Ep. 493 Scienza Seminar Part 2 (ENG) | wine2wine Business Forum 2020

Italian wine podcast. Chinchin with Italian wine people. Italian wine podcast as wine to wine twenty twenty media partner is proud to present a series of sessions chosen to highlight key themes and ideas and recorded during the two day event held on November twenty third and twenty fourth twenty twenty. Wine to Wine twenty twenty represented the first ever fully digital edition of a business to business forum. Visit wine to wine dot net and make sure to attend future editions of wine to wine business forum. Before we begin our segment today, we want to remind our listeners that our podcast is always open to receiving donations to help keep our creative project going. To make a contribution to the Italian wine podcast, please visit Italian wine podcast dot com, or check out our social media channels. Now on to our segment. Welcome to the Italian wine podcast. This is an English translation of the sir Artilio Shena session during wine to wine business baro. This is Margarita, and I'll be playing CV Kim. This is Joy, and I'll be playing Alecio Planeta. Hi. This is Rebecca Lawrence, and I'll be playing the role of Atilio Chanto once again. We discovered ancient vines the day we realized that our viticulture was about to succumb to the conquest of the fame and imagery of international vines that were beginning to eclipse other varieties. We see this in language as well when words and phrases of one language are adopted by another language slowly displacing the original one, connotations change. Nowadays, for example, we speak Italian with lots of words adopted from English. Similarly, international wines that were essentially French arrived in Italy and changed the sensory profile of many, many wines. Of course, this irked some producers that didn't appreciate these incursions and hence, the return to autochtenous vines. This reexamination, selection, special vinification, and even way of communicating and talking about native vines represented a reevaluation of an ancient patrimony, in large part prompted by the arrival on the scene of international vines. Of course, you're well aware of these international varieties, and I only listed a few that have an outsized influence, or should I say those that promise us so much? Some may disagree with the classification of Tramonor as an international variety, but let's remember that the name Tramonor really has nothing to do with Tormen or Tramin this town in Alto Adige. The oldest information we have regarding Tramonor comes from medieval Germany, and we're confident the variety arrived from Germany. So it's considered international just like Chardonnay, Merlo, Cabanay, Sierra, pinot noir, and so on. Now we've discovered that many of these varieties such as Pino Nero and Cira have very close relationships to Italian varieties considered autochtenous. Just think of the links between Sira and Turaldigo, between Sira and other varieties, even vines from the Campania region. And here, I've gathered some representative information to help impress how many of these vines arrived in Italy as a way of emulating French culture. Already in the sixteenth century, Gelsor Verini wrote a French Claretto. Of French grapes, and of French systems for training vines. So France was already an important element. Just think of the role France played in Tuscany in terms of economic connections, not to mention links among the nobility. Tuscany had fully adopted the French model. Meanwhile, in friuli, Ludovico Bertoli compared the region to burgundy and pined for the cultivation of pinonero, saying enough of these old friuli varieties that produced so many grapes low quality product, let's go back to quality vines. And here, Pinoneira was his model. And who could forget Bertone de Sambui, who in nineteen twenty was the first, the first To cultivate cabernet sauvignon in Italy, he represents a documented case of commercial wines made from cabernet sauvignon, sometimes pure, sometimes blended, but certainly using cabernet sauvignon. Of course, Gio's analysis of French Viticulture in eighteen sixty eight was basically a revolution distilled into a single sentiment, a snapshot of French Viticulture just a few years before the destruction wrought by Phylloxera, Yuh said, the genius of a wine is in the vine. So it is not just the terroir, the territory that makes the difference, but the great variety itself, the vine. And this, I would say, overturns the whole cultural and productive approach of European Viticulture. And some personalities of the period are really some of the first amplographers. We're talking about the post enlightenment period now, and following this newfound rationality, we start to compare vine collections and grape varieties. The Marquui Lu de Vico in Chiza from Rosetta Tararo starts a great collection and he evaluates the performance of cabernet, pinot, and game, recommending them to local winemakers. Not so much to be used on their own, but as quality correctors. For example, Pino is used to correct excess acidity in Barbara or gamma, and to give softness to Nebula and so on. Around the same time in Sicily, Baron Antonio Mendola, cares for a collection of Weinzem Favada. This was perhaps the largest collection in Italy at the time, with an extraordinary library of specimens. It is also the only one left The only one that has not been destroyed by human activities. All the other collections have disappeared. Those in Piedmont, those of Inchiza, in Chevia, that were located in Rocchetta, Tanaro, respectively, In other words, Mendoza's Favada collection is the only remaining library representing the information exchanged by European Amplographers throughout the nineteenth century. In eighteen eighty three, Edmondo Match, The first director of the Agricultural Institute of San Mikiele, at the time not part of Italy, but of the Austro Hungarian Empire, was the first to assess the role of these international varieties in the territory. His work brought about improvements in South Terrell's Viticulture prior to the great changes that were installed due to the arrival of Voloxera. So Matt anticipates the reconstruction of Viticulture with the introduction of international varieties in Terrell. This gives us an idea of how important the nineteenth century collections were and what role they played in Europe in terms of the sharing of genetic material. These collections were not only places where all the genetic material from neighboring areas were collected, but also places of exchanges. For the time being, there were no major issues with Voloxera or other diseases and significant exchanges happened freely. Thus, a large distribution of varieties was born of these collections and entered mainstream Viticulture. I have to say that such collections were the driving force behind the diffusion of grape varieties. Here, we also start to see comparisons between the characteristics of native grapes and international varieties. This was also the first open air laboratory with state of the art information and techniques that would then spread with enormous speed during postvaloxera reconstruction. During this time, modern agriculture was really born it was practically rebuilt using many of these varieties that remained hidden in the collections, so to speak. In this sense, collections became the driving force behind major improvements in analogical quality. Along with new varieties came cultivation and vineyard planting techniques that were developed in their places of origin. Therefore, it was an extraordinary opportunity to move away from Italian productive provincialism that saw wide as a product for the masses with only foreign wines placed on a pedestal and reserved for the select few. I should say that the diffusion of international great varieties also received a spark from the bourgeoisie Z. It was the bourgeoisie Z that demanded something new and powered the great innovative engine. Before, the quality of wine and its place in the hierarchy of styles was determined by the nobility and by landowners. While the bourgeoisie did not necessarily agree with such interpretations, and they decided which wine satisfied their tastes, and it follows that wine came to be viewed not just as a food or as a supplement to the diet, but something to be consumed outside of lunches on special occasions, social events, celebrations, etcetera. Another factor that favored the introduction of these international grapes was the physical separation between the world of grape production and the world of processing. As long as the grapes were processed by the winemaker, the process of grape cultivation and vinification were practically part of the same chain. But here, the winemaker used the old varieties handed down from his grandparents, parents, and so on. When the two steps became separated, when inology became a modern science following pastor and the knowledge of the phenomenon of fermentation, the phenomena of the transformation of sugar into alcohol. At this point, the winemaker no longer needed the traditional grapes produced in the traditional way without even knowing their names. Instead, new varieties could be used to make new styles to appeal to a much wider market, an international market. I'll try to hurry because we're running out of time. So we wonder if international grapes can satisfy international tastes. But what are international tastes? Let's say their tastes that are widely shared the world over. German, American, or Australian consumers, for example, consider these models as reference points. Perhaps the French model has traditionally been considered international by the market in terms of its grapes. So is Topicity limited to where the grapes are indigenous or can it also be achieved in international terroir? Over the years, much effort was put into characterizing vines with the type of land where they were cultivated. Think, Sicily, Latio, or Tarantino regions, for example, the lightness of a wine's body is an international trend linked to health because of an incorrect assumption that there are less calories and lighter wines. Mine has to go beyond stereotypes. It has to be unique. Natural is linked to wines resulting from a more respective viticulture. Also in terms of plant diseases and feeding needs, International is the capacity of a wine to be acknowledged from an international perspective. Wine spectator, for instance, can be considered the champions of awareness for international grape varieties like Japanese Servyon or Melo. Aspects that need to be taken into consideration are residual sugar, color, longevity, and the alcohol content of the wines, their vinification in Barriques, and the concentration. International varieties can be found in countries like Chile, California, and regions like Tuscany, where the super Tuscans are produced. Mostly these wines are the product of well known inologists with higher than average prices. The first winemaker to understand the correct use of international grapes was Robert Mondavi. He believed that cabernet sauvignon or the chardonnays grown in Napa Valley must follow winemaking techniques that make them comparable to French wines. He busted the myth of French Touart distinguishing himself from GEO who believed that the style of the wine is reliant on the grape itself. He enforced the importance of making a high quality wine with a combination of specific grapes, viticulture, and winemaking practices. After the scandal involving producers of brunello di Montalcino, under suspicion of wine fraud in the eighties, the key players of the Italian wine renaissance managed to popularize its Italian wine on a global scale, just to mention a few, SASakaya, Tignanello, with the style deriving from the usage of the Barriques and oxio reductive principles. In Italy, the wineries that are working with international grapes, including Castel, San michele, in the sixties, San Leonardo Ferrari, forebearer of the traditional method in Italy in nineteen o two. In Italy, the international grapes play well at home, so to speak, distinguishing themselves with a truly unique topicity conveying a brand in and of itself with an image and association to a terwa in a region, Volgari Trrentino Cicilia. If we consider these an association with a premium brand, Cabernet sauvignon or Melo here gained dignity. Striking, the proper balance between a brand and a terroir is the foundation for success, or moreover the link between wine and culture is essential to the market. A brand can be described as the intangible expression of a wine, the synthesis of a terroir, and the conditions of the territory. Thank you for the attention. I'm available for q and a. I have two questions. The first one is with respect to the impact of denominations on the spread of the international varieties. Are there limits on the use of international grapes allowing only specific grapes? The second question is related to the selection of international varieties to enhance the performance of indigenous grapes. The results are positive. Are they not? Can they be further improved still? The denominations are quite rigid in terms of great varieties. However, geographical indications offer much more opportunities in terms of exploration of new varieties. This can be an instructive step for the revision of a do. GIs can be used as a trojan horse, With respect to the second question, the international varieties have very high potential. The indigenous grapes, indeed, show their results after long term investments. Among the Italian indigenous grapes, Is there any one of these varieties which might become an international grape? We have never managed to spread indigenous grapes outside of Italy. Nebiola, Sanjay, have never given significant results. Before prohibition, the Italian immigrants bought indigenous grapes to the USA, however, they are tied to their specific territories of origin, an expression of a non exportable culture one could say. Thank you. Thank you. Listen to the Italian wine podcast wherever you get your podcasts. We're on SoundCloud, Apple podcasts, 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, Chinching.