Ep. 754 Valentina Abbona | Wine, Food & Travel With Marc Millon

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. Welcome to wine food and travel with me, Mark Millen, on Italian wine podcast. Today, we travel to the wine town of Barolo in Piamonte to meet with Valentina Abona of the Marquesa Di Barolo wine estate. Valentina, I'm delighted to be in touch with you again. Thank you for being my guest. How are you today? Hello, Mark. I'm, wonderful. Especially, now I doubt we are talking together. Thank you very much for this opportunity. Oh, no. It's great to, to hear you again. I really enjoyed meeting you in Verona, earlier in the year. Valentina, can you tell us a little bit about where you are? I want our listeners who haven't been to Barolla before to get a picture of of this special place where you are. Well, I'm, glad you're describing it like that because to me is the most beautiful place in the world, but of course that is because it home. That all is a very tiny village in Piedmont, therefore in the northwest, Italy, and, it sits with indeed language. The name language, coming from the ancient, language that means there's trips of land because all the area was actually a full miss Seabat million of years ago. Dan went away and the hills that started to rise, according to when they rise, we find different source composition. Which characterize the area in a way that allows our wine to be so peculiar that, can't be reproduced anywhere else in the planet. So deposition in which Barola sits because of the soil composition and because of the unique microclimate of the area being surrounded by the high alps all the way up in the north in the west and also a little bit in the south, allow our graves are to perform in this unique way. Okay. So this picture, you're painting of this complex territory with the Alps Monviso. I imagine you can see from Barolo, the snow covered mountains, and the wine hills of Barolo, Barolo, a very famous name, of course, but a very small town. Indeed, we're only seven hundred people. Wow. That's incredible. But yet is known all over the world because of the wines. Yeah. Sure. Now your family wine estate, Marquesi Di Barolo, are located in historic cellars right in the center of the town right right by the Castello Di Barolo. Indeed, indeed, the winery, was born in the first half of the eighteen hundreds. As you mentioned, right in front of the castle, which was the estate where the Marquise's Borolo used to spend most of their time. They did have a, a beautiful palace in Trin, but in the holidays, I would say, they used to spend a lot of time in Barolo. Where they lived, actually, for quite a bit. And immediately, Juliet Colbert, the last Marquis of Barolo, who was a French noblewoman arrived in Barolo because of love. She got married with Carlos and Cridi Falletti who was the descendant of the Valetti family, the, the Marquisis of the town of Barolo. She immediately realized the potential that our Toura could give to the wines that he will produce. And so to make this wine and to allow this expression so unique and so special, she created beautiful sellers right in front of her castle, right in front of her home. And these are your family sellers now. Today, they're owned by my family who actually bought them back in nineteen twenty nine. So it's over ninety years that my family moved from our little estate, very next to the castle. So on the same side, of the town to where the castle is, right in the, town center. We moved from there where our historical Salaware, and where our family was born as winemakers already in the second half of eighteen hundred. To the estate of the Marquisis. So That's a, that's a really fascinating story, Valentina, and and it's really interesting to note that this development of Barolo, the wine was happening around the same time as the Italian nation was being born. And in fact, the wine itself is linked to the history of Italy through the king of Italy and through the first prime minister. Our very much indeed, the, actually, the wine Barallo was born prior to the unification of Italy. So Italy, as a country, is more recent than the wine just for a few decades, of course, but there are testimonies that are ready in the thirties. Of the eighteen hundreds. The Marquises of Barolo, were active, not just in the production, but also on the, commissalization of the wine. So it was a profitable business already. And, it became so, popular, this wine among the royal courts at the time, that even the ancestor to the first king of Italy, Carlos Alberto, was interested about the one that Marquis Juliette used to make in her little village in Barolo, which was, however, under his reign, the savoy rain. So for her king, Marquis Juliette sent three hundred and twenty five barrels long barrels, caribou barrels that went all the way from the state in which our family still signifies today, all the way up to the Royal Court in Turin, which later on became the first capital of Italy. And, since this episode, the baron is known as the king of wine and the wine for kings, because the king had it for every day of the year without, unless, the forty days of length, because Marquis Juliette was very Catholic counted only the drinking days for the king. And also to send a message to the king because he was asking for the wine. And as he was her king, she sent it without saying anything, but she sent this second message to him. You have someone above you who is bothered that you have to pay respect. So in those forty days, not even you who are the king can drink. So it's a, lesson which we should remember every day is still today. Yes. Yes. Well, that is a fascinating history, this link of Barrola wine, with the Carlo Alberto father of the first king of Italy. Now what, please describe for us, Barrola wine made from the Nebula grape. What makes Barolo such a special wine? Well, of course, is the terroir in which the grape in the biolo is born. In fact, if you try to plant a biolo somewhere else you won't have, the same expression. Namol is the most sensitive grape in this sense. It really changes according to the situation, the environment in which it is grown. But besides this, not even within parole itself. Naviolo has the same expression, the area of Barolo, which counts, eleven villages. So detail of Barrol itself plus other ten is divided in one hundred and seventy different single vineyards. This means that there is at least one hundred and seventy opportunities expressions, so to show what Barolo is. And they are so peculiar because of what the grape gets from the soil, from the environment. So the microclimate, the exposure of the vineyard, the altitude of the vineyard itself, that is so, difficult to describe the wine barolo with just few words or just few sentences. It's definitely a very profound wine that has a a million of shades. And, the more you taste it, the more you get familiar with it, but it's just like speaking to a person. There is a still conversation that can continue for very long time. When it comes to a glass of Barolo. Yes. Actually, I think that's, a good, way to describe it because it isn't a wine that reveals itself easily, yet it is able to express with precision like all great wines, it's, it's territory, one valley, one town, one MGA named crew vineyard, being very, very different, same family, but but very different. I I agree with you. It's really like, brothers within the same families. They have the same parents, but still their, their expression, their personality is a bit different. In fact, the biolo that grows in sandy soils that tends to be more open, more expressed, a little bit lighter in structure. Where would that be, for example, what comune, for example, would have the sandy soil. Generally speaking, all, the area of Barolo, which is positioned in the, northwest tends to be Sandier. Deform in communes such as La Mora, or Verduo, Novelo. We find it is, lighter and, more approachable expressions of Nubiolo. While in, villages, such as, which are characterized by more compact and stony soil because these are older, hills that emerge from the sea prior to the ones of LaMaranovelo, which are so covered with a nice amount of sand in these villages in the southeast. We find more compact and stony soil composition, which allowed a more introverted expression of Barolo a little bit closer on the nose, more ageable and definitely more severe, more vertical, with a stronger tanning approach. Well, that is really fascinating. And we're talking about, when you're talking about younger areas and older, we're talking about millions of years difference. Aren't we? Oh, sure. So the older vineyards, the the older hills, I should say, date back from at least eleven to fifteen million of years ago, while the younger ones from seven to eleven. So during wind interviews of a distance between one and the other. And even within these greater areas which we described, so the younger and the newer, of course, your difference, important difference princess between one hill and the other just because they stand on different strips of line as we were mentioning earlier. Yes. And, actually, the Marqueses de Barolo, in in your winery, you're able to express this because you have a fascinating range of crew wines that that are from individual single vineyards. Well, we are in the town of Barolo, and, that is what we wanted to represent the most because we have the the fortune. We have the luck to own venues within the same little village, as we were mentioning, only seven hundred people, but lots of expressions of Barolo from there. So even within a little town, we can show what is the the call your expression that Nebula can present from one to the other vineyard. So we chose, to, to show, separately our single vineyards within the town of Barolo and specifically free, which stand on parallel hills, or, let's say, almost parallel hills, which are the four very similar in terms of exposure of the vineyard. They are also similar in terms of altitude and microclimate because they stand very close one to the other, but yet because the town of Barado is quite central into the winemaking area, it benefits from different type of soil that here kind of merge and define a connection. So even vineyards, which are very close one to the other can really present extremely different soil types. Therefore, can now be Sarmasa and Costaiderosa are the free, single vineyards which we decided to show individually into single crew expressions. Costaiderosa being the most Sandy, venue that we own in the town of Barolo. In Sermasa, it's extreme opposite. The most compact and stony one can now be kinds of stent in the middle. So within one kilometer of distance, we find these free these three situations, which are so, different and peculiar to justify the single expression of the of the barolo. So, Costa de Dorosa, because of the San Desuel that characterize the hill would definitely be the most six breast, the most delicate and floral and gentle expression of Barolo, also the one that you might wanna approach earlier in its youth, while Kanubie it's, a little bit more, richer, and more severe. In terms of tannins, the name canub itself would believe come from which means meeting in marriage in ancient Italian, because it is a story of meeting in marriage of the different soil types that characterize either Casa de Rosa and Sarmasa. So it's a nice merge of these two it presents a nice sandy cover on the top and, compact and Sony saw as more in the heart of the vineyard. So this combination of the two allows a very demonic expression of wine, which shows freshness, but at the same time, richness and the strength in the in the body. In Sarmasa, which is the most, stonian drive in it, that we own in the town of Barolo in this, situation of equal, exposure, altitude, and microclimate, shows the most, a dry and vertical expression of Barolo that perhaps you wanna wait a little bit longer before to enjoy. Oh, that's so fascinating Valentina that within such a short distance, there's completely different expressions. Now all of the wines of, of the barolo zone, not just barolo, but also, these are wines above all to enjoy with food. And the food of Leilenge is famous, the throughout Italy as one of the finest local regional tables, in the country. Tell us a little bit about the food in Le Long game, how it goes so well with your wines Well, as you mentioned, one thing goes with the other. I can't think of drinking, wine from our region without having a nice dish in front of me and vice versa, actually. So I always forwarded two things together. And, because of this, my mom decided to open a restaurant right on top of the historical winery, to show how in credible. This, marriage is between wine and food. All of our graves, nebbiolo, but as you mentioned, also, Barbera Dolceto are characterized by high acidity and gray tannins, one more than the others, But, so we find a nicer combination of these two elements in all of our grades, and this definitely justifies, the fact that wines go well with food because the city allows you to, always have your mouth, watering and begging for something else to eat while the tongue is dried out. So it's a nice combination, a nice, cleanse that wise make in your mouth that would really allow you to enjoy the food at best. And we have so many different recipes to match with all of the wines that we that we can make in this area, starting from the, antipastes, which we are very, big in here in Vermont. I just tell you that when my mom and dad got married, they had a twenty different antipasti. Morning, when in lunch. Oh, wow. That's amazing. And it was a very difficult one. So I will mention just few, of course, because twenty would be too much but too many, but definitely, but definitely, probably all over all over the world. This is the slices of thin veal with a tuna sauce. Indeed. At least this is the way we do it here in Piedmont, which is very typical from our region. Probably in other regions, you would find it in, made in different way. So as you mentioned, is a very thin slice of veal tender veal with a nice, infant tuna sauce with some capers and so also quite salty, which goes very well with the minerality of our wines. Then I can think of our So our raw meat of the fastona meat, which is a very lean, breed of beef. So with no fat that, the males are deformed, you can't really cook it as a steak. You'd rather have it raw rare as a tartar or, albeza style. So cut very, very thin as a carpaccio, because there's already very tender and, or otherwise, you can have it braised as a main coarser, and usually we braise it with but all the wine because without fat, we need to put some juice in it. So to make it soft while you're cooking it. That's a brisato alvaro. You don't need any other spice, or any other ingredient to enrich it because already the barolo makes it all. And then, of course, the, primi piati. So our pasta dishes is a typical pasta made by hand, either with the field. So our or our very thin taglierine, which are very thin tagliatelle. And, for both recipes, we use a lot of eggs, specifically for the taglierine recipes goes from thirty to forty. Yolks for each kilo of flour. Wow. That's incredible. It still remains so soft because we really work it a lot with our hands. And the tagoreen you would have with different sauces throughout the year, perhaps something fresh in the summer and a ragu? Yes. And typically, you can have them even with different kinds of ragu. You can have them in summertime. My favorite one would be with a rabbit ragu, which is this white, but very tasty meat. We do eat a lot of rabbit here in Piedmont. Another typical recipe, where rabbit would be Cornelio Larnese. So rabbit cooked with Arnese wine, which is one of the few, but very special white wines that that we make here in Piedmont. Or in, maybe two words wintertime, you wanna have your tieading with a red saucer, ragu. Mhmm. And perhaps with simple, dressing of butter and tartufo Bianco? Well, that doesn't make it too simple, but, yes, I do agree with you. That's a very special recipe. Tell us a little bit about the tartufo Bianco dalaba. Well, the, I think that again, just like bravo, truff from Alba. The white truffle from Alba is known all over the world, and as, we are so lucky to have it so close by. We can find it only in a very limited, period of time at a year So from September to November, even though, lately, in, towards the end of November and December, we still find some very tasty ones. But with just few slices of the tartuffo, you're really in richer dishes in an incredible way, therefore you don't need any dressing on them. Even the even a simple egg, as I were mentioning, we do use a lot of eggs in our cuisine, but just a simple egg with some truffle, shaved on top and makes it such a special dish to go with wines from Nebula to Barbera to Barolo. Wow. That's, I'm I'm just imagining that overpowering wonderful scent of a tartuffo bianco and it's just thinly sliced such a special treat when everyone is in the area at that time of year. And it does match so well with the, with the barolo because many of the notes that we find in a rich and aged Nebula are, notes that remind of the truffle and of the forest. Of course, that undergrowth that earthiness that can come out in the wine. In eat. And Well, you've made me very hungry, and, I know your restaurant is very welcoming. It's called La Foresteria. Is that right? Well, that's the name that we, that we give to it. It's the, yeah, for me, it's just my mom's restaurant is that there is no other better way to, to describe it. She used to be the cacta, for, for many years, and now we have Balther since, Well, now it's over ten years, of course. It would it's around fourteen years the bag that is with us and treat us with these, typical dishes simple, but at the same time, very rich in terms of taste to go with our wines. So every dish in the menu every course is forty to be paired with a specific wine. So the combination of the two is what should the show. The food shouldn't overpower the wine and vice versa. Sir. Right. Well, that's a beautiful balance. And to finish, a meal, what would be a typical dessert that you would have and what wine would you serve with it? Well, again, we are spoiled. Now that you make me think of this, this is very beginning to the very end of the meal. Because even our desserts are, really tasty, I can think of, I can think of a bunette, which is probably the most traditional dish, the third dish of Piedmont is a pudding, base of chocolate and amarete, so there is almond, cookies, which were typical from our area, and, or either a torta line of chorley. So as I'm not K. K? It's not, again, a very typical ingredient, local ingredient from our area. And, to pair with those, you can choose between a Moscato, which probably goes with the lighter lighter, not in terms of sweetness, the lighter in terms of taste, the seltzer, so maybe the and the cake. And, for the, uneta, I will probably go with the Barolo Kinato. Which is, it's a beautiful not even a wine, but a loquinato. It's between a wine and a vermouth. So, but a loquinato is a fortified wine, barolo, that has to, receive the docG. So you have to go through all the process of aging of Barolo. And then later on, you blend it with an alcoholic solution in which different herbs and roots and flowers were left to maceration. Usually is, sugary, so to extract even more old flavors. So Barardo kinato is enriched of sweetness, but also the bitterness of the, ingredients that you live in maceration. And is used today as a digestible to close the meal or to be paired with, chocolate. So, Bernette or just a little piece of dark chocolate is perfect. Wow. That sounds wonderful. Perfect digestivo, a perfect end to a long, wonderful meal in Leilangde. And a perfect end, I think, to our wonderful conversation. Valentin. It's been so lovely hearing you again and hearing really a more intimate picture of your life and food in such a beautiful place, Barolo. Thank you so much for for joining me. Thank you, Mark, for this opportunity. And, hopefully, next time we'll be together in front of a nice dish and glass of wine, so to cheer together. Yes. I look forward to that, Alanina. Okay. Thank you very much. Bye bye for now. Ciao. Ciao ciao. Bye bye. Ciao ciao. We hope you enjoy 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. Hi, guys. I'm Joy Livingston, and I am the producer of the Italian wine podcast. Thank you for listening. We are the only wine podcast that has been doing a daily show since the pandemic began. This is a labor of love, and we are committed to bring you free content every day. 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