Ep. 1681 Francesca Bonzano Of Castello Di Uviglie | wine2wine Business Forum 2023

The Italian wine podcast is the community driven platform for Italian winegeeks around the world. Support the show by donating at italian wine podcast dot com. Donate five or more Euros, and we'll send you a copy of our latest book, my Italian Great Geek journal. Absolutely free. To get your free copy of my Italian GreatGeek journal, click support us at Italian One podcast dot com, or wherever you get your pods. Official media partner, the Italian One podcast past is delighted to present a series of interviews and highlights from the twenty twenty three one to one business form, featuring Italian wine producers and bringing together some of the most influential voices in the sector to discuss the hottest topics facing the Street today. Don't forget to tune in every Thursday at three PM, or visit the Italian wine podcast dot com for more information. Hi. Good morning. It's the wine to wine podcast marathon. We have white wine business forum going this week. And this is Cynthia Chaplin. And today, I'm so happy to welcome Franchesca Bonzano. She is the owner and export manager for Castella Duvigie. In Piamonte. So welcome, Franchesca. It's so nice to have you. Thank you, Cynthia. It's nice to be here with you. It's great that you've come and brought your wine to share with us. So you've got Montarato Oroosto, DOC, two thousand and sixteen. And we know that eventually this wine is going to become known as Piamonte Alvarosa. Really important because we wanna talk about native grapes more often than we do. So tell us a bit about this wine. How did you choose it? Why is it the wine that you think represents your winery the best. So, this is a hundred percent Alvarosta, and the Albras is a relatively unknown, red grape variety from payments. So it was first created in nineteen thirty eight by Giovanni and, while crossing Barbera and Chateusto, which is, also called Nipiolo Idonero. There's no real Nipiolo, as we know it today. It's more like a very old, great variety, actually from France. And so we've already discovered a barista together with other producers recently because we believe, in its great characteristics, like, it's a very thick body, very juicy, you know, with this red and, black fruits, which is amazing to me with this sichuan pepper. And, of course, we know the parents, Barbera, and Lena Biodo. We also know that it has a very, like, great agent potential. So Sure. Good acidity and some nice Tannocks a lot of talent. So, exactly. So are you aging it in wood and how long? So we this age in two years in barrels, like a small barrels, French oak. And so it also gains a lot of structure from there. So Alberto has a very small, let's say, berries that has a lot of fruit. We're not the first one who believe in, in Alberto because the first one was, the founder of, the winery in late, eighteen hundred tofierie Bercarazio from the Bercarazio family that was a Bercarazio family was the the founder of Fiat, Emmanuel, her brother. But she was the one who actually got the winery started. Like, she started commercializing the wines, And, I mean, she did a great job, and she was also a friend with the Giovanni Delmaster. So she was the first one planting Alvaro Saint Hammond, which was a long time ago, actually. Also, to be a woman in wine back in those days once in decades. That's incredible. The story I am fascinated by that. Well, I can see on your bottle, it says fourteen ninety one. So let's talk about the significance of fourteen ninety one for Castella de uvella. So fourteen ninety one was the year where where the first vine was planted. And, it it's crazy to think that was one year prior to discovery of America. And I'm Americans. Yes. That's a long time ago. So they started so while they were discovering America, you need to be over, you know, experimenting on wine probably. So They were alchemists at Casalo Luvide, and they were the first one making actual experiments with their grapes. It's so fascinating. So how old are the oldest vineyards that you still have? So they're around forty, forty five years old. Of course, we don't have the first one planted, but we want to believe that it's somehow where guardians, you know, not owners of this land. So we prefer to we would love to know if the original place was also there, and if we knew that we would maintain it. So what we're what we're trying to do is not replacing the grape variety that they used to have. We even have some cabernet franc that we don't really use for verification, but It was there originally. They said, and protecting it and keeping it, which is great to hear about. I know your family took over in twenty twenty. Yes. So not that long ago. So sort of what are the dreams and hopes for the future? I know you just got Equalitas, the sustainability certification. So what are your plans? I know it's it's you and your sisters. What are the plans going forward? So my personal dream would be to take one fair out of far away from Italy. So, like, the name of Mufferato, the name of Alvaro, so the US is my second home. I studied there. I worked there. So I want to keep expanding in the US area. And, of course, make known the name of Mufferato, not only with Barbera, but with the Galparosa grape as well, the Grignolino grape, which is also an active grape, that is a favorite of mine. That's a grape. Great. So it's a very rebel wine as well. So on the next steps would be standing with the export and, probably, like, slowly increase the production in order to have also the the volumes to follow the dream of export. And I know you're making around a hundred and fifty thousand bottles a year. How many bottles per year do you make of the Montarato rosso, the alvaroza? So we're around fifteen, twenty thousand bottles. We also this is not the only one for Artos. So we have because it has a our aim is also is to preserve the the massive grapes, but also to keep experimenting. For example, we have a mone Feratoroso, but it's a pinot noir and Barbera, which is a pretty that's a that's a brand. Yes. For Piamon is pretty unusual as it's called Osteria. Osteria used to be a place in Italy where, people used to go after work to gather with friends. So we want to remind that wine could be also something informal and nice to share. And so, Steria, the name and also the we have a beer bottle shaped that it saves the packaging of Osteria. So it's also used to. The meaning is, why it should be for everyone. So, monefero to itself, as a DOC, it's fun because you can also experiment. That is great. I I know you're also doing some Macedo class ago, aren't you? Yes. So the historical production of Mato del Castico at Casel de villa, it's a four years old production. We have, Calvin Getera, which are this queries that originated in eighteen, a hundred, after price. They were dicked by men, but originated from a stall from twenty eight thousand million years ago. So spending around ten thousand square meters, and we keep all our classic method there to age, which is, also like a great space to, you know, keep experiments also on aging. So we do a hundred and twenty months classic method. Fantastic. What's the blend? Normally, we do share the name pinot noir. And we're very classic on fifty fifty or, yes, around fifty. Normally, it's fifty fifty, but, we're not that experimental on classic method because we'll know that again, sure the name, you know, or start. Why why change it? We know it first. So Exactly. So you're sort of getting much more involved in bringing people in. I know we were talking before we started the interview about, Yes. So I wanna hear a little bit about this because it's a group of young primarily female producers. Tell me what you're doing with that. Well, like, a a group of friends that also have each other, because we're Of course, young, I always say that we don't really have colleagues of our age. So it's it's hard sometimes to, you know, know where you wanna go or how you wanna get there. So we started like this, like, sharing contacts and also with this big event in Astia, with the ice, asti, where everything started. So, we made French there, and then sometimes, like, we so we started to believe that actually should be something bigger. So we want to become an association and we would love to start, you know, like, events in different parts of Italy to start with and then maybe go out there. And it's all young for dessert under forty eight years old. I think it's so important to get these things going now. And having, you know, a young image yourself and your sisters will help attract new younger drinkers as well. We we know that young people aren't drinking as much wine as they used to or as we would like to see them and experiment with it. So it's great that you're starting that sort of an association, getting women involved, which is super important, especially here in Italy. Yeah. And I hope that you can take that forward into other countries, especially if you're going to export more to the US. Yes. Exporting your association too is gonna be something It doesn't really come. If it can do something, I always believe in doing something together. I don't think people can get really far. If they're by themselves. So the best would be to gathering these and bring our wines also because it's young producers, but also experimental producers. Like, a lot of us have particular wines, not really, like, very well known established great varieties. So it's fun to explore with us with the with the group of Espar Patel as well. It's fantastic. So let me just ask, can people come and visit you? Our listener are gonna hear this, and they're gonna get excited. So can they come and visit Castella del v? So we're open seven days out of seven. So they're probably gonna find me there. And my mom and my uncle and cousin, so it's we're a big family, not just my sister that that helps out, but it's a lot of families. So we normally are there. So the visit is pretty fun because you can enter these queries and actually see yourself how we we age classic methods. That's amazing. Introduction. Can they find you on Instagram or Facebook or LinkedIn website? Tell me how or tell them how to find you. So we're currently without the websites because we're, you know, comprehensive rebranding process. So they're gonna find us on Instagram on LinkedIn in Facebook, of course, with the logo, the u logo, which is kind of recognizable. And for you. Right. Oh, that's fantastic. Well, thank you so so much for joining us and giving me your time, and I'm looking forward to tasting the wine as well. Yes. And hopefully, we will see you again soon with Barbatelllet as well. I really hope so. Thank you so much. Thank you. Listen to the Italian wine podcast wherever you get your podcasts. We're on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, MLIFM, and more. Don't forget to subscribe and rate the show. If you enjoy listening, please consider donating through Italianline podcast dot com. Any amount helps cover equipment, production, and publication costs. Until next time.