Ep. 1796 Giulia Stocchetti Interviews Gloria Dal Bosco | The Next Generation

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. Ben Venuti. Welcome to the next generation with me, your host, Julia Stochettie. Join me as I take you on a journey to discover young stars of the Italian food and wine world, Branti andiamo. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the next generation with me, Julia Souchetti. So today, I'm taking you to the Venetor region. In the province of verona. More precisely, we are in Soave. Soave, it's a wine region, a white wine region, actually, and here is located Lebakticelli winery. That's a family run business. In here, we don't have only outstanding whites, but also really good food to pair with them, like, La Zaniacui Busy with radicchio, coninges like the rabbit, And then we get to have risotto, agswade, and rosemary, polenta, and liver tripe that are basically of holes. Those are among the best dishes you can have typical from the area. There will be also a feature dish, but our interviewee today, Gloria, my guest, will tell us more about that later. So le batisteile winery comes from the passion for the Viticulture of the Dalbosco's family. Twenty years ago, Jimino and Christina, the founders, stopped selling the grapes to the local cooperative to create their own interpretation of Soave classical. Today, with Andrea and Gloria, the sons, they enlarged the production with several kinds of Swadde Classic, producing up to eighty thousand bottles a year. In Brranio Ligo, the little village in the heart of Swale Classicico, where they are located, they own twelve hectares of vineyards where they grow their gardenaga grapes. Here, the soil is of a volcanic origin, and the Viticulture is extreme, steep hills and dry stony walls. Wow. So let me introduce to you Gloria without losing time because I'm really eager to listen to her. Talking about her winery and the difficulty they actually practice. Hello, everyone. Thank you, Julia, for the great presentation. I'm Gloria from the Delbosco family. I'm twenty seven years old. And together with my parents and my big brother, we are Levatista Le winery. As a family business, we are all multitasking. So everyone is able to switch each other. In my case, it's always difficult to present a specific positional role. If you come, you can find me in home, in winery, or in the vineyards, or sometimes you don't even find us at home since it's always us, for traveling, in events, or doing some wine fairs. Oh, wow. So you are really a multitasking person. I mean, you do a lot of stuff for the winery in terms of, promotion, winemaking, working in the vineyards. So, well, your life must be pretty intense. Yes. We are always, very busy since doing the hard work, and then the, commercial work is very intense. By the way, since ever, both my brother and me have always been involved in the wine world. And luckily, we're passionate about it. So there is no a date of arriving or starting working. We both became very young Sommelier for passion and studied also for wine tourism since we really believe in it. We come from a very little village. So it's not very easy and popular as a destination. Oh, wow. So, basically, you were both born under a vine, I would say. And you cultivated your big passion, making it your life more than your job, I guess. Because for you, as part of your life, is your life itself making wines and taking care of the vineyards and promoting it. Right? Yes. It's a lifestyle. It's a soave lifestyle. Oh, wow. I love it. I love your soave lifestyle. Cool. So, Gloria, tell me how does it feel like being a young player on the Italian Weinstein? I mean, you're just twenty seven years old, and you're doing so many things. That's amazing. Well, that's a good question. Sometimes it's easier because young people is technology and more smart in organization and communication. So we are on advantage, compared to our parents. But sometimes it's more difficult. So for me as a young girl, it's always difficult to let people trust you. And at least, you know, in Italy, everyone trusts the old one. So if you are in two people and one is young and one is older, usually, you trust always the old one. So it's, always a matter of showing that you are passionate, that you know what you are saying So also a lot of a direct experience in the vineyards or in the winery really helps me and also my brother to share our world. That is very little in the Venital region because the Slav is a very, very little land that sometimes it's not very known everywhere, or maybe people have an idea, but not the same as the reality is of the, as you said before, the extreme Viticulture and handwork that is behind. Oh, yeah. Because basically in Swave, there are lots of producers lots of family run businesses, and these small realities sometimes don't get to have the right place on the big scene of the international line world. So maybe they know the Cantina Dsoave or like really big realities. But they miss the pearls, the small producers that actually are still working really hard to get to be known and to get their wines be appreciated on the international tables. Yes. I completely agree. So Abe is now made by so many little wineries and family wineries that is one of the most important values and something that distinguish Italy around the big wine world business. Yeah. I agree with you. I like your point of view. We are on the same page. It's cool. But please, I mean, I'm so curious about this heroic Viticulture in Saab. Can you please tell us something more about that? For sure. It's something not very usual. So, well, talking about geography, we are on a very hidden place, BReniligo, that is a small village of Monteforte Humlet in the Verona province. Talking about the wine, we are in the heart of Swave classical region. And here, we practice the heroic Viticulture. What does it mean? Extreme Viticulture. So a Viticulture where it is very difficult to work for several reasons. First of all, we are certified extreme Viticulture by Chevin, that is an international organism that is based in validosta, and we recognize several kinds of extremitic culture, such as, high mountain, so high altitude, divine growing, or very steep hills, dry stone hills, or a little island. In our case, heroic Viticulture because we are working on very steep hills with terraces. So dry stone walls. The steepness is sometimes more than fifty percent. So difficult also to stay up on your feet. Oh, wow. And terraces are not like the stairs, so we can maybe compare it to to AdiJ. You have the stair where you are steep, but at least you can walk in the middle. In Slavic classical, steep hills means that you have the terrace just in the middle from a vine to another. So very vertical and only fit work. Oh, wow. Sounds like acrobatic Viticulture. Yes. I don't know if I only explained good, but, Yes. Very acrobatic. One of the vineyards that are certified are Baticelli that also gives the name to our winery and the Rocco del Durlo. One of the elements of the heroic Viticulture is also linked to historic vineyard explication. So what do I mean? We have some elements inside the vineyards that let the vineyard be extreme, but also as a sign of the history. Let me explain better. We have, for example, very old vines of more than one hundred years old, still alive. So we are taking care of old vines with the old technique of, agronomic, use. So that's why we are preserving steep hills and terraces. Since nowadays, everyone is, well, changing and letting the work easier using more changes in the landscape. But we are preserving as it is since many, many, many generation. At least, we are speaking about, our family. That is the Del Bosco family. We found the documents from sixteen forty four of Sakripante Del Bosco. That is one of our ancestors. That was living in Broniligo, so the same village where we are living now, and was paying the rent for working the Garganaga grapes. So imagine. Oh, it's a lot of history. I mean, you're a keepers of part of the soave wine history and Viticultural history. That's amazing. Coming back to America, when Italy international academy, the ultimate Italian wine qualification will be held in New York City from four to six March twenty twenty four. Have you got what it takes to become the next Italian wine ambassador? Find out at ben Italy dot com. Always not very easy, but we are trying to do our best to preserve the area and the biodiversity we have, and everything that is original and our talk to now, talking always about the Garganaga grapes. Sir. Yeah. Because, basically, your server is made only with Garganaga. Right? You don't use other grape varieties. Exactly. Only Garganaga and also mainly in whole bernoulligo, you will only find the Gardenaga. Let's say that usually Trebiano D'soave, we find it more in soave area. So in the West part of the denomination. Oh, interesting. Yeah. This is very hidden place. So we can say that also the commercial grapes or vine varieties didn't arrive in the hidden place of soave. So they preserve the, and now we can also feel lucky about it. Oh, yeah. Of course. I mean, you're the keepers of part of the history. So you still grow indigenous varieties and, I mean, the Garganaga specifically. That's maybe why your wines are so distinctive because I have to say it. I drink a lot of your wines. Oh, and I just and and I just love them. And I'm so happy so to be here today interviewing you because I think that people must know also your story, who you are, and the amazing work you're doing in Broniligo in this hidden pearl of the classical area talking about soave wine regions. I remember that you have also a really stunning spot on the hills. That's called where you also held some wine tastings. Right? And you let people also try your other specialty like your extra virgin olive oil. Right? For sure. Yes. As we said before, it's one of our wine label. The name of the label comes from the name of the place. So imagine that Rockro del Dorlo is, the top of an ancient volcano. We didn't talk about the volcanic soil we have here, but, It's one of the volcanic area of Italy. So here we are on a very particular kind of subsoil. Atracholodendurlo, we try to let people know soave in three hundred and sixty degrees. So, usually, we visit the vineyard that is an extreme Viticulture vineyard with the volcanic soil. So walking inside the vineyards and feeling the emotion of walking in inside old wines of more than one hundred years old vineyards, and then also tasting the wines that it's one of the most important things. Oh, yeah. So first, they work out in the vineyard, walking through the steep slopes, and then they sit down and enjoy the fruit of the land. They need to lose some energy. You wanna make them hungry and thirsty? Of course. Yes. The expectation then becomes high. So food and wine pairing then to pair with some local food, like, Pandiscoto and Supressa. That is, a very typical breakfast of the agricultural people from here. And then, tasting some artisanal bread with olive oil since, so are the classic or is also an area of olive oil production. So we have the Grignano variety, but it's another outtactional variety of olive oil trees. And I ensure you the taste is very singular because this variety has a very low yield. So we are around from eight to twelve percent. So imagine one hundred kilos of olives, mince, if you are lucky, ten liters of olive oil. Oh my god. So, like, how much olive oil do you produce a year? Like, how many bottles or how many liters being the yield? So so tiny. Not a lot. Always according to the season because olive oil trees are very particular, they don't want to produce every year. So we try to do as much as we can always, but we are around, three hundred bottles maybe. So it's a very limited Oh, wow. It's something super special and unique. Yes. Mainly it's for us and for wine tastings. Oh, that's amazing. So I'm talking about, like, also some food and wine pairing. Talking about young people, what are the under thirties eating and drinking according to you? Like, what wines do they prefer? What foods are they most curious about? What do you think about that? Well, I would say my experience, I'm around this age. So also seeing my friends or people that I know around here, always now looking for something homemade or artisanal what do I mean? Usually, people now can find everything. So you can find the fantastic gourmet cuisine, but also the artisanal tarteria. So everyone is able to choose everything nowadays. And the trend now is to discover also the beginning of the food. So let me explain that, the mom that cooks for you something special, something of the season using only the food that is growing in this period instead of using food that is not the seasonal moment. And about the wine, I would say that people is trying to know what they have first locally and then also to try something far away from them. For example, we are in Monte Forta del Pona. So how many wines do we have? Well, mainly white wine so everyone knows soave, but for a lot of time, young people were drinking everything, but not soave. Oh my god. Sounds like a joke. Yes. It's something you have closed to your door. So usually you don't drink it, but now they are coming back. Also, with Dorello, for example, or something that is around us. So, basically, young people are experimenting, but also, like, discovering or better rediscovering their roots with and homemade food. And that's really interesting. Yes. I think that, everyone is now trying to know also what they have behind them. And it's very, very interesting because in Italy, we are so full of things to taste of food and wine outactional from the specific region. And the same is the suave class decoder. There are so many interpretation of suave. And then, of course, everyone has their own philosophy. And for us, the philosophy is trying to let people know how Gerganiga reflects the taste and its own characteristics his own elegance also because Garganaga is very elegant. No trials are not aromatic, great variety, can express, young wines, but also old wines. So you can pair with, I can say all kind of food from light food, aperitiv, first dishes, first courses, but also some meat or pasta with meat, many, many kind, not difficult to prepare at all. Oh, wow. Sounds delicious and really interesting, especially when you want to prepare some food with some wine. Sounds like if you go for a You always go for the best partner in crime you can have to pair food and wine on your table. I'm curious about one thing, Gloria. Let me ask you, what do you drink? Well, usually, I try to drink something outside Swave, but well, no. I really love Swave. Swave classico in particular because it has very elegance, but not only, of course. So speaking about, sparkling, I would say, it's really, really interesting, and also not very known, like, so And then white wines, really enjoy all white wines, so speaking of a custardza, soave or wines from North of Italy, especially white wines, but also from the island, like, Sicily, Aetna, or, Vermont from Sardinia. I really enjoy all the landscape of white wines about the red, more difficult because, it not my main focus, but I really enjoy. You're a bongo style. Yeah. Yeah. Alright. So talking about soave, and remind me just soave is made steel and also sparkling. Right? Yes. And also sweet. So in a lot of different versions, basically, but all whites. Right? All whites. Only whites. Okay. So just a reminder, also, for our listeners, what trend do you see in the suave scene in the future? Well, more difficult than before. I'm only a very little winery, so this is my impression and my point of view. But As you said, there is also a sparkling of soave that is called the soave Pumante doc. This d o c is not very known. There is not so much advertising about it, but in our winery, we produce one. So I have a sparkling because, Gorganica, it's one of these vine varieties that are very good for each kind of use. Nowadays, everything is made sparkling. So we are in Veneto, you know, the most famous sparkling, what is, and it's very difficult to let people understand that there are many kind of other autocturnal varieties, and everyone is very different from each other. So we should give more value about the still wine. Well, so it's very, very known. And I would say all around the world, everyone has at least here once in their life, the word, suave. And about the sweet wines, very, very interesting. Because here in our little village, we have, a little not fair, but like a festival of the bin san to depronoligo that is a sweet wine that is not made like the ricciotto that has the docG in Swave, but was the sweet wine of the families, so made a at home for the home use, for the family for special appointments or for marriage or for for weddings or particular happenings of the life. And we are still producing two kind of sweet wine. One is the traditional Dincanto depronoligo that we should not call like that, because there is no the DOC, unfortunately, so we have to call it EGT. But the technique is the same. So consider harvesting the grapes, from the oldest vines, selecting hand one by one. And then putting on the boxes or at the beginning, My grandparents used to put them on the roof, like the Picayah technique. The name is Vincent. So it means it was squeezed on the holy week of Easter. Nowadays is no more like that because in the past, the harvest was not like that. Like now at middle of September was in November. So the week of Easter was more common for the squeeze time. Now it's before, but the name is always the same. And then pressed with the hand pressed and then fermentation and aging in the glass Domigianas. Oh, no way. But come on. Tell us when's the festival. We want to come to Bruno legal for the festival to the cover this ambrosia. I mean, this nectar you make, your Vincanto. Well, it should be around beginning of June. Usually, it's the first week. By the way, consider it's nowadays, only two wineries in soave produce this bean santo. So there are not so many. It's not very easy to find it, but always interesting trying to look for. Okay. So for those who are not able to attend the festival, the Vincento Festival in Bronioligo, the first week of June. Just please feel free to contact Gloria and reach out to her and to her winery to taste some of this precious liquid. Sure. I will be available. Oh, cool. Oh my god. One more thing I really wanted to ask you. Actually, I didn't want to ask you, but I really want to congratulate for your also twenty twenty four. I mean, you're so young and you're awarded this incredible prize. I mean, how does it feel like? What wine, did receive the of yours? Oh, thank you so much. It's a team achievement, of course, because it's the work that my parents started twenty years ago, always looking for the quality and not the quantity. So receiving the free glasses from Gabriel so that is one of the most important achievement in the wine world has been very satisfactory and we feel so proud of our heels of our wines and of our landscape. First of all, it's something that helps you to find always a reason why you work on these very difficult conditions. So this make us feel the heroic bit culture less difficult. So it's well deserved, really, congratulation to you and to the whole family, really. Thank you so much. Yeah. By the way, I didn't answer about the wine. The wine that achieved this, award is Batiste. Oh, okay. Wow. So the one named after your winery and your land, basically. That's amazing. Yes. Our heart wine. Okay. Well done. I guess it's time to recap this episode with five things in five minutes. So gloria, where are we? Well, we are on Swadde Clastico volcanic hills. What's the vibe? Extreme Viticulture, I would say. And what's the fitter dish? Well, supre san Pambizco. Ensure the wine pairing. Baticele for sure. Okay. And identify one major trend in your industry and how you're addressing this trend? Well, I would say dry white wine since people is looking for something easy to drink and for everyone. Okay. Alright. So, Gloria, thank you so very much for being with us today. It was really my pleasure to have you as cast on the next generation Italian wine podcast. Thank you so much for inviting us and for letting people listen to our family. Alright. Have a good day, Gloria. Bye bye. Grazier for being with me today and listening to the next generation on the Italian wine podcast. A la prosima Chinchin.