Vigneto v I g n e t o. So that's Vineyard, and it's called Fohiano. Fohano. F o, g l I n o. Fohjano. Fohjano. Yeah. Yeah. But you'd read it as an English we'd say Fohjano if we looked at it. Yeah. Fohjano. Yeah. Fohano. Yeah. So four So that's the name of the the plot. Yes. That's the name of the world. Does that have like a is that a like its local name? Does it have any significance? Does it refer? No. It's it's it's refers to to a little white road, you know, this it's a surface road that goes behind behind the vineyard. So it goes up into the hills? Yes. It goes up onto the east and the mountains because, that's the mountains that, divide us from the the easier area. Okay. And are you are the vineyard surrounded by forests. Do you feel that you're in the mountains or in you in Matenica? Yeah. I mean, the the forests are close by and, the the area surrounded by other cultivation and some serious. And we are organic because we were in the past, we were also growing some serious. And when the state, came to the hand of Mauro, the, and key to the current owners, they the family is pleaded. The other part of the family took some land and the cereal part, while we kept, the family, Maero and Kito, they kept the the the vineyard growing. Okay. One production. So that obviously, obviously, they've got faith in the family history there in terms of the winemaking. Yes. Yes. So what are your most important markets and how do you explain to people? And when you're out selling the wine, why should they drink Vadicchio? And not just why should they drink drink Vadicchio? Why should they take one from metallic when it's tiny compared to Yazy. Yeah. First of all, vertically material is really a denomination. It's an example of a denomination. Particularly area, small area. So exactly what you read in the theory of denomination. That's Matellica. So what you're saying is a denomination that, that actually makes sense. So many denominations in Italy for wine, you know, you could pretend that all the wines made in that region are gonna take similar because they're on the similar soil and similar altitude, and they're not as a mishmash in a political compromise, but Matenica really is a an Napolaci de Nome Nationi that is logical and has sense. And, you know, when you borrow a bottle of Matellica, you know what you're gonna get. Exactly. Exactly that. And that's one of the oldest, white wine denomination. Ninety six DOC, Matellica Vevdico. One of the things about our wine, we also a part of the two main one that I described. I wanna mention this because it's very important. I agree really give you the idea of, what is metallica, is that we produce a selection from the old vines only in particular touch, we did, two thousand and six, two thousand and nine. Now we have two thousand and ten. We'll do two thousand and fifteen of a selection that stays in cement for six years. And then one year in bottle, and we did release this seventeen, the vintage two thousand and ten. What's it called? Senex. Senex. That is, the left hand routes for Sanilita, becoming old, getting old. And that's the one that has been selected by one spectator to be at the opera wine this year And we are twenty nineteen. And we are very, very, very proud of that because, finally, and really thanks to Von's Spectator. They are putting attention to, this historical state, that, you can find all over Italy. And really, I think that we and few other states that we met at, Opera one really represent what are the little cherries all around Italy. So just let's go back to wine that ages. So it ages in in tank for quite a long time. We don't use any York. We don't have any York. We use a little bit of oak only of, a red that is San Jose. We always used, and we always kept, on, cement because we think it's the best container, the best nurture container you can have for this white wine. And in this way, you can only improve and you are able to show what you produce in the vineyard, what you are able to produce with those beautiful old vines with that beautiful land, with that great, weather that we have. In the climate that we have, the microclimate we have in And, you know, there was in the beginning of two thousand. A lot of people were moving from cement, but that is an historical container, also another area, like, let's say, in the county, in the past the candy was. So Yeah. Bordeaux allowed. Just bulldozing their cement tanks and putting completely inappropriate stainless steel tanks where the temperature of the wine inside just jumps up and down, and we have to spend thousands keeping it cool or hot. Samantha's a great insulator. It's my favorite, but I'm making wine. It's my favorite vessel. So it's amazing that you've done done this, that you've you're you're in a unique, Ablacio. You've only got a historic vineyard that's older, in terms of, when it was planted in your traditions. And rather than saying, you know what, we're gonna blast this with hundred percent new oak because we think that's the way we're gonna get higher point scores or get people to talk about it. Actually, you know what? We're gonna age it in cement because we want to protect the fruit. And we want those flavors just to soften a little bit before we bottle them. Is that correct? Exactly. Should I become your PR guy? Yeah. Yes. I mean, you do a great job, to be honest, but I mean, I would talk to my boss, and, you'll probably join me and we can do a great work to hear. Okay. Yeah. I need I need an extra I need an extra ink an inker. But it is it is, you know, joking aside. There really is a reason why they're doing it this way, you know, Vidicchio, where we are, from our perspective, we think is the best white wine grape in Italy. Well, I would I would I know you're gonna be modest and say, no. No. I mean, that's, that's widely known that the best white grapes in Italy are three. One is, the Gerganiga from, soave classical, the volcanic area. The second is Greco, and the third one is, Verdicchio. Of course, nowadays, we taste some a bit rough, but nice timorazio in Piedmont, but these are the three main white grapes. And people knows that. I mean, the verdicchio, it can be really compared to Barolo. You have all from totonian intervention. So Easier and for aging. Same thing with Vedikyu. You have Vedikumatellica for aging and nice minerality, and Vedikio much easier drinking in yes. Really, the white barolo is verdic. And on that note, we're gonna say thanks very much to Gabriarbi Brunoni from the Bishi winery in the Matenica region of the Marquay, VaticiOTinica. Thank you very much for telling us about the family history, those old vines, the landscape, the terroir, the weather, the influences that affect, the white wines that you make, especially the, the way that you age that special wine that you do. It's really great to talk to you, Rico here, and, and, explain everything very clearly to is about the why they should take note of Matellica and Vodicchio. Welcome. Thank you. Thanks a lot. Thanks for this opportunity, and please come to visit La Marque. We have a lot of things. You know, we are the the region of Rosini, the region of Rafaelo, the region where you find also the accordion, you know, the or the artisanal accordion, that's where it comes. So, well, you are more than welcome in the market. So, but it's a brilliant, honestly. It's off the beaten track, unspoiled, very rural, very rural, but with people who really connected to to the outside world. It's not like they're rustic, farmers. They're really, really connected, and they know their markets. And they've really preserved their landscape as well. It's one of the one of my favorite regions. Graz. No worries. Yeah. It was great. It was really super. You spoke with such passion, about your, about the company that you work for and the the land and everything. It's wonderful. Easy. You know, I was, born in Lataria. I was, I don't live there. My mother is still there. Thirty kilometers from state. And, you know, when I was eighteen, I started to go out to have some dream to go to some disco. I used to see these beachy names in this, bar, one bar in some restaurant that was already an historic producer. And when they wanted me to fall the foreign market, I was more than proud to do that. That's why. And I love my area. I don't live there, but, I love my area. I was born and grown up in the countryside and living in the countryside, growing the countryside is beautiful. Big these are beautiful when you are between eighteen, twenty five, you wanna enjoy. But when you are young, countries are as beautiful anymore, nature, people, really, you need to experience. Cool. Thanks a lot. Okay. Thanks, Brilliant. Pretty nice. This podcast has been brought to you by Native Grape Odyssey, discovering the true essence of high quality bloody wine from Europe. Find out more on native grape odyssey dot e u. Enjoy. It's from Europe. Follow Italian wine podcast on Facebook and Instagram.