Ep. 240 Danilo Drocco (Nino Negri Winery) on Nebbiolo Chiavennasca and Sforzato di Valtellina

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. And joy. It's from Europe. Hello. This is the Italian wine podcast. I'll be Montewording my guest today. Is Danilo Droco Danilo is the directori decantina of the Nino Negro one winery in the province of Sandrio in which Italian wine region? In Lombardia region. Oh, in Lombardy. Lombardia. Yes. Welcome Danilo. So, you're the leader, Tory decantina. What does that mean? You're a bit more than that, though, aren't you? Okay. Yeah. It's our first of all. Dierra Terre de Cantina is, is not a very beautiful word. I prefer to talk about white necker. Yeah. So these are the other one. Now, what wine? I'm in charge of, of, wine and grapes. Right. So you you are the big cheese. You're the part of your charge order, but you get all the blame if it goes wrong and none of the credit if it goes wrong. I am the cheese. You're the cheese. Alright. Okay, Danielle. So what wines are you growing? How big is the estate? What wines are you growing? What are your main markets? The state is very unique. But, before of, talking about the state, I have to talk about Valtelina because Valtelina is really, really a unique place. It's a place located, yes, in, Lombardia, but, in a very north part of the Lombardia, we we are, located close to the border of, Switzerland. And we are located in the heart of the Alps. This is the beautiful, characteristic of, of this, place where we grow Nebula. So what type of altitude are we talking? We are not talking about, a huge altitude because, really, the state and the most of of the vineyard are located around from three hundred until seven hundred meters of altitude. But is the location. So in the middle of the herbs, all around, we have glaciers. Right. So that and what effect does that have on the grape ripening and their flavors that they produce? Yeah. And and the grapes even that you plant that you grow? We we grow only Nebula in Baltimore. Just the beginning? Yes. Nebula is our, most important grape. I I can say that ninety five percent of, of the grapes cultivated in Baltellina is Nebula. So Is is it called Biola, or does it have a a local name that people call it by? You know, probably more more than, you want to show to me, but, yes, Gavin Naska is the the local, the local name. Kevin Naska. Yeah. Nasca is, is a word, I mean, original language, in native language. That means, the grape that is the best for the production of the wine. Okay. So that's what Nebula is called there. It is nebbiolo hundred percent, the same nebbiolo that is used to make the most popular baroque and barbaresco. So if I drink a nebbiolo from the nino negoro winery that you've been making, what is it gonna taste of, or what's it gonna taste like? Is it gonna be off? Is it gonna be crisp? I love to say that, the tpicity of, nebbiolo, Valtelina is the elegance. If, I, I showed to you a blind tasting with a nebbiolo and with pinot noir, probably you can have some trouble to understand which of the wine is pinot noir or nebbiolo because, the nebbiolo of our area is in the biolo that grow directly on the mother rock. The roots of the vine go inside of the mother rock rock. And, thanks to this, very particular character can catch a lot of minerality. So when you say the mother rock, are we talking about a very acidic soil or an alkaline soil, a a friable soil, a rocky soil? Is rocky. In the area, one of the main character of Telina is that, the area is made of terraces. Taraces built, starting from the, the period of the Romans two thousand years ago. We are talking about two thousand and five hundred kilometers of dry walls. Wow. So a huge quantity of, manual work made in a thousand and of of years. Thanks to these walls We can have terraces and we can grow the grapes in very steep, very, very steep, part of the mountain. So imagine you have very high labor costs. This is the problem. The problem, because we need, a lot of, hand workers very, very specialized that, must know exactly not only how to work, but also how to work because the big risk is to fall down from, from the the walls. Every thing is made by hands. To give you an idea, the average quantity of, hours that we had to spend in, in our vineyard is around one thousand five hundred. That's to say on a normal a normal flat vineyards somewhere. How many Less than one hundred. Yeah. I mean, that's incredible. That's just And, how I told you everything is difficult because just to give you an idea, I have a I have a a very, very beautiful vineyard, such sort of vineyard that is one of our most important, single vineyards. That means red stones. Yes, red stones. To arrive, in the center of the, of the single vineyard, you need to walk for twenty minutes. So it it means that if if you forget your breakfast, you are gone. Just one just gonna add one thing. It's not only the labor. It's actually the the paperwork that has to go behind the labor. We read registering workers. Some of you may be temporary workers. A huge bureaucratic cost, that wineries like this have to bear as well as the extra administration that you have with the workers, but I I suppose on the on the other side, it's it does help the local economy. We help a lot, the local economy, not only with, our direct work in our single vineyard, but, there's the the winery, you know, Nagory that is an historical winery of, of the valley founded in, eighteen, ninety seven also has a great relationship with a lot of farmers of the era. We manage grape, grapes that we buy from more than two hundred families in the area. So for us, it's also a a big, a big responsibility. Sure. Okay. So if I'm drinking one of your Nebula wines, could you just say the name again? The local term for Nebula? Right. Okay. If I'm drinking one of them, what is the typical dish locally that you would drink that with? We are in the heart of the mountain. So the very typical, food, Italian food of the Alps, typically our food very, very rich. Most of the time made with cheese butter, the most well known, dish known, in all the world, the name is Pizzockery. Pizzock that is made with a lot with a with a pasta with a special pasta made, with also a lot of butter, a lot of, cazera cheese, that is a typical cheese of the of the area. Is it a cow cowbell? Or it's car with a little percentage of sheep. Five. Pit porkery. Pizzaockery. Pizzaockery. So that's the cheese. Pizza is the pasta with cheese. And what is the cheese called? Casera. Casera. Because we have all another very important cheese in the area that is bito. But bito is a cheese that is very rich of taste. And, in the typical dish of of pizzoccari, the taste of the cheese must be well balanced. So they prefer to use the casserole instead of the bito. That is really very strong. So is that is that like a Sunday lunch meal, or is it something that people would eat on a Monday night or on a Tuesday night or just at lunchtime? You know, in the past, was that the everyday food. So calories, scandalous because, in the summer, you know, we have a place where we call in Fairno. Right. It's very hot. Very hot. So, but in the winter, you have not to forget that we have all around mountains of, three, four thousand meters with a lot of glaciers. So during the winter, the the the cold is so strong. So how much of your or how much of the wine from the estate is sold locally? I mean, like, it really in in your in your area and how much is sold in the of italy or an or exported? The local market is very important for us. Very important also because, the the quantity of tourists in the area is, huge. It's huge, not only for the wine and for the food, but also because the Valtelina is a very popular place for skiing. Bormio, Lavinia are the main places, and, we hope to have the, the next winter Olympics. So there is really a huge quantity of people that, arrive in in Valtelina. And, the local market for this reason is very strong for us. Italy is the same, also very important. We sell, only thirty percent outside of, of Italy. Most sold in the USA, but also in the North of Europe. You mentioned the Nebula in the special neighborhood has what other wines do you make? No. We do on and on in the Biola. Okay. So what are that? I don't know what denominations I see. But we we do a couple of wine with Nebula. We do a wine made, with a regular harvest, and another wine that is made, the name is Fursat, particularly our most famous Fursa is for the name. That is five stars. That is made, picking the grape, drying, putting the grape inside of little boxes. The little boxes are, put it inside of Fruttaio. That is a little house inside of the of the vineyard. In this house, the the grape picked in little boxes, stay for almost one hundred days. During this one hundred days, we dry and we lose percent of the weight. The final result is a grape, very concentrated, very rich of sugar, with a very particular taste. So a wine that, is made with the same style of a marrone, but, with a different grape, like, Nebula, and thanks to the very local, wind that dry very slowly, the, the grape, the wine, the finer wine is wine very rich of taste with a lot of minerality and with a great balance of acidity. And is it a sweet at all, but as well? It's not sweet is, is round soft, but not sweet. What's the name of that drying wind? What's it called? There is the, Breva. Breva. Okay. So you talked about the, the, you you put these grapes in these, little houses in the video, but they in the walls, there are holes through so the air air can pass through. What about the local winds? Do they? Yeah. Yeah. We we have a very particular wind, the blow, from, the lake of como, and the name is La Breva. Every, every early afternoon, it start to blow and help a lot in the drying of the grapes. The dryer. So what would you drink that dried grape wine with cheese? Cheese and, meat, a lot we use a lot of game because, in the mountain, we have a lot of wild animals. Touches. White bora is the most popular. Tourists. Tourists. Sometimes. Yes. Especially from abroad, obviously, not the Italians. Yeah. The British. You wanna be careful of that. Absolutely. But let me start the best. Yeah. It's a little bit fascinating. We we love the taste of British. So I just wanna say thanks to my guest today, the Nino Drocco, who is, the direct to the cantina of the Nino negra winery winery in. You gotta just say that region again. I've got pronouncements. In Baltelina. Okay. In the lombardy Lombardia in the north of Italy, one wonderful place, place that you have to visit. So, basically, you're gonna get Nebbiolo, you're gonna get some funkee cheeses, terrace vineyards, try Great wines, wild game, and what else have we missed? That's about it. And good cheese, yes. And good cheese. So my job with the, tourist board starts on Monday. So, hopefully, they'll, keep me employed for a while. Okay. Well, it's just been really nice to talk to you. You've explained very clearly, what you guys are doing there. And, you know, it is owned by a big company group, but it seems like it's kinda quite an artisanal estate. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. To work in the meantime, means, the only possibility is to work to work in a verity general way. So, you seem to be very happy in your job though. When you talk about it, you really seem like you enjoy going to work. I know there are challenges about all the manual labor that you have, but you do seem to really love the place you're in. Am I correct? I I have to say the truth. I come from Vermont, but I fell in love with this place because it's really unique. People, the place, the vineyard, and to have the ability to make a gray, great wine in a very fantastic place. Tanino, thank you very much for talking us today. Thank you to you. The Nino Negriya state. It's been a very long day. I I feel like I climbed up the Alps with you, the mountains, but I wouldn't last two minutes. You know, if I I'm tired after one podcast. I need I need I need to move here to the gym a bit more. Or spend a couple of weeks on those services. Great. Okay. Nice. We need help. Yeah. Yeah. I I need help as well. Nice to meet you. Okay. Take it easy. This podcast has been brought to you by Native Grape Odyssey, discovering the true essence of high quality 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.