The Scarbolo winery is a producer of high-quality wines from the Friuli Grave area, specializing in Pinot Grigio. Mattia, son of Valter Scarbolo, talks to us about the winery and his story. Recforded live on Clubhouse in 2021.
[00:00:00] Welcome to La Taverna Friuli Wines, the definitive podcast on wines from Friuli Benetia Giulia.
[00:00:27] I'm your host, Wayne Young.
[00:00:39] Hey Friuli Wine fans, welcome to a special Vin Italy Week Best of Edition of La Taverna Friuli Wines.
[00:00:49] Wayne Young here.
[00:00:51] Gonna bring you back to October 2021 with a dear friend, someone who I literally watched grow up in and around the vineyards and around the world.
[00:01:04] My friend, my dear friend, Mattia Scarbello from the Scarbello Winery in Friuli Grave.
[00:01:11] Specialists in Pinogrizzo and not only or known solo as they say in Italian.
[00:01:20] We're approaching our 100th episode of La Taverna. I'm super excited about that.
[00:01:27] Who should we bring back for the 100th episode? Should it be Mattia?
[00:01:30] A lot has happened at the Scarbello Winery in these last two and a half years.
[00:01:36] Thinking about maybe bringing back some of our earlier guests.
[00:01:40] What do you think? Should we bring back some early guests, get an update on what's going on with those guys and gals?
[00:01:46] Let me know. Send me a message on the socials, Wayne Grape on Facebook and on Instagram.
[00:01:53] La Taverna podcast on Instagram. La Taverna for you, Leon Facebook.
[00:01:58] Let me know what you think. Who do you want to hear from?
[00:02:01] Might even put a little poll attached to this poll as in P-O-L-L.
[00:02:06] Not poll as in like a stripper poll. Anyway.
[00:02:12] We're also closing in on 10,000 listens to La Taverna.
[00:02:18] Wow. I am really excited about that. Thank you everyone for your support.
[00:02:24] And we're going to go back to this Clubhouse edition.
[00:02:27] So you'll be hearing me talk about pinging people in and maybe even get some comments toward the end there from the audience.
[00:02:33] But back in the days when we used to do the podcast live on Clubhouse.
[00:02:39] I haven't left Clubhouse completely.
[00:02:42] Did you know that La Taverna is a proud sponsor of the Italian Wine Podcast?
[00:02:49] Just did a great podcast with Tamada Poversic. Got another one coming up soon.
[00:02:55] That has just been published on the Italian Wine Podcast feed.
[00:03:00] So do get in there and listen to that. It's a great conversation with a lovely, lovely person.
[00:03:05] And tomorrow I am going to be in Vin Italy hanging out.
[00:03:10] And then a new episode will be up next week.
[00:03:14] So enjoy it in the meantime, this special best of episode with Mattia Scarbello.
[00:03:21] So Mattia, how are you doing tonight brother?
[00:03:35] I'm quite happy to be here. That's how everyone...
[00:03:38] We're going to get a super formal in a second after I get...
[00:03:41] Okay, Bridget's come in, Vanessa's come in. Great.
[00:03:45] All right, all right, all right. Hi Bridget, hi Vanessa. Welcome.
[00:03:49] If you guys want to come up on stage, do feel free to raise your hand and I'll bring you up if you want to give...
[00:03:56] If you want to ask some questions to Mattia, but we're going to get into it full bore in just a minute.
[00:04:01] So give us a second here and let the room populate just a little bit.
[00:04:04] And waiting for Natalie, don't know where she is.
[00:04:07] Nat, where is my co-host? My darling co-host, where are you?
[00:04:11] Okay, so we're just waiting for Nat to get in. There she is. Hello darling Natalie.
[00:04:16] Hello my darling Wayne and hello to everybody from London.
[00:04:20] Hello to everybody from London. I hope everybody's listening.
[00:04:24] Everybody. Yep, how's it going? How's everything over there?
[00:04:29] It's hot as hell here Nat. How's everything going in beautiful downtown London?
[00:04:34] It's beautiful.
[00:04:36] Beautiful. I'm here with my dad Charlie listening. It's beautiful.
[00:04:40] Oh, hello Charlie. How are you?
[00:04:43] Hi, actually I was telling Natalie about an hour ago what a wonderful weather we have.
[00:04:50] She said it was great. I said, but it's beautiful. I said you can do everything you want.
[00:04:55] I said, when it's hot you got to hide.
[00:04:57] Exactly. That's what I did all day. That's what I did all day.
[00:05:01] All right. Well, so happy that Charlie's here. So good to hear from you.
[00:05:06] Nat, are you enjoying your time in London?
[00:05:10] I am indeed off to West London this evening. Hopefully see what wines they've got.
[00:05:16] Be interesting.
[00:05:17] Yeah, definitely check it out. Let us know. Let us know.
[00:05:20] I will.
[00:05:21] I want to introduce to everyone as the room is populating my favorite ex wife Vanessa is here.
[00:05:27] She's a Bridget who I think it might be a first time. Listen Bridget,
[00:05:32] I'm really happy to see you here. Please do come up on stage if you want to ask questions.
[00:05:36] Same for you Vanessa. If you want to come up and ask a question, please feel free.
[00:05:40] But I think we're going to get started. I do want to introduce a man who I've known since he was a child.
[00:05:47] Hello, Sue Tolson. Welcome to the room.
[00:05:50] Matias Garblow is here with us this evening. Thanks for being here, buddy.
[00:05:54] It's good to be here. Good to see you. Good to see you.
[00:05:58] Matias is sort of like the second third generation.
[00:06:03] Third generation.
[00:06:04] The third generation of Scarblow's making wine in the grave.
[00:06:08] So why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself? I mean,
[00:06:12] you've had a very wild and sort of varied experience all over the world.
[00:06:18] So tell us a little bit about your story, how you sort of started off in the wine business, left the wine.
[00:06:24] I'll leave that up to you.
[00:06:25] Rock and roll. Thank you.
[00:06:27] Yeah, so I'm a Matias. I'm working at my family's wine at him called Scarblow.
[00:06:33] And it's been a long path like a boomerang.
[00:06:37] So when you grow up, at least in Friuli in the countryside and you go to high school
[00:06:44] and you know, you confront yourself with the other guys and the girls and what does your family do?
[00:06:49] I'm a farmer and it doesn't really ring a sexy bell.
[00:06:53] So I said, okay, screw this. I'm going as far away as possible.
[00:06:57] And I did everything I could to go to get into banking.
[00:07:00] Maybe I was watching too much Wall Street.
[00:07:03] But eventually and surprisingly, I got in.
[00:07:07] I started working in M&A in New York for a few years.
[00:07:11] Enough time to realize it was not what I was meant to do.
[00:07:15] Not what I was meant to be.
[00:07:17] What made you realize that?
[00:07:19] Was there like a moment or was it just a gradual kind of feeling?
[00:07:25] I think it was gradual.
[00:07:27] Then you have that epiphany, the moment when you realize the only reason why I'm doing this is for the money.
[00:07:35] There's no excitement when you wake up in the morning.
[00:07:37] Although you're in the most exciting city in the world, you should be like, fuck yes, I'm in heaven.
[00:07:45] And instead of doing all those things that when you're an EP, you do.
[00:07:53] Just this very plain repetition of a daily circle.
[00:08:00] And then magic happened.
[00:08:03] My sister, my younger sister, her name is Lara.
[00:08:05] She was supposed to be here with us today, but she's having a few days off before we started with the harvest and she deserves that.
[00:08:14] So she joined as the winemaker.
[00:08:16] And I figured if there's one chance I have to do something that I've been connected to my entire life.
[00:08:22] And throughout the years that I was in the U.S., I was starting to reconnect with wine.
[00:08:27] I said, let's go back and let's do this together.
[00:08:30] Well, you were always sort of still connected with the winery because even when you were working in finance in the States,
[00:08:36] I would always see you pop up at events and going around to doing work with.
[00:08:42] So you never really left.
[00:08:44] You were always kind of connected.
[00:08:46] Yeah, absolutely.
[00:08:49] But the thing is, yeah, because the U.S. was our biggest market, it still is, although it's a smaller percentage now.
[00:08:56] So of course it made more sense for me to attend events and be the ambassador of the winery when I could.
[00:09:04] But at the time, full disclosure, I was being a fucking fraud.
[00:09:09] I had no idea what I was doing.
[00:09:12] I was just repeating what my father was sending me messages with all the data.
[00:09:17] And actually that was one of the main drives I had when I came back and I had this epiphany process.
[00:09:26] Because when you enter a family business, I think inevitably there's this contrast between generations.
[00:09:36] One generation, especially a generation before me, which is my father and my mother who started the business seriously.
[00:09:43] My grandfather was a classic farmer, so it was a completely different way of viewing the wine project that we have.
[00:09:52] So you enter and of course you have to be able to take what your parents did and make it yours.
[00:10:00] And there's this, there's a lot of contrast happening and contrast is amazing.
[00:10:04] Contrast is fantastic because it lets you grow, it lets you challenge and we grow through challenge and through difficulties.
[00:10:11] Without a doubt.
[00:10:12] And I was reminiscent of my time when I was in the US.
[00:10:19] Just being like, I don't want to say fake but you know, not owning what I was doing, not being 100% part of it.
[00:10:26] I said, I want to know everything I can.
[00:10:28] I want to do something meaningful if I can because I saw myself when I was doing things not the right way.
[00:10:36] Not in a way that was, that I didn't add any value for anyone.
[00:10:41] I said, I want to change this and thankfully with my sister we're very much aligned on this and it's the most fun thing ever.
[00:10:49] It's amazing that you and your sister actually have formed this kind of dynamic duo at the winery because first of all I never thought ever that your sister would get involved with the winery.
[00:10:59] I thought maybe you would because you had that kind of killer instinct, right?
[00:11:04] But Lada always seemed like very shy and very timid.
[00:11:08] She didn't strike me as somebody who would be like a seller rat or an animal of the winery or whatever.
[00:11:15] So I was really impressed and really happy when she jumped in there.
[00:11:18] And I think it's so lucky for your dad and your mom that both of you have inherited this passion for the winery.
[00:11:28] Very often you have, I know wineries now where they're saying, I have three children and none of them are at all interested in being involved in the winery.
[00:11:39] So I think, Volter, your father kind of won the lottery with you too, I have to say.
[00:11:45] Either that or he brainwashed you really well from a young age.
[00:11:49] I think he's regretting every single day the fact that I came back because we're both, okay.
[00:11:56] Let's do a little zodiac astrology, I think.
[00:12:00] Yep, that's it.
[00:12:01] Deep dive both erases.
[00:12:04] Whenever we have a discussion.
[00:12:06] The two rams.
[00:12:07] It's my thyson in the ring.
[00:12:10] Okay.
[00:12:11] But no, so me and my sister when we were younger, a lot of fights, classic Bart Simpson and Lisa, Neck Chalk and arguing.
[00:12:21] And we got back and of course, we had to find our alignment, our balance.
[00:12:27] And now it's, you know, like now I was talking about this with a friend the other day.
[00:12:32] It's when you realize what being siblings really means, not really means sorry, but like the deepest connection you can have with someone is like, we're the same.
[00:12:42] We think of something we were thinking of the name for a new wine.
[00:12:45] We heard somebody say something.
[00:12:47] We looked at each other in the eye and was like, Oh my God, we got this.
[00:12:51] So there's this alignment in the visual.
[00:12:53] But this meant that now it's me and her against so open close bracket.
[00:12:59] It's a constructive contrast by the gangster parents.
[00:13:04] So that's why I said my dad now is like, Oh man, I got two enemies in the winery they're taking over.
[00:13:10] So yeah, it's kind of like you guys have ganged up.
[00:13:14] I think it's important because you feel like you have an ally.
[00:13:17] She feels like she has an ally in the cellar now.
[00:13:20] 100%.
[00:13:21] Cool.
[00:13:22] So you handle sort of more the marketing side.
[00:13:27] Lotta hands the analogical side or clear that up for me.
[00:13:30] So the way it works, Lata is the, everybody works except for me, I would say.
[00:13:38] How does it work?
[00:13:40] Some things never change.
[00:13:42] You gotta stay true to your DNA.
[00:13:45] No, so how does it work?
[00:13:47] So our father is he takes care of the drone agronomy.
[00:13:51] So he's in the vineyards and that's also because besides the science, it requires a lot of,
[00:13:57] I would say, actual experience.
[00:13:59] So yeah, because he's had how many years?
[00:14:01] That's 20 or 40 years.
[00:14:03] 40 years.
[00:14:04] So he said 40 harvests.
[00:14:06] So yeah, so he knows something.
[00:14:08] Yeah, yeah, exactly.
[00:14:09] Okay.
[00:14:10] And he focuses on that.
[00:14:11] He's also a trained agronomist, isn't he?
[00:14:13] He is.
[00:14:14] Did he study agronomy?
[00:14:15] He studied agronomy, not the analogy.
[00:14:17] Yeah.
[00:14:18] Okay.
[00:14:19] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:14:20] He knows his, and that's what he likes to do.
[00:14:22] And he's focusing on that.
[00:14:24] Our mother, she is now the actual boss.
[00:14:27] She decides who gets paid.
[00:14:29] She takes care of logistics.
[00:14:31] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:14:33] She's the actual boss.
[00:14:35] Got a treat her well.
[00:14:36] Oh yeah.
[00:14:37] Yeah, but mom always gets treated well here in Italy.
[00:14:40] Exactly.
[00:14:41] And my sister, she's the, she's the winemaker.
[00:14:45] So, so she's got, she spends time in the,
[00:14:49] most of the time in the binary, of course.
[00:14:51] What I do is of course,
[00:14:55] technically I help with sales and marketing,
[00:14:57] but I like to think more as I help with strategy.
[00:15:01] Because me coming from a completely different background,
[00:15:05] I have, let's call it luck of having a different point of view
[00:15:09] to help us and having worked with the, with the,
[00:15:13] so when I was in banking, M&A,
[00:15:15] you help companies either acquire other companies
[00:15:19] or companies sell.
[00:15:23] And of course, when you have.
[00:15:24] M&A is mergers and acquisitions.
[00:15:26] Correct.
[00:15:27] Yeah, because I'm completely stupid when it comes to.
[00:15:29] Oh, sorry.
[00:15:30] It's just, it literally took me 15 minutes to figure that out.
[00:15:33] It's just the douchebag acronym to say, oh yeah, M&A.
[00:15:37] Now I understand.
[00:15:41] But what, what that helped, what helped in what I do now
[00:15:48] from my experience was, you know, when you have to sell a company
[00:15:53] and you have to understand the business,
[00:15:55] you have to understand people that have actually made
[00:15:58] the business grow from zero and 100 million, 30 million.
[00:16:03] Our focus was from businesses from 25 to 250 millions.
[00:16:08] So most of the time it's especially in the U.S.
[00:16:10] that there's a little bit more of a structured economy,
[00:16:13] if you will.
[00:16:15] It's, you see in that bracket a lot of companies
[00:16:19] that were started from scratch.
[00:16:21] Okay, instead of the super huge multi-billion corporations.
[00:16:25] Okay.
[00:16:26] And it was unbelievably educative, educational to understand
[00:16:31] how did this person grow?
[00:16:33] What was the strategy?
[00:16:35] What did he do or she?
[00:16:37] What did they, how did they structure everything
[00:16:41] accomplished?
[00:16:42] What was the vision?
[00:16:43] And I tried to bring that back.
[00:16:45] So I'm not any in any way affect him going, getting in the way
[00:16:50] of what my, the rest of the team does.
[00:16:53] But I helped them see in a way that is more holistic.
[00:16:57] Yeah, that's a huge, that's a huge leap here and freely
[00:17:01] because there's not a lot of people who have that kind of
[00:17:04] kind of, you know, 360 degree vision sort of willing to look
[00:17:08] at everything from the top, you know, literally and maybe
[00:17:12] figuratively and maybe literally to sort of see,
[00:17:15] well, where can we go with this?
[00:17:17] How do we structure this?
[00:17:18] You know, what's the next strategy?
[00:17:20] Where are we going?
[00:17:21] What's the potential of things like that?
[00:17:23] So you had a real advantage seeing that and bringing
[00:17:28] that experience back to the winery.
[00:17:30] So talking about the winery, tell us a little bit about,
[00:17:33] you know, obviously you're in the grave, right?
[00:17:36] And we'll talk more about the ups and downs of
[00:17:40] grave as we go forward.
[00:17:42] But just tell me a little bit about, you know,
[00:17:45] vineyards and wines and things like that just so
[00:17:48] for people who are listening can have an idea of
[00:17:51] what Scarblow is all about wine wise.
[00:17:54] Absolutely.
[00:17:55] So, yeah, briefly, our grandfather moved from,
[00:18:01] and this explains that our history,
[00:18:04] sometimes I think it's so boring to speak about history
[00:18:07] because it's like, oh, we're a one-and-a-generation winery
[00:18:11] that has been like, come on, who are you?
[00:18:14] Why are you doing this?
[00:18:15] Is this who you are?
[00:18:17] Is really who did something before you?
[00:18:20] What are you doing?
[00:18:21] I like that.
[00:18:22] But at least I don't want to say only in our case,
[00:18:25] but in my case I can see like how everything fell into place.
[00:18:30] So our grandfather was a tenant farmer.
[00:18:32] There was tenant farming until the 50s in Friuli.
[00:18:36] So he was working in the noble man's land.
[00:18:38] And then the laws changed with the Fort Magdaria
[00:18:42] and he moved from the Colio, from Cividale
[00:18:49] where the land was a little bit too expensive for him to buy
[00:18:53] to the closest place where he could have good land
[00:18:56] to do farming the way he did.
[00:18:59] And so he started planting different crops
[00:19:03] and one hectare of vineyard.
[00:19:05] Then my father grew up.
[00:19:06] He had a little experience outside doing other stuff,
[00:19:09] kind of like the way I did, but still in Friuli
[00:19:12] and still kind of related.
[00:19:14] And then he went back to his father
[00:19:18] and he decided to continue with the winery.
[00:19:22] But we only had with the winemaking,
[00:19:24] so focused on moving on from bulk wines to bottle wines,
[00:19:27] communicate this philosophy and start making wine.
[00:19:30] When did you sort of make that transition
[00:19:32] from bulk wine to bottled wines?
[00:19:35] Where did you start bottling wines?
[00:19:37] It was 1982.
[00:19:39] Okay.
[00:19:40] So I mean, for me it doesn't sound like a long time ago,
[00:19:43] but it was a while ago, 40 years we're talking about.
[00:19:46] That's why you said your dad has 40 years of experience.
[00:19:48] Exactly.
[00:19:49] Hey, he's starting to come together.
[00:19:51] Okay.
[00:19:52] And so yeah, go ahead.
[00:19:54] So he did that, but you know, the thing is
[00:19:56] he only had at the time 1.7,
[00:19:59] let's say two actors of vineyard
[00:20:02] and there was a better reputation for Grave.
[00:20:04] So Grave is the biggest appellation in Friuli.
[00:20:06] It has historically served as the,
[00:20:09] I'd say sourcing area for the Triveneto wines
[00:20:14] that are very cheap and bulk wines
[00:20:19] that are sold at 0.5 euros.
[00:20:21] Okay, we'll talk more about that too.
[00:20:23] And he said, you know what?
[00:20:25] I think there's a lot of potential in Grave.
[00:20:27] And I'm going to instead of,
[00:20:30] I have so much flexibility
[00:20:32] that I can just sell this one actor
[00:20:34] and move somewhere else, move back to Collio di Intale, Collio.
[00:20:38] I said, I'm going to stay here
[00:20:40] and I'm going to show the other side.
[00:20:42] And that is being a little bit of the main drive,
[00:20:45] the main, I would say the common base identity
[00:20:52] of what we do is to be a little bit champions of the underdogs
[00:20:57] and show the other side of the coin.
[00:21:00] At the end of the day, we're talking about wine.
[00:21:02] It's something we're supposed to enjoy.
[00:21:04] There's no need to drink wine.
[00:21:06] So if we enjoy, we might as well do something that has,
[00:21:10] do it with a purpose, do it with an ideal,
[00:21:13] communicate something that goes beyond just chugging a glass
[00:21:17] one after the other.
[00:21:19] And this eventually realized besides the appellation
[00:21:23] on one variety that is quite representative of Friuli,
[00:21:25] which is Pinocchio,
[00:21:27] which is our main production now.
[00:21:30] And we've moved on from there.
[00:21:32] We've moved on.
[00:21:33] We continue building on that.
[00:21:35] So you actually kind of built on that whole idea
[00:21:38] of championing the underdog,
[00:21:42] not just as a region,
[00:21:44] because obviously Graves always had this kind of reputation
[00:21:47] as flat land wines, bulk,
[00:21:53] lots of mechanical harvesting, things like that.
[00:21:55] So not so much known for quality,
[00:21:58] more for quantity,
[00:22:00] but your dad wanted to prove them wrong.
[00:22:03] And then instead of choosing,
[00:22:06] like you said, okay, we're going to plant Pinot Noir,
[00:22:08] no, Pinot Grigio, which again is sort of an underdog grape, right?
[00:22:13] So I love the idea that you guys have the tenacity
[00:22:17] to sort of say,
[00:22:19] we can make great things in a place
[00:22:21] that's not necessarily known for great things.
[00:22:25] And I think that's unique,
[00:22:27] and that's kind of your unique product of value
[00:22:31] that you're getting in your place,
[00:22:33] because there aren't a lot of people who champion those types of things
[00:22:37] the way you guys do.
[00:22:39] So compliments on that.
[00:22:41] So I was going to say,
[00:22:43] Natalie, you sort of popped in once or twice.
[00:22:45] Did you have a question for Matia,
[00:22:47] or are you just enjoying the lovely conversation?
[00:22:52] Wayne, was that to me?
[00:22:54] That was to you, darling.
[00:22:56] Yeah, well I'm sort of...
[00:22:58] Matia, hello, bonjour, and bonnesey.
[00:23:00] Ciao, Natalie.
[00:23:01] Ciao, ciao.
[00:23:02] Very interested.
[00:23:03] I'm sitting here listening with my father,
[00:23:05] and I'm talking to him at the same time about Grave,
[00:23:08] and I have a question for you,
[00:23:10] which is probably jumping forward,
[00:23:12] but unfortunately I have to leave before this evening.
[00:23:15] Jump, jump.
[00:23:16] It's a question, okay?
[00:23:18] Because it was a question from my dad.
[00:23:20] No Cabernet.
[00:23:22] We were looking on your website,
[00:23:24] we were looking at where you distribute,
[00:23:26] because we're close to Marlabone,
[00:23:28] which is interesting, curious to go and get a bottle.
[00:23:31] No Cabernet.
[00:23:33] May I ask why?
[00:23:35] My dad.
[00:23:37] That's actually...
[00:23:38] Used to be Cabernet.
[00:23:39] It used to be.
[00:23:40] Actually just today I have a friend,
[00:23:42] she's a Somalian in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
[00:23:45] and they interview,
[00:23:47] she does this, how do you say,
[00:23:50] remote tasting, now zoom tasting sessions.
[00:23:53] And she mentioned among her favorite wines,
[00:23:55] the Scarbo de Cabernet.
[00:23:57] And I have been waiting so long to tell her,
[00:23:59] but today I finally told her,
[00:24:00] I'm so sorry,
[00:24:01] but this is the last Cabernet you're going to drink
[00:24:03] because we're not making the wine anymore.
[00:24:05] And that is...
[00:24:07] Cabernet Franc or Cabernet Sauvignon?
[00:24:09] 70% Cabernet Franc,
[00:24:10] which is a little bit more representative
[00:24:12] of what's planted in Friuli,
[00:24:14] when it comes to Cabernet.
[00:24:15] 30% Sauvignon because it gave that elegance
[00:24:18] that the Franc has to buy that it needs.
[00:24:21] Okay.
[00:24:24] So this is actually...
[00:24:26] It's a good question because it fits into the entire...
[00:24:31] Going back to the roots that my sister and I did a little
[00:24:34] over a year ago.
[00:24:36] So COVID happens.
[00:24:37] We do, I would say 90% of our sales at on-trade,
[00:24:42] so restaurants, etc., etc.
[00:24:44] And by May 2020,
[00:24:47] so in the first five months of the year,
[00:24:49] we were selling 95% less
[00:24:53] compared to the first five months of 2019.
[00:24:56] So I don't want to say in the brink of bankruptcy,
[00:24:58] but seriously considering,
[00:24:59] hey, we might have to close up shop.
[00:25:02] So I said, you know what?
[00:25:03] If we do it, we do it our way
[00:25:06] and we're going to just be happy doing what we enjoy.
[00:25:09] And so we said,
[00:25:10] what are we going to do?
[00:25:11] Let's go back to the roots and let's focus...
[00:25:13] Because over time,
[00:25:15] our father had another company
[00:25:17] and then some situations,
[00:25:19] there's a lot of things that happen in one's life.
[00:25:21] They get into the professional aspect.
[00:25:25] We lost our soul a little bit with time,
[00:25:28] I would say.
[00:25:29] And I said, let's go back to the roots
[00:25:31] and let's go back to what our father did
[00:25:33] that made him happiest
[00:25:35] and that we see an alignment with
[00:25:38] because of course we grew up seeing that excitement
[00:25:40] and etc., etc.
[00:25:42] And I said, let's go back to Pinot Grigio and Grave.
[00:25:46] And sorry, please.
[00:25:49] No, nothing. Sorry, Mattia.
[00:25:51] So I'm just wondering,
[00:25:52] so you've gone for the kind of almost less is more approach.
[00:25:57] So you've gone down to sort of the essence of what you do.
[00:26:00] Exactly.
[00:26:01] So for us...
[00:26:02] Stripping down.
[00:26:03] Unplugged.
[00:26:04] Exactly.
[00:26:05] So we said there were two wines that we were making
[00:26:07] that we were buying grapes for,
[00:26:08] which was just to serve the market.
[00:26:10] So we don't need that.
[00:26:12] If our goal is that of championing Grave
[00:26:16] and championing the way we don't buy grapes
[00:26:19] because in order to buy grapes,
[00:26:20] and this is not, I would say, a being arrogant
[00:26:25] or just insulting or whatever.
[00:26:30] No, not insulting,
[00:26:31] but just like pumping yourself up.
[00:26:34] Okay.
[00:26:37] There's no way we can buy grapes
[00:26:39] from other vine growers in Grave
[00:26:41] at the same quality that we do.
[00:26:45] Even for whatever price,
[00:26:47] like so we said let's go back to being 100% a state grown.
[00:26:53] In our soil, Cabernet and Ribolla are not...
[00:26:56] They don't thrive.
[00:26:59] Let's cut those out.
[00:27:00] I see.
[00:27:01] And let's also cut those out
[00:27:02] because one problem of Friuli,
[00:27:04] and this is what problem I have with when I talk
[00:27:07] to other people in the industry,
[00:27:09] but I think it's a source of improvement
[00:27:12] if you will with time.
[00:27:15] We make too many varieties in Friuli.
[00:27:17] You look at other appellations around the world
[00:27:20] and everybody can think of a representative wine
[00:27:23] and a representative variety.
[00:27:25] We have a problem that nobody knows Friuli
[00:27:28] despite the fact that it's the OG white wine region in Italy.
[00:27:32] I like that.
[00:27:33] The OG white wine.
[00:27:36] Original gangster.
[00:27:38] I like it.
[00:27:40] And I think in order to make it more understanding
[00:27:43] for everyone around the world
[00:27:45] when there's so much happening,
[00:27:48] offering so many new appellations,
[00:27:51] new areas, new wines
[00:27:53] is to choose one variety, one wine that represents us
[00:27:57] which we can even say that it's not Pinocchio.
[00:28:00] I'm 100% fine with that.
[00:28:02] But making 13 wines
[00:28:05] and then going around the world saying,
[00:28:07] who are you?
[00:28:08] Like, who are you?
[00:28:09] What's your drive?
[00:28:11] I totally agree with you.
[00:28:12] Interesting.
[00:28:13] Yeah.
[00:28:14] Nat, did you want to ask something else
[00:28:16] before I comment?
[00:28:17] No, go for it.
[00:28:18] I've got lots of questions in my head
[00:28:20] which I can't ask tonight, but go for it.
[00:28:22] Thank you, Mattia.
[00:28:23] Thank you.
[00:28:24] Well, Nat, jump in if you've got a question.
[00:28:26] Just jump in.
[00:28:27] I'll talk more when you have to go.
[00:28:30] Unfortunately, yeah, exactly.
[00:28:32] No, I thought the comment about history was interesting.
[00:28:35] About the...
[00:28:37] Sometimes history is so boring.
[00:28:39] Because sometimes history is so boring
[00:28:42] but maybe it's about just saying the right thing
[00:28:45] at the right moment where it's relevant
[00:28:47] rather than going on and on and on.
[00:28:50] I work with different wineries
[00:28:52] and I help them write their stuff in English
[00:28:55] and I tell them, and as you know,
[00:28:57] Mattia, because you lived in New York,
[00:28:59] so you're fluent in English
[00:29:01] and culturally you've got it as well.
[00:29:03] So often, I don't know if it's a cultural thing in Italy,
[00:29:07] people tend to really go on
[00:29:11] about the details of the old village
[00:29:14] and how high it is above sea level
[00:29:17] and great-great-great grandfather
[00:29:19] and it's too much initially.
[00:29:21] It can be relevant at the time.
[00:29:23] You take somebody around your land,
[00:29:25] you talk to them about your family, it's relevant.
[00:29:27] I don't know how seductive it is
[00:29:30] when we go on and on about it on our websites.
[00:29:33] Does that sound reasonable? Does that make sense?
[00:29:36] I completely agree.
[00:29:38] And actually, I'm sorry, I misspoke.
[00:29:40] History... First of all, history...
[00:29:42] I was so bad at school.
[00:29:44] History was the only subject that I was actually good at.
[00:29:47] I love history because history has meaning.
[00:29:50] History puts things in a context
[00:29:52] and it helps, it helps.
[00:29:55] It explains why things are the way they are.
[00:29:58] The problem with...
[00:30:00] This is my opinion, of course.
[00:30:02] The problem with wine is that it relies on history.
[00:30:05] It's just like...
[00:30:09] Like I was saying before, is that what defines you?
[00:30:12] Of course, history is important because it sets the basis
[00:30:15] for how you got here.
[00:30:17] But then when you're selling yourself
[00:30:19] and introducing yourself,
[00:30:21] you're talking about
[00:30:24] the background, okay.
[00:30:26] What are you doing now?
[00:30:28] What defines your daily job?
[00:30:30] Does your great-great-grandfather define your daily job?
[00:30:33] Or does your vision, your desire to
[00:30:36] communicate
[00:30:38] an idea, to challenge something, whatever you do...
[00:30:41] That's why I'm not that big of a fan
[00:30:44] of starting off with history
[00:30:46] because sometimes it just dies there
[00:30:48] and I say like, okay, this person
[00:30:51] didn't find
[00:30:53] the fire that
[00:30:55] burns inside them.
[00:30:57] So they're constantly trying to stand
[00:30:59] upon the shoulders of giants
[00:31:01] in that way.
[00:31:03] It's sort of like, well yeah, the reason that we're great
[00:31:05] is because of everything we did in the past
[00:31:07] and see we're still doing that
[00:31:09] rather than talking about
[00:31:11] the present and the future
[00:31:13] and how you can become even better
[00:31:15] building upon that rather than just sort of
[00:31:17] building upon...
[00:31:19] No, go, go.
[00:31:21] Regarding the shoulders of giants, I want to get a new tattoo
[00:31:23] and it's actually about this.
[00:31:25] So I figured, okay,
[00:31:27] because I think everything that me
[00:31:29] and my sister are able to do now
[00:31:31] is because the
[00:31:33] giants that were
[00:31:35] our parents or grandparents
[00:31:37] did a lot of work.
[00:31:39] But if you just rely on that,
[00:31:41] it's like, okay,
[00:31:43] lucky you because you have somebody else
[00:31:45] do the job for you.
[00:31:47] Now that's your turn.
[00:31:49] When your nephews or whoever comes next,
[00:31:51] somebody buys the weather...
[00:31:53] What did you do?
[00:31:55] You know?
[00:31:57] So standing on shoulders of giants is fantastic.
[00:31:59] It's where
[00:32:01] we are now as a society
[00:32:03] because we stand on the shoulders of giants
[00:32:05] that did before us.
[00:32:07] It's who we are as a species.
[00:32:09] But it's our responsibility
[00:32:11] to do our part and continue growing.
[00:32:13] We need to become the giants
[00:32:15] of the people
[00:32:17] of the next generation.
[00:32:19] We can't just sort of like, yeah, okay, they were really great
[00:32:21] and we're all going to be little now
[00:32:23] because they made the giants long time.
[00:32:25] No, no, you have to become a giant too.
[00:32:27] You're on that road. I can see that
[00:32:29] is becoming true for you
[00:32:31] as far as your role in the winery
[00:32:33] and where you want this to go.
[00:32:35] So
[00:32:37] Pino Grigio
[00:32:39] often sort of dismissed
[00:32:41] as kind of
[00:32:43] the most incredibly complex wine.
[00:32:45] Sort of, you know,
[00:32:47] find it in every Italian restaurant.
[00:32:49] Why Pino Grigio?
[00:32:51] What is it about Pino Grigio
[00:32:53] that has stirred your passions
[00:32:55] at Scarbola? Tell me where
[00:32:57] that sort of came from.
[00:32:59] So we started with
[00:33:01] our father.
[00:33:03] So he was going to the U.S.
[00:33:05] which at the time again was
[00:33:07] almost our sole market.
[00:33:09] We had a lucky relationship
[00:33:11] successful restore return in the U.S.
[00:33:13] that helped us get out of the way in
[00:33:15] and it was quite,
[00:33:17] I would say pivotal for the winery
[00:33:19] at the time.
[00:33:21] So it was traveling a lot to the U.S.
[00:33:23] and it was going to New York
[00:33:25] and he was
[00:33:27] he was witnessing
[00:33:29] more than in restaurants
[00:33:33] in stores in particular
[00:33:35] the infamous white wall
[00:33:37] of Pino Grigio.
[00:33:39] Ben there seeing that.
[00:33:41] Yep.
[00:33:43] And it's this,
[00:33:45] he got,
[00:33:47] I don't want to say scared,
[00:33:49] he got
[00:33:51] let's say shocked to use an exaggeration
[00:33:53] and I said how is it possible
[00:33:55] the one of the handful of white varieties
[00:33:57] with a dark skin
[00:33:59] is perceived as the lightest
[00:34:01] and is meaningful
[00:34:03] and just something
[00:34:05] to chug on a golf course
[00:34:07] on a Sunday
[00:34:09] late morning
[00:34:11] when you started early.
[00:34:13] And he said I'm going to show you
[00:34:15] so in the first year
[00:34:17] early 2000
[00:34:19] he started working on
[00:34:21] XL
[00:34:23] so XL Alarch
[00:34:25] which is the first
[00:34:31] second, sorry I'm using one,
[00:34:33] we made four Pino Grigios
[00:34:35] and the first Pino Grigio that he did
[00:34:37] was the XL
[00:34:39] the first one was classic
[00:34:41] contemporary interpretation
[00:34:43] so no maceration
[00:34:45] fresh, stainless steel
[00:34:47] the second one was
[00:34:49] back to the roots
[00:34:51] so back to before the 50s
[00:34:53] fully macerated
[00:34:55] so fermentation on the skins
[00:34:57] for about two weeks
[00:34:59] and then a lavage in oak
[00:35:01] for about two years
[00:35:03] and it was
[00:35:05] I think out of seven days
[00:35:07] in the market
[00:35:09] five days he was explaining to every single person
[00:35:11] what that would
[00:35:13] because nobody knew
[00:35:15] it's so funny that you're saying
[00:35:17] this is sort of going back to the roots
[00:35:19] this rematto
[00:35:21] but nobody knew anything about it
[00:35:23] it was completely forgotten
[00:35:25] completely forgotten
[00:35:27] thank you, thanks too
[00:35:29] now you talk to a lot of people
[00:35:31] he was one of the very few
[00:35:33] not the first in the grave
[00:35:35] maybe somebody in Coley or something
[00:35:37] in the grave yes
[00:35:39] influently there were some visionaries
[00:35:41] I would say Gravner above all
[00:35:47] and a couple others but Gravner
[00:35:49] and worldwide now
[00:35:51] did Gravner work with Pino Grigio?
[00:35:53] no, but he started with the maceration
[00:35:55] then was Radicon with the CV Pino Grigio
[00:35:57] and
[00:35:59] he was another video man
[00:36:01] he doesn't do maceration
[00:36:03] but he does
[00:36:05] he harvest and veneifies in a way
[00:36:07] that it retains this pale amber color
[00:36:11] and he said I'm gonna go back to before the 50s
[00:36:15] so in the 50s Santa Margherita
[00:36:17] made Pino Grigio famous worldwide
[00:36:19] because they started
[00:36:21] doing very early morning harvest
[00:36:23] super fast pressing
[00:36:25] so there was no time for the skin
[00:36:27] to donate the color
[00:36:29] and the polyphenols
[00:36:31] and the tannins
[00:36:33] to the Jews
[00:36:35] and so we went from one day to the other
[00:36:37] from orange Pino Grigio
[00:36:39] or Ramato Pino Grigio
[00:36:41] to white Pino Grigio
[00:36:43] and became a worldwide sensation
[00:36:45] because Pino Grigio just like Merlot
[00:36:47] are super balanced
[00:36:49] they're very easy for everyone to enjoy
[00:36:51] because they don't have these
[00:36:53] very
[00:36:55] polarizing traits
[00:36:57] just like Savinion Das for example
[00:36:59] I like that polarizing traits
[00:37:01] your English is excellent
[00:37:03] I prepared
[00:37:05] good for you
[00:37:09] hang on a second Nat
[00:37:11] did you want to say something?
[00:37:13] I just wanted to say I second that
[00:37:15] your English is impeccable
[00:37:17] he lived in the United States
[00:37:19] plus he had four glasses of wine
[00:37:21] and two beers
[00:37:23] the prefrontal lobe
[00:37:25] is nicely relaxed
[00:37:27] now so the English is just coming out
[00:37:29] nice and easy
[00:37:31] fantastic I should keep this thing
[00:37:33] no thank you
[00:37:35] thank you it's at least one thing
[00:37:37] I learned
[00:37:39] but yeah so
[00:37:41] there was this
[00:37:43] and I recently
[00:37:45] met this person
[00:37:47] she's a wonderful lady
[00:37:49] meant for great things
[00:37:51] she's from Malia in London
[00:37:53] at Medlar
[00:37:55] however you say it in Chelsea
[00:37:57] she's working hard to become
[00:37:59] a master of wine
[00:38:01] Nat wants to say something
[00:38:03] no I don't I'm just
[00:38:05] I'm listening Medlar in Chelsea
[00:38:07] that's interesting I'm here for a while so I could
[00:38:09] check it out I don't know it
[00:38:11] go say hi
[00:38:13] what's her name
[00:38:15] Melania
[00:38:17] go to Medlar and talk to Melania
[00:38:19] it's not Melania Trump
[00:38:21] it's not her
[00:38:23] no it's a much more Italian
[00:38:25] but this stone
[00:38:27] yeah that's your girl
[00:38:29] go talk to her
[00:38:31] but so we were talking
[00:38:33] and
[00:38:35] of course a person that has
[00:38:37] and one thing that is wonderful
[00:38:39] I think in cities that don't have
[00:38:41] centuries long
[00:38:43] culture of wine
[00:38:45] okay I'm going to make a wild
[00:38:47] parallel here
[00:38:49] London yes it has a centuries long culture of wine
[00:38:51] but not wine making
[00:38:53] or Singapore for example
[00:38:55] so places that have
[00:38:57] for different reasons
[00:38:59] exposure to wines from all over the world
[00:39:03] they really
[00:39:05] spoiled in a good way
[00:39:07] like there's everything available
[00:39:09] okay and this reconnects
[00:39:11] to my thinking of how does Friuli stand out
[00:39:13] in a place where people can have everything from everywhere
[00:39:15] so we're talking about
[00:39:17] the element
[00:39:19] that would make Friuli
[00:39:21] because I asked her
[00:39:23] as a wine maker
[00:39:25] what do you think that is
[00:39:27] preventing Friuli from standing out the way
[00:39:29] I think it deserves
[00:39:31] to shine the way it can
[00:39:33] and she said like there's
[00:39:35] not an element that is
[00:39:37] a wine that is pivotal
[00:39:39] that people can think of
[00:39:41] so I said okay how about Pinocchio
[00:39:43] that's why we're also focusing on Pinocchio
[00:39:45] to have something
[00:39:47] that represents us historically
[00:39:49] with the culture of Ramato wine
[00:39:51] etc etc
[00:39:53] and it just made me think a lot about how
[00:39:55] the
[00:39:57] concept of Pinocchio went from
[00:39:59] becoming this
[00:40:01] I would say
[00:40:03] it had a lot of
[00:40:07] it had such a different expression
[00:40:09] in
[00:40:11] until 70 years ago
[00:40:13] and nowadays people think of it
[00:40:15] so differently we have a huge chance
[00:40:17] in our region to
[00:40:19] communicate something new going back
[00:40:21] to the roots
[00:40:23] I like to think that and there's some
[00:40:25] movement you see like with natural wines
[00:40:27] that people connect to
[00:40:29] orange wines a lot
[00:40:31] for good or bad but
[00:40:33] there's a common association
[00:40:35] like there's an interest
[00:40:37] towards orange wine now and
[00:40:39] there's a huge interest in orange wine
[00:40:41] and
[00:40:43] so how
[00:40:45] you make two Ramato
[00:40:47] Pimo Grigio's now right?
[00:40:49] the one that has like long maceration
[00:40:51] and long time in Barique
[00:40:53] or in wood I don't know
[00:40:55] and that's the XL
[00:40:57] in Tonneau we use 500 liters
[00:40:59] and then you have another that's a little fresher
[00:41:01] so that was meant to close
[00:41:03] and is that just called Ramato?
[00:41:05] it's called Il Ramato
[00:41:07] and that's a little game of words
[00:41:09] that are further deal because
[00:41:11] instead of separating
[00:41:13] Il which is the article
[00:41:15] and Ramato you do
[00:41:17] ILR and then space
[00:41:19] and Amato in Italian means the
[00:41:21] loved one so there was
[00:41:23] a little joke on that because it's our
[00:41:25] loved wine
[00:41:27] okay an IRL in real life
[00:41:29] so it's an inverted
[00:41:31] exactly ILR
[00:41:33] oh ILR
[00:41:35] so we do something about it
[00:41:37] and then you have
[00:41:39] other Pino Grigio's as well
[00:41:41] so we have the
[00:41:43] so Il Ramato is the one that was meant to
[00:41:45] bridge the gap between
[00:41:47] contemporary style Pino Grigio
[00:41:49] so vinified in white
[00:41:51] to XL because of course somebody who's
[00:41:53] being used to drinking
[00:41:55] very light and even our
[00:41:57] fresh Pino Grigio
[00:41:59] let's call it fresh that does only stainless steel
[00:42:01] we do batonage for an extended time
[00:42:03] so on a sur leak
[00:42:05] it does have a weight
[00:42:07] that when you think of the
[00:42:09] cheap Pino Grigio that unfortunately
[00:42:11] most people think of
[00:42:13] they would not associate with
[00:42:15] and nevertheless even with
[00:42:17] that vinification
[00:42:19] it's a huge gap to the XL
[00:42:21] so we said how do we
[00:42:23] welcome people to
[00:42:25] old school macerated
[00:42:27] skin fermented wines
[00:42:29] we do with cold maceration
[00:42:31] so Il Ramato has nothing
[00:42:33] different from the Pino Grigio
[00:42:35] but 24 hours at
[00:42:37] 10 degrees of maceration
[00:42:39] so we extract the color
[00:42:41] a little bit of
[00:42:43] polyphenols, a little bit of tannins
[00:42:45] but it still maintains this very
[00:42:47] approachable identity
[00:42:49] you start seeing if I have to speak about
[00:42:51] of course
[00:42:53] let's talk about aromas
[00:42:55] usually with white Pino Grigio
[00:42:57] you think of
[00:42:59] apple, pear, honey
[00:43:03] even with Il Ramato
[00:43:05] you start getting a little bit of these
[00:43:07] red berries, red fruits
[00:43:09] just a tiny bit but enough
[00:43:11] to welcome you to a little more
[00:43:13] the tannic expression
[00:43:15] and the fourth Pino Grigio that we do
[00:43:17] is called the Beyond Pino
[00:43:19] and it's an ode to Pino Grigio
[00:43:21] so very little
[00:43:23] to know the Zillow sugar
[00:43:25] 0.7 grams per liter now
[00:43:27] but we do the current release
[00:43:29] is 2017 so there's a little bit
[00:43:31] of terciari aspect
[00:43:33] we do part fermentation
[00:43:35] for 50% of the grapes
[00:43:37] and part elevage in
[00:43:39] big barrels, 2000 liter
[00:43:41] in oak and the rest is still steel
[00:43:43] so you start getting a little bit this more balanced
[00:43:45] this more
[00:43:49] let's use the word for simplification
[00:43:51] complex
[00:43:53] aspect of the variety
[00:43:55] usually you don't think of
[00:43:57] from Italian Pino Grigio
[00:43:59] usually associated with either Oregon
[00:44:01] or...
[00:44:03] so you have four
[00:44:05] so you have the fresh
[00:44:07] let's say more
[00:44:09] I don't know what's the word we can use
[00:44:11] for that stainless steel
[00:44:13] fresh style
[00:44:15] contemporary
[00:44:17] so contemporary Pino Grigio
[00:44:19] stainless steel, fresh
[00:44:21] drinkable bingo
[00:44:23] Pino which has
[00:44:25] some wood and some time on the lease
[00:44:27] then you have il rematto
[00:44:29] which is sort of the entry level rematto
[00:44:31] and then the XL which is the full blown
[00:44:33] orange wine
[00:44:35] so those are your four
[00:44:37] the big bad boy exactly
[00:44:39] I mean one of the things that I think people don't realize
[00:44:41] about Pino Grigio
[00:44:43] is
[00:44:45] it's a cousin of Pino
[00:44:47] Nero, Pino Noir
[00:44:49] which is like the noblest
[00:44:51] great variety that exists
[00:44:53] I mean it's one of the top
[00:44:55] three, two
[00:44:57] you know when you talk about the great
[00:44:59] red great varieties of the world
[00:45:01] you're talking about Pino Nero
[00:45:03] and you're talking about probably Cameron and Sauvignon
[00:45:05] those are probably the greatest
[00:45:07] so Pino Noir
[00:45:09] so I mean it's hugely important
[00:45:11] there's a noble aspect
[00:45:13] to Pino Grigio that people don't understand
[00:45:15] they think that it's just kind of like light and easy
[00:45:17] but it actually has a lot of stuff
[00:45:19] Nat, did you have a question?
[00:45:21] I do
[00:45:23] I've still got
[00:45:25] Nat, can't hear you darling
[00:45:29] Nat, Natalie
[00:45:33] yeah, Nat's out of range
[00:45:35] I believe unfortunately
[00:45:37] but anyway
[00:45:39] Nat if you want send me a text
[00:45:41] with your questions
[00:45:43] and I'll tell it to
[00:45:45] I'll ask it to Matia
[00:45:47] I want to take a minute now
[00:45:49] just sort of to reset the room here on Clubhouse
[00:45:51] because I have a lot of people listening
[00:45:53] well five people listening
[00:45:55] but anyway, I have Sue
[00:45:57] and I have Gisleyn
[00:45:59] and I know that those guys are
[00:46:01] those ladies are super curious about wine
[00:46:03] I'm shocked
[00:46:05] that they haven't raised their hands yet
[00:46:07] to come up and ask a question
[00:46:09] so I am inviting those people up
[00:46:11] to kind of sort of interact with Matia
[00:46:13] and ask them a question
[00:46:15] him and I talking
[00:46:17] but in the meantime
[00:46:19] yeah, I just wanted to sort of reset the room
[00:46:21] and let everybody get the ah, Sue Tulson
[00:46:23] there she is
[00:46:25] Sue, how are you?
[00:46:27] here she comes there, hi Sue Tulson
[00:46:29] how are you?
[00:46:31] I'm good thank you, how are you?
[00:46:33] really really good, good to see you here
[00:46:35] thanks for coming
[00:46:37] sounds like you've been drinking all afternoon
[00:46:39] does it?
[00:46:41] I feel completely, I wish I was drinking all
[00:46:43] afternoon
[00:46:45] we started drinking about what, 45 minutes
[00:46:47] again an hour ago, maybe we had a couple of beers
[00:46:49] because it's hot as heck here
[00:46:51] tell me, Sue, what do you have on your mind
[00:46:53] do you have a question for Matia?
[00:46:55] I was actually wondering, I mean obviously
[00:46:57] Matia has made four different Pinot Grigio
[00:46:59] which I'm not sure if I tried all
[00:47:01] of them but certainly I've tried
[00:47:03] them, which of them are
[00:47:05] proved the most popular and in which
[00:47:07] markets?
[00:47:09] it is a good question
[00:47:11] it's good to hear your voice
[00:47:13] we saw each other last time
[00:47:15] newly in fact
[00:47:17] yes, yes, yes, it was
[00:47:19] two and a half years ago now
[00:47:21] in 2019
[00:47:23] pretty much my last trip
[00:47:25] before damned Covid struck
[00:47:27] yes, yes, true that
[00:47:29] oh, a year and a half then
[00:47:31] yeah exactly, it was early 2020
[00:47:35] but that's a great question
[00:47:37] so I would say
[00:47:39] so we just started working in some new markets
[00:47:41] and that's actually
[00:47:43] that's also the very exciting thing
[00:47:45] I was talking
[00:47:47] I'm not gonna name names but I was talking
[00:47:49] to some potential importers in new markets
[00:47:51] before
[00:47:53] Lara and I decided to
[00:47:55] say
[00:47:57] re-take everything off
[00:47:59] and go back naked and proud
[00:48:01] if you will, okay, like that
[00:48:03] and
[00:48:05] those people, and we do have
[00:48:07] I don't want to say high prices
[00:48:09] but higher prices than you would think of
[00:48:11] for Pinocrigio and for Grave in particular
[00:48:13] and at the time
[00:48:15] they were saying, sorry, it's either too expensive
[00:48:17] or like we don't care about Friuli
[00:48:19] or we have too many Pinocrigios
[00:48:21] or whatever
[00:48:23] and ever since we adjusted
[00:48:25] how we communicate
[00:48:27] what we do
[00:48:29] and of course tweaked also some of the things
[00:48:31] that we do so cutting some wines
[00:48:33] but nothing revolutionary
[00:48:35] those two of those same people
[00:48:37] came back to us
[00:48:39] no questions about prices
[00:48:41] no questions about anything
[00:48:43] and with one we started working
[00:48:45] with one we're waiting for the
[00:48:47] confirmation hopefully soon
[00:48:49] but that's nice to see how
[00:48:51] like the
[00:48:53] things change depending on how
[00:48:55] you communicate what you do
[00:48:57] yeah, you're communicating as sort of a perceived value
[00:49:01] because we can think
[00:49:03] if you sell it with Pinocrigio
[00:49:05] just as Pinocrigio without
[00:49:07] any more like
[00:49:09] explanation or positioning
[00:49:11] then people will have a really different idea
[00:49:13] about the wines than they actually are
[00:49:15] yeah, absolutely
[00:49:17] and so then it will be hard to sell them
[00:49:19] and it will be hard to sell them also to the customers
[00:49:21] if you're selling in the on trade
[00:49:23] even though you get them into the restaurant
[00:49:25] maybe then a customer orders it
[00:49:27] and has a completely different expectation
[00:49:29] about what they're going to get
[00:49:31] and that's the point, like of course
[00:49:33] many of these markets
[00:49:35] so in most markets
[00:49:37] let's let to answer your
[00:49:39] question before I move on
[00:49:41] with the second answer
[00:49:43] to your question
[00:49:45] most markets are still interested in
[00:49:47] the white Pinocrigio
[00:49:49] so the contemporary style
[00:49:53] and of course there was a little bit
[00:49:55] of a struggle throughout time to grow
[00:49:57] the volume of the
[00:49:59] cell of the beyond Pinot
[00:50:01] if the matter is a little bit easier
[00:50:03] it works a lot in monopoly markets
[00:50:05] so I would say
[00:50:07] Ontario, Quebec
[00:50:11] Norway, Finland
[00:50:13] it's very
[00:50:15] it's very hot in the US
[00:50:17] because of course now there's
[00:50:19] an entire
[00:50:21] ecosystem of elements
[00:50:23] working in support of
[00:50:25] and in fact it was the US that made me think
[00:50:27] hey like and not only the US
[00:50:29] but even looking back at previous
[00:50:31] cases of unheard of
[00:50:33] before appellations
[00:50:35] wines, styles, whatever you want
[00:50:37] say how did they make it
[00:50:39] why is it that five years ago
[00:50:41] nobody knew, nobody was thinking about
[00:50:43] etna and now every wine
[00:50:45] this does have got an etna bianco or
[00:50:47] rose so by the glass
[00:50:49] so it's very arrogant
[00:50:51] it would be very arrogant of us to think
[00:50:53] hey we're making a great wine
[00:50:55] and it's going to sell
[00:50:57] so we're doing a lot of things
[00:50:59] even in a little bit the more
[00:51:01] resistive markets
[00:51:03] let's say China
[00:51:05] China buys mostly white Pinot Grigio
[00:51:07] the contemporary one
[00:51:09] said how do I help
[00:51:11] our partners
[00:51:13] so our importers
[00:51:15] our clients
[00:51:17] so the restaurants
[00:51:19] help them
[00:51:21] create this chain of value that transmits
[00:51:23] for somebody to try something new
[00:51:25] and spend their money on it
[00:51:27] they have to see a certain type of value
[00:51:29] then they're ready to try
[00:51:31] and be excited and maybe they buy it again
[00:51:33] if they like it or not but at least they give it a chance
[00:51:35] how do I help on my end
[00:51:37] get people to give a chance
[00:51:39] so I would say
[00:51:41] definitely a lot of sales trips
[00:51:43] whenever they're possible
[00:51:45] a lot of training
[00:51:47] a lot of
[00:51:49] education and explanation
[00:51:51] now we're doing some other fun new projects
[00:51:53] so we're
[00:51:55] trying to find
[00:51:57] the right partner
[00:51:59] with some restaurants
[00:52:01] I think the perfect
[00:52:03] type of partner
[00:52:05] in this sense is a bistro
[00:52:07] so a restaurant that has
[00:52:09] an interest in doing a certain type of cuisine
[00:52:11] but doesn't have this open and close
[00:52:13] back-run
[00:52:15] stock-upness or Michelin style
[00:52:17] restaurants and say
[00:52:19] how about we take for Pinot Grigio
[00:52:21] how about we do a mini tasting menu
[00:52:23] with the four different expressions
[00:52:25] each one can be paired
[00:52:27] with a different type of food
[00:52:29] for example you would never pair a
[00:52:31] contemporary Pinot Grigio
[00:52:33] with an Amatriciana pasta
[00:52:35] but the Excel
[00:52:37] is amazing because it cuts
[00:52:39] with the tannins, cleans the palate
[00:52:41] so many different expressions
[00:52:43] and then so you give a chance to the
[00:52:45] important to try something new
[00:52:47] something to
[00:52:49] get excited the restaurant about
[00:52:51] and if the restaurant is excited about it
[00:52:53] then they put it in forefront
[00:52:55] to the final client
[00:52:57] and everybody it's a win-win-win
[00:52:59] so there's where we can
[00:53:01] grow somehow
[00:53:03] what we're trying to do
[00:53:05] and communicate it but it does take
[00:53:07] effort it's not just by making a wine
[00:53:09] that it's gonna be sold
[00:53:11] so I hope I answered your question
[00:53:13] yeah, Suud, does that answer your question
[00:53:15] it does, thank you very much Matteo
[00:53:17] I really like that idea of doing
[00:53:19] a full blown Pinot Grigio
[00:53:21] start to finish tasting menu
[00:53:23] and do you know how to make
[00:53:25] Amatriciana?
[00:53:27] I know how to eat
[00:53:31] because now I'm really curious to try it
[00:53:33] so I wanted you to invite me over
[00:53:35] to your house and make me an Amatriciana
[00:53:37] to be honest it's not the Amatriciana
[00:53:39] it's most
[00:53:41] Roman pasta because there's one challenge
[00:53:43] but my favorite is Grigio
[00:53:45] so I was in
[00:53:47] Grigio, so it's Amatriciana Bianca
[00:53:51] La Grigio
[00:53:53] so I was in Tokyo for dinner
[00:53:55] and we were actually, it was the dinner that we were launching
[00:53:57] the new label of Excel
[00:53:59] because we changed the label a little bit
[00:54:01] and
[00:54:03] the chef did
[00:54:05] a Grigio, Amatriciana Bianca
[00:54:07] with guanciale but also with dry shitaki mushroom
[00:54:09] for whoever didn't eat the
[00:54:11] meat
[00:54:13] and I tried it
[00:54:15] and I was like man this is like
[00:54:17] this is wild
[00:54:19] this is gonna screw up because I never tried that pairing
[00:54:23] and it rocked my world
[00:54:25] so now I worked, oh my gosh
[00:54:27] it's amazing
[00:54:29] so there are two more folks up here on stage
[00:54:31] there's Yelena
[00:54:33] and Rosella
[00:54:35] by all means Yelena
[00:54:37] you came up on stage first then we'll get to Rosella
[00:54:39] did you have a question for Matija Yelena?
[00:54:43] Hi Wayne, hi Matija
[00:54:45] I came a little bit later
[00:54:47] welcome
[00:54:49] not a problem, thanks for coming
[00:54:51] but I again enjoyed listening to you
[00:54:53] and I just
[00:54:55] like the idea what Matija said
[00:54:57] about that
[00:54:59] tasting
[00:55:01] I might have an idea
[00:55:03] I'm from Holland and I have a friend
[00:55:05] who runs a very nice restaurant
[00:55:07] always looks for new wines
[00:55:09] so as soon as I'm back to the Netherlands
[00:55:11] I will try to introduce him that idea
[00:55:13] and I'll get back to you
[00:55:15] so you can get back to Matija
[00:55:17] you have a fine meal, that's fantastic
[00:55:19] are you present in Holland at all or no?
[00:55:21] yes, we are
[00:55:23] thank you first of all for the consideration
[00:55:25] it's very much appreciated
[00:55:27] Yelena you definitely want to have Matija there
[00:55:29] to conduct the wine dinner because he's a good looking guy
[00:55:31] actually I'm going to be
[00:55:33] I know you're married but I can't be as always nice
[00:55:35] I just
[00:55:37] googled that pasta he was talking about
[00:55:39] so
[00:55:41] I'm interested in that pasta with the pairing of his wine
[00:55:43] thank you
[00:55:45] Matija has
[00:55:47] you can always direct message Matija also on Instagram
[00:55:49] he's Matija Keller with a K
[00:55:51] okay, I'm going to google him
[00:55:53] and then you can see how attractive he is as well
[00:55:55] and I have an unblemished record
[00:55:57] of heterosexuality but that's fine
[00:55:59] he's a good looking guy, what can I say?
[00:56:01] it's the wine
[00:56:03] it's the wine
[00:56:05] we are actually drinking, I just want to mention
[00:56:07] before I get to Rosella and Yelena thank you
[00:56:09] did you have any other comments that you wanted to say?
[00:56:11] no, no, that was it, so thank you
[00:56:13] yeah definitely set that up and get in touch with us
[00:56:15] that would be so amazing
[00:56:17] can I come too?
[00:56:19] I'm going to be actually in the Netherlands
[00:56:21] you are most welcome to come but
[00:56:23] we're going to have fun
[00:56:25] I understand
[00:56:27] I'm a little old for that kind of fun
[00:56:29] no, just like
[00:56:31] I've only been to the Netherlands once
[00:56:33] I'm going back
[00:56:35] it's fantastic
[00:56:37] actually I've been
[00:56:39] 7th to the 11th of October
[00:56:41] it's going to be
[00:56:43] my first trip
[00:56:45] back on the market after
[00:56:47] I would say more than a year now
[00:56:49] I think I'm coming with you
[00:56:51] which cities are you going to visit?
[00:56:53] so I'll be in
[00:56:57] well Amsterdam of course
[00:56:59] I'll be in Utrecht
[00:57:01] I'll be in
[00:57:03] Haarlem, that's what I was thinking of
[00:57:05] Haarlem is gorgeous
[00:57:07] it's so beautiful
[00:57:09] unbelievable, so I'll be visiting those markets
[00:57:13] but I'm ready to come
[00:57:15] wherever is needed
[00:57:17] it's not like Holland is huge
[00:57:19] you have to like fly
[00:57:21] from one city to another
[00:57:23] you can walk
[00:57:25] from Amsterdam to Utrecht
[00:57:27] the restaurant I was talking about
[00:57:29] is between Amsterdam
[00:57:31] actually and then Haik
[00:57:33] it's at the North Sea Coast
[00:57:35] very nice place
[00:57:37] it's like 25 minutes away from Amsterdam
[00:57:39] what's the name if I may ask you?
[00:57:41] Salt
[00:57:43] you can google it
[00:57:45] okay, I will, absolutely
[00:57:47] Gelen, I get in touch with us
[00:57:49] we'll set that up for sure
[00:57:51] I was looking for his Instagram
[00:57:53] but there are quite some Matthias Kellers
[00:57:55] so Wayne maybe I will try them
[00:57:57] Matthias underscore Keller with a K
[00:57:59] and two Ls
[00:58:01] okay
[00:58:03] before we move on Rosella
[00:58:05] I wanted to get to your question as well
[00:58:07] I just want to let everybody know that
[00:58:09] just to be contrary to everything
[00:58:11] we're drinking actually the Scarble of Friulano
[00:58:13] right now
[00:58:15] I love Friulano
[00:58:17] it's a shame that Heather isn't here
[00:58:19] because she's like this woman
[00:58:21] Heather who always
[00:58:23] comes to listen to the clubhouse
[00:58:25] she's literally putting together a blog
[00:58:27] where she's going to taste like
[00:58:29] 47 different Friulani
[00:58:31] which is amazing and she's just getting
[00:58:33] into Friulian wines now
[00:58:35] so hopefully she'll also get a hold of yours
[00:58:37] but we all agree here
[00:58:39] in this studio that the Friulano
[00:58:41] is awesome
[00:58:43] spectacular, no?
[00:58:45] really very good stuff
[00:58:47] Rosella did you have a question for Matthias?
[00:58:49] Hello
[00:58:51] Hello
[00:58:53] Hi, hello
[00:58:55] not actually because I joined late
[00:58:57] the conversation
[00:58:59] I was just only curious because
[00:59:01] I've heard first about
[00:59:03] this kind of
[00:59:05] wines thanks to
[00:59:07] the book
[00:59:09] Knowing the Invisible
[00:59:11] and so I'm quite intrigued
[00:59:13] about this kind of
[00:59:15] opportunity so I was just
[00:59:17] quite interested in listening to what you were saying
[00:59:19] this is basically
[00:59:21] why I joined
[00:59:23] well thank you Rosella, we had a great session
[00:59:25] with Ben Liddle and I'm glad that that turned you
[00:59:27] onto Latverna and I hope to see
[00:59:29] you here often
[00:59:31] every week so thanks for coming
[00:59:33] if I see you
[00:59:35] if I remember you switch on the phone
[00:59:37] I'll be more than happy to join you
[00:59:39] but for the time being I just listen
[00:59:41] in case I will
[00:59:43] put my question later
[00:59:45] just jump right in
[00:59:47] thank you very much
[00:59:49] we're talking about Pinot Grigio
[00:59:51] and Scarblow
[00:59:53] and I wanted to talk about this article
[00:59:55] that came out in the Wall Street Journal
[00:59:57] about you guys and Pinot Grigio
[00:59:59] tell us a little bit about that
[01:00:01] huge huge thing
[01:00:03] thank you
[01:00:05] was it Leti Teague?
[01:00:07] she's a great journalist
[01:00:09] I've known her for a long time
[01:00:11] not super personally
[01:00:13] but I met her a long time ago
[01:00:15] so yeah tell us
[01:00:17] what was the article about? I don't want to spoil it
[01:00:19] I want you to tell the story
[01:00:21] part of my job
[01:00:23] is okay this is gonna sound bad
[01:00:25] but bear with me
[01:00:27] part of my job
[01:00:29] is harassing people
[01:00:31] that's what marketing is
[01:00:33] and in particular journalists
[01:00:35] so I did try to speak
[01:00:37] with Leti and sender
[01:00:39] our samples
[01:00:41] and that's the way you're supposed to do
[01:00:43] and bring the world out
[01:00:45] and she gave me one of the most
[01:00:47] beautiful answers
[01:00:49] and the ones that I really respect
[01:00:51] because sometimes
[01:00:53] I think in every industry
[01:00:55] where you don't sell a commodity
[01:00:59] there is
[01:01:01] let's say mutual interests
[01:01:03] that develop
[01:01:05] that go beyond the pure quality
[01:01:07] of something
[01:01:09] and that's where the
[01:01:11] subject is going to end unless somebody
[01:01:13] wants to delve down deeper on that
[01:01:15] but so the reason why
[01:01:17] I really respected
[01:01:19] Leti's answer when I said
[01:01:21] hey, I'm distributed in
[01:01:23] the US
[01:01:25] we will offer you to try our sample
[01:01:27] our wines, can we send them
[01:01:29] to you, to the Wall Street Journal
[01:01:31] she said, Mattia thank you very much
[01:01:33] I appreciate your reach out
[01:01:35] but my policy
[01:01:37] is to not get samples
[01:01:39] from winemakers
[01:01:41] I buy the wines myself
[01:01:43] in the stores
[01:01:45] with the Wall Street Journal and the budget of course
[01:01:47] and then if I say something
[01:01:49] worth reviewing, I publish
[01:01:51] so that was to me
[01:01:53] that was amazing because it puts such a degree
[01:01:55] of
[01:01:57] honesty
[01:01:59] and
[01:02:01] it really let's say
[01:02:03] I don't want to say eliminates
[01:02:05] but let's be less
[01:02:07] polarizing
[01:02:09] it really slims down the possibility
[01:02:11] of
[01:02:15] let's say
[01:02:17] collusion
[01:02:19] so washing each other's hands
[01:02:21] exactly, you do for me I do for you
[01:02:23] I scratch your bag you scratch mine
[01:02:25] so
[01:02:27] this was a couple years ago
[01:02:29] then of course I
[01:02:31] didn't send anything
[01:02:33] and a few weeks ago
[01:02:35] she reached out and said
[01:02:37] I'm going to write an article about Pinot Grigio
[01:02:39] I tried yours
[01:02:41] and I would like to feature it
[01:02:43] and I was like thank you amazing
[01:02:45] so she asked me a lot of questions
[01:02:47] it was of course
[01:02:49] the luckiest moment for me because
[01:02:51] I could have the chance to
[01:02:53] speak about what we do beyond
[01:02:55] what's on the label or beyond what's on the website
[01:02:57] and that also lets you think
[01:02:59] especially when you don't travel
[01:03:01] you don't have a huge name that people are willing to meet you
[01:03:03] you know like
[01:03:05] Mr. Antinori
[01:03:07] goes to New York of course everybody's going to want to see
[01:03:09] of course or Mr. Gaia
[01:03:11] exactly, Matthias Carval goes like a man
[01:03:13] but so it allowed
[01:03:15] the service chance to speak about what we do
[01:03:17] and then she released
[01:03:19] the article and it was an article
[01:03:21] speaking about Pinot Grigio with character
[01:03:23] which is very much aligned
[01:03:25] to our thinking and
[01:03:27] what we're trying to challenge
[01:03:29] the lack of character in Pinot Grigio
[01:03:31] and what she did
[01:03:33] she
[01:03:35] she went to stores
[01:03:37] in New York, New Jersey
[01:03:39] she picked down her criteria
[01:03:41] so it was meant to be a single varietal
[01:03:43] 2019-2020 Pinot Grigio
[01:03:47] from
[01:03:49] North Eastern Italy
[01:03:51] and she mentioned our
[01:03:53] Pinot Grigio among her
[01:03:55] favorite five
[01:03:57] actually more than that
[01:03:59] what really rocked our world
[01:04:01] was that she said
[01:04:03] I like the Scatable Pinot Grigio
[01:04:05] enough that I went back
[01:04:07] and I bought three more bottles
[01:04:09] on my own for myself
[01:04:11] was this the contemporary Pinot Grigio?
[01:04:13] okay
[01:04:15] see that's huge because
[01:04:17] it means that even in that contemporary
[01:04:19] style you guys are standing out
[01:04:21] you know so it's not
[01:04:23] just the fact that you're
[01:04:25] bringing Pinot Grigio to another level
[01:04:27] but even in that
[01:04:29] contemporary style which is that fresh
[01:04:31] white style
[01:04:33] you're a level up
[01:04:37] I appreciate what you're saying
[01:04:39] I don't know
[01:04:41] but yeah a level up
[01:04:43] but not because we're like
[01:04:47] we're putting some effort
[01:04:49] into doing what we think
[01:04:51] can be done better
[01:04:53] how can I do this better today
[01:04:55] than I did yesterday
[01:04:57] what is the best expression
[01:04:59] and this is what actually I was talking with Melania
[01:05:01] in London
[01:05:03] the representation of
[01:05:05] this is what I
[01:05:07] constantly think of
[01:05:09] there was this master class
[01:05:11] in Friuli the other day
[01:05:13] about the expressions
[01:05:15] of Sauvignon
[01:05:17] in the five different
[01:05:19] main appellations of Friuli
[01:05:21] and unfortunately
[01:05:23] I think also because of the
[01:05:25] wineries they were picked
[01:05:27] there was some politics behind it
[01:05:29] but that's where it's gonna stop
[01:05:31] I don't think it was the most
[01:05:33] representative
[01:05:35] of the appellation but even then you say like
[01:05:37] okay how can I
[01:05:39] on my little
[01:05:41] world of the $170,000
[01:05:43] we do and speak about
[01:05:45] my terroir how can I
[01:05:47] do my part to communicate
[01:05:49] about
[01:05:51] we don't have
[01:05:53] Willy Wonka in the winery
[01:05:55] we have
[01:05:57] you know that's not like the
[01:05:59] Oompa Loompa is doing crazy
[01:06:01] it's like we have the same soil
[01:06:03] the same grapes the same techniques
[01:06:05] that are available to everyone
[01:06:07] luckily there are people that align with us
[01:06:09] in I like to think
[01:06:11] expressing what we believe
[01:06:13] is the
[01:06:15] a fairer interpretation
[01:06:17] of a variety in a terroir
[01:06:19] and there are many other winemakers that do the same
[01:06:21] I think what
[01:06:23] we miss as a region
[01:06:25] is aligning more
[01:06:27] on delivering
[01:06:29] a higher perceived value than
[01:06:31] instead of following the cheaper
[01:06:33] the cheaper price the cheaper
[01:06:35] option because there's no once you start
[01:06:37] going down once you
[01:06:39] start pursuing price and
[01:06:41] and of course with prices associated
[01:06:43] lower quality it's inevitable
[01:06:45] there's no end to that
[01:06:47] and you're gonna lose no matter what
[01:06:49] because the moment you do
[01:06:51] 150 quintali I always
[01:06:53] forget quintali in English
[01:06:55] quintals? quintals yeah
[01:06:57] per actor then there's
[01:06:59] somebody else somewhere else in Europe
[01:07:01] that can do less and they
[01:07:03] like be courageous
[01:07:05] and I'm very happy
[01:07:07] that she appreciated the work of
[01:07:09] of course one of the
[01:07:11] historical
[01:07:13] wineries in Friuli
[01:07:15] Jermann
[01:07:17] yeah but that
[01:07:19] you're in the same article with Jermann
[01:07:21] yeah it was fun it was fun
[01:07:23] that's amazing, it's fantastic
[01:07:25] big kudos to that, that's a big deal
[01:07:27] yeah I think one of the things
[01:07:29] and you know we're drinking Friulano
[01:07:31] but we can talk about Pinot Grigio as well
[01:07:33] one of the problems that I
[01:07:35] see very often in Friuli is that
[01:07:37] sometimes the winemakers don't believe
[01:07:39] in themselves
[01:07:41] or believe in the territory
[01:07:43] so they're almost either
[01:07:45] afraid to kind of push a little
[01:07:47] harder towards quality and
[01:07:49] ask more for their wines
[01:07:51] pursuing market share
[01:07:53] through lower prices
[01:07:55] and I think that's
[01:07:57] a shame because I think the quality here deserves
[01:07:59] I mean I just I went to
[01:08:01] Alsace a couple of weeks ago and their wines are
[01:08:03] super expensive
[01:08:05] you know and there
[01:08:07] it's not that they're not suffering but
[01:08:09] nobody there thinks that their wines are worth
[01:08:11] five dollars a bottle
[01:08:13] nobody, there's no cheap Alsace wine
[01:08:15] and that's kind of the same
[01:08:17] mindset that we have to have here too
[01:08:19] is there shouldn't be any
[01:08:21] you know ten dollar
[01:08:23] a bottle for
[01:08:25] a magnum Pinot Grigio coming out of Friuli
[01:08:27] so we need to be courageous
[01:08:29] and believe in ourselves
[01:08:31] as a region but especially because we have
[01:08:33] so many examples
[01:08:35] in Friuli of people that
[01:08:37] let's talk about business
[01:08:39] because at the end of the day
[01:08:41] if you set up a company
[01:08:43] where you have people working for you
[01:08:45] it is a business, it has to be for a profit
[01:08:47] it has to be successful
[01:08:49] let's say that way
[01:08:51] yeah you gotta make money
[01:08:53] otherwise it's a passion which is perfectly fair
[01:08:55] but what is
[01:08:57] like when you look at the history
[01:08:59] Friuli you think of all these people
[01:09:01] that made it
[01:09:03] that were successful and that's why
[01:09:05] in the world
[01:09:07] they were radical
[01:09:09] people that have a radical vision
[01:09:11] and that they pushed through it
[01:09:13] they didn't settle for anything
[01:09:15] but what was their ideal
[01:09:17] and you should make a thing
[01:09:19] that's why Lara and I said
[01:09:21] other people did what they believed
[01:09:23] they stood by it
[01:09:25] and they either made it or broke it
[01:09:27] and you look at Skiopetto
[01:09:29] like 100, like completely new way
[01:09:31] of making wine
[01:09:33] and when it went from super clean
[01:09:35] white wines to back to the roots
[01:09:37] and you can continue
[01:09:39] on and on and on
[01:09:41] if you do it right
[01:09:43] there's a chance
[01:09:45] you're going to leave a mark
[01:09:47] why not give it a try
[01:09:49] why settle for
[01:09:51] just like
[01:09:53] being like a flag that whichever wind
[01:09:55] blows you go in that direction
[01:09:57] who are you then
[01:09:59] I agree totally
[01:10:01] really important and I think that's one of the things
[01:10:03] we see here and for you Li is they sort of say
[01:10:05] oh wait look
[01:10:07] ribola gialla
[01:10:09] everybody's got to do ribola gialla
[01:10:11] and it's not that I'm slagging off on
[01:10:13] ribola gialla, I mean some of the ribola giallas
[01:10:15] are fantastic
[01:10:17] but it's sort of like
[01:10:19] if you were to talk about 20 years ago
[01:10:21] would have been Pinot Grigio everywhere
[01:10:23] and then everybody tried to push for you Lana
[01:10:25] and that didn't kind of work
[01:10:27] and Sauvignon came along
[01:10:29] now I'm sorry to say but man
[01:10:31] why do we want to ride on Pinot Nero
[01:10:33] like oh come on
[01:10:35] we have other tools
[01:10:37] let's say other tools
[01:10:39] other tools to communicate what we do
[01:10:41] why do we have to follow
[01:10:43] either Alto Adige or Burgundy
[01:10:45] that's their thing
[01:10:47] and if you do Pinot Nero do it your way
[01:10:49] in a way that speaks about your terroir
[01:10:51] speaks about your region
[01:10:53] not just like you said with the Bola Gialla
[01:10:55] man come on
[01:10:57] there's no excitement there
[01:10:59] there are some people who make great ribola gialla
[01:11:01] and that's what they should do
[01:11:03] a certain way
[01:11:05] exactly and that's their thing
[01:11:07] and they should always do that thing
[01:11:09] Damian Padversa just
[01:11:11] ribola gialla is amazing
[01:11:13] Roncadichala is ribola gialla
[01:11:15] they're good wines
[01:11:17] there's no reason why they shouldn't make them
[01:11:19] but that doesn't necessarily mean that everybody has to follow suit
[01:11:21] and congratulations
[01:11:23] to you for actually having the foresight
[01:11:25] of saying well you know what?
[01:11:27] ribola gialla is not our thing
[01:11:29] pinot grigio is our thing
[01:11:31] and that's what we're going to do
[01:11:33] Pinot Nero I hope that somebody comes up
[01:11:35] with a great Pinot Nero
[01:11:37] but it has to be like a niche thing
[01:11:39] but we have Rufosco
[01:11:41] we have Sculpitino
[01:11:43] we have such great wines here
[01:11:45] what do we need to start
[01:11:47] tearing out these local varieties
[01:11:49] and doing that
[01:11:51] but anyway
[01:11:53] we're at about an hour and 15 minutes now
[01:11:55] so I think this is a really
[01:11:57] good place to kind of wrap it up
[01:11:59] Matia did you want to
[01:12:01] sort of close us out
[01:12:03] with anything here?
[01:12:05] the whole story of sort of saying not
[01:12:07] going whichever way the wind blows
[01:12:09] I think is prophetic
[01:12:11] uh...
[01:12:13] I think that's true
[01:12:15] and I think it shows that you understand
[01:12:17] what's going on here
[01:12:19] I hope
[01:12:21] we're doing
[01:12:23] it's a job
[01:12:25] so a job like I was saying before
[01:12:27] it has to be
[01:12:29] sustainable in many ways
[01:12:31] and financially too
[01:12:33] but when I look back
[01:12:35] to when I was working
[01:12:37] in the bank and making way more money
[01:12:39] than I make now
[01:12:41] now it's a lot of phase of restructuring
[01:12:43] for a few things, we're investing a lot of money
[01:12:45] and you're building a new winery
[01:12:47] that's amazing so follow
[01:12:49] them to see sort of the progress there
[01:12:51] on social media
[01:12:53] yeah it's fun
[01:12:55] but
[01:12:57] when I think
[01:12:59] when you do something you believe in
[01:13:03] everything else falls in second place
[01:13:05] because you're happy
[01:13:07] you wake up happy
[01:13:09] and honesty
[01:13:11] is the most important thing
[01:13:13] I think I look
[01:13:15] at trends in the wine
[01:13:17] and sometimes I see
[01:13:19] there's not as
[01:13:21] fast of a growing consumption
[01:13:23] compared to other
[01:13:25] categories when you think
[01:13:27] I'm not even gonna say anything about heart
[01:13:29] sensor
[01:13:31] that'll be like the new
[01:13:33] trend in Friuli
[01:13:35] hard cells are ribolagiala
[01:13:37] white claw
[01:13:39] Friuli and white claw
[01:13:41] talone bianco
[01:13:43] but like
[01:13:45] honesty is important because when you're honest
[01:13:47] with yourself everything is easier
[01:13:49] and
[01:13:51] people rely on you
[01:13:53] and I don't know
[01:13:55] I think you're giving back somehow
[01:13:57] when you do the right thing
[01:13:59] life is good
[01:14:01] I think that's great
[01:14:03] my favorite ex-wife
[01:14:05] just came up on stage
[01:14:07] I think she may have a question
[01:14:09] Vanessa did you have a question
[01:14:11] that you wanted to ask
[01:14:13] unmute yourself
[01:14:17] maybe not maybe she didn't
[01:14:19] Vanessa you gotta take yourself off mute
[01:14:25] okay well there she is
[01:14:27] there she is how you doing Vanessa
[01:14:29] I'm okay
[01:14:31] I think you actually met Matia
[01:14:33] when you came here for Friuli like in 1999
[01:14:35] and he was like 7
[01:14:37] I did
[01:14:39] you did see you did
[01:14:41] you met my ex-wife when she came here
[01:14:43] Matia a long time ago
[01:14:45] I'm sure you don't remember because you were a fucking infant
[01:14:47] that was a pain in the ass
[01:14:49] but you were an infant
[01:14:51] you were like a kid
[01:14:53] you were a little boy
[01:14:55] he was okay only because you didn't see him for that long
[01:14:59] did you have a question for Matia
[01:15:01] Vanessa
[01:15:03] just a very very quick question
[01:15:05] where in New York
[01:15:07] the New York City area are your wines sold
[01:15:09] good question
[01:15:11] yeah so we've been
[01:15:13] present at Italy
[01:15:17] for a long time
[01:15:19] and when I think of restaurants
[01:15:21] some of the
[01:15:23] for example Beco
[01:15:25] Babbo restaurants
[01:15:27] all of the Bastianich
[01:15:29] we're in all these saw house
[01:15:31] and Chacolis
[01:15:33] what about any places in New Jersey
[01:15:35] any wine shops in New Jersey
[01:15:37] Gary's okay
[01:15:39] what is it? Summit?
[01:15:41] I think it's Gary's and Summit
[01:15:43] they're huge Vanessa
[01:15:45] yeah you should if you've never been to Gary's
[01:15:47] wine and summit
[01:15:49] it's like Mecca for wine in New Jersey
[01:15:51] oh good okay
[01:15:53] but anything if you don't find anything
[01:15:55] you can shoot a message
[01:15:57] or we connect directly and I'm happy to give
[01:15:59] all the names
[01:16:01] that can help you find the wines
[01:16:03] perfect thank you so much
[01:16:05] thank you
[01:16:07] good to see you Vanessa
[01:16:09] I think we're gonna wrap it up
[01:16:11] I could call this a perfect podcast
[01:16:13] I am
[01:16:15] you've been great
[01:16:17] thanks to Sue and Jelena and Rosella
[01:16:19] and Vanessa thanks for coming on up
[01:16:21] and asking that question
[01:16:23] do you have a website obviously
[01:16:25] was it ScarBalowines.com
[01:16:27] ScarBalow.com
[01:16:29] S-C-A-R-B-O-L-O.com
[01:16:31] so definitely go and check them out
[01:16:33] um yeah thank you Sue
[01:16:35] and Jelena and Rosella and Vanessa
[01:16:37] thank you Natalie who had to leave
[01:16:39] unfortunately earlier
[01:16:41] and thank you for spending some time
[01:16:43] with us those of you are still here
[01:16:45] and thank you also Robby
[01:16:47] being here always and making
[01:16:49] us sound beautiful
[01:16:51] rock and roll
[01:16:53] alright guys thank you very much
[01:16:55] I'm gonna close the room
[01:16:57] thank you Jelena thank you Sue
[01:16:59] thank you Rosella thank you Vanessa
[01:17:01] you are the man
[01:17:03] come back anytime
[01:17:05] thank you, thank you
[01:17:07] goodnight everybody
[01:17:13] hey I want to thank everybody
[01:17:15] this evening for coming thank you for listening
[01:17:17] I appreciate
[01:17:19] Natalie Ben-Loloy our co-host
[01:17:21] Rob Milani
[01:17:23] our sound guy follow me
[01:17:25] on Lotta Verna
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[01:17:31] WayneGrape
[01:17:33] and you can
[01:17:35] find this awesome music on
[01:17:37] YouTube at beat ambassador
[01:17:39] finishes with an A