Ep. 2120 Roberta Testa of Tenuta degli Angeli | Wine, Food & Travel With Marc Millon

Your brute Metodal classical Delianjali two thousand eighteen, won this very prestigious award. You know, their sparkling wines produced to be singled out as the best sparkling wine is a huge achievement. Thank you. 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 all 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. Today, I'm delighted to continue a special subseries that highlights the winners of the prestigious five star wines and wines without walls competition that took place in April just prior to Vin Italy two thousand twenty four. Those wines that scored more than ninety points were awarded certificates and have been included in the five star wines and wines without walls two thousand and twenty five book, or the very best wines in each category were singled out for special awards. Today, we traveled to Lombardi to the province of Bergamo to meet my guest roberta testa at her family wine estate and Atchettaya, Tanuta Delianjali, which has this year won the prestigious five star wines award for best sparkling wine, for its brute Metodal classical Delianjali two thousand and eighteen, which scored ninety five points. Now good and great sparkling wines are being made all over Italy, so this is a huge achievement to be singled out as the best sparkling wine. Many congratulations, Roberta, to you and to your family. How are you today? And is it a beautiful day in Lombardi? Hello. Thank you so much. I'm very fine and happy. And today is not a sunny day, but, we hope in the next days. We have just harvest our grapes. And so everything is going to fermentate in the cellar. Okay. So it's a very busy time of the year. Yeah. Now, Roberta, I'd like you to take us to your area precisely to describe where you are in the province of Bergamo and the state. What's the countryside like? What is happening there today? Take us into your world. Yes. Our winery is situated, in, a Valculapio. It's a land that come from, other river to Wizzio Lake, it covers seventy kilometers. We are in the heart of, Vio Calab you in particular, we, have the vineyards, on hill. So it's, three fifty meters on sea levels. We position, of our vineyards is completely to the south so that, it takes the the sun from the morning to the evening. And in particular, it's disposed on terms. So this is the best, that can guarantee our territory, a very, good, macroplicator because these rocks, all of rocks keep the warm during the day and the spread slowly in the night. So, we have this very particular, a microclimate. The texture of the soul is rich of minerals, Carlos Mars, Argyle, A lot of elements that in the wine is translated to richness of a aromas structure, complexity because the soul was transported by glaciers, in the time and so it's very full of these, mineral elements. Okay. That's, that's a very good description, Roberta. So we are in the province of Bergamo in Val Calapio, is Val Calepio pretty much adjacent to Franca Corta? Yes. He's, close to Franca Corta because it come from other river to Israel Lake. And from Israel Lake, starter, a frontal Cortum. Okay. So, Lake is ao. One of the big of the Italian lakes. I think it's a second largest lake. It's a very beautiful lake. I visited it last year. It's a very special place. And Val Calapio producing still as well as sparkling wines. Now Roberto, tell us, the story of. Yes. Sure. Your family story. It's a family story that started, eighteen years ago, when my grandfather invented and patented a barrels in concrete in cement for wine. Working in this, word of wine. My father had a very important experience, about the word of wine. He was a pianist of phenology in a lombardy. And, he created a telota Delianjali to realize his dream, thanks to his patient and the experience forty years ago. In nineteen eighty four, he decided to buy this part of, hills in Carabudelianjali that is was a banyard, abandoned from for, many years. But, he know that, on this hill, in the ancient period, was a producer, a very good wine that was used by the priest for the master, and there was a very particular and unique wine the first things that he do was, that to recreate the original dispose on Terrence because everything was, abandoned from many, many years. Because he wanted to guarantee it to the vineyards, the good that there were for, create a wine of high quality. He made the analysis of the ground to understand which kind of grapes were the best for the soul. And so he decided to, produce just white wine, and, in particular, sparkling wine. So, he broke the, my mother, the family, And so this dream became a reality. And so, this was a very, family, tradition that we, try to maintain and, work for the best quality. And, we want also to, to pass this important knowledge and experience also for the next generation. We are mostly women, and so I follow the production of wine in particular with my mother, but it's a a family, conduction. Okay. That's a really, really important story. About how your grandfather, first of all, was a pioneer in in creation of, concrete vats for wine. Your father then had the passion for wine and understood that this area had a history of producing great wine in the past, but the vineyards had been abandoned, and he realized that potential wanted to make great wine and helped to shape the land into the terraces important for the creation of quality wines. I know you produced still as well as sparkling, but his vision from the earliest stage was to make sparkling wine. Is that right? Yes. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. It's is right. And in particular, he decided, to, maintain the sparkling wine on permaless on his for many years. So we maintain our brits minimum, sixty months. And extra grit, seventy two months. This is because, our base wine that is, one hundred percent of chardonnay have a very stronger structure and the complexity and maintaining for this long time on Easter, can it reach, every flavor aromas and the structure of, the wine he, was, very, thinking about this kind of mentality that was, very focused on the quality, forty years ago, because at the time, I think that in our area, every producers of wine takes care of the quantity, not the quality, but his, mentality was focused on the quality. And, with the passing of time, this was, I think the best decision that my father think about because, still now, that, unfortunately, my father passed away, twenty years ago. We've gone on in these rodents thinking to try to produce the best wine from our grapes. And so from the harvest, we follow all the signification, to the bottle. Okay. Well, that's a that's a very good explanation about the desire to make sparkling wines from that early stage. And also about this what shall we call it? A change in mentality that your father brought to wines and winemaking going for quality rather than quantity. Quantity, perhaps more, in that mentality of the Metcadria where the tenant farmers, these sharecroppers would have wanted to produce as much as possible. So it was a period of transition. I wonder, Roberta, if he was also inspired by what was happening nearby in Franca Corta. We follow, the same method of, Franco Cortain. So is the classic method. Our sparkling wine is Brandy Blanc. Our in all of, comes from, Franco Corta. The wine is different from Franca Corta because it's different. The structure of the soul is different. The exposition, our baniards, Arjona Hill, and this was on therine. So is is very, heroic cultivation difference, from, frontal Porta. And so the, the method is the same, but the result of the wine, I think that, is the rands. Okay. So this is a one hundred percent chardonnay. Is this from a single vineyard or is it from the vineyards you have within the area? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We produce it from, the vineyards, that we have, in, in Italy, Angelie. Yes. Okay. So heroic Viticulture, very labor intensive because of these steep terraces. And then afterwards that base wine, is transformed into sparkling through fermentation, secondary fermentation in the bottle of the mezzolo classico. And you also have this lengthy, aging on the leaves, on the leves, to add complexity and richness. Yeah. Yeah. And, you can understand that, producing not so many bottles, everything is made by hand. And so also after the persistence on his on the Eighty. We take the bottle. We move it. We put on Pupita. And, the Remoja is made by hand by ourselves. What we do every day, in our and everything is, our, conduction. That's important. This artisan production, displacing the bottles on the Pupit at varying angles and giving that little twist to nudge the yeast sediment down into the neck of the bottle. The big the big companies, of course, are using Jiro Palazz to Yeah. Turn six hundred bottles and automatically at a time. But this is still that hand, Remouage taking place, which you don't see that often these days anymore. Roberto, what is a Cantina Bomboniera? What does that mean? Cantina Boniera means that is a very nice, pretty seller created under the hill. And so, you see just the door that enter into the hill. And, since it was not possible, to expand the seller inside the hill, my father decided to create, this position of, every room inside the cellar to guarantee a good, identification. So from the, first terrace, the great a full down by hole directly in the machine that press very soft. Three, the grates that are connected to the steel barrels for, the fermentation with the control of temperature. Very, close to this, fermentation room. We have, the depart where we maintain the bottle in a capacitor. So on permanent zone history. It's very nice to to see because every harvest, every Anata, have his place in this room of a permanent zone history. They are called, the for the Remoza. Then we have the part for the tasting, the part for the bottling and, for the labels, put the labels on, the bottle. And so it's very little, but, well, organized. And so, disease means, and so pretty, but very useful. Yes. That sounds that sounds really something to see. All of that hand care, that that attention to detail tell that lengthy aging on the yeast is why your brute Metado class called Delianjali two thousand eighteen won this very prestigious award. You know, their sparkling wines produced in every region of Italy now good sparkling wines. Great sparkling wines, and I was a judge at five star wines and wines without walls this year. So I know how rigorous the tasting is. And to be singled out is the best sparkling wine is a huge achievement. Thank you. I want to just turn to something that isn't wine that's related perhaps because it comes from grapes, but I'm curious to know about the achataya producing a balsammo, your balsammo Yes. Vasamodele Angelo is, produced in our Chitaya. Is a product that, follow the traditional method of the balsamic vinegar. We have a Chitaya because my father when, participated to fear with, his barrel, in concrete for wine, have also always, as a neighbor, a producer of barrels, in wood for Balsamic vinegar, So he fall in love with the, traditional Balsamic vinegar. He decided more than fifty years ago, so in nineteen seventy two to buy his first battery to, try to produce the balsamic vinegar for the family. But when he know that, the tradition wanted that, when a child born, the father by battery, battery is a series of barrels of different kind of wood and different capacity. And the tradition I wanted that, when a child born, the father by the battery follow the production, since the daughter of the son got married, And this is the present that the father give to the, daughter to, take cares and, to, pass from generation to generation. And so he fall in love with this, with this tradition, and, we are in four. So three daughters and one, son. Each, of us has his, battery. With the time he, buy other batteries. So now we have this beautiful Taya that is, under the roof of, eleventh century towel. And, we have thirty batteries, where we produce these, particular balsamic vinegar, So we, call Balsamodei, because we are out of the area that is, the, protected by the VOC, but is produced with the same method. So the aromatic grapes that are pressed We oiled the masters. He said it became less than half. And, we put inside these barrels, in wood where it started, there is slowly fermentation and actually of this, cookmaster and passing inside the different barrels of different kind of wood. It takes the particular smell, the particular taste became very creamy. After twelve years, we started to take just a little quantity from the virus of ten liters. So it became with the passing on time very creamy, full of very richness, in the aroma, in the taste. And can I reach every dish? She's from the appetizer to the sweet. And, we have, balsamodelianjali green label that is twelve years. Balsamodele yanjali red labels that is thirty years and the basamode yanjali yanjali yanjali yanjali yanjali yanjali yanjali yanjali yanjali yanjali yanjali yanjali yanjali yanjali yanjali yanjali yanjali yanjali yanjali yanjali yanjali yanjali yanjali yanjali yanjali yanjali yanjali yanjali yanjali yanjali yanjali yanjali y Oh my. That's a wonderful story to hear how this tradition from, from Amelia, from Modena, Regio Amelia has continued in Lombardi. I want to make it clear to our listeners that this is nothing like the industrially produced, balsamic vinegar that may be available around the world, but a very special at Cheeto balsamiko as you say in modena regio EMEA, they have a DOP and a special bottle, but you are following the same methods producing it entirely from this cooked grape must. So a very special product. Now, Roberto, this is a good time then to turn to the gastronomy of your area. And some of the foods that pair well with your brute, Delianjali, and also some of the, ways. Maybe just a few ways you use that precious balsamal. Yes. About brutal is sparkling wine that, is very good to drink different occasion. So as an appetizer with a lot of dishes, because, it is a all meal wine. For example, as a tradition, we have, cazantelli. We have polenta with cheese. We have, also lake fish. So it's a wine that can, drink in different occasion. And, we, usually suggest on parmesan cheese We've, some drops of, our balsamic vinegar is a very, very good appetizer and, on a extra bread, slice of bread, we've, extra virgin olive oil, and some drops of a young basilic vinegar as a, so waiting for the dinner and so as an appetizer. And, the balsamic vinegar. So our basil modiglianjali can reach a a very, a lot of dishes from the appetizer to the sweet, for example, on ice cream, cream ice cream is a very good but also on fresh meat, on fresh fish, on omelet, on, for example, a parmesan rice, some drops, it became very tasty. Okay. That's a really good description as well. I'm imagining that beautiful, just those few drops of that balsamal on a on a nice nugget of parmigiana. But also, enjoying your, brute Delianjali from the beginning of a meal, from an appetitivo right through the meal because it's, full and rich in structure, enable and complex enough to stand up to a variety of foods. Especially, I'm thinking of those lake lake fish that come from Israel. Quite, beautiful lakefish. And as a specialty, I remember, the sardina de Montezola, this, dried fish, which is very strong and hard in flavor, I imagine that that would also be lifted with a glass of your brute Delianjali. Yeah. But also with salami, you know, that in Bergamus salami is very famous or with cheeses in in Bergam, we produce a very important, different cheeses, Sam, and so also we've, this particular product is very good. Okay. Well, that's good to know too. Now, Roberto, what about wine hospitality at Tenuto Delianjali? Can our listeners come to visit you and discover that Cantina for themselves? Yeah. We, we receive, forever, a lot of visitors, tourists, but also wine lovers. What we want is, to pass the, culture of wine So, we want, to make possible that, the, visitors can learn everything about the wine, because, we want to give them the possibility to understand that, behind the glass of wine, there is, many experience, knowledge, the connection between man and nature, the waiting for a good harvest we, usually bring the visitors to visit our fine arts going on until the top of the hill where they can enjoy a beautiful panorama And, we explain method and the characteristic of the, territory. Testing go on, inside the, the room, of, our, But before the testing, they visit also the seller, they visit the different room where they can understand every passages of our classic method When, we go then, to visit, a Chitaya is a very, particular place, very romantic and quiet place. And, they enjoy, without with us the tasting soap. My family, is, composed by five sumerier. My father was a sumerier, and, we decided to became sumerier. And so we are all sumerier. And so we explained them the way of tasting the characteristic of our wines. We try to, give our culture to the visitors. That sounds wonderful, Roberta. From the vineyards actually seeing these historic vineyards to then going into the cantina and seeing every phase that goes into the laborious method of making a memento de classical. And the time it takes for that wine to age, and then finally being able to taste that in the atmospheric setting of your historic Achatea. It sounds a wonderful experience for wine lovers. And I hope that our listeners, who are, as I say, are around the world, will come to, to your winery to Nuta Delianjali to discover this for themselves. I would certainly love to visit you or Bara. Thank you. Yeah. You will be welcome, and, it should be a very we should be honored to to have you in, our team. Well, Roberta, thank you so much for being my guest today. Thank you so much for explaining in more detail this award winning best sparkling wine, your brewed Metolo classic Odellianjali, and taking our listeners into your world, the descriptions of the vineyards and of the process. It's been a real pleasure meeting you. I hope the rest of the harvest goes well, and I hope we meet soon. Thank you. Thank you. It was a pleasure speaking with you and, I wait you, to for a tasting together. Thank you so much. I look forward to that. Bye. We hope you enjoyed today's episode of wine, food, and travel. With me, Mark Miller 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 Italianwinepodcast dot com. Until next time.