Ep. 1758 Serena Storri Of Famiglia Cecchi | 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 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 top fix facing the industry today. Don't forget to tune in every Thursday at three PM or visit the Italian wine podcast dot com for more information. Hello. This is Cynthia Chaplin. I'm at wine to wine business forum. Interviewing producers for our Italian wine podcast marathon during the forum. And this afternoon, I'm very happy to have Serena Story with me. She's the marketing and communication director at Checky in Tuscany. So thank you so much for coming and talking to me. Thank you, Cynthia, for inviting me. It's a big pleasure. I'm a big fan of Jackie's wines. So, just to talk about the cantina a little bit, I know the cantina is comprised more or less of five estates. Is that right? Yeah. That's very correct. The company was set one hundred thirty years ago. We are celebrating this, great anniversary this year. And, yes, since the nineteen sixties until nowadays, it's five states, two based in Castellin and Canti, so in the heart of the population of Canti Glasgow. Two states based in Castellin and Canti are Villa Cerna, the was actually purchased by the Czechi family in the nineteen sixties when they decided to move in county classical and the Vila Rosa estate that was bought actually in twenty fifteen where we produced our Vila that's the wine you've chosen to represent the cantina today. So Yeah. Very interesting. Villa Rosa Chianti classico, Grand Salazione, two thousand and nineteen. Yeah. Why did you choose this wine? Why is it so important to Jackie and to you? Because in between the sixties and the twenty fifteen, when the family decided to reinvest in Castelina County, they had decided to be, looking around in order to be producing in other areas, located areas for wine production such as in Marima, very promising and wild and based on on SanjayVese too, where we have in a state called, and they actually exited the borders of Tuscany investing in umbria in Montefalco to be more precise with the So when they decided to be back in Kantiglassic or choosing a very special state such as Pila Rosa, that is the reason why I like to talk about it because it was actually like going back to the roots of Canticlassical and of sangueza based, like hundred percent sangueza wines. So what makes Villa Rosa so special as an estate? Vilarosa is, composed by a few parcels. There's a few marvellous vines. One of those is called Caseto, and it's the highest on sea level, and it's like surrounded by these incredible, Cyprusus trees wood called. For everyone who's listening and hasn't been to Castelina and to this region, it's the most beautiful part of Tuscany. It's really lovely hills, these long avenues of Cyprus, like you're describing really beautiful vistas to see. So, yes, carry on because it takes me back to read my mind. It's a wonderful place to visit. True. And what very few people know about Tuscany and Canticolasico in particular is that you often think of Tuscany as the rolling hills, the Cyprus trees, the olive trees, too, and the vines. But what very few people know is that the candy glassy population has a huge amount of woods. Absolutely. That's why we call Bosco. Yes. Yes. It's full of Bosco's. It's a forest land. True woodside land. Which is really, helping a lot in making the terrarium very special and helping a lot on, like, temperature swirls in between day and night, which are so important for Sanjay. Especially recently. Climate change is is here. And the summers have been hotter and hotter as we go along. So you're in the ideal location. So Vilarosa. How big is the villarosa estate? So it's more or less twenty actors, and divided in a few vines as I was telling you. And another vine I'd like to mention is dipalla jone because we just subscribed to be part of the Old Vine Association, because it was planted in year nineteen sixty five. So a few of the plants there are so stunningly beautiful and very interesting under the point of view of the quality of the breaks of the bunch. Almost sixty years old, those lines. So in not making a lot of quantity, but the quality will be excellent, really concentrated and complex. Yeah. I always like to say that vines behave like humans more or less. So, yeah, maybe less energetic, but like, wiser, I would say. Wiser. More interesting. I agree with that. I think that's absolutely true. So if we were gonna pour this wine into our glass right now, what would we see? What would we smell? What would we taste? Tell me about villa Rosa gran que, what what comes out of the glass? First of all, it's a hundred percent sangiovese produced in the way you would like to see a sangiovese in the glass. So it's quite transparent. And the color is very lively. And it's a wine that is already looking at the glass. It's telling you that the style of the wine, the style of the bunch is produced by the Veneto Caseto are very elegant. There's, like, it's very, straight in the mouth. It's mineral and, it's all about Austin TCC. So it's like being there, closing your eyes and imagining you're walking on the stones, and, they climb it there as helps as I was telling you by the Bosco around So this equilibrium you find in the glass, that where the, some fruit is very well matched with, the minerality, verticality, and depth, making it a very, I think, I hope, interesting way of drinking planty glass equals one hundred percent sangiovese. Absolutely. And really, I think, really beautifully developed tannins. In in this in this style of wine. Thank you for mentioning because it's true. Tannins are so well integrated and let's say the production style is retest to not being proactive on the bunches. So that's the vine that's really producing tannins that are already very interesting and well integrated. Let's talk about Grand Salazione for a minute because, of course, It's relatively new for the Appalachian. Not everybody understands it. Let's talk about the difference between Canti classical and Grand Salazione. Mhmm. One of the reasons why Andrea decided to be investing in Villa Rosa was actually that the Grancellizione was born. So he thought well, the company thought it was quite an opportunity to be back in county classical to, let's say, goal tech direction. The Grancellizione is the top of the pyramid. The quality pyramid at Canticastico, and what is really making the difference? Although it didn't from the early times because we, the producers within Canticastico probably had to get an idea of what would be the real opportunity. What is letting us express, let's say, to our wise, is that many of us are going towards the use of one hundred percent San Giovanni, which is really interesting because Now, it is we're talking about ugast. Of course. So that's I think that's what we talk about quite a lot. The the UGAs. Yeah. The UGA. So, the umitario graphique, Adjuntiva of the candy classical. And of course, going towards quality of wine that is really as much as possible authentic to eat the terrarium. It's coming from. And expressive. Really expressive. So that's really helping the whole county classic population of having people understand the various qualities of the areas in which the candy glass is divided. So to me, not only is the, let's say, the point of quality, but it's also very helpful in order to be as good as possible with the Cantiglassical producers to have people understand deeply the perspective, the qualities, the characteristics of each single portion of Cantiglassical. It's so fascinating this conversation, and I know that working at Jackie is a new job for you. You've only been there a year and a half after a long experience at another winery. Yeah. So as the as the marketing and communications director, How do we get this story out to people who are not from Tuscany, people who are not from Italy? How do we explain this to people in China and Japan and the United States? How do we let them know the difference between Vila Rosa. Yeah. Yeah. And just your average quianti classical. We need to come up with words and ways to tell them. It's a huge question you're asking, of course, and, of course, we all have to start. We should definitely never be fed up in talking and talking about our terrace, but I'm not even talking about our vines, but we have to speak altogether as part of the appalachian because thank god in Cantieglassico, we discovered how strong we can be in terms of voices when we speak altogether same language. And of course, having people around the world having the chance of tasting our wines while talking about them. It's very obvious, but it's the start. But it's important. Yeah. I think truly. It's it's difficult to to make these distinctions if we don't take the time to get the wines there, get them in people's glasses, have them tasting and talking with people who are knowledgeable. This is how we're going to get new wine drinkers into into the realm of all the innovation we want to do and distinguishing, as you say, the UGA, that's something coming to. So for you in your role at at Jackie, in the next couple of years, what's the plan? What would you like to see happen? Yeah. I just joined. As I said, We are planning to rethink in a way our image. And when I'm speaking about image, I'm talking about the whole way of the face of the company outside. We are a family company, so This will mean that Andrea Cheki, which is the CEO and president of the company, and all of us will have to be on the field talking, meeting people, and where possible. Strengthening our capacity of, hosting people because there's nothing as effective as having people from abroad coming over and discovering that there are walking on the vine. That's such a good point. So I know people listening will want to come and visit you to beautiful Castelina, which is possible, and we are very happy. Well, tell them how to get there. Do you have a website social media? Can they find you? We have social media. Please check on the Instagram and Facebook. It's the the website is the it or Cheki dot net. And it's especially in Castelina and Kiente, we have the Foresteria Villaterna. It's a very lovely asset. It's possible to have a nice lunch or dinner in front of a vine in front of Villaterna. And in Marimato, we have, this state called Vald de la Rosie. It's quite a destination. And in summertime, in between June and September, we are having sort of program of events. Normally, it's live events. We have concerts. We have some theater bits, or sometimes we have a day, having tasting and activity with the sunset, which sounds obvious, but it's just stunning belief. Oh, that's perfect. That's I can't think of anything better than than having a DJ and and a parativo in Marima Yes. As the sun sets down over the water. How do people come and find Villarosa in particular if they want to come villarosa? Yes. They should contact us in, at checky at checky dot net, which is the direct email to contact us. And then we will put them in touch with the people that are, you know, taking care about hospitality. We are super happy people will like to come and visit. That is perfect. Thank you so much, Serena. It's a huge pleasure to talk to you about Tuscany and Grandcela Tione today. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Cynthia, for your time. It's been a pleasure. Listen to the Italian wine podcast wherever you get your podcasts. We're on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, 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, Cheaching.