Ep. 1625 Anna Nardi | 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 Steve Kim and Professor Atilio Shenza. Find out more at Italian One podcast dot com. Welcome to wine food and travel. With me, Mark Billen, 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 will learn not just about their wines, but also about their ways of life. The local and regional foods and specialities appear 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 the beautiful wine hills of Valdo Bialdene Conigliana to the north of Venice to meet Anna Nardi of the Perlage winery. Chalanna. Thanks for being my guest today. How are you? Chow, Mark. So nice to be here with you today. I'm doing great. What about you? Oh, I'm doing really well too. I'm in Southern England. The sun is shining this morning. A little bit chilly and autumnal, but it's a nice day. Is it nice with you too? Yes. Here, it's raining, cats, and dogs. We are surrounded by fog after a never ending summer. We are seeing the first cold days but it was needed. Yes. Of course. Now when I was with you, Anna, you were, the harvest was in full swing, and it was an incredibly busy time. The grapes were still coming into your winery, your cousin, the winemaker, was working very hard and it was a really busy time. How did the harvest go? The harvest this year was a bit up and down in the sense that in terms of quality, it was a really good harvest. We are very happy with the grapes that we brought in, but at the same time due to hailstorms and due to some pests, the quantity was not super high. But in certain areas, we had good quantities, in certain less quantities. So at the end, it was a good harvest. Well, I'm really glad to hear that because I know it was, having been in the area. Recently, we heard how difficult it was for those conditions that you've just mentioned as well as the very high temperatures. But I'm glad that the grapes are in now, and you have good quality, and we'll look forward to tasting the wines and the years to come. I'm looking forward to Anna before we go any further, I'd like our listeners to gain a a picture in their minds of where you are. The wine hills of Valdo Bialdene Conigliano, for Perseco Superior, DOCG. This is a very special area. Isn't it an actually a UNESCO world heritage area? Tell us why it is so special. Okay. So we are in Faradisolego. That's as you said, exactly in the heart of the Conanyan and BaduBIado neproseco superiority docG production. It's a very small area inside the Venetor region. We are located the more or less one hour from Venice and another hour from the Alps. So at the same times, we are getting the sun from the seaside and the fresh wind from from the mountains. It's a very beautiful area characterized by steep hills that as you mentioned are recognized as a UNESCO word heritage. It's really, really nice to be here to be surrounded by these beautiful eels that make you feel relaxed every day. Even during your worst day, you can look outside of your window. And see these amazing eels where everything is done by hand. We are harvesting by hand. We are, working in the vineyard by hand. Not a lot of tractors going around because of the steep eels. So it's really, really, really a magic place. Yes. It is absolutely magical. And I think it's very important for listeners and wine drinkers to understand that prosecco superior area is quite different, quite small, quite compact, and geologically different, cynically, than the much larger area for prosecco doc that extends into for you leaving Ezio, Julia, and indeed, across large parts of the Venetil. This is a very small specific area, which as you say is characterized by these incredibly steep hills. You took us up a hill. I think it was at the Riva Morletta? Yes. Where we met you and we actually walked up, and it is very steep just to walk up them. So I'm imagining the efforts required you know, to tend the vines, to harvest the vines, to care for them. We're very different from where the vines are on the peanura, the flat land. Yes. Exactly. Rivamoretta is our historical vineyard. It's where everything start. Back in nineteen eighty five or even before, like right after second world war. And, it's a piece of land. We are very bounded to. We are very connected with that area. As you mentioned, it's one of the steepest vineyard we are working in. It's a very hard work, but giving us a lot of satisfaction. Okay. Well, Anna, let's talk a little bit about that story because I think you were explaining to me about how the farm was very different after World War II. It was a mixed farm. Tell us a little bit about your family story. Yes. I'm really proud to share with you today my family history. So as you know, everything started back in the right after the second world war, when my grandfather Tienonardi, he was working in this mixed farm. He was growing vines, but at the same time, he had some cows, some chickens, some pigs. It was like a family economy because I'm coming from a very huge typical Italian family. My grandparents, a friend Tietiano, they had seven beautiful children, only one girl and six boys, and they were bringing food to the family thanks to this mix at Far. Later back in nineteen eighty five, my father and his six siblings decided to focus all their energy in the wine production, and especially in the organic wine production. Back in nineteen eighty five, no one was speaking about organic production or organic agriculture in Italy. It was a very challenging idea. So they had to experiment for a few years before achieving a good result. But nowadays, we are very happy with what they did because we are the only hundred percent organic certified winery in the area. And, we are very happy with the product we are doing. So it's fantastic. That's an amazing story, Anna. I I wonder why your father and his siblings, had that desire, that urge, you know, now we talk about organics and sustainability, and we understand the importance to the environment, the importance to the purity of the wines, and the importance to maintaining the landscape. But they had this motivation. As you say, long before, anybody else was really beginning to think about that. It must have seemed a bit crazy to some of the other wine growers. Yes. We were seen as the crazy producers because being organic was not a trend back in nineteen eighty five. So the reason behind this choice are a couple The first thing is that, my father and these siblings started to see the bad consequences of the chemicals on my grandfather health meaning that when he was back from the vineyards, and he had just give chemicals to the vineyards, he started trampling. So they were seeing his hands trampling and all his body was troubling. So they started to understand that the chemicals were not good for the health of people. And at the same times, they had started to see some changements in the surrounding. My family is from this region, is from this specific area. And they started to see these disappearing from the vineyards and from around the house. So they really wanted to make something to have a positive impact on our region, on our land, and also they wanted to give something back to the people living in this area. They didn't want to affect in a bad way their lives. And so they decided that even if it was a challenge, they wanted to reach this goal. That's a beautiful story and a very personal story of the motivations. And now I guess There's a much greater understanding of what your family intuitively felt that it is better for the people working in the vineyards. It's better for the land itself, the biodiversity to cultivate. And produce wines in a more natural way. Tell us some of the steps you take both in the vineyard and in the cantina to produce organic and even vegan prossecco superiorityore as well as I know that you you follow these precepts also in your range of still ones. My father always tell me is that we didn't take a lot of efforts to change from the, like, normal winemaking techniques to the bio organic technique because we have always done like that. Meaning nineteen eighty five, we understood how to be organic, and we never ended being organic. So at a vineyard level, we are not using any chemistry, except from the remains also. So cup and sulfur that are allowed in the organic viticulture. In the vineyard, there are a lot of products that we are not allowed to use, so in the winery. We are not using a lot of chemical products that are allowed in other style of winemaking. And you mentioned the vegan way of making wine. We were the first vegan winery in the prosseco's Peoria EOCG denomination, meaning that, in the wine, historically, you can use albousin and casein to make it clearer, to make the clarification process. And we wanted to avoid to use animal protein. It was back in two thousand and twelve when we started to experiment and to see how to substitute these proteins. And our first experiment was with the pea protein, protein coming from the vegetable plant of the pea the result was very, very good. So we kept the pea protein until the two thousand sixteen, if I'm not wrong. And two thousand sixteen, Andre Galina, our winemaker, he said, Okay. But let's see if we can do the same thing with the yeast protein. This idea was because we wanted to keep the ingredient list as short as possible. And yeast is something that's already present in the wine. So using the yeast proteins seems like a better idea. The result is very good. So still today, we are using the yeast protein. The final taste and flavor of the wine doesn't change. It's the same of the one that we had before. So we are very, very happy with this. Okay. Well, that's that's really interesting to hear as well. And the importance of really giving thought to these stages of the production. I know you produce a range of still wines, but we're talking about in the faro di Saligo, your vineyards producing prossecco DOCG, which is, of course, a fully sparkling wine. Let's talk about a few of the wines, and I actually had a chance to sample, and I really enjoyed on looking at my notes that I remember particularly liking your Kana, the valdobbiadene brute that really demonstrates the classic characteristics of prossecco Superior. This is one of your flagship wines, isn't it? Yes, cana has been one of the first wine my family has ever produced. It was like the second in the range historically. And, cana grapes are coming from our vineyard in Reffrontolo. That's another of our family vineyards. It's a brood style with residual sugar of eight grams per liter. So it's dry, but at the same time, it's very pleasant in the mouth. The characteristic of all our wines is that the bubbles are never aggressive. They are very pleasant in the mouth. They clean your mouth from everything you're eating. And they are perfect. I like to say from morning to late night. They are like wines that you can enjoy from morning to late night. Cana specifically is, very good as an appetitivo. You can pair it with olives or with the typical Italian bruschetta or even at lunch or dinner with the risotto pasta. It combines very, very well. Okay. That's really nice to think about drinking these wines from morning until until nighttime. And I also liked your calling manza Proseca superiorre. That was another favorite. Now that's a biodynamic wine, isn't it? Wind wine business forum. Everything you need to get ahead in the world of wine, supersize your business network, share business ideas with the biggest voices in the industry. Join us in verona on November thirteen to fourteen twenty twenty three. Tickets available now at point wine dot net. Yes. Call demandsa is one of my favorite proscecos too. It's a very, very particular wine. As you mentioned, it's a wine obtained from biodynamic grapes. The vineyard of the Col demandsa is located here in Ferre de Soligo under the beautiful Prudazzo towers. And it's a five vector plot surrounded by plant animals. And in the same place, the quixies, dogs, cats, chicken, geys, fruit trees, mulberry trees, and people. It's, the vineyard of one of my aunts. What I like to say when speaking about biodynamic, it's that it's a sort of radical chic approach to the vineyard. But that it's bringing very, very, very good result. Our biodynamic fiticulture is based on the idea that the plant is part of a universe, governed by cosmic influences, and that, we have to respect nature. In the vineyard, at biodynamic level, we are using ore manure. That's called Percarato Chimpocento, and or silica. That is called. Or manure provides nutrition and fertility to the soil. And orange silica provides worms and is sprayed on the plant during colder periods. And before cluster ripens. And together with this preparation, we are also using or state decoction, valerian decoction, and a lot of natural preparation. All these biodynamic approaches give us the possibility to obtain the first biodynamic prosecco in history, and is one of our most elegant prosecco. Meaning that, it spends four and a half months in the pressurized tank in the autoclave. And these make the bubble particularly silky, very, very elegant and fine. All the different animals and plants quick sisting in the vineyards can be felt as smells also in the glass, meaning that the bouquet is very complex. At the same time, you can perceive the white and the yellow flowers the peach notes and a bit of herbal notes. It's a very good experience. Yes. I absolutely loved it. I'm I haven't I'm looking at my notes. I noted that complexity, richness in the mouth with wild herbs and minorality that lied to, real freshness that was absolutely gorgeous. Now, Anna, final wine I want to mention, which is a wine that actually divided opinion, but which I absolutely loved. Is your anime, the prosecco produced with no additional sulfides, a true natural prosecco. This is also an unusual line. Yes. It was another experiment. As you mentioned, it's dividing opinion, but it's among my favorites too. So Anime Prosecco is a project we started two thousand and eight. The idea was to obtain a wine that was only wine. So without the addition of anything else, The thing is that in the natural fermentation process, sulfites are created by yeast, even if in a small part, sulfites are naturally produced during this process. But with the idea of achieving this result, the entire Perlage team started to study together how to achieve this goal. And the result was that together with the help of our winemaker Andre Galina, we were able to select a particular yeast that is producing a very low quantity of sulfides in the wine. And at the same time is able to work without oxygen. Because on one hand, you don't want to use sulfites, but on the other hand, you want to produce something that is tables and is not oxidized. So the entire process for anime prosecco is done under counter atmosphere in total absence of oxygen. Usually in the prosecco making process wine goes through two different fermentation. The first to obtain the wine and the second to obtain the sparkling wine. In anime, we are doing a single long fermentation. We are starting from the juice. And it stays in the pressurized tank for several months until we get, this stunning anime prosecco. There is a fun fact I want to share with you the name anime is coming from two ideas behind this wine. The first, as I mentioned, is that we wanted a wine that was only wine. So Anime means soul in Latin, and we obtained the soul of the wine. At the same time, it's the soul of the winery because everyone took part in this project. This is the story behind it. Well, I think it's a beautiful story and a beautiful wine. And I think this description of the three wines we've talked about, and I know you produce much, much larger range. But I think for our listeners, this gives, an important idea that prossecco and especially prossecco Sabierri from the Vald Dolby Adeneic Conigliano areas, produce a range of flavors in the wines. Brusurco isn't simply an easy to drink, sparkling wine, but a complex and fascinating wine that expresses itself in many different ways. And this range of the three we've discussed are each very individual. Also, you mentioned, on, when we were talking about Tana, about Prosecco as a wine to enjoy with food. And I think that's important too. Can we talk a little bit about some of the typical dishes of your area? And, some of your favorite local foods that go well with your wines. So I would like to start mentioning prossecco as the perfect wine for the appetitivo that can be enjoyed by itself. Like a glass shared with your loved ones, with your friends is a wine that is perfect in joy moments. And at the same time, it's a very gastronomic wine. Meaning that it can be paired with a lot of different foods, with a lot of different preparation, even depending on the sugar quantity, you can pair it from the antipasto to the desserts. You will always find a prosecco that match with what you're eating. In the case of the three proseccos that we mentioned, they have a different, food that go well with them. In the case of Canada, it's perfect to be enjoyed, paired with some olives or with the Italian typical bruschetta and risotto and pasta and first dishes. In general because it's a wine that cleans your mouth. It's very professional, and it's very, very good to be paired with these kinds of foods. Talking about that has a residual sugar that is of fifteen gram per liters, so higher compared to cana. It goes very well paired with vegetable quiche or even with apricot tart and cookies. Since it has this higher sugar content, you can combine it also with the sweet foods. And last but not least, the animal for circle as this particular taste that you had the honor to taste and try that must be paired with a fish with oyster. It can be very similar to the champagne, taste, so you can pair it with oyster, with sushi, with boiled fish, but even with our typical Piedo, that's the typical meat of the area, it is just perfect. That's really, really interesting, Anna, because I'm looking at my notes, and I thought that the anime has a meaty savory character to it, which I can see will go well with something like oysters or equally with the meats cooked on the spit, which as you say, are very typical and something that all our listeners should try to sample when they visit. Now speaking of visiting Anna, tell us about wine, hospitality at Perlage. Can our listeners visit you? And what do you offer a curious and thirsty wine traveler? Yes. For sure. We're very happy when people are visiting us because I think that you can appreciate the product even more if you see what's surrounding us with your eyes and if you, like, see the winery inside, that's why we are offering a three different hospitality experiences. One is a very, very short one, like tasting four glasses. Then we have a mixed experience of food and wine paired together. So we are offering cut boards or even vegetable and vegan option paired with our wines. And the most complete one is the full experience. So I will be happy to bring people around the winery, to let them see how a pressurized tank works, to let them see our bottling system, and even the vineyard if the weather allows us to do it. That's a really good range of experiences. And I do urge our listeners to visit this beautiful area. As you say, it's only an hour north of Venice. Yes. We are in the UNESCO area that is surrounded by a lot of different things to do. So when you're here, you can enjoy Treviso. That is just forty minutes driving from us and bassano and Azolo that are all historical cities very, very good to be around them. And more near to us, there is the Abazia Difolina that is this old Abazia, very peculiar, very, very beautiful to visit. And in the nature inside, you can go and walk to, around our eels. You can go to the Alps if you love skiing. Otherwise, you can visit Molinet to the La Crooda. That's a a typical water wheel very near to us. And then the most important thing, you can go and experience our stunning restaurants and the stunning winery places. Absolutely. And that's a very good overview. And I hope, I'm sure people will be coming to Valderbio de Neconneliana. I certainly always enjoy my visits, and I look forward to coming back to Parallage on another occasion, Anna, or perhaps to meeting in London or anywhere else that we might happen to meet. But in the meantime, it's been a real pleasure talking to you. Thank you so much for sharing your family story for telling us about your wines and about the philosophy behind them. It's been a real pleasure. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mark. My pleasure. Thank you for inviting me to this podcast, and thank you for your visit last time. I'm always waiting for you to come back. And even if you are attending any other wine fairs during twenty twenty four, I will be happy to share with you a glass of our prosseco superior. Great. Well, I'll certainly look forward to that. So I hope we meet again soon. 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.