Ep. 1545 Ilaria Felluga | Wine, Food & Travel With Marc Millon

Since two thousand and seventeen, the Italian wine podcast has exploded. Recently hitting six million listens support us by buying a copy of Italian wine unplugged two point o or making a small donation. In return, we'll give you the chance to nominate a guest and even win lunch with Steven Kim and professor Atilio Shenza. Find out more at Italian One podcast 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, it is my great pleasure to travel to Colio, a small and very prestigious wine region in Fruliovenetia, Julia. To meet my guest, Ilaria Feluga, who is now overseeing two family wineries. Rizik superiorre and Marco Feluga. Thank you so much for being my guest today, Ilaria. How are you? Thank you, Marlty. Thank you for inviting me. Very, very good. I have to tell you that we are getting ready for the harvest time to come in ten days. So very electrified, you know. Yes. Such an exciting moment to the year. I was with you in June at Rosie Sabierge. The grapes were already on the vines and, you know, what we were imagining what it would be like in a few months. Now it's nearly not moment. For our listeners, you may not know your area well. Let's give them a picture of what the Windland of Colio is like, where this special corner of northeastern Italy, where you are located. Absolutely. Yes. So we are in the northern East region of Italy, as you said, it's called at the Fruliva, and at Segovia. We do border in the northern part with Austria and in the east part with Zlovenia, then we're very lucky to have, the Adriatic Sea in the southern part, and on the left part, in West part. We've got the the Venice region. So we are lucky enough to have a very warm days because we do have the influence of the sea but the protection of the mountains on the back. So the nights are pretty cold, and this is the perfect climate for doing what we're doing so producing grapes and producing wine. So, yeah, the the region, it's, not that big, but actually the appalachian, it's very small, the color operation where we are and we're producing wine. So, yes. This is a little bit our geography. Yes. It's a very special place. I remember standing up by the chapel above the Rosita Peireore, having come up from the cellar, and we could look across and see the Alps. And I guess Austria is behind the Alps. And then looking in the other direction, we're very, very near the slovenian border, but five, ten kilometers, very, very close. And from our place. So from our terrace in Russo to Priore, you can see the hills of Slovenia and, of course, Pennsylvania. And actually, the phone will tell you welcome to Slovakia because, the net of of the phone, it's getting better, the slovenian connection, that not the Italian one. So, yes. Yes. We're very, very Actually, I I I remember that happening. We we kept getting that message. When we were with you that I don't know. Everybody was saying, oh, we're in Slovenia. Yes. Yes. Yes. So it's a very interesting area historically in Claudia. It's been there've been so many different influences on these borders. And, of course, the history and some of that very tragic with the wars. But tell us a little bit about your family history, which is also linked to the history of the area. You're the sixth generation now. Is that right? I wanted to start saying that, yes, I'm lucky enough to be the sixth generation. And, I was very lucky to have my family that was introducing me to that word and giving me that passion that is, of course, helping me and keep going on that incredible award of the wine production. But, yes, the family started more than one hundred and fifty years ago in a place that it's called, isola, nowadays, it's, in Slovenia, but back to one hundred and fifty years ago even more. It was always connected to Italy before under the Republic of Venice and later under the government of the, asberg and payer. And over there, the family decided to start our history on the wine ward in a small restaurant, Alekanda, that was called the Bonavilla. And actually over there, they were producing more at the beginning, of course, more food than wine. But then they decided to specialize in producing a little bit more wine. So they decided to buy in lands. And actually, to open up the shipments because Isola that it's a city still nowadays, a very nice and cozy city to visit, on the coast. So it's a port city. They decided to start that shipments from Isola to Grado. Grado, it's an Italian city after the second world war, it stayed in Italian, Italy. And they decided, in 1920s, more or less, to open a warehouse in grado. So they were able to open the market to order two place that were Vanito and through living at Cirdrilli, of course, And that was very, very important because my grandfather, yes, the father of my great grandfather, let's say, the father of my grandfather, Marco, that he was called Giovanni. He was having a look around the the region, the Fruliva, it's a Julia region, and he did find out that the the place was incredible. And he wanted to open, let's say, the first real winery in Gradisca bizon. So we're talking about the nineteen thirty eight. So just before the second World War, and that was a very important thing that he decided to do. Gradisca is also from Isola. It's about one and a half hour by driving. So pretty far away talking about at that time. But, you know, with the second world war, everything that, was under the the border under the tito government under the the yugoslavia that was collected at that time was lost. So we we lost the houses, we lost lands, we lost the La Canada, the small restaurant where where we started, we lost actually everything but the family So is a lot being part of the yugoslavia? Yes. Yes. After the second world war, that part remained yugoslavia. Nowadays, it's called it slovenia. It was pretty dangerous even for people but we were lucky enough that the whole family decided to move from there to grado and gradisca di zone. So and everything, everyone was safe. And, my great grandfather, Giovanni, was continuing on the wine world with two of his seven children. They were Marco, my grandfather, and, Olivia. And, they stayed together till nineteen fifty six working together under one name that was a fellow named. And then in nineteen fifty six, they decided to split out and continuing on their own way. And they found, of course, the two one, it is Marco Feluga and, Olivia Feluga. My grandfather, Marco stayed, in Radisca di zone so that it's still nowadays the headquarter of Marco Feluga State, in the Kali population. So under the province of, Gaurizia City. And instead, Libya moved to Kaliurey and Talinald freely, another denomination, under the province of, so pretty close, like, fifteen, twenty minutes by driving. But, yes, two different one, it is two very big and influence names on the one word. And, that moves, yeah. Yes. I think that's, that's really important, Alaria, too, for our listeners to understand the the importance of all these momentous historic events that cause people to move and also how your family, your grandfather, your father were really instrumental in rebuilding an area that had been torn apart by war and creating a great wine region, along with other pioneers in Priule van eights in Junior. Of course, Olivia Feluga being another great name of wines from Priule van eights in Junior. But it's not story that really is how a wine region rebuilt itself completely after the war. And that's also the story of your family. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. The thing at that time after the war was creating, because, of course, as you said, after the war, everything had to be created again. And it was important even to stay together I'm talking about the consortium that were formed at that time. So, actually the consortium was formed in nineteen sixty four. So, yeah, we're talking about, such a long time ago, and, it was one of the first consortium formed after. And the consortium that those early days we're really important in helping to establish the identity of fruity wines by, I guess, focusing on on varietal wines, wines from single grapes. You know, we have this great variety of wines, which we'll talk about in a minute. Of wines from native grapes, wines from international grapes, and it's really become such an important, small, but high quality wine region. Yes. Yes. Specialized in white wines production. We're talking about right now the eighty seven percent. And as you said, from local native grapes to international grape varieties, to, of course, even very small percentage of red wines, but very, very interesting and with a lot of characters. So, yeah. Yes. It's, it's a virus, let's say, region, and we're proud of that. Yes. And there are a number of different denominator in flu, leaving atia, Julia. But let's just focus on polio. Colio is a very special line then. What makes it so special? As I said, there's a lot of history here. I did mention that the consortium call was the third consortium formed. But was even one of the first that was recognized by the ministry of agriculture by the the denomination. So the doc So the reorganization by that important denomination. That reorganization was given four years later after the consortium colleague was formed. So in nineteen sixty eight, And, one of the most important thing, and we were talking about it earlier, it's the climate that we do have, the microclimate because, of course, we are up on the hills and then you know that every hill can have their own microclimate, but, we're lucky to have that very warm and hot days with, of course, a little bit of wind and then in the night, the cold nights that are gonna help us, of course, in the production of the aromas of the grapes. But another very, very important thing that we do have in our small area because call you, it's a very small area. We're talking about seven thousand actors in total, but less than one thousand and five hundreds are actually vineyards. So a very, very small area. There's a lot of biodiversity. When you come here, it will remember that we do have grass. We do have fields. We do have forests and of course vineyards. So I'm always proud to say that there's a lot of biodiversity, but the importance of our region Of course, it's even the soil that we do have. The soil that we have, it was originated, such a long time ago. We're talking about sixty five millions years ago. And it's called a ponca in Australian language. Actually, it's on the common language we do in Italian. We do say that it's called a the Flisch, who's a certification of Mars and sandstones. And it's very compact as a soil. It's very rich in minerals, but very poor talking about the organic part. But for us, it incredible because as I said, it was originated, such a long time ago, but the incredible thing is that where now we've got that very gentle hills, in the past, we had the sea. Still nowadays, when we do work the soil, we found out some fossils, some shells, and actually here in Russo, we've got a very huge rock And, it was studied that huge rock and a professor of our university of Geneva told us that it's a huge piece of a coral reef. That coral reef, of course, it refers on on that period where we got that see here, he told us that the sea was not that deep. It was pretty warm, around twenty six, thirty degrees. So kind of tropical. Of course, on that acute rock, you can see the shells, and the fish and everything that that was, the population of that time. So it's incredible. And of course, when you do decide to preserve that kind of soil and then to create the one area as we're producing, you can taste, you can feel on the wines that kind of, minerality and subtlety and and the grasses. Yes. Absolutely. So it is incredible to imagine this this this incredible pre history of on time when it was an agency where there were rivers from heading through, but it's left these deposits of fleece, this stratifying clay marl. It's gray soil. Is that right? Quite Quite gray in color? Yes. Yes. Let's talk about a couple of the native grape varieties that are most important for you. Okay. So, yeah, we are very, very happy to have on our population, indigenous grape varieties, and even international. Because even if we're talking about international grape varieties, such as pinogrillo, pinot bianco, sovignon blanc, chardonnay, are grapes that are growing here, not since ever, but now are more than one hundred or one hundred and twenty, one hundred and fifty years that are growing here. In colopulation through the United States region. So they did find out their own place here. We're very proud to have, indigenous grave varieties. We do believe very much in Frulano. That you might remember that till two thousand and six was called Tokai Frurano, still collinative with my grandfather, Mark, he will tell you Tokai, not Thruano, because it was known. By the previous generations as Takai, but, of course, it's Frulano. I always say that it's more identifying to have the region is colored throughly, the one of the region is colored Frulano. So it's very intense, the name that you have, that it's from the same family of the Sonia Blanc, but it's not one hundred percent aromatic regular IT. It's, semi aromatic. So you do have, very intense aromas of flowers, like yellow flowers, and a little bit of fields. It's a grape that I love very much. And the other one that we do have on our ones with that we do. It's another very interesting rate that you might have in in different ways. We do produce, we do we are very close to the tradition. So we do produce, on, not sparkling, not with much duration, but, and it's a very interesting wine. It has very high CGT. We do leave it with a little bit of skin contact. We are talking about a one night maximum. So from that grape, you can even have some intensity. And, it's very interesting. And then another local grape that we do produce, that we do have, it's so it's red wine. It's very interesting too. It's a wine that has a lot of color, like ruby red and a lot of tannins. You need time. You have to be patient and let the wine rest for a certain time before drinking it, and it's very interesting too. So these are the the three local raped indigenous grape varieties that we do produce. Italian wine podcast. If you think you love wine as much as we do, then give us a like and a follow anywhere you get your pods. Okay. Well, thank you for that, I love you. And I know you have a larger range of wines from both Rosisa Perriore and Marco Felugu. And I urge our listeners to cover them, but all of your wines, all of the wines, I think, if you live in Etsy or junior, are particularly wines that go well with food. They're wines to enjoy with food. So can we turn to maybe to speaking a little bit about some of the really typical dishes for people, if they come to Fruleven Etsy, Julia, what should they eat and what wines go best with these typical dishes? Okay. So a friend or of mine that are always coming to visit me, I do always recommend, Frico. Frico, it's a kind of cake, salty cake, made with the smashed potatoes and a typical local cheese that it's called, it comes from cow milk, its age for it depends can be from thirty days to three, four months. So you do have on the fire, of course, you do put that cheese and that potatoes, and then you're gonna have the part of the cheese that it's gonna melting and mixing with that potatoes. Now it's almost time of lunch here in Italy and I'm getting right now talking about it. But, yeah, it's my favorite, food, local food from here. So you can have it. Then, of course, you're gonna get that crunchy part, and then in the middle, it's gonna be very soft. And you can have kind of a cake because it's gonna coming out round. And I'm eating it. It's typical. Let's say, a winter dish because, you know, the cheese, the potatoes, but I'm having in every single part of the year. For me, it's amazing that, I I can't stay away from free coffee. Okay. And, yaladi, what wine would you like when you're having a a big plate of free coffee? It depends on the occasions because if you're gonna have maybe just as small slice for aperitivo, even a Frulano can be fine. But then, you can have it even as a second course. And, usually, Frico, it's paired with the polenta. You're gonna even have a red wine, not a very strong red wine can be maybe a refosco, not that aged refosco or a merlot. They are both very very interesting with that food. So, yeah, I will say that. Okay. And the geography that you explained, so beautifully also reflects in the gastronomy when you have the mountains and maybe game from the mountains or going down to the Adriatic wonderful, wonderful seafood. So your wines are really able to pair with food from inland, from mountain, as well as freshness from the Adriatic sea. Yes. We're very lucky. With some friends, we do say Frule magic because we do have everything from the mountains to the sea and the countryside and everything. From our place, you can be in the mountains by one hour and a half driving And, you can go even skiing and then in about half an hour, forty minutes, you can go by the sea and have a swim. So we're very lucky. We're very lucky to be on that very interest in geographic area. Yes. It is a very special area. And I would also add that I think it's still an undiscovered area. So, again, I would urge our listeners who often like to travel to places that we talk about to discover if you live in eight city, Julia to come and discover the wines of foods and just the beauty of the place. Now, Elijah, tell us about wine hospitality. If our listeners do come to if you live in eight city, Can they visit Rosie Soperiore and Marco Feluga? There's, airport in the region that it's called at the Triest airport that it's very close from us, like twenty minutes by driving, but the closest biggest airport, it's Venice that it's close to. It's just about one hour by driving. Then when you do arrive here, I always say that it's, like, you are into the nature, even if we've got big cities as trieste, Garizetu, but, the respect that there's here in the region for the nature it's always, huge. Let's say the holiday that you would have here in Philadelphia region, it's slow. It's, slow tourism, and you're very getting into the history and, I do repeat the nature that it's surrounding you. So actually, yes, we do work very much with the the tourists and the tourists are coming from mostly from and Germany, and in the last years, even in Slovenia, but we've got to even after COVID, let's say, a lot of Italians coming to visit us desire the main tours that we do have. And, we, my father, Roberto, wanted to create, building that would host people coming from all over the world. And, yes, we do have, a bed and breakfast that it's called, r seven rooms that we do open seasonally from March till November. So in in the best period of the year, because we get spring time, we get summer time and autumn that, talking about colors and and nature are the best periods. And we do organize a lot of experiences. Of course, the first one that we do promote, it's, to visit and taste the cellar and wines, our wines, of course, but we do create during the season different experiences. The first experience that we created just right before COVID it was that natural with a natural guide, I walk through the vineyards, and then the stop in front of the huge rock that I was talking earlier and that natural guide would explain the period. They will change the period to so sixty five million years ago while we had here and everything. So we we try to create different experiences like Another one, it's riding a horse through the vineyards and then a glass of wine. This year, we decided to create some cooking class where you were able to learn how to cook a typical dish from Freewley, that wear stuff in the past. I call it the Charosons. So tonight, we're gonna have, one of the latest event of the season that it's gonna be a night where you can have a glass of wine and a chiqueto chiqueto it's kind of piece of bread with some Salamy on top or cheese or everything that you would like to have on top with some music in the background. With different experiences, we wanted to attract local people and even create something different for our guests that, of course, you have to create some different curiosity to the clients that you have, but even attract younger generations. That's why tonight we're gonna have that kind of music and wine. And at the end, you can even dance a little bit. So, yeah, this is, Oh, that sounds so fun. Yes. Yes. Yes. We're gonna even for for the people that are working, me too. I'll, yeah, you get fun. So, yeah, it's gonna be very busy tonight. Yes. Good. Well, I hope you have a great night in audio. It's been wonderful talking to you today, and I'd like to thank you for sharing and giving such a vivid picture of a very special corner of Italy that I love very much. I again urge our listeners to discover freely and its wines And if you're able to travel to this beautiful region, I hope the harvest goes well. And you said it's beginning in ten days. So I know it's a very exciting and important moment, and I wish you all the best for the harvest, and I look forward to returning to Resipt's superiority and to see you sometime soon. So thank you so much. Thank you, Mark. Waiting for you and waiting for all the people that listen to us, and we're always happy to have people around and thank you finger across for the harvest. Even if people would like to come and visit us during the harvest, they might help us, collecting grapes. No joking joke. That's a joke. But, yes, it's gonna be, next year another experience that we're gonna try to create. So, yes. Yes. Okay. Thank you again. Thank you, Valerie. We hope you enjoyed today's episode of wine, food, and travel. With me, Mark Millen, on Italian wine podcast. Please remember to like share and subscribe right here or wherever you get your pods. Likewise, you can visit us at Italianwine podcast dot com. Until next time.