May 7, 2025 • 50 mins
Acclaimed photographer, Silvia Imparato, enjoyed drinking fine wines with friends in Rome. But she returned to her family’s country home near Salerno to make wines herself, enlisting the help of acclaimed wine consultant, Ricardo Cotarella. In 1991 Silvia introduced her first vintage of Montevetrano to rave reviews. Accolades continued with each new vintage. A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Aglianico, Montevetrano has been named one of Campania’s- and the world’s -finest wines.
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The Connected Table is broadcast live Wednesdays at 2PM ET and Music on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com).
The Connected Table Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are
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(00:21):
FOURCY Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Welcome to the Connected Table Live. We're your hosts, Melanie
Young and David Ransom. You're in say you'll be curious
culinary couple. We bring you the dynamic people who are
front and center and behind the scenes in wine, food,
spirits and hospitality around the world. We travel, we drink,
we eat, and we share their amazing stories with you
(01:05):
or audience, and we're honored to do it right.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
David, absolutely, Melanie, and today we have another great show
on tap from.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
A region that we visited in the fall of twenty
twenty two, not for the first time, but for a
repeat time. We attended a program called Compagna Stories, a
wonderful program for journalists to learn about the region of Campana,
the many sub appellations and amazing stories of this historic
region of southern Italy. I think some of the wines
(01:36):
there are among my favorite. I have to say, some
amazing native varieties, lots of different topography, a lot of
volcanic influence. Obviously close to the sea as as much
of Italy, so you've got that oceanic influence. Really beautiful
and our guest today is a perfect example of one
(01:58):
of the reasons I'm personally excited too about Campanna, because
we discovered and met some wonderful women owned wineries when
we were there. I think we may I may have
asked for that, but seemed like a large percentage of
the wineries that we got to visit were women owned,
and one example is Monto Vetrano. We have joining us
from Italy, Sylvia Imparato, who has got a fascinating story.
(02:22):
We spent a beautiful afternoon. She made us lunch and
chovy bread and seedy with the freshest tomatoes and told
us her story, which starts in art kind of like
almost like a hippie art art, beautiful art photography, and
evolves into the art of wine, right, David, Absolutely, Melanie, and.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
It was it was so nice because it was just
the three of us sitting on the porch for two
maybe two maybe three hours something like that, having lunch
and talking and of course drinking her wonderful wines. And
it was just such a beautiful afternoon and we're thrilled
to be able to have her join us today.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
So Sylvia and Parato, welcome to the Connected Table.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
Thank you. I think it's a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
So we always like to start with location and for
our listeners, this is a radio show, so let's visualize
where Monte Vetrano is located in Campania and why the
name Monte Vetrano.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
Sure, Monte Vitrano is close to Salerno, that is in
the south of Campania, close to Naples, fifty kilometers from Naples,
and the name of Monte Vitrano is the name of
the area that is an to Medio valley, a middle
(03:41):
aged castle on the top of an hill and under
this castle there is our property. Monte Vitrano is sixteen
kilometers from Salerno, but it is really in a very
special place, I think because we have a Malfi coast
on the right. We have three in Celerno. There are
(04:04):
three different harbors that you can have a boat and
go to kapriy Tocamp And on the left we have
the real Greek part past with these temples. It's a
very special place. We have the Roman part Pompeii on
the right. It is I love this place anyway, We do.
Speaker 5 (04:26):
Too, We do too.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
We saw those Pesti.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Temple really as a special place because we visited Pompei
a couple of years ago when we were when we
were in.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
And we saw the ruins of past.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
And we also sat on this last trip just after
we actually saw you, Sylvia, we went to pest them
and then spent the night a little bit further down
the coast.
Speaker 5 (04:43):
It's just a gorgeous area.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
So what is the history of the estate itself and
your family's involvement and your family history.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
My my grandfather had bought it in the first of
the forties because war was writing and it was thinking
it could be a good idea to have something close
to the town where they had their work. They were
importants of exotic woods. They were important woods from Austria, Russia,
(05:18):
many different places in the world, and so they wanted
to continue to work, but it was important for him,
and I think it was a good idea to have
a place not really in the town, to stay with
the family, especially because this property is really a rich one,
I mean a Mediterranean area with animals, with fruit, and
(05:44):
it was very important, especially in that period. So this
is the beginning of the story of Monte Vetrano with
my family. After that, we were used my parents were
living in Salein after the war, of course, and we
were used to come just from one day from the
(06:04):
morning until the night, where we used to come back
in Celeta, and especially for feast like Christmas, Easter time,
and so I remember we have a big family, we
are many cousins. We were children were crowded of things
to do, but not to use the cellar. So you
(06:29):
can imagine that for children you can do what you like,
you can go and run and do what you're free,
but not in the cellar. Of course. We were entering
in the cellar, and I remember the perfume of the wine,
the dark that was entering. It was very, very fascinating.
(06:53):
I think that this has been very important for me,
this memory.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
That's a powerful memory that the smell of the wine
in the vat. Yes, it really is. You're you know,
we learned by meeting and we met you for the
first time that you're an artist. You're actually you're a
noted photographer and you've been in film. What what lured
(07:20):
you into that profession or that calling? It's really a
calling in our book.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
First of all, I really I've never taught to be
an artist. An artist something different and more a little
bit magic. I've always hoped to to read, to have
the emotion that an artist can give. I've never told
(07:50):
that I was an artist. I've been a photographer for
twenty years, never made a film. I would have, but not,
and I was making portraits. I was making reportage, not
only in Italy. It was something that seems very different
(08:12):
from the work of making wine and producer of wine.
In reality is not so different from my way because
it is something it is something like a challenge to search,
to look, to enter in the life and the differences
(08:34):
of life. It's very interesting. I'm very grateful to have
this possibility.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Well, you know, a photographer has an eye an eye
and has an eye for perfection and light and imagery,
and a viner has to have an eye and a
palette in a sense, it's like almost a six sense
for both. And you strive for perfectionism. You know on
(09:05):
your website, uh you talk about it, talks about the
winery came about as as as a semblange of some
friends who came together. Tell us about that.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
Sure this was the beginning of the story of Montevitrano,
because I think that Montevitrano is very is a very
fascinating place. It is, as I told you, and you
have seen a Mediterranean area. So there are little eels,
there are light and darkness. There are possibility to go
(09:43):
around to to to take and to feel helps different
helps oregon mint. You feel the perfume in there, and
it is made like uh fedadica. How you say, it
is core like it has it has the castle in
(10:10):
the middle, and then it goes around open to the sea.
The sea is only about four kilometers, very very close,
and it is something mont is something like half a circle.
You say circle, Chico. See anyway, I'm sorry for my way.
(10:36):
It's very difficult to express what I mean. Anyway. What
I mean is that we were used, beginning from my parents,
to come in Montevitrano with different friends, because it is
a special, a special place where people is happy to stay.
There is a an harmony, there is something so balanced
(10:58):
between our way of being in the nature. It's a
very special place. So we were used even in different ways.
Now I live in Monte Peterran, but so it is.
It is a way of use using the property. But
(11:22):
there is another important things that I think that my
life is very rich because I have friends and frenchship
is something so special, so really special. It is a
form of love. But for me it's I don't want
to say that it's more important, but perhaps I think so.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Well.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
From friends to wine, this is important because.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
You're winery started with friends and it was on the
late night teen eighties.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
I think, yes, I began to think this around. As
I told you, it was photolegraphy at the studio Drome.
But I began to think about to make wine in
Montevitano after a portrait of an American person that was
(12:21):
really very interested in wine. It was very fascinating. I
was used to make portraits in two hour two hour
and a half, so I was used to speak with
the person I was making photos and he was saying
was telling this, telling about the story of his passion
(12:42):
for wine. So after that I began to go in
Via de la Crocea in Roma as a central is
a very central place of the old Roman and there
is uh there is today, But there was and wine
wine shop, very famous, very important. The night Thursday night.
(13:09):
We were used to stay together when the shop was closed,
just to taste the wines. And I began, and I
have to thank you, to thank this American person that
has was the beginning for me. So I went there
and I entered in a club of passion peoples that
(13:32):
were used to to stay there once a week after
eight o'clock when the shop was closed. And from that point,
from that moment it begins, without knowing it, the real
culture of the wine. In the eighties wine was completely different,
and there is a completely different story. Not only in Italy.
(13:56):
Of course there was a mountain, of course, but and
so on. There was this skin but a little bit
of marcy, remember, a little bit of ridiculous. It is
a wonderful white way. Now every region has no makes
wonderful wines and not totally red, not only white, web
(14:19):
white and red, and some of them are really fantastic
and go all over the world. The story has changed
so much I couldn't imagine it. So when I began,
it was just for a joke. It was a night
that we were in this circle of people. We were
(14:39):
drinking Bordeaux eighty five. No, no, excuse me, it was
not eighty five.
Speaker 5 (14:48):
It was.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
Perhaps I don't remember. In this moment. Anyway, we were
drinking eight different wines and that was a little bit excited,
better than drunk. And I heard my voice saying, oh, yes,
but why we don't make a wine in Monte Vitrano.
We just do a little bit of a Jannico I have.
(15:12):
I can put more and we can do something like
great Bordeaux if you came with me to make it.
This was the real beginning, and I was sure it
was a joke, and I was sure going on that
I could really make a wine for my friends. But
destiny is important. My friends were a very young lu
(15:34):
CAMEROONI a very young Daniel letor Neeally I mean gamber Roso,
I mean people, fabrio, people that is in the world
of wine, and our guest in this different night where
something as someone like Pierontini see Krook, Remy Krug that
(16:01):
was conning with old vintagers, so so many in a
little situation, very a very important story began. I couldn't
imagine it then. At that moment, I was a photographer
for Republica. I had a weekly magazine when it did
the Republican, and I had made a little story on
(16:24):
when they did Republican, and we began to become a
little bit famous. And this was not We didn't want
to be distarbed from this atmosphere of friends that were
drinking and laughing and eating something and telling stories about themselves.
(16:47):
It was a very special situation, and I think it
could only be in that moment because not only the
story of wine, but the story of not only Italy,
but as we know of world is changed. The eighties
were completely different from what it after, not only for now,
(17:11):
of course, but after the ninety were just different and
so on. Anyway, this story of Montevitrano began with friends,
and I was enthusiastic from the beginning. I wanted to
from that night wherever I said, well, we can do
something like and when I said something like, we were
(17:33):
drinking incredible wines like Aubrion, like Chateau la fititrochild something incredible,
so I wanted. In reality, I am a person that
thinks that if you are a desire to do something,
(17:56):
or if you dream to do something, the best way
is to look at the top, because the top can
you can you can learn many things if you're right,
if you're right there, if you have the possibility to
go close to the top. And I think like that
(18:16):
even now after thirty years of Montevitrano, and I have
to thank to Tank the many different possibilities to learn
every day, every moment, something that makes my life wider.
This is very important, and with monte Vitrano, as you remember,
(18:41):
I have c written a monte Vitranoski and of the
Snow to remember, Yes, yes, we do. Yes. I have
to tell you that I didn't like it. I think
it is not right for Sassicaia. I think it was
not right for us because it means it's a very
(19:02):
good wine, and it's very very good wine, like a
top one. But I think I've learned that every good
wine is that wine. You can't copy a good wine.
You can copy something, but not a special wine. Especial
(19:23):
wine to me as a special character, a special accent
that you can like or not. Of course, so I
don't think there exists the best wine in the world.
I can't tell you what is the best of my
different vintages. I think that wines are very live and
(19:49):
they change like persons. For Monte Vitrano, what gives me
a big emotion is that when I taste I have
all the bottles from the beginning I began in ninety one,
and when I taste the old integers now I don't
(20:10):
sell the nineties. I can tell you that I can't
tell you, well, ninety three or ninety five are like that, No,
because they can be like that now for fifteen days,
for one week, but they changed. I had the fortune
to have a dinner three days before in Rome with
(20:34):
a big producer, very famous producer of Breganne Male chemisite,
and they were very kind because I didn't know they
were opening a bottle of Monte Vietrano ninety five. It
was incredible, but very different from the other time I
tasted it. So this to say that perhaps the more
(20:59):
fascinating things to me to make wine is that you
never possess it. He has no truths, and you have
as producer always to try to do the best in quality.
And you know better than me how much the word
(21:20):
of wine is changed. So I've spoken so much.
Speaker 5 (21:26):
No, no, not at all.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
It was a great way to set it up, right,
It's a.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Great way to set up I know when we sat
down and had lunch with you, we had the twenty nineteen,
the twenty and fourteen, and the two thousand and five,
and they were all delicious for one reason or another.
When you started Monteftrono, you actually called upon a very
well known wine maker analogist in Italy, Ricardo Coccerella, to
help you make the wine and help you and help
(21:50):
you decide how to work the vineyards. Tell us about
that relationship, because he's still making the wine with you today.
Speaker 4 (21:57):
Sure, all my life anywhere, Lutimo Spiro, I don't know anyway. Sure,
I began with him, and I can't think to something different.
I feel very lucky we were friends and he is
a fantastic person. He's very curious, and when we know
(22:22):
the beginning, we were different persons. I couldn't imagine to
make a wine that was known all over, not all
over the world, but anyway, and it was not as
important as known as a star how he is now.
And I had to tell you that when I speak
(22:44):
of Ricardo, I have a big emotion remembering the two
of us. It was something like a life before Ricardo.
Of course, as all the stars can he loved or not.
But I can be really the one who can say, oh,
(23:07):
Ricardo's professional. When we began, it was a joke, but
now that is a really very famous one. He has
the same attention yet the first years to be us.
So I am thankful, I respect, I love my friend
(23:28):
for his human capacity. I'm sorry for my way.
Speaker 6 (23:38):
No, you know, when I was reading up on all this,
I thought about, we've interviewed a number of producers who
worked with Ricardo Coturella, and we've actually interviewed not him,
but a member of his family and his bariery.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
And I thought to myself, and I said to David,
I wonder what his career was like in the eighties
and early nineties, you know, like much like in France,
Michelle Roland point, you're you're not the superstar, flying wine
consultant that you are now. So I was trying to
picture what it must have been like to start working
(24:09):
with him that because I read somewhere that the one
of the wines he made, because he when we talked
in the vineyards with you you, we talked about how
much he likes Merlow. And I read somewhere that that
that your Montefutano that he made with Merlow is one
of the ones he's most proud of.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
Yes, but the story is not like that in reality.
Because Ricardo was loving Merlo and so I wanted to
rink Melo. Danis was working Monte China that I was
in love with Monte. We began. We had on the
some and uh and Santa Verna we have we had grafted,
(24:55):
so we began in that way. Then he said Melo Merlo,
and I answered, it could be, but I think that
Monte Vitrano is not a place of melo. But anyway,
we had put melo and we had thirty percent melon,
(25:16):
and we at the beginning only ten percentico because there
was a little quantity of a Leannico in our vineyard.
Our vineyard, I mean the property. The property had a
vineer from sixty seventiers, but they were as they were
used in desire. They had different plans. Pedi also that
(25:40):
year the name is Perre Palumo, a little bit of
a Leannico all mixed together over the troyer, and that
with Regardo we had grafted a little bit of Melo
and a little bit of cabernet. But ninety one the
first being that we we have we we don't, we
(26:05):
didn't go on the market.
Speaker 7 (26:07):
That we had done was Alanko and Cabernet, Savinion ninety
Cabernet and ten Igianico because we were prepreating the other aanicos.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
Then we had a little bit of merlo in the
ninety two and then ninety three it was Merlo, Alanico
and carbonetes Ofvinion. Now we have put more arianico. Now
we have thirty percent Alanico, fifty percent Canon, twenty percent Merlo.
(26:42):
But Melo was less because weather was changing, and the
child conside the climate was changing and it is much
more hot now than before, and the perfumes on melow
was were not so surprised and as they were at
(27:02):
the beginning. So now we have put more leanico, as
I told you, And well, I think that one of
the examples that I can give to explain Ricardo Cotrella
is that he is curious and he's enthusiastic but he's
a very professional person. I mean he was the first
(27:24):
to say, no, we have to put more Leanico. This
is uh, the the one who is very well with
Carvernas of Mignon and for be law. We were speaking,
we are always speaking together. But in reality he decides,
(27:45):
I've had to say confidence on his way of living.
Now thirty years he demonstrates. At the beginning, people said, oh,
Caa makes all the wine, all the wine, one similar
to the other. I was, so, I don't know how
(28:09):
you say angry.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
I got that one.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
I did many people. You can't me a dinner ALTI
it's fantastic, Thank you very much, buddy. But I was
very bill because I only offered eight different wines covered
and I said, what you prefer? They're all different way
(28:35):
one blah blah blah. They were all wines made but Ricardo,
and they were all different, and no one was saying
this is similar to the other. I never forget it.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
Well, that's a testament to him because you never you know,
it's always annoying when you hear, oh this is a
Michelle Roland wine or your Ricardo control. You want that,
you want everybody to have their own unique imprint, And
like you said earlier in the conversation, every wine and
every vintage has its own nuance and specialness and evolves
over time.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
I think so, I think so. I'm sure of this.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Yes, I love this quote. Gamba Rossa said, right from
the start of her wine making career, she you began
raising the bar, imagining a wine that would not only
be representative of its growing area, but also compete with
the world's finest wines in a frontierless market. But you
said something I had in my notes about you, David,
(29:36):
that originally you were shamed about your wines. Now things
have changed, but.
Speaker 4 (29:40):
Not my wines. Like Montevitrano, the wine that I was
before I was making wine. This was the classical property
where owners live in the town, and here the farmers
were making wine that where coming and in the houses
(30:03):
in the town, giving fruit and nuts and the wine.
And I was thinking it was awful because it was
pure wine of the farm. It was awful, it was vinegar.
I was thinking about that wine when I began to
make wine with Ricardo. It is to say it from
(30:25):
the beginning I was enthusiastic, but I couldn't imagine that
it was not an enthusism for my emotion. Because when
I sat as I told you to Robert Parker ninety
one ninety two ninety three, he was writing something I
was not thinking it was right, but to tell that
(30:46):
it's asikaia and that's how it means. It's a very
very special good wine. So I was ashamed when I
was tasting the wine they were making here. It was
the old way to make wine. Wine. There was completely
different stories about it, perhaps romantic, but not for me.
(31:07):
That was loving wine. However, I was beginning to drink
good wine when I was little. In my family, for example,
my father was curiously uh enthusiastical Save Save is a Veneto.
He was loving swave.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
In.
Speaker 4 (31:30):
I was loving Veneto wine. It's very classical wine. And
my grandfather was the absolutely fond of Aanico, the cotalk
Ton of desire. And because you should see your uncle brother,
my mother was always offering Mozilla wines because he's working
(31:57):
with Germany, and it was always having Mozille, a different
Mozilla and unstable. It was very so so I before
meeting my friends. That gave me the possibility to drink
incredible wine, like as I told you, A great Bordeaux
or chotaup Petruz or before I had a little anyway
(32:23):
education on a good one. And so the vo the Contadino,
which was not a poetry for me, it was something terrible.
But now I have to tell you that when I
begin with Monte Petrano, and I'm very proud of this,
(32:43):
I began to work with the son of a farmer,
and now he is something like a boss. I mean
it my boss. I mean he works in the seller
And it was very interesting from the beginning because it
(33:04):
was coming from a culture of the country, was born
in Monte Vietrano and was living in the family that
was working here. But it was so special. Now he's
a seller master, but it was so special to stay
together and to see the differences of view on wine.
(33:28):
And I promised him that if you wanted, if you
could work with me, I would have opened the doors,
because now he had to awake at three o'clock in
the night to go in the clothes market to sell
the fruit and the wine. And I was speaking with
(33:51):
him with the pleasure a tajev Now of the difference.
He's a very clever person and I've learned many things
with him and I think I can say I have
given him many differences interesting for him. We work together
now it is about thirty years.
Speaker 5 (34:11):
And.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
That's a wonderful story of multi generations being involved with
the farm.
Speaker 5 (34:18):
You also have your daughter working.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
With you, Guya, so that's a second generation on your
end in the winery.
Speaker 5 (34:26):
Tell us about her role with you at the winery.
Speaker 4 (34:28):
It is a strange and a very important story because
I in my winery, I have had the really fortune lucky,
was so lucky to have men what I told you,
the master seller, the special Patritzai, that is something like
direct and she's absolutely Montevitre, an incredible person, a very
(34:55):
complex and rich person. I have Monica that is so
so important for his character, his attention. So we are
really a club that founder of Monte Petrano, but we
are very close one to the other. So when guy
(35:17):
I ride, it was very difficult for her, and it
was a strange story because she rived just to say
she was in Florence with his son and she wanted
just to say hello to her mother. Let's go to
Salerno to say and Lord to Signia to Nona. And
(35:39):
after that they stayed here, the two of them, Guya
and my nepote Jacomo for three months because Covid was
here and the president of the Campania the region has
closed the region. So we had the opportunity to share
(36:01):
three months of our lives in a very incredible revolutionary period.
And we felt very very lucky because all our friends,
all the people we were knowing, were close in the
in the apartments in town. We had the opportunity to
(36:21):
go out and to walk in the air, in the air.
It was a really special situation. But it arrived the
moment of the vineyard. The vineyard couldn't play it. So
we were going in the vineyard Gaya and we need
(36:41):
the master of sellers, but the sun of the farmers,
and we began to work together to stay together. But
after that there was something that could interest because I
think that we lived in a period, in a time
where we are always running. In that moment, we couldn't run.
(37:05):
And I discovered my daughter, as I think all the matters,
I have a special tenderness for their son's daughter because
something begins when they when they were children. And now
(37:27):
had another very big emotion, very deep one that I
was discovering my daughter as an adult woman. And this
is something so so complex and so emotion and we
have drunk so much wine together.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Well, guy, I worked in fashion, so you know it's
interesting you think about COVID. I mean, guy, I worked.
I think you said Upana so high paced fashion comes
home to visit, mom ends up staying because everybody shut in,
and then rediscovers you know how beautiful it is in
Monte Fittronto and a rekindling of a mother daughter relationship
(38:12):
in another way starts. And I think about David. I
think about how hard it must have been in many businesses,
and like farming businesses, because the vines don't sleep, they
don't go to sleep forever. They need to be taken
care of. But workers are needed to do that. And
during COVID it would have been hard to have workers
to tend to the vine. So everybody has to. As
(38:33):
they say the un I say, it's double down and
everybody pitching to work.
Speaker 4 (38:37):
Right exactly exactly, Yes, Yeah, there's a very very very
special situation. And so she asked me, but I don't
you think I could work with you? And you know,
in the best field, in the best scene around, the
(38:57):
best book, you read that when your daughter has something
like that, the mother begins to cry for the emotion.
I was dispirated because I was thinking, she gained so well,
here we are in a very special, difficult period, and
(39:19):
after that she's accustomed to all another area, what will
it be in the same way, I was thinking, really,
she comes back, it's incredible. So I said, what she proposed,
we can try, and we began to try. And then
(39:41):
I have to tell you that she was fantastic because
it was the reality of another experience. She was accustomed
to work in a big, big like Doccha Gebana, was
a completely different situation what I had. So, for example,
(40:05):
what it happened conflicts completely. I can die for completing.
She was accustomed. She was able to to go and
to explain and to and to speak clearly. But after that,
she demonstrated what she is, and the other demonstrated what
(40:30):
they were not in their way they were accustomed with me.
This is mere viusal, this is may us. This is
something magical. It is a real relation between people in
a different way, in this incere way. And now I
have to tell you it is really ver multiply, you know,
(40:56):
I hope it gone in this way. After that, That's
why I felt I could realize that Cory Cory was
perhaps more interesting for her because for example, she was
of course speaking of communication. She was accustomed she made,
(41:20):
she was making communications. She had always made communications for
us to label and communications. But I have another idea
on Monte Peterrano. I am much more Sobby, I don't
know how to say, much more discreet. And she wanted
to give Corri another another communication, and I was I
(41:45):
was sure she was right.
Speaker 2 (41:47):
Now I want to let people know that core is
another label that you produce in addition to Montepetrana, which
we tasted. I just want to clarify that for our
listeners it's called Core. Right.
Speaker 4 (41:58):
Yeah, it was poor and I wanted to make it
because the society was changing. I wanted to give the
possibility to young people that were drinking wine or Tony
beer to add the possibility to taste the wine Monte
Getrano wen bottle Corey. But the guarantee is Monte Petrano.
(42:25):
And so I decided the guy A called could have
h the direction of the line Corey, and she demonstrating
is a very very good idea ahead Coreer too. There
is a Correy Bianco that is Greco and Fiano, and
(42:45):
Corey also is pure Aanico. And there are many stories
because for example, Ako of Corey is comes from Sanyo. Wise,
Allanico of monte Vetrano is Montevitrano, the same name Alanico,
(43:07):
two differento because in monte Vetrano the sea is very close,
as I said before, and this has arisen and it
is much hot than Sanio, so immatures much before it
has Aico. Monte Vetrano if you taste it alone, is
(43:32):
a good, very very strong structure. Otherwise Saniel that is
not hot and that is harvest much later. It's a
more delicate one. And this is very interesting because I've
(43:54):
always had the desire to make an Illianico. And Ricardo
told me, listen, Sylvia, monte Vitrano is a very well
known one. If you make Anico, he had to be
he has to be a crew. And the of Montevitrano
is perfect, it's fantastical. And uh in monte Vitrano, with
(44:17):
covert and a little bit of melo, it has not
the possibility to be a crew. I proposed to see
something Insania, and so he was. He was right. Another time.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
I thought that was a great explanation about the differences
between the different agreanicos. It's it's a it's a great
but it's it's from a different obviously, a different expression
based on location. And we learned that when we were
any companion stories trying different fianos as well. And you
know you mentioned and Corey for our listeners. It's spelled
(44:57):
like core c o r e. It's actually a dialogue
for love, a Neapolitan dialect for the word love. Yeah,
and we love the white wines of Campagna and well.
Monte Petrono obviously is known for its international varietals laced
with aglianico. It reads this Corey was delicious. Fiana and
(45:18):
greco are both indigenous grapes to the area. They have
different nuances based on where they are. And we found
this to be a wonderful refreshing wine, uh to sip
while we were enjoying a meal with you on their
beautiful patio.
Speaker 4 (45:34):
But I remember it was a beautiful time with you.
I remember very well. Cuty Cutty. I decided to name
Kody because kotta here means love. We use we used
to to say cotty meal when we we we love
someone and someone can be your little child, it can
(45:57):
be your lover, it can be you, your grandfather, what
you want, but we say corineo corry. Anyway, from Corino,
we arrived to Korey because our Japanese friends were saying, no,
please don't say corema Japan could be very difficult to
(46:19):
pronounce and we could forget it. So anyway, Corry, I
love the word because it is a round one and
you know what in your language means no, it's a
very interesting word. So I asked my daughter Guya, yes,
you have to design a label. And we were making breakfast.
(46:42):
It was summertime and she has some pan penlli on
the table and she said, like this design and echo
design a heart. And I said, not like this this
and so this was the label. This is the labels
(47:04):
from that moment.
Speaker 5 (47:05):
It's a beautiful heart.
Speaker 2 (47:07):
And core is a beautiful core as you say is
in Neapolitan and core means is a soulful expression. In
the United States, the core values and core benefits. It's
it's a very soulful term in the United States. So
it's a great uh, it's it's a terrific wine. Let's
you mentioned you have Japanese customers who your distributed. Your
(47:29):
wines are distributed in the United States. Let's give a
shout out to your importer. And are all your wines?
Is Corey also available in the United States in addition
to Montevitrano.
Speaker 4 (47:38):
See see I don't understand I think.
Speaker 2 (47:44):
Your wines all your wines are available in the United States.
Speaker 4 (47:47):
Sure, sure, yes, two of them m hm.
Speaker 2 (47:55):
Because we just want our listeners to know where they
can buy them. So just to reiterate, Mantra, but Toronto wines,
Monte for Toronto and Corey are all available in the
United States nationally and and are definitely worth seeking out.
These are wines to enjoy with beautiful food. We want
to we want to commend you on the food you
served us. The anchovy bread was just one of those
(48:19):
soulful moments where we had and your and your z T.
I remember bocause tomatoes were in season and there's nothing
like the tomatoes and campanya.
Speaker 5 (48:29):
See that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (48:31):
We ate a lot of great tomatoes and drink some
wonderful wines. You know, we just want to wrap the
show up. First of all, Sylvia and Parado, thank you
for joining us. We've been trying to book you for
a while. We want to encourage our listeners to consider
visiting Companya. It is a stunning area with incredible history
and such a range of geographical you know, from the
(48:54):
mountains to the sea and wines.
Speaker 4 (48:56):
Right, Sylvia, it is it is really, it is really
like that. All people that come are enthusiastic, and I
am enthusiastic of my place, but of Campania too, because
when you were speaking about Aikano, it is incredible. They
have different characters in the different places because actually very
(49:17):
rich place. It's very very interesting. Always I always discover
new places.
Speaker 2 (49:25):
Well we do too, so we can't wait to come
back to Campania. And you know, we always say Naples
is fun for the pizza, but get out into the
wineries to meet, to learn the little regional traditions that
you'll discover along the way. It's quite fabulous. Well, we
want to thank you for joining us on the Connected Table. Sylvia.
We've come to an end of a wonderful discussion. We're
so finally glad we got to schedule it with you,
(49:46):
and we hope to visit you again in Campania.
Speaker 4 (49:49):
I hope it. I really wait for you, and every
guest here is really very welcome. If there is no
people that drink our wine, we will not be there.
Speaker 7 (50:00):
So it is really is sincere grat Thank you so much,
and next time perhaps I will speak better your language.
Speaker 5 (50:08):
And you did a great job.
Speaker 2 (50:10):
You did a great job, and for everyone listening, we
hope you enjoyed this show. Another edition of the Connected Table,
taking you to Italy, this time. Our messages always drink well,
eat well, and always stay insatiably curious.
Speaker 4 (50:25):
Grat
The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are
solely those of the hosts and their guests, and not
those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We
make no recommendations or endorsements radio show, programs, services, or
products mentioned on air or on our web. No liability
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(00:21):
FOURCY Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Welcome to the Connected Table Live. We're your hosts, Melanie
Young and David Ransom. You're in say you'll be curious
culinary couple. We bring you the dynamic people who are
front and center and behind the scenes in wine, food,
spirits and hospitality around the world. We travel, we drink,
we eat, and we share their amazing stories with you
(01:05):
or audience, and we're honored to do it right.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
David, absolutely, Melanie, and today we have another great show
on tap from.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
A region that we visited in the fall of twenty
twenty two, not for the first time, but for a
repeat time. We attended a program called Compagna Stories, a
wonderful program for journalists to learn about the region of Campana,
the many sub appellations and amazing stories of this historic
region of southern Italy. I think some of the wines
(01:36):
there are among my favorite. I have to say, some
amazing native varieties, lots of different topography, a lot of
volcanic influence. Obviously close to the sea as as much
of Italy, so you've got that oceanic influence. Really beautiful
and our guest today is a perfect example of one
(01:58):
of the reasons I'm personally excited too about Campanna, because
we discovered and met some wonderful women owned wineries when
we were there. I think we may I may have
asked for that, but seemed like a large percentage of
the wineries that we got to visit were women owned,
and one example is Monto Vetrano. We have joining us
from Italy, Sylvia Imparato, who has got a fascinating story.
(02:22):
We spent a beautiful afternoon. She made us lunch and
chovy bread and seedy with the freshest tomatoes and told
us her story, which starts in art kind of like
almost like a hippie art art, beautiful art photography, and
evolves into the art of wine, right, David, Absolutely, Melanie, and.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
It was it was so nice because it was just
the three of us sitting on the porch for two
maybe two maybe three hours something like that, having lunch
and talking and of course drinking her wonderful wines. And
it was just such a beautiful afternoon and we're thrilled
to be able to have her join us today.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
So Sylvia and Parato, welcome to the Connected Table.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
Thank you. I think it's a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
So we always like to start with location and for
our listeners, this is a radio show, so let's visualize
where Monte Vetrano is located in Campania and why the
name Monte Vetrano.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
Sure, Monte Vitrano is close to Salerno, that is in
the south of Campania, close to Naples, fifty kilometers from Naples,
and the name of Monte Vitrano is the name of
the area that is an to Medio valley, a middle
(03:41):
aged castle on the top of an hill and under
this castle there is our property. Monte Vitrano is sixteen
kilometers from Salerno, but it is really in a very
special place, I think because we have a Malfi coast
on the right. We have three in Celerno. There are
(04:04):
three different harbors that you can have a boat and
go to kapriy Tocamp And on the left we have
the real Greek part past with these temples. It's a
very special place. We have the Roman part Pompeii on
the right. It is I love this place anyway, We do.
Speaker 5 (04:26):
Too, We do too.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
We saw those Pesti.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Temple really as a special place because we visited Pompei
a couple of years ago when we were when we
were in.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
And we saw the ruins of past.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
And we also sat on this last trip just after
we actually saw you, Sylvia, we went to pest them
and then spent the night a little bit further down
the coast.
Speaker 5 (04:43):
It's just a gorgeous area.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
So what is the history of the estate itself and
your family's involvement and your family history.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
My my grandfather had bought it in the first of
the forties because war was writing and it was thinking
it could be a good idea to have something close
to the town where they had their work. They were
importants of exotic woods. They were important woods from Austria, Russia,
(05:18):
many different places in the world, and so they wanted
to continue to work, but it was important for him,
and I think it was a good idea to have
a place not really in the town, to stay with
the family, especially because this property is really a rich one,
I mean a Mediterranean area with animals, with fruit, and
(05:44):
it was very important, especially in that period. So this
is the beginning of the story of Monte Vetrano with
my family. After that, we were used my parents were
living in Salein after the war, of course, and we
were used to come just from one day from the
(06:04):
morning until the night, where we used to come back
in Celeta, and especially for feast like Christmas, Easter time,
and so I remember we have a big family, we
are many cousins. We were children were crowded of things
to do, but not to use the cellar. So you
(06:29):
can imagine that for children you can do what you like,
you can go and run and do what you're free,
but not in the cellar. Of course. We were entering
in the cellar, and I remember the perfume of the wine,
the dark that was entering. It was very, very fascinating.
(06:53):
I think that this has been very important for me,
this memory.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
That's a powerful memory that the smell of the wine
in the vat. Yes, it really is. You're you know,
we learned by meeting and we met you for the
first time that you're an artist. You're actually you're a
noted photographer and you've been in film. What what lured
(07:20):
you into that profession or that calling? It's really a
calling in our book.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
First of all, I really I've never taught to be
an artist. An artist something different and more a little
bit magic. I've always hoped to to read, to have
the emotion that an artist can give. I've never told
(07:50):
that I was an artist. I've been a photographer for
twenty years, never made a film. I would have, but not,
and I was making portraits. I was making reportage, not
only in Italy. It was something that seems very different
(08:12):
from the work of making wine and producer of wine.
In reality is not so different from my way because
it is something it is something like a challenge to search,
to look, to enter in the life and the differences
(08:34):
of life. It's very interesting. I'm very grateful to have
this possibility.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Well, you know, a photographer has an eye an eye
and has an eye for perfection and light and imagery,
and a viner has to have an eye and a
palette in a sense, it's like almost a six sense
for both. And you strive for perfectionism. You know on
(09:05):
your website, uh you talk about it, talks about the
winery came about as as as a semblange of some
friends who came together. Tell us about that.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
Sure this was the beginning of the story of Montevitrano,
because I think that Montevitrano is very is a very
fascinating place. It is, as I told you, and you
have seen a Mediterranean area. So there are little eels,
there are light and darkness. There are possibility to go
(09:43):
around to to to take and to feel helps different
helps oregon mint. You feel the perfume in there, and
it is made like uh fedadica. How you say, it
is core like it has it has the castle in
(10:10):
the middle, and then it goes around open to the sea.
The sea is only about four kilometers, very very close,
and it is something mont is something like half a circle.
You say circle, Chico. See anyway, I'm sorry for my way.
(10:36):
It's very difficult to express what I mean. Anyway. What
I mean is that we were used, beginning from my parents,
to come in Montevitrano with different friends, because it is
a special, a special place where people is happy to stay.
There is a an harmony, there is something so balanced
(10:58):
between our way of being in the nature. It's a
very special place. So we were used even in different ways.
Now I live in Monte Peterran, but so it is.
It is a way of use using the property. But
(11:22):
there is another important things that I think that my
life is very rich because I have friends and frenchship
is something so special, so really special. It is a
form of love. But for me it's I don't want
to say that it's more important, but perhaps I think so.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Well.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
From friends to wine, this is important because.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
You're winery started with friends and it was on the
late night teen eighties.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
I think, yes, I began to think this around. As
I told you, it was photolegraphy at the studio Drome.
But I began to think about to make wine in
Montevitano after a portrait of an American person that was
(12:21):
really very interested in wine. It was very fascinating. I
was used to make portraits in two hour two hour
and a half, so I was used to speak with
the person I was making photos and he was saying
was telling this, telling about the story of his passion
(12:42):
for wine. So after that I began to go in
Via de la Crocea in Roma as a central is
a very central place of the old Roman and there
is uh there is today, But there was and wine
wine shop, very famous, very important. The night Thursday night.
(13:09):
We were used to stay together when the shop was closed,
just to taste the wines. And I began, and I
have to thank you, to thank this American person that
has was the beginning for me. So I went there
and I entered in a club of passion peoples that
(13:32):
were used to to stay there once a week after
eight o'clock when the shop was closed. And from that point,
from that moment it begins, without knowing it, the real
culture of the wine. In the eighties wine was completely different,
and there is a completely different story. Not only in Italy.
(13:56):
Of course there was a mountain, of course, but and
so on. There was this skin but a little bit
of marcy, remember, a little bit of ridiculous. It is
a wonderful white way. Now every region has no makes
wonderful wines and not totally red, not only white, web
(14:19):
white and red, and some of them are really fantastic
and go all over the world. The story has changed
so much I couldn't imagine it. So when I began,
it was just for a joke. It was a night
that we were in this circle of people. We were
(14:39):
drinking Bordeaux eighty five. No, no, excuse me, it was
not eighty five.
Speaker 5 (14:48):
It was.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
Perhaps I don't remember. In this moment. Anyway, we were
drinking eight different wines and that was a little bit excited,
better than drunk. And I heard my voice saying, oh, yes,
but why we don't make a wine in Monte Vitrano.
We just do a little bit of a Jannico I have.
(15:12):
I can put more and we can do something like
great Bordeaux if you came with me to make it.
This was the real beginning, and I was sure it
was a joke, and I was sure going on that
I could really make a wine for my friends. But
destiny is important. My friends were a very young lu
(15:34):
CAMEROONI a very young Daniel letor Neeally I mean gamber Roso,
I mean people, fabrio, people that is in the world
of wine, and our guest in this different night where
something as someone like Pierontini see Krook, Remy Krug that
(16:01):
was conning with old vintagers, so so many in a
little situation, very a very important story began. I couldn't
imagine it then. At that moment, I was a photographer
for Republica. I had a weekly magazine when it did
the Republican, and I had made a little story on
(16:24):
when they did Republican, and we began to become a
little bit famous. And this was not We didn't want
to be distarbed from this atmosphere of friends that were
drinking and laughing and eating something and telling stories about themselves.
(16:47):
It was a very special situation, and I think it
could only be in that moment because not only the
story of wine, but the story of not only Italy,
but as we know of world is changed. The eighties
were completely different from what it after, not only for now,
(17:11):
of course, but after the ninety were just different and
so on. Anyway, this story of Montevitrano began with friends,
and I was enthusiastic from the beginning. I wanted to
from that night wherever I said, well, we can do
something like and when I said something like, we were
(17:33):
drinking incredible wines like Aubrion, like Chateau la fititrochild something incredible,
so I wanted. In reality, I am a person that
thinks that if you are a desire to do something,
(17:56):
or if you dream to do something, the best way
is to look at the top, because the top can
you can you can learn many things if you're right,
if you're right there, if you have the possibility to
go close to the top. And I think like that
(18:16):
even now after thirty years of Montevitrano, and I have
to thank to Tank the many different possibilities to learn
every day, every moment, something that makes my life wider.
This is very important, and with monte Vitrano, as you remember,
(18:41):
I have c written a monte Vitranoski and of the
Snow to remember, Yes, yes, we do. Yes. I have
to tell you that I didn't like it. I think
it is not right for Sassicaia. I think it was
not right for us because it means it's a very
(19:02):
good wine, and it's very very good wine, like a
top one. But I think I've learned that every good
wine is that wine. You can't copy a good wine.
You can copy something, but not a special wine. Especial
(19:23):
wine to me as a special character, a special accent
that you can like or not. Of course, so I
don't think there exists the best wine in the world.
I can't tell you what is the best of my
different vintages. I think that wines are very live and
(19:49):
they change like persons. For Monte Vitrano, what gives me
a big emotion is that when I taste I have
all the bottles from the beginning I began in ninety one,
and when I taste the old integers now I don't
(20:10):
sell the nineties. I can tell you that I can't
tell you, well, ninety three or ninety five are like that, No,
because they can be like that now for fifteen days,
for one week, but they changed. I had the fortune
to have a dinner three days before in Rome with
(20:34):
a big producer, very famous producer of Breganne Male chemisite,
and they were very kind because I didn't know they
were opening a bottle of Monte Vietrano ninety five. It
was incredible, but very different from the other time I
tasted it. So this to say that perhaps the more
(20:59):
fascinating things to me to make wine is that you
never possess it. He has no truths, and you have
as producer always to try to do the best in quality.
And you know better than me how much the word
(21:20):
of wine is changed. So I've spoken so much.
Speaker 5 (21:26):
No, no, not at all.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
It was a great way to set it up, right,
It's a.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Great way to set up I know when we sat
down and had lunch with you, we had the twenty nineteen,
the twenty and fourteen, and the two thousand and five,
and they were all delicious for one reason or another.
When you started Monteftrono, you actually called upon a very
well known wine maker analogist in Italy, Ricardo Coccerella, to
help you make the wine and help you and help
(21:50):
you decide how to work the vineyards. Tell us about
that relationship, because he's still making the wine with you today.
Speaker 4 (21:57):
Sure, all my life anywhere, Lutimo Spiro, I don't know anyway. Sure,
I began with him, and I can't think to something different.
I feel very lucky we were friends and he is
a fantastic person. He's very curious, and when we know
(22:22):
the beginning, we were different persons. I couldn't imagine to
make a wine that was known all over, not all
over the world, but anyway, and it was not as
important as known as a star how he is now.
And I had to tell you that when I speak
(22:44):
of Ricardo, I have a big emotion remembering the two
of us. It was something like a life before Ricardo.
Of course, as all the stars can he loved or not.
But I can be really the one who can say, oh,
(23:07):
Ricardo's professional. When we began, it was a joke, but
now that is a really very famous one. He has
the same attention yet the first years to be us.
So I am thankful, I respect, I love my friend
(23:28):
for his human capacity. I'm sorry for my way.
Speaker 6 (23:38):
No, you know, when I was reading up on all this,
I thought about, we've interviewed a number of producers who
worked with Ricardo Coturella, and we've actually interviewed not him,
but a member of his family and his bariery.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
And I thought to myself, and I said to David,
I wonder what his career was like in the eighties
and early nineties, you know, like much like in France,
Michelle Roland point, you're you're not the superstar, flying wine
consultant that you are now. So I was trying to
picture what it must have been like to start working
(24:09):
with him that because I read somewhere that the one
of the wines he made, because he when we talked
in the vineyards with you you, we talked about how
much he likes Merlow. And I read somewhere that that
that your Montefutano that he made with Merlow is one
of the ones he's most proud of.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
Yes, but the story is not like that in reality.
Because Ricardo was loving Merlo and so I wanted to
rink Melo. Danis was working Monte China that I was
in love with Monte. We began. We had on the
some and uh and Santa Verna we have we had grafted,
(24:55):
so we began in that way. Then he said Melo Merlo,
and I answered, it could be, but I think that
Monte Vitrano is not a place of melo. But anyway,
we had put melo and we had thirty percent melon,
(25:16):
and we at the beginning only ten percentico because there
was a little quantity of a Leannico in our vineyard.
Our vineyard, I mean the property. The property had a
vineer from sixty seventiers, but they were as they were
used in desire. They had different plans. Pedi also that
(25:40):
year the name is Perre Palumo, a little bit of
a Leannico all mixed together over the troyer, and that
with Regardo we had grafted a little bit of Melo
and a little bit of cabernet. But ninety one the
first being that we we have we we don't, we
(26:05):
didn't go on the market.
Speaker 7 (26:07):
That we had done was Alanko and Cabernet, Savinion ninety
Cabernet and ten Igianico because we were prepreating the other aanicos.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
Then we had a little bit of merlo in the
ninety two and then ninety three it was Merlo, Alanico
and carbonetes Ofvinion. Now we have put more arianico. Now
we have thirty percent Alanico, fifty percent Canon, twenty percent Merlo.
(26:42):
But Melo was less because weather was changing, and the
child conside the climate was changing and it is much
more hot now than before, and the perfumes on melow
was were not so surprised and as they were at
(27:02):
the beginning. So now we have put more leanico, as
I told you, And well, I think that one of
the examples that I can give to explain Ricardo Cotrella
is that he is curious and he's enthusiastic but he's
a very professional person. I mean he was the first
(27:24):
to say, no, we have to put more Leanico. This
is uh, the the one who is very well with
Carvernas of Mignon and for be law. We were speaking,
we are always speaking together. But in reality he decides,
(27:45):
I've had to say confidence on his way of living.
Now thirty years he demonstrates. At the beginning, people said, oh,
Caa makes all the wine, all the wine, one similar
to the other. I was, so, I don't know how
(28:09):
you say angry.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
I got that one.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
I did many people. You can't me a dinner ALTI
it's fantastic, Thank you very much, buddy. But I was
very bill because I only offered eight different wines covered
and I said, what you prefer? They're all different way
(28:35):
one blah blah blah. They were all wines made but Ricardo,
and they were all different, and no one was saying
this is similar to the other. I never forget it.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
Well, that's a testament to him because you never you know,
it's always annoying when you hear, oh this is a
Michelle Roland wine or your Ricardo control. You want that,
you want everybody to have their own unique imprint, And
like you said earlier in the conversation, every wine and
every vintage has its own nuance and specialness and evolves
over time.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
I think so, I think so. I'm sure of this.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Yes, I love this quote. Gamba Rossa said, right from
the start of her wine making career, she you began
raising the bar, imagining a wine that would not only
be representative of its growing area, but also compete with
the world's finest wines in a frontierless market. But you
said something I had in my notes about you, David,
(29:36):
that originally you were shamed about your wines. Now things
have changed, but.
Speaker 4 (29:40):
Not my wines. Like Montevitrano, the wine that I was
before I was making wine. This was the classical property
where owners live in the town, and here the farmers
were making wine that where coming and in the houses
(30:03):
in the town, giving fruit and nuts and the wine.
And I was thinking it was awful because it was
pure wine of the farm. It was awful, it was vinegar.
I was thinking about that wine when I began to
make wine with Ricardo. It is to say it from
(30:25):
the beginning I was enthusiastic, but I couldn't imagine that
it was not an enthusism for my emotion. Because when
I sat as I told you to Robert Parker ninety
one ninety two ninety three, he was writing something I
was not thinking it was right, but to tell that
(30:46):
it's asikaia and that's how it means. It's a very
very special good wine. So I was ashamed when I
was tasting the wine they were making here. It was
the old way to make wine. Wine. There was completely
different stories about it, perhaps romantic, but not for me.
(31:07):
That was loving wine. However, I was beginning to drink
good wine when I was little. In my family, for example,
my father was curiously uh enthusiastical Save Save is a Veneto.
He was loving swave.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
In.
Speaker 4 (31:30):
I was loving Veneto wine. It's very classical wine. And
my grandfather was the absolutely fond of Aanico, the cotalk
Ton of desire. And because you should see your uncle brother,
my mother was always offering Mozilla wines because he's working
(31:57):
with Germany, and it was always having Mozille, a different
Mozilla and unstable. It was very so so I before
meeting my friends. That gave me the possibility to drink
incredible wine, like as I told you, A great Bordeaux
or chotaup Petruz or before I had a little anyway
(32:23):
education on a good one. And so the vo the Contadino,
which was not a poetry for me, it was something terrible.
But now I have to tell you that when I
begin with Monte Petrano, and I'm very proud of this,
(32:43):
I began to work with the son of a farmer,
and now he is something like a boss. I mean
it my boss. I mean he works in the seller
And it was very interesting from the beginning because it
(33:04):
was coming from a culture of the country, was born
in Monte Vietrano and was living in the family that
was working here. But it was so special. Now he's
a seller master, but it was so special to stay
together and to see the differences of view on wine.
(33:28):
And I promised him that if you wanted, if you
could work with me, I would have opened the doors,
because now he had to awake at three o'clock in
the night to go in the clothes market to sell
the fruit and the wine. And I was speaking with
(33:51):
him with the pleasure a tajev Now of the difference.
He's a very clever person and I've learned many things
with him and I think I can say I have
given him many differences interesting for him. We work together
now it is about thirty years.
Speaker 5 (34:11):
And.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
That's a wonderful story of multi generations being involved with
the farm.
Speaker 5 (34:18):
You also have your daughter working.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
With you, Guya, so that's a second generation on your
end in the winery.
Speaker 5 (34:26):
Tell us about her role with you at the winery.
Speaker 4 (34:28):
It is a strange and a very important story because
I in my winery, I have had the really fortune lucky,
was so lucky to have men what I told you,
the master seller, the special Patritzai, that is something like
direct and she's absolutely Montevitre, an incredible person, a very
(34:55):
complex and rich person. I have Monica that is so
so important for his character, his attention. So we are
really a club that founder of Monte Petrano, but we
are very close one to the other. So when guy
(35:17):
I ride, it was very difficult for her, and it
was a strange story because she rived just to say
she was in Florence with his son and she wanted
just to say hello to her mother. Let's go to
Salerno to say and Lord to Signia to Nona. And
(35:39):
after that they stayed here, the two of them, Guya
and my nepote Jacomo for three months because Covid was
here and the president of the Campania the region has
closed the region. So we had the opportunity to share
(36:01):
three months of our lives in a very incredible revolutionary period.
And we felt very very lucky because all our friends,
all the people we were knowing, were close in the
in the apartments in town. We had the opportunity to
(36:21):
go out and to walk in the air, in the air.
It was a really special situation. But it arrived the
moment of the vineyard. The vineyard couldn't play it. So
we were going in the vineyard Gaya and we need
(36:41):
the master of sellers, but the sun of the farmers,
and we began to work together to stay together. But
after that there was something that could interest because I
think that we lived in a period, in a time
where we are always running. In that moment, we couldn't run.
(37:05):
And I discovered my daughter, as I think all the matters,
I have a special tenderness for their son's daughter because
something begins when they when they were children. And now
(37:27):
had another very big emotion, very deep one that I
was discovering my daughter as an adult woman. And this
is something so so complex and so emotion and we
have drunk so much wine together.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Well, guy, I worked in fashion, so you know it's
interesting you think about COVID. I mean, guy, I worked.
I think you said Upana so high paced fashion comes
home to visit, mom ends up staying because everybody shut in,
and then rediscovers you know how beautiful it is in
Monte Fittronto and a rekindling of a mother daughter relationship
(38:12):
in another way starts. And I think about David. I
think about how hard it must have been in many businesses,
and like farming businesses, because the vines don't sleep, they
don't go to sleep forever. They need to be taken
care of. But workers are needed to do that. And
during COVID it would have been hard to have workers
to tend to the vine. So everybody has to. As
(38:33):
they say the un I say, it's double down and
everybody pitching to work.
Speaker 4 (38:37):
Right exactly exactly, Yes, Yeah, there's a very very very
special situation. And so she asked me, but I don't
you think I could work with you? And you know,
in the best field, in the best scene around, the
(38:57):
best book, you read that when your daughter has something
like that, the mother begins to cry for the emotion.
I was dispirated because I was thinking, she gained so well,
here we are in a very special, difficult period, and
(39:19):
after that she's accustomed to all another area, what will
it be in the same way, I was thinking, really,
she comes back, it's incredible. So I said, what she proposed,
we can try, and we began to try. And then
(39:41):
I have to tell you that she was fantastic because
it was the reality of another experience. She was accustomed
to work in a big, big like Doccha Gebana, was
a completely different situation what I had. So, for example,
(40:05):
what it happened conflicts completely. I can die for completing.
She was accustomed. She was able to to go and
to explain and to and to speak clearly. But after that,
she demonstrated what she is, and the other demonstrated what
(40:30):
they were not in their way they were accustomed with me.
This is mere viusal, this is may us. This is
something magical. It is a real relation between people in
a different way, in this incere way. And now I
have to tell you it is really ver multiply, you know,
(40:56):
I hope it gone in this way. After that, That's
why I felt I could realize that Cory Cory was
perhaps more interesting for her because for example, she was
of course speaking of communication. She was accustomed she made,
(41:20):
she was making communications. She had always made communications for
us to label and communications. But I have another idea
on Monte Peterrano. I am much more Sobby, I don't
know how to say, much more discreet. And she wanted
to give Corri another another communication, and I was I
(41:45):
was sure she was right.
Speaker 2 (41:47):
Now I want to let people know that core is
another label that you produce in addition to Montepetrana, which
we tasted. I just want to clarify that for our
listeners it's called Core. Right.
Speaker 4 (41:58):
Yeah, it was poor and I wanted to make it
because the society was changing. I wanted to give the
possibility to young people that were drinking wine or Tony
beer to add the possibility to taste the wine Monte
Getrano wen bottle Corey. But the guarantee is Monte Petrano.
(42:25):
And so I decided the guy A called could have
h the direction of the line Corey, and she demonstrating
is a very very good idea ahead Coreer too. There
is a Correy Bianco that is Greco and Fiano, and
(42:45):
Corey also is pure Aanico. And there are many stories
because for example, Ako of Corey is comes from Sanyo. Wise,
Allanico of monte Vetrano is Montevitrano, the same name Alanico,
(43:07):
two differento because in monte Vetrano the sea is very close,
as I said before, and this has arisen and it
is much hot than Sanio, so immatures much before it
has Aico. Monte Vetrano if you taste it alone, is
(43:32):
a good, very very strong structure. Otherwise Saniel that is
not hot and that is harvest much later. It's a
more delicate one. And this is very interesting because I've
(43:54):
always had the desire to make an Illianico. And Ricardo
told me, listen, Sylvia, monte Vitrano is a very well
known one. If you make Anico, he had to be
he has to be a crew. And the of Montevitrano
is perfect, it's fantastical. And uh in monte Vitrano, with
(44:17):
covert and a little bit of melo, it has not
the possibility to be a crew. I proposed to see
something Insania, and so he was. He was right. Another time.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
I thought that was a great explanation about the differences
between the different agreanicos. It's it's a it's a great
but it's it's from a different obviously, a different expression
based on location. And we learned that when we were
any companion stories trying different fianos as well. And you
know you mentioned and Corey for our listeners. It's spelled
(44:57):
like core c o r e. It's actually a dialogue
for love, a Neapolitan dialect for the word love. Yeah,
and we love the white wines of Campagna and well.
Monte Petrono obviously is known for its international varietals laced
with aglianico. It reads this Corey was delicious. Fiana and
(45:18):
greco are both indigenous grapes to the area. They have
different nuances based on where they are. And we found
this to be a wonderful refreshing wine, uh to sip
while we were enjoying a meal with you on their
beautiful patio.
Speaker 4 (45:34):
But I remember it was a beautiful time with you.
I remember very well. Cuty Cutty. I decided to name
Kody because kotta here means love. We use we used
to to say cotty meal when we we we love
someone and someone can be your little child, it can
(45:57):
be your lover, it can be you, your grandfather, what
you want, but we say corineo corry. Anyway, from Corino,
we arrived to Korey because our Japanese friends were saying, no,
please don't say corema Japan could be very difficult to
(46:19):
pronounce and we could forget it. So anyway, Corry, I
love the word because it is a round one and
you know what in your language means no, it's a
very interesting word. So I asked my daughter Guya, yes,
you have to design a label. And we were making breakfast.
(46:42):
It was summertime and she has some pan penlli on
the table and she said, like this design and echo
design a heart. And I said, not like this this
and so this was the label. This is the labels
(47:04):
from that moment.
Speaker 5 (47:05):
It's a beautiful heart.
Speaker 2 (47:07):
And core is a beautiful core as you say is
in Neapolitan and core means is a soulful expression. In
the United States, the core values and core benefits. It's
it's a very soulful term in the United States. So
it's a great uh, it's it's a terrific wine. Let's
you mentioned you have Japanese customers who your distributed. Your
(47:29):
wines are distributed in the United States. Let's give a
shout out to your importer. And are all your wines?
Is Corey also available in the United States in addition
to Montevitrano.
Speaker 4 (47:38):
See see I don't understand I think.
Speaker 2 (47:44):
Your wines all your wines are available in the United States.
Speaker 4 (47:47):
Sure, sure, yes, two of them m hm.
Speaker 2 (47:55):
Because we just want our listeners to know where they
can buy them. So just to reiterate, Mantra, but Toronto wines,
Monte for Toronto and Corey are all available in the
United States nationally and and are definitely worth seeking out.
These are wines to enjoy with beautiful food. We want
to we want to commend you on the food you
served us. The anchovy bread was just one of those
(48:19):
soulful moments where we had and your and your z T.
I remember bocause tomatoes were in season and there's nothing
like the tomatoes and campanya.
Speaker 5 (48:29):
See that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (48:31):
We ate a lot of great tomatoes and drink some
wonderful wines. You know, we just want to wrap the
show up. First of all, Sylvia and Parado, thank you
for joining us. We've been trying to book you for
a while. We want to encourage our listeners to consider
visiting Companya. It is a stunning area with incredible history
and such a range of geographical you know, from the
(48:54):
mountains to the sea and wines.
Speaker 4 (48:56):
Right, Sylvia, it is it is really, it is really
like that. All people that come are enthusiastic, and I
am enthusiastic of my place, but of Campania too, because
when you were speaking about Aikano, it is incredible. They
have different characters in the different places because actually very
(49:17):
rich place. It's very very interesting. Always I always discover
new places.
Speaker 2 (49:25):
Well we do too, so we can't wait to come
back to Campania. And you know, we always say Naples
is fun for the pizza, but get out into the
wineries to meet, to learn the little regional traditions that
you'll discover along the way. It's quite fabulous. Well, we
want to thank you for joining us on the Connected Table. Sylvia.
We've come to an end of a wonderful discussion. We're
so finally glad we got to schedule it with you,
(49:46):
and we hope to visit you again in Campania.
Speaker 4 (49:49):
I hope it. I really wait for you, and every
guest here is really very welcome. If there is no
people that drink our wine, we will not be there.
Speaker 7 (50:00):
So it is really is sincere grat Thank you so much,
and next time perhaps I will speak better your language.
Speaker 5 (50:08):
And you did a great job.
Speaker 2 (50:10):
You did a great job, and for everyone listening, we
hope you enjoyed this show. Another edition of the Connected Table,
taking you to Italy, this time. Our messages always drink well,
eat well, and always stay insatiably curious.
Speaker 4 (50:25):
Grat
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