Ep. 1445 Francesca Seralvo | Wine, Food & Travel With Marc Millon

Hey, guys. Check out Italian wine unplugged two point o brought to you by Mama jumbo shrimp, a fully updated second edition, reviewed and revised by an expert panel of certified Italian wine ambassadors from across the globe. The book also includes an addition by professoria Atilushienza. Italy's leading vine geneticist. To pick up a copy today, just head to Amazon dot com or visit us at mama jumbo shrimp dot com. Welcome to wine food and travel. With me, Mark Millen, on Italian wine podcast. Listen in as we journey to some of Italy's most beautiful places in the company of those who know them best. The families who grow grapes and make fabulous wines. Through their stories, we'll learn not just about their wines, but also about their ways of life. The local and regional foods and specialities that pair naturally with their wines. And the most beautiful places to visit. We have a wonderful journey of discovery ahead of us, and I hope you will join me. Welcome to wine, food, and travel with me, Mark Millen, on Italian wine podcast. Today, we travel to Lombardi to the Otrepo paveze, the other side of the Po. To visit Tenuta Macholino, and to meet my guest, Franchesca Saralvo. Thank you so much for joining me today, Franchesca. How are you? Shaw Mark, thank you very much. I'm very well. And how are you? I'm very well too. The sun is shining here in England. We've been having a run of very, very good weather after a pretty miserable spring and winter. Yeah. The same as here. Yeah. Now, Franchesca, first of all, let's take our listeners to, an area some people may not know. So tell us where it is, why it's special is a as a wine region, why it's special is a place to live. So it's wine region, in Lombardy, and we are, very close to Piamonte area. So we are, same, terwar, let's say. And, exactly to to locate the area. We are, one hour south of Milan just to to to show you where, where exactly we are. And, it's a very important region, especially for pinot noir. Because after, burgundy and after Champagne, we are the third area in the world for pinot noir. Okay. Goodness me. I didn't realize that. That's incredible. And this is because French people in the eighteenth century were, very present in, and as I told you, we are very close to and they came here with the first, plant of pinot noir. And, since that time, pinot noir sets very well in the area. And so we have now more than three thousand thirds of pinot noir in the area. So we are a very, very, important area for pinot noir. Tell us a story of it's a fascinating story born out of friendship. Exactly. Yes. Because the story of the Nuta Mazzolino, with my family, starts, approximately, fifty years ago because my grandfather, he was French, and he was moved to Milan for work. And, as all the French people, he was, very passionate about wine. And, he has actually four children, and we are twelve cousins. So we are a very, very big family. And when he has been moved to Milan for work, his his goal was to, find a place, to, produce his own wine. And at the same time where he could reownated all his big family. So a big place where we could go all together. And, he found this hill, just I was I told you, one hour, south from Milan, and this little hill, everyone used to call it, the hill of Pinnomar. So he felt completely love with the the hill, with the area, and he decided to to to buy the hill where you have to imagine a hill with all the vineyard all around the hill. And on top of the hill, a house and the winery, the house and the winery was there, like, far before my grandfather arrived here. And, he bought the little hill. We have twenty hectares of vineyard, and he starts to produce his own wine in nineteen seventy, ninety eighties, let's say. So the first bottle of pinot noir, the noir as the the wine that we produced, went on the market in, nineteen eighty five. So, almost forty years ago. When my grandfather arrived at Temuta Macholino, the vineyard of pinot noir was already planted here. But in the area, as I told you, there was already a lot of pinot noir planted, but the tradition of other was to winificate this pinot noir in white, and sparkling. Okay? So, it this was not really the idea of pinot noir of my grandfather who was as I told you, it was French. So, one day, my grandfather had two very, very good friend, important friend in the world of wine because The name of this friend was Jack mongolonial, and, they told to my grandfather, listen. In this place, with this vineyard, with this terroir, with this exposure, with this soil, you'd have to vinivocate your pinot noir in red. You don't have to produce this like traditional pinot noir white sparkling that in the area people used to do. You have to produce a great pinot noir red pinot noir, like traditional burgundy pinot noir. And, my grandfather loved immediately this idea, and it was one of of the first in the area that start to produce pinot noir in red. Okay, Franchesca. That's a fascinating story. And just for our listeners who may not be familiar, Luigi Veronelli was, of course, one of Italy's greatest wine writers producing the The Verinelli Guide every year, a real expert in wine, and Giacomo baloney, of course, is great legendary winemaker in Piamonte. He was again a pioneer in winemaker. So your grandfather had very good friends who knew wine very, very well. Now Franchesca, an interesting chapter to the story is that your grandfather actually chose you to take over the company. And you were pursuing a completely different career. Did you always envisage that you would one day devote yourself to wine and to the family wine estate? I I Actually, the the story is that I would have loved to, but I was not sure that my grandfather would have choose me. Because my mother, run the the winery, the estate for twenty years, and my dream was to succeed my mother in this work. But as I told you, we are twelve cousins, and it wasn't sure that it was me, but my turn after my mother. So I study law. I became a lawyer and, after ten year of, of this kind of carrier, my grandfather called me and he says, okay. So if you want, I I choose you to go and, work in the winery. So, and I immediately changed life, and they came immediately in Matzolino. Actually, I grew up here. I used to go at the Italy fair when I was ten years old with my mother. And so it it was a little bit my my already in my life, the winery, but it was not my current job. So now everything changed Yeah. Eight years ago, I started working in Matzolino, in two thousand fifteen. So, yes, now things have changed. So in a way, Franchesca, it's now a dream for you. You've always hoped that this would happen. And now you're actually doing what you really love. Franchesca, you've assembled a really good team around you. Your wine maker, Keriacos, for example. Yes. I am very, very lucky because, Matullino is a small family. Everyone, all the people that works in Macholino, are here since thirty years, twenty five years. And so it's very, very stable team people that are really know perfectly the winery, the vineyard. And so it's very, very it has been a pleasure to to start to work with the team like that. And, why, yes, one of the most important person that Alpas in the winemaking is Kiriya Oskini Gopulos, and this is a funny story because, in nineteen ninety nine, when my grandfather, started to produce wine in nineteen eighties. Yes. And it, like, after twenty years, he decided that he wanted to to improve his pinot noir. And, he decided to to to call someone who could help him, and, reading the newspaper. He was reading the Figaro, you know, the French newspaper, and, he wrote that there. There was this, Greek technologist that was completely revolutionary in Burgundi, with a new technique, with a modern technique, and, his name was Keriacos Kinigopoulos. My grandfather decided to call him immediately. And, Keriacos was, thirty years old, very young, and now he's still, work in Masolino. He comes here every two months approximately, and he's he still continued to help us in the winemaking process. And he came here for the first time in November nineteen ninety nine. And, is a really, really important person, a key person of Messerino. Yes. I have to say that. He really respect the, the work that we do in the vineyard. So the the cultivation of the vineyard is completely organic. Now is that a decision you made? Italian wine podcast brought to you by mama jumbo shrimp. Is a decision we have always I mean, my mother used to cultivate in an organic way. What I have, accomplished in this year is the, bureaucratic certification. Because, we always manage the the vineyard in a organic way, but now we are, completely, certificate. So, it's I complete only the the the the office part, I would say, but yes. We we always have been organic. Well, let's discuss your wines, Franchesca. I had the chance to taste your flagship Nua pinotaro del Ostrepo pavese just last night. It's a wine that really lies at the soul of, isn't it. It's this expression that your grandfather wanted to produce. I thought it was a beautiful wine. It has gorgeous fruits, raspberry, strawberry, fine tannins, really lovely long and elegant finish. And as you have already talked about, I found it very burgundin and it's sleek smoothness. A beautiful expression of pinot noir from the Altripo pavese. Thank you. Yes. Yes. Nwar, it's, our, our, flagship wine, I would say. And, it came from one single vineyard that we have on top of our ill, and since ever, I mean, the noir has always, made from this vineyard. So it's very interesting also to to taste the the the past vintage. And, noir, I, as I was, saying, Keriacos really respect the work that we do in the vineyard. But when he arrived in Messilino, he, gave us some little, French tricks, I would say. So, he really, import the French tradition in the winery of Mazzolino. And, So we pick the grapes by hand, of course. We do, the alcoholic fermentation in, stainless steel tank. And then we, the noir goes in the barrique Barrick that we p s, I would say, from burgundy that we buy directly in burgundy. And, we use only twenty percent of new oak every year. And so we try to keep the fruit, the freshness, the elegance of the pinot noir. This is, a little bit our challenge and our goal. Okay. Well, I think you've done that extremely successfully. Franchesca, I love the label of noir. Tell us about who designs your label. It's a beautiful it looks like a woodcut almost a beautiful, design. Tell us about about this label and about your label designer. Yes. The label, I never never changed the labels. Since the beginning. So the the label that you can see now, it's the label from the from the the first bottle of the the the designer of the label, was the son-in-law of, Gucci Veronelli. He was a very young graphic designer at that time. His name was Versonetti. And, after the label of Maxilino, he designed a lot of label in Italy of the most important winery you can imagine. The things that have changed in Mazzolino was the bottle because at the beginning, my grandfather used to bottle the pinot noir in, a bottle, a bottle, a bottle, a bottle. And when Kerrios arrived in nineteen ninety nine, he says, I never see a pin on wire in the bottle. So just change the bottle immediately and put a, a a bottle. Let's say. So the label never changed, but the bottle changed at some point. Okay. So this link with burgundy is still very strong. And I guess that also explains why your white wine is made with chardonnay. Tell us in just a few words about Blanc. Yes. Blanc, it was a project of my grandfather. When he arrived in Macholino, he found a terroir where pinot noir was already here and is I think that, if pinot noir grows well, chardonnay must grow well as well. So he planted three liter vineyard of chardonnay, and we produce now, I mean, since the beginning, but even now, a chardonnay in a traditional morgunya method, that is called Blo. It's exactly a French traditional way of, vinificating chardonnay. With the twenty percent of New York, little barrel, French barrel, and, the alcoholic fermentation is directly made in the barrel. And, I mean, very easy and traditional way. Okay. Thank you. Now Franchesca, I'm I'm hearing about these very burgundian wines, in style, but of course, they are rooted in the terroir. Which has its own tradition, its own wine, but also its own food traditions. Let's talk a little bit about the gastronomy of Altripo Paveza, and how your wines pair with some of the local foods. Yes. We are, in a hilly, region, but just behind us, we have, in the the the the piano, let's say, where the, the main and most important food is the rice, the risotto. And so our wine, paired perfectly with every kind of risotto that we usually cooked here. And the other very, very important product that we have here. It's a salami de Varci, which is, a very important and small, but super good production of of salami here, in, in the area. Oh, I bet that's wonderful with a a slice of that salami with the with the glass of the pinot noir. Franchesca, let's talk about wine hospitality at can our listeners have a tour and wine tasting with you. And what hospitality do you offer? I know you have a beautiful villa that that can be available. Absolutely. We offer, to everyone, under reservation, tasting and visit of the vineyard, of the winery, which is, very nice and historical because the winery was already here before the arrival of my grandfather. And, we also have, as you were saying, a nice Villa that we, rent, for a special occasion, for, wedding, parties, and, even small events. So everyone is welcome here in Messolino. For a easy tour and tasting or for more than that, and we organize, what, people need. Well, thank you so much, Franches. It's a wonderful area. Your wines are wonderful based on the beautiful noir that I sampled, and I really appreciate you taking our listeners to to telling the story of tenuto Matzolino, this story that came this wine estate that came out of friendship, explaining your wines and the food and hospitality. Somewhere I haven't been back to in many years, and I would love to return. So perhaps we'll have the chance to meet it again soon. In the meantime, Mhmm. Thank you very much, Mark. And, I wait for you here in Marcelino whenever you want, and we can visit Ultropovis again together. That would be wonderful. Thank you, Franchesca. Presso. Thank you very much. Listen to the Italian wine podcast wherever you get your podcasts. We're on SoundCloud Apple Podcasts spotify, HimalIFM, and more. Don't forget to subscribe and rate the show. If you enjoy listening, please consider donating through Italian wine podcast dot com. Any amount helps cover equipment, production, and publication costs. Until next time.