Ep. 616 Francesca Massone | Voices

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Welcome to the Italian wine podcast with me Rebecca Lawrence. Today, I'm joined by Franchesca Masone to talk about a special collaborative project that aims to combine the beautiful art of wine making and that of ballet. Welcome to the podcast Franchesca. Thank you very much for having me. Lovely to be here. So I was hoping I could start by asking you to introduce yourself to our listeners and tell them a little bit about, your winery in Montarato. Yes. Sure. So, well, my name is Franchesca Massones, you said. And, together with my brother, Philipberto, we own, the winery Marques in Chiza dela, okay, Tim Piedmont. So I'm sure your listeners might know the name, Either either either because they know us in Capemont, or maybe they know, our famous cousin in Tuscany, but I should tell you that the Inchiza family is actually from Petmont. And, when, the estate that belonged to the family and that has for centuries, has had vineyards in Petmont, has always been, cultivated by the family. Now at the, generation of my grandfather, there were, three men in the family. And, my grandfather stayed in Petman around the estate while his brother mario married, a fantasy in Tuscany and moved to Bulgaria, and there is, where he founded the Saskicaiah. But the origins of the winemaking are very much from Piedmont. And he what he brought to Tuscany was his experience from the family in Chiza that has cultivated the vineyards in Piedmont really for centuries. So from our side of the family, we have continued this tradition after my grandfather was our mother, Barbara, and she very much, spent, the last twenty years of her life investing again in the vineyards and moving the sellers from, the family castle. To family farmhouse that she completely renovated, but it was much more suitable for more than, winemaking. So this is where we are now in the core or in the center of the village of Rosetta Tamaro, which is a small village in the Montrato Hills of Vermont. It's a tiny charming little village, but it's very famous for producing some of the best, barbera's Barbera Dasti in in Italy. So our terroir is particularly good for barberas. And also for, Grenolino, we are well known for that. And, you know, our vineyards are, some of them are almost seventy years old. We have another plot that is fifty years old, and we keep, you know, we keep him going. We keep investing. And, looking, to the future in our aim of producing a small quantitative of, high quality wines. So speaking of being innovative and looking towards the future, I'd like to use our conversation today to talk about your recent project, a collaboration between yourselves and the Royal Opera House in London. So I wondered if you could talk about how you first started considering this partnership, how it came about. Sure. So I should say that, you know, we we are the new generation and, you know, after, particularly in my case, many years of working in finance, I've now you know, I'm now devoting completely myself to the winery with my with my brother. I traveled the world. I I lived twenty years in, England, and, and then I moved to Asia. So last year in the it was March two thousand and twenty. And, you know, I was in Italy because I was working at the winery. It was dramatic time for Italy where, you know, the the the pandemic really was, creating massive chaos in the north, of Italy where we are based But at the same time, I was in contact with some of our, best clients that regularly come and visit us at the winery. And one of these, close friend now, as a client has been visiting us for many years, is a former dancer of the Royal Royal Valle, a former member of the Royal Upper House. His name is Ross McGibbon. He's now a sixty years old gentleman, obviously, he doesn't dance anymore. But he's still very much connected to the Royal Opera House. And I was talking to him, and he was describing to me this, you know, sense of, complete loss and, a panic because I had to close the theater and the theater needs people attending their performances to survive. So, you know, when you are told, in a couple of days, you have to close the doors and everybody's sent home and you're only entire season is canceled. And, you know, he was describing how covent garden in London was completely empty. There was a sense of desolation. You know, I really filed for them. And, I, you know, I know how much I love, going to the Royal Upper House. I personally go every time that, you know, I find myself in London. And, I I was very touched by this story. And then, I started thinking, at that moment, you know, maybe we should do something in collaboration with the teacher. And then I saw a couple of days later, I called him back and I proposed the idea to him. I said, look, what about if we create a special label? And we with the royal opera house, and we offer some of the proceeds to the sale of the wine to, the theater in support of, their arts and their artist. So he, introduced us basically to the Royal Upper House, and he was obviously a very long negotiation because it's such high profile, theessa, he actually took a long time. And then there was the designing of the label and the the whole process, started at that moment. So I wondered, can you tell us, sir, which wine was chosen for the partnership? And maybe I know you have some ideas about the connections you see between wine and ballet, these these kind of two great arts that have come together in this wine that you've made. Absolutely. So, I mean, of course, you know, we we with with the partners, such prestigious levels that we could only offer the the the best of the best of what what we make. And the best of the the best of what we produce is which is, you know, pure barbera, aged in barracks for a minimum of eighteen months. It's, a wine with gray structure and elegance And so it's the one that we propose to them. And also it's the one that can age very well easily fifteen, twenty years. So we thought that for for this project was definitively the the the most suited wine that we could offer. We also wanted to produce some, really beautiful packaging, that, you know, we designed that together with the Royal Upper House. And, and only a a one of the, stage you could could take it. So we we very much, from the very beginning, we thought it has to be the Santemigiana is the only thing that we can offer. For this project. And you talk about the importance of the packaging. As I understand it, the label for the wine was actually designed by a first artist of the Royal Valley, Ashley Dean. Can you talk a little bit about how the process worked and the collaboration with Ashley? Yes. Absolutely. So from the very beginning, I thought we need to have, a picture of a dancer, or some dance impose or something on the label. Right? Not only because it would be quite unique coming. Honestly, I have I haven't seen in my life that many labels with a dancing pose of it, but also, obviously, because of the connection with the thieves and the royal opera house and the royal balance. So I I started inquiring with them. And from the beginning, they said, look, we have an idea. So we have this, young dancer, Ashley Dean, and she's not only an amazing dancer, but she's also a, fantastic artist and she produces a beautiful line drawing that are very, very elegant. And we would like you to introduce her to you and see whether, you know, you can commission a piece of, art to her for the label. So they put that in in touch, obviously. I, you know, I've only met, actually, via Zoom. A few times, and now we'd be on Instagram, but it said that, you know, with all these lockdowns and restriction, every all this negotiation had to be done remotely. But she produced two designs, and I had to choose one. And I think what she produced was absolutely stunning, and it goes beautifully for the label. Our labels have Well, the entire, production of our wines has labels that, are very classic, you know, when my mother was adamant in, you know, in the in She's a family. We had to have a classic label and that this one suits the heritage, this this artwork that, actually produced suits the heritage of our winery beautifully. It is a simple design. We chose the the colors, red and gold because are the colors that are on the curtains of the stage of the Royal Opera House. And, it was, really, to represent this partnership between, our small boutique winery in the, you know, center of Petmont and this massive, very important theater in the in the center of London. I have to say the design is absolutely beautiful and and really captures the the elegance of ballet and dance, but also the elegance and and but also power of the wine. So I think it's been a really nice collaboration to to bring those two things together and show it so clearly on the label. Yes. Thank you. And I, you know, I feel that there is a lot in common before between the the ballot and the winemaking. Right? It's like like all these dances, they invest years and years of their work and life effort into these arts, taking massive risks because, you know, you anything. You know, sometimes things go wrong. They they get injured or, you know, I then it comes along and they are, you know, they cannot perform for a year. Essentially, it's literally a year that the the theater had to close. And they, you know, they they couldn't, perform to live members of the public. So, at the same kind of risk that we take in Waimeki, you know, you cultivate your vineyards beautifully, everything. Is going fantastically and then, you know, some hailstorms or, you know, the the frosting winter. I mean, you always have these these risks that are it's so hard to control and particularly for someone like me that comes from a finance background for the first first twenty years of my my careers, to to see now in agriculture, the sort of risks that we take, and we cannot control, basically. It it's something that I I am very passionate about. And I I, you know, I'm terrified about it because I know how much we invest in terms of effort in terms of you know, money that we have to put into each year that we we cultivate our vineyards with so much pressure. We produce the wines, the winery. And, you know, some of these risk you cannot control them or you do your best. Of course, we all try to to manage, using all the the the things that we possibly can, but there are certain things like the web that we cannot control. So I very much sympathize for the aspect with the ballet, but then then the other element is really the elegance of the wine and the fact that it's well balanced. The same is in ballet, you know, you have this, this, dancers that, produce something that for the spectators, it looks incredibly light and elegant. They do these marvelous jumps, that look so easy, but the truth is that, you know, to produce something like that and to make it look easy. You have to have worked for many, many, many years. And, you know, it's really a fantastic art. The same is with winemaking. You know, we have a grape, like, barbera that sometimes well, without sometimes it is. It can be a difficult grape. It can be a very vigorous grapes. And you have to tame it. You have to turn it into something that can be so beautifully balanced and elegant, and they can give you a very elegant wine. So, you know, I see a lot of similarities there. I think that's a really beautiful comparison because I completely agree that dance at its best, wine at its best seems effortless to the person watching or consuming. But behind all of that, there's so much work, there's so much time, there's training, there's all the work in the vineyard, and yet you get this beautiful result that looks so easy. So I think that's a perfect comparison. So, obviously, you chose a British institution, the Royal Valet, Royal Opera House, because of this lifelong connection with a with a client and a friend. I wondered if you saw this as the first of many potential partnerships or perhaps something that the wine world can do more this collaboration with with other arts. Yes. Very much so. Look, for us, you know, this effort for for a small boutique winery like us, it was, you know, a major a major project that we were very happy to take on. And a and a honor to take on. But, you know, we couldn't spread this effort toward the theaters in in the in the in the world. I mean, it's not certainly something that we can possibly do. But I sincerely hope that there there are more, projects like this to come along because, look, the arts were really very, very badly affected by the pandemic. You know, we we as a winery, also because not only we produce wine, but we have a very strong tourism, presence. You know, we we have a bed and breakfast. We we provide the wine tasting. So and all that last year was very, very tough. It came back a little bit in the summer, but nothing to what we are supposed. We usually we the level we usually worked on. But for the for the arts, you know, this sector was really, exactly affected. Completely, you know. It was a massive, massive damage that was done to the sector. So I it will be fantastic if other winery is a CD, as an example, and the the stepping to support, other theaters, you know, there are some marvelous theaters all over the world, some other, if not, just theaters, but other art projects. And I think these partnerships are fantastic because, you know, when the truth is that more and more life has changed with this pandemic, and more and more people are, maybe unable to go and, see these performances by in person, but we are all watching them more online now. So we are definitely more at home. And, so why not having also a bottle of wine that, you know, support your favorite, theater? While you're watching one of their performances at home, you know, you can drink glass of wine with friends and still support your theater. So I think these are beautiful concepts, of and also you know, what I think is called social enterprise. He's trying to find ways with your own business to help in other aspects of, society. And, for us, both for my brother and I, this definitely become very important. It's something we definitely want to do. And we have decided that, you know, if we manage to place our Sante Mediano wine as a representation of, the arts, we really have, achieved something. If people, when they want to think of a wine, I think the, the arts, they think about our label, in our wine, I think, you know, we have achieved, something very important for, for, as a project. I think it's a really exciting project. And like you say, I really hope that There's more interaction between the different arts, the art of winemaking, and then dance, music, culture in general. I think it's a really lovely idea to have different aspects of our cultural lives coming together to support each other during the pandemic. Before we go, I'd I have to ask you because things are beginning to open up a little bit, and I wondered if there is a ballet or a piece of theater in particular that you would love to be able to see next time you're in London at the Royal Upper House. Oh, yes. Definitely. I mean, I've I've got my favorites and I have to admit that, you know, my a little bit like our labels that are very classic. You know, my taste in ball is very classic. And I I and I like I like the, you know, the mass classic masterpieces. But I I am very much looking forward to watch Gain Swan Lake because, you know, the video that we produce to represent this project was filmed both the winery and at the Royal Upper House, when the theater was completely shut down. And, there are these images in the videos that we have produced and that they are on our YouTube channel. Of, Ashley Dean, the the the the dancer that has also designed the label that she's dancing, swan lake, by herself in the completely empty theater. And I think that there are such strong images that they really, really express a lot of the feelings that were going through all of us in the past few months, when, things were really, very tough. I hope these dark moments are over, and we can all move forward. But for me, those images will always represent something very, very meaningful. So, yes, in my case, it's definitely swollen, and, you know, I can wait to go back and see also actually in person dancing on that beautiful stage. I really hope that it won't be too long before you will be there toasting Ashley with a glass of this beautiful wine. Francesca, thank you so much for joining me on the Italian wine podcast today to share this conversation. Where can our listeners find you and the wine online or on social media? Yes. Oh, thank you for having me. First of all, and then, yes, of course, you know, the the wine, I should say, is, we sell it directly from our, website. So from the winery, we sell it, on our website, which is www. Marques in cheese wines dot it. So that's the first place. Then we have all our social media, Instagram, and Facebook. Again, it's Marcus and Chiza wines. We are about to, also close a, collaboration with a very kind, importer, that is wants to support our initiative in the UK. And we will bring some physical stock of the wines to the UK so as to reduce, shipping costs. Because, unfortunately, with Brexit, shipping small, amount of wines has become very, very expensive. So we will move some stock to the UK and have it in the UK so that we reduce, shipping costs. But, otherwise, for the rest of, the world, we definitely ship directly from the winery in Italy, we deliver for free. And the one, and the the wine is, available there. And all the information on, of course, on our channels. And, we hope to continue to get some, really positive feedback from all the people that are following us on Instagram Facebook or even Twitter again. And the, in case of Twitter is the inches of wines. So we're all the you know, talking to our friends and keeping in touch with all the people that follow us. I really recommend to our listeners as well that they check out the YouTube channel where you can see the video, about the wine and see Ashley Dean dancing because it's incredibly beautiful. Thank you. Thank you everyone for listening. Don't forget to follow us on social media. Subscribe and of course donate on the website to make sure we can keep these great conversations flowing. Listen to the Italian wine podcast wherever you ear podcasts. We're on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, HimalIFM, and more. Don't forget to subscribe and rate the show. If you enjoy listening, please consider donating through Italianline podcast dot com. Any amount helps cover equipment, production, and publication costs. Until next time.