Ep. 1344 Cristina Ziliani | Voices With Cynthia Chaplin

By now, you've all heard of Italian wine Unplugged two point o. The latest book published by Mamma jumbo shrimp. It's more than just another wine book. Fully updated second edition was inspired by students of the Vin Italy International Academy and painstakingly reviewed and revised by an expert panel of certified Italian wine ambassadors from across the globe. The book also includes an addition by professor Atilio Shenza. Italy's leading vine geneticist. The benchmark producers feature is a particularly important aspect of this revised edition. The selection makes it easier for our readers to get their hands on a bottle of wine that truly represents a particular grape or region to pick up a copy, just head to Amazon dot com, or visit us at mama jumbo shrimp dot com. Welcome to the Italian wine podcast. I'm Cynthia Chaplin this is voices. Every Wednesday, I will be sharing conversations with international wine industry professionals discussing issues in diversity, equity, and inclusion through their personal experiences, working in the field of wine. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and rate our show wherever you get your pods. Hello, and welcome to voices. This is Cynthia Chaplin. And today, I am honored to have Christina Zileani with me. Christina is, with her brothers in charge of the wonderful Cantina Berlucci in Franca Corta. Where her father, Franco Zilliani, got together with Guido Berluchy, and the two of them invented the Francacorta style of wine. So it truly is my honor and my pleasure to have Christina here with me today. So welcome. Thank you. I'm very happy to be here. And, my congratulations for the word perfect, the perfect pronunciation for Franca Corta. That is not very easy to say. Thank you. I think I would be fired from my job as an Italian wine ambassador if I couldn't say Francacorte. Well, we had a wonderful, wonderful week here, we had our Vinitally International Academy students, taking our Italian wine Ambassador course, and Christina very kindly invited all of us to bear lukey one evening for a private tour and a fantastic tasting. And I want to thank you for that, the most generous hospitality. So Relucchi has, become an educational supporter and educational partner with the Vini to the International Academy this year, And Christina has awarded a prize to the two best overall students. We had a tie. We only expected one. So it was a a bit of a surprising moment when there were two who scored exactly the same. So, Christina, why did you decide to get involved with Vini to the International Academy? Well, because, since when it started, I thought that, it's an incredible idea to have a group of people, so in love of Italian wine, that they want to take some time from their, you say, let's say, normal life and, to dedicate their time to learn more about our wines because I say wines plural because I know that, it's not so easy to understand all the regional and local and, different wines that we have in Italy. And so it's, something that you have to really go deep into it. And, I wanted to do something to help them in bringing our passion around the world. I think it's so lovely and really important because, of course, Frenchacorta is a luxury item. It's a fine wine, and we at Via believe that Frenchacorta should be better known in the world outside of Italy. If I'm not miss taken. I remember you saying the other night that most French Accord just stays here in Italy. Oh, yes. Because, you know, Francacorta, category is, made of many, very small wineries. We are more than one hundred and twenty wineries altogether in that very small area. And, this is a richness because, each winery, each producer give so much effort in reaching a high quality. But on the same as on the other side, it's quite difficult to bring these bottles around the world because it's made of very, very little, producers. So, and, the most important part is that France Chorusa is, very famous nowadays in Italy. And so, we have to take some bottles out of this market in order to bring them, around the world. But, it's, as you said, it's a fine wine is produced in very small quantity because altogether, we produce around eighteen million bottles. And, really, it's very little for a, region. And so we have to, go to those markets that can understand what Franca Corta is, really, with people who know, and appreciate, this quality. For anyone who's listening who is not familiar with Franca Corta, It is a traditional method sparkling wine, made very much in the style of champagne, but it is located in the Lombardy region, just at the foot of Lago Dessello. So a very tiny, very beautiful area, with as Christina said, a lot of small, excellent, high quality producers, producing wines that age beautifully, that are gastronomic wines to go with food, not just a parativo, celebratory wines. So a really special category of wine. Yes. It's a we always say that we are not a sparkling wine. I knew you were gonna say that. I know. I know. No. No. I don't want to underline this. I mean, I mean that, we don't say that, we produce sparkling wine, but we produce wine with bubbles in the meaning that we give so much effort into the, draper, growing. Most of the vineyards are organic in French, and, in the pressing department because pressing is very important in order to get the best quality from the pulp of the grape. And, very long lasting. Yeah. So we have, from twenty four months from the harvest up to ten, twelve years of, aging agent. Yes. Well, in my point of view, a lot of people who listen to me regularly will know that one of my favorite, specialties in Italian wine is the Rosier wines. And so I was very happy the other night visiting Verluki to be able to taste Verluki's Roset. Tell us a little bit about it because it was really beautiful. And I know that it's a very award winning wine and the style has changed recently. Yes. We really, the loochie has a very well know how in, rose production because the first bottle was made in nineteen sixty too. So just one year after the very first bottle of furniture court ever made in Beluki seller. And, actually, we have in our lines, we have three typology of Rosay. The one that you tasted is from a line called sixty one that was, that started to be produced, about fifteen years ago, dedicated to restaurants, bar, and liquor store. And, that's a brute. Are you enjoying this podcast? Don't forget to visit our YouTube channel, mama jumbo shrimp. For fascinating videos covering Stevie Kim and her travels across Italy and beyond, meeting winemakers, eating local foods, and taking in the scenery. Now, back to the show. It's a special, Rosay because we use a lot of pinot noir. Almost seventy percent pinot noir and thirty percent chardonnay because my brother, who is the winemaker, loves to have a rose with very, person high percentage of pinot noir. And, then we have, a more national, distribution of Max Rosay, that is, an extra dry instead more for, you know, Christmas period. And, we go up to, not to Rose. So a pure pinot noir, one hundred percent. No dosage, five years on lease. That's the one that I'm gonna have to get a taste of one of these days. Actually, we will have a tasting with, alison lap you said. Oh, it's okay. The is wonderful. I just wanna make, leave this. You led me into, at VIN Italy. Coming up next week, we are very excited to have, a session that's called the iconic women in Bollegina. Yes. So it will be women producers of bubbles, as Christina said, from all over Italy. And I'm very excited that you'll be back. But let me ask you about your family because I know you work with your two brothers and it's not been that long since your father passed away. So you carry a big family legacy. How how is that for you these days, moving ahead with Barlouki, and keeping your your father's legacy with you? Well, you know, it's always very hard to be, you know, the second generation after someone who has, who has been really the iconic person in, the crazy man who decided to do something that nobody has started before. So a visionary, a pioneer in that territory. In those years in the sixties, everybody thought that he was really crazy because everybody thought that the destiny for Francacorta was to produce red wine, but my dad loved bubbles, love traditional method, love that wine that brings also joyful when you drink it, social life, as I said before, friendship, when you drink a glass of, bubbles, and, so he was so determined that he never, quit. He never stop, thinking that he was right. So to be the second generation of such a man, and really wasn't easy to be, his daughter. I can only imagine. It must have been a little tricky. Yeah. He he had a very stronger, personality, and you're the only girl. Yes. And, actually, probably I was the largest, among the three because, my brother who is the winemaker, had a very hard time with my dad because, you know, when you are successful, you think that your idea are the ones. Nobody can destroy them. But, time changed. The consumers evolved because they become a very more educate, yeah, because time changed and the consumers were more educated and they wanted to know more about, what, how the producer is working, what is the philosophy of a producer. And, so my brother changed a lot of things during, at the beginning of two thousand. And, really, it was a fight. A big fight. Every day fight with my dad. I'm always being in charge of, communication and marketing. So for me, it was easier, you know, because you stayed out of the fight. Yeah. Exactly. Very smart. Women are always smart about these things. Stay out of the fight. But we're we're here, as Christina said, bubbles are for celebrating and and friendship, and we're here, in the aftermath of our pinning ceremony because our students took their exam this morning. And Christina kindly came to award the prize to our top students. And they are, having a big party in the other room, drinking a lot of bubbles. And I just wanted to ask your impression of of Unitele International Academy. Now that you've been here and seen us, and we went to see you. How do you see Berluti moving forward with us in the future? Oh, incredible. Really, I think, when I thought I remember when I said to Stevie, I wanna be part of this incredible, new thing that you are you have created. And because I was looking for a prized entitled to my dad and I thought, oh my god, this is the perfect thing because here, you have gained people so much passionate about Italian wine Some of them are so young. I I was really impressed. And they come from this class was from twenty five countries. My goodness. So I think it was the perfect thing because my dad was twenty five when he met, Guidouberlouki, and his passion was the push, towards his dream. And I think that to give any word to these people who dedicate so much time to us is very important. We must do it. We cannot avoid doing it. Well, it is such an honor for us at Via and all of our students to have this new relationship with you. And I know that as project manager of of Via, that we're gonna have a long and wonderful association with you, and it's just been an excellent experience the past few weeks learning more about you and and having you here with us to see our academy in action and to to meet the people and be with them. So we look forward to welcoming you back all the time. Thank you so much for your hospitality and your generosity towards our go. Really thanks to all the via organization because really I was, you know, very motion in the during the the award and the pinning I think it's meaningful. I think you you're so open and kind to us, letting us see your passion. It's it's a really great opportunity for us to get closer together. So thank you so much for giving me your time. We're going back to the party now. Okay. Thank you for listening. And remember to tune in next Wednesday when I'll be chatting with another fascinating guest. Italian wine podcast is among the leading wine podcast in the world, and the only one with a daily show tune in every day and discover all our different shows. You can find us at Italian wine podcast dot com, SoundCloud, Spotify, Himalaya, or wherever you get your pods.