January 24, 2024 • 47 mins
Located between the Veneto and Friuli, Casa Paladin is a stately winery born from humble origins. At age 16, Valentino Paladin lost his parents He supported his family by farming, baking bread, and opening a grocery. In 1962 he founded Casa Paladin. Today, the Paladin family also owns Bosco del Merlo, Friuli; Castello Bonomi, Franciacorta; Casa Lupo, Valpolicella; Castelvecchi and Poggio Petroso, both in Tuscany. Export Manager Martina Paladin discusses her family, wine philosophy, and estates.
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The Connected Table Radio Show is broadcast on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com).
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FOURCY Radio. Welcome to the ConnectedTable Live where your hosts Melanie Young and
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David Ransom. You're insatiably curious culinarycouple. We travel the world to bring
you the dynamic stories of the peoplewe meet who work in wine, food,
spirits and hospitality. We love sharingtheir stories and they all have fascinating
he wants to share. Today,We're taking you to Italy, to an
estate that we had the pleasure ofvisiting in November twenty twenty three when we
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were visiting for a conference for thePinot Grigio de la Venzi group, followed
by wine to Wine Verona. Thisis a wonderful family story, right David,
it really is, Melanie, andit covers a lot of different facets
of the food and wine world aswell. And what's interesting about it is
it kind of started with a simpleloaf of bread. We're talking about the
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Paladin Wine Estate, which is runby brothers Carlo and Roberto. They followed
their grandfather's wine making traditions since Paladinwas established in nineteen sixty two. It
is literally a fascinating story about howPatriarch Valentine Paladin started. And we are
joined today by his granddaughter Martina Paladin, who we had the pleasure of visiting
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and meeting her stirs and cousins whenwe visited Palada Wine Estate, which is
located in the Veneto. She'll explainmore detail where and she's going to share
this story and how now they haveseveral estates throughout Italy and we had the
pleasure tasting a number of their wines. So Martina Paladin, Welcome to the
Connected Table. Hi, Hi Melanie, Hi David, Thanks a lot.
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It's really really a grateful so gratefulto be here with you, and Hi
to all our listener. Well,we're thrilled to have you join us today
and we had such a great timevisiting you at the winery, Martina,
Why don't you give us a senseWe said it's in the Veneto, but
why don't you give us a senseof where in the Veneto, because it's
a very big region that Casa Paladinais located. Yeah, so Casa Palladina
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is as you say, it's ourwinery is a group of family group,
a driven business founded by my grandfatherValentina Paladin more than six years ago.
Specifically, we are located in venettonortheast Italy, in the very close to
the Adriatic Sea, and the nameof the small town is so called Unknon
Evanto, which is literally forty kilometersto Venice, so very close to Venice,
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one of the most uniquely important cityin Italy. Our area is a
beautiful area because it's very close tothe sea. So we have the beautiful
influence from the sea in terms ofminerality, freshness that gives and the effect
also our grape. And we arevery very close also to the Dolomites and
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all the mountain chains that we havefrom the north. So the location of
the area is on the northeast ofItaly. You know, it's an incredible
area because you are near the seaand the mountains and very fertile land that
grows a lot of things in additionto grapes. Let's talk to us about
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the founder, your grandfather, Valentino, because it really came from, as
you said, humble origins and lookwhere you are today with not multiple estates.
Yeah, you're right. Malanisa ValentinoPalladina, my grandfather, he considered
that she born in nineteen twenty eightand when he was sixteen he became unfortunately
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orphan, so he had to followand driven all his family. Starting from
a very very young age. Hewas living in Saint Paulo, which is
a small hometown town in close toTradiso, close to our area, and
he is starting since the beginning towork with his family. He was used
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to have animals to produce, youknow, all the raw materials like cheese,
milk. He was used to havethe chicken, and he was used
to do these kind of really reallysimple works as you say, like he
was a baker, so before tostart with the wine, he was a
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baker. He was used to havea very small grocery store in the town.
You know, in the past itwas so common to have like for
the families, those small grocery sortthat was effectually like a kind of a
point of interest for a lot ofpeople not across the town, mostly because
you can consider that our town arevery very small, so we're talking about
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twenty thousand inhabitants now, so it'sa very small village. And so he
was he had the small grocery.He always had also the passion for the
wines and the winer that he wasused to have very few plans and to
make the so called wine through thetanks that he was used to to sell.
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And then in nineteen seventeen seven hestarted to boast the first eight aectors
in Anolebana to where then there isthe winery. As you can imagine,
at the beginning he was used todo like mostly in tanks, and then
he swifted literally to the bottles,not so he started to do the first
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label and so on. My grandfatherValentino Palladino was a special person and he
was very humble. He learned andhe taught to us a lot of passion
about the territory, about to takecare always to our land and to make
it and take from the land ina gentle way, a beautiful, beautiful
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wine. So he was very humble. He was very well appreciate and people,
all people really loved him. Hewas always he teaches a lot to
us. He taught a lot tous, to me as my parents,
but also my cousin because we wereused to go always in the vineyard to
make a walk every day, andwe were used to do the harvest together.
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So he never lost a day inhis life to come to visit all
the employees and all the people inthe wineries. So he was very,
very beautiful gentleman. You know whenwe had lunch with you, you said
that he said to you, alwaysbe humble. You're here for a reason.
Yeah, exactly. This is somethingthat it reminds in my mind a
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lot, because sometimes you know,sometimes when you when you are successful,
you lose now you lose the importanceto be to be humble. We are
here for a reason. Because weare here, we always need each of
us as to find no it's itsown way. And I think that I've
been very lucky to to found myway because Valentina and my grandfa my grandfather,
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it taught me to be always humble, but not just with people,
also with the nature, also withthe soil, with the land, because
the more you understand what is goingaround you, the better it is to
make it the difference. Now,so in your life, we always need
to make the difference. It's notimportant whatever you do, but it's important
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to make something that makes you happyand also that can make the difference and
creative for us. For example,beautiful wines, high quality that can make
the difference in different in different areasand the environment. Yes, such a
great point, Melanie, it is. Why don't you tell us a little
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bit about your role in the winery. Your father and your uncle are also
involved and as are you, Sowhy don't you tell us about what you
do and where you focus your activitiesat the winery. Yeah. So I'm
responsible for the export, so I'mone of the export manager of Casa Paladina.
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I'm responsible for all the Asia markets, South Asia and Oceania and a
little bit part of the South America. Then I get my cousin Francesca that
she's my age as well, andshe works also in the export team,
so she works for all the UnitedStates and Canada. And then we have
other teams, the other people,the expert manager that they work in separating
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in other countries. My grandfather isthe director of Italy, so his follow
hold the trade in our national country, and my uncle he's following all the
production, so all the part relatedto the production and unification of all the
Casapaldin group. You know what Ilove about your story the Paladin is it's
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a family business. And I thinkit's important here to underscore to our listeners
how many wineries we have met andvisited around the world, and especially in
Italy that are run by families andnot conglomerates and corporations. And that's so
incredibly special these days as consumers lookfor bottles with stories and they don't want
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to have a corporation behind the bottle. They want to have a family.
But your family has done well,you have expanded and you've got now you
have or states. You have CastaPaladin, and then you have Basco de
Merlo and Fluui and castell O Banamiand Lombardia and fran Chacorta and Castel Veki
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and Tuscany. How did that evolution? Uh, those developments roll out over
time and tell us about each oneyeah, so Casa Palladin, as you
say, Melanie as a beautiful mileso in its in its story. So
we start in sixty two when wefounded the first, the first, the
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first winery here in Benito. Innineteen seventy seven, Bosco del Marlo Borna.
He was the first winery and firstbrand the bio. So what was
like is the brander related to theresearch and developmental disperimental activities that we do.
So Bosco del Mendo nowadays represent abeautiful, stronger Friuly identity. When
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we have beautiful Sauvignona, beautiful winewines, the wine that comes from our
Tutn's variety. We are in thewest part of Freely, the region that
is very close to Veneto, inthe northeast of Italy. Then we have
Paladina, which is the first brandthat we do have here in Vanto,
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where we produce a beautiful prosecco orred wine, a reforce Go Milbeck,
Chardon Sauvignon, Pinot Gridge or dotDoc the Levenette. And then in two
thousand and four we started to moveto Toscany. We have a beautiful millenarial
winery. You can consider that ourwinery. It comes from one thousand and
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forty three, so it's a veryold, old ancient winery, beautiful in
the Canty Anti Classical hills. Andyou know, the idea for Kaza Palladina,
as you say, is a familydriven business. But what we strongly
believe is also to look beyond,not the the boundaries. A c an
offer to our clients' high portfolio,differentiated with different also regions. So we
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started to move not just in Veneto, because we wanted to know to learn
more and more about wine, becausewine is a beautiful world and you know
sometimes that you need to travel tounderstand as you do to understand better.
So we get we fall in lovewith Canti Classico. So nowadays since two
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thousand and four that we have CastelVaki, which is our winery in Canti
Classico is six hundred meters about thesea level. So we have santrose Canayolo,
so beautiful and red town is fullbodies. Tone is there. In
two thousand and eight, as yousay, we moved to French reporta.
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We are literally forty kilometers to Tumilain castell Abonomi. In Castonomi is the
unique chateau in French reporta is threehundred meters about the sea level. In
Monte Orfano area is a conglomerate.Is that based based on calcaos with red
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soil that gives us beautiful mineral andstability French reporters, so they is so
called Italian Champagne. And in twentysixteen we moved to Valpolicella with Casalo it's
our branding which we produce Valpolicella anda Maarona. So nowadays, as you
say, Casa Paladin count five differentarea in Italy with five different type of
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product that can be all associated underthe beautiful umbrella of Calca Paladina group.
That's quite an expansion and very impressive. Can you visit each of these properties?
Absolutely absolutely so we're strong we stronglystrongly believe that it's super important eno
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tourism. We refer to our toour audience, to our visitors beautiful experience
seeing three of our wineries, theTas Canyon, one Transporta and then heare
people. And I will also takethe advantage to advise to to all our
listeners to come to visit Daza becausethrough the website so Castelvaki dot I T
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cast I T and the Busco delMarlow and Casa Paladin I T. You
can come to visit us as youdid, and also Melanion David So as
you did. Through wine tasting thetour guide, you can literally perceive a
very very close our passion for thewiner and how all the different type of
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wines are produced. Well, we'vebeen to three of the regions, Melanie,
but we haven't been the front recordyet, So I think that's the
next one on our list when wecome back to visit you, Martinez.
We've only visited Castle Paladin, sowe need to visit your under states.
Yeah, absolutely, I count onyou. Well, we'd love that.
So I want to talk to youabout a bit about the family philosophy.
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The Paladin family has really what youcall four pillars of philosophy that you that
you live by every day. Whydon't you tell us about that and expand
on that a little bit? Yeah? So, uh, it's important for
us our pillars because I think it'sliterally what since our grandfather Valentino Palladina to
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to us and started with with hiswork and with his passion. The four
pillars are the so called four vphilosophy is a philosophy that embrace all the
different brands, so starting from CasaPalladina to Franchi Corta, Camyo, was
Godel, Marlow and Kianti. Onthis way, we do have a four
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v The first one is related tothe vina. So all the activities that
we do literally on the on thefield. So for example, we have
the so callder rezon viticulture. It'slike a kind of an approach in which
we treated the fertilization natural fertilization literallyplan to plant. So we have a
beautiful GPS and maps that our workerssee with different colors, and in each
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color I can understand what is theplant asking for me. So we work
strictly to not waste any kind offertilization, not waste any water activities and
soon so reducing as much as possibleto be as much as possible sustainable.
On the other side we have allthe green part. We work a lot
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for the biodiversity. It's super importantacross all Italy the biodiversity because it makes
we need to keep and we needto preserve our our lender and our soil,
you know, like unfortunately global warmingis going trust worldwide, and we
need mostly for the wine and notthat it is something that came literally from
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the nature. We need to workhard to preserve what is our environment,
our biodiversity around. Also course consideredthat the beautiful wine that then you you
drink, not through the bottle,is because of the of the environment in
which our wines are, in whichour great part, and this is super
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super important. On the other side, we have all the part related to
wine. So what is happening insidethe winery, so we need to be
We are working a lot with oursupplier to be as much as possible sustainable
with all the recycling with paper,glass boxes and so on. And then
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the life, the life pillar,the life pillar, it's related to the
ethic part. It's related to thesocial part. We are doing a lot
of activities in the social and inour community, not just in Italy but
also worldwide. So all those fourpillars related are related to the philosophy,
and it starts with some activity.It has been already started by my grandfather
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Valentino, and then we are bringingmore and more activities on them. Well,
as he said, you were herefor a reason, and that really
resonated with us. My mother believedin that philosophy and in my notes,
I'm looking at my handwritten notes Ihave here under green veryday avoid plastics.
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You're very conscious about the materials youuse, so that you're not using materials
that are not good for the environmentand under life. Obviously, you were
very involved in a campaign to supportbreast cancer research and awareness, and I
am a breast cancer survivor, sothat really rang true to me. Talk
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to us about that and your andyour program which is fairly significant. Yeah,
Melanie, I remember, I remembervery very well when you when you
came here and I present you allour projects and I re mind and all
the conversation that we Yeah, thenit touched me a lot, because I
this is important not to do somethingthat it's good also for people and for
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the association association. As you said, we are working since six years nowadays
with the most important association in Italy, which is the LILTA is an association
that works a lot for the preventionthat we really believe that it's super important
and to against the branch cancer.This association. We have been the first
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winery to support these association since sixyears and now we can count twenty four
thousand euro. And to me it'simportant say that notes that number because it
means and they want to really tosee how much it's important that each of
us do a small sign, asmall action to support because at the end
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you can consider twenty four thousand euro, it's a lot we can literally support
support them. We we put onthe place with true products Roseco Rosebo Merlo
dot u c and Pinot region rosebodyou see the levee. Those two products
are our ambassador for the life inRoselle. Life Rose is a concept that
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goes beyond that is but it's literallylike a philosophy, a way of life.
So the way to push each otherbeyond the border we are the limits
to see how much is important thehealthy, the life style and the life
styla doing the prevention. So it'sall a philosophy around the the perfect life
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styla that Marlow is ambassador support.So not just related to support, but
also related to eat properly, havinga healthy and a well balanced, high
quality life. Now I remember whenwe were together we were also saying sometimes
we we lose now we lose alittle bit of our way because we are
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super full of a lot of activities. We have super busy because of work,
but sometimes we need to stop eachother and to think about what is
really important. And like with Boscodel Barlo, our object and our goal
is to spread and all this thisvoice and this this idea, to focus
also on the things that make youmake you active and make you feel better,
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so to have an approach of agood lifestyle. So with Bosco we
do that. Like Rose then it'sit's important because after our meeting then we
have some news also of because wehave been a supporter with boscod and Medlow
to see Big un for Cure,which is a Canadian cancer society in Canada,
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where with our Rose we are supportingthe the association. So this for
us is a very big owner andwe are super proud of that because this
means that it's not just national,but we are we want to make this
philosophy and this approach worldwide. Well, thank you for doing it because it
is important and you know, thegreater the cause, the greater the product
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in our in our minds because businessshould always have a cause to it.
But let's go back to our visitand we want to underscore that that you
have six estates throughout Italy. Wevisited one. We visited Cassa Paladin,
so we'd like to focus on thatarea. Since we have context, let's
talk about what grows well here andwhy and some of the more indigenous varieties
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that one can experience and taste.Yeah, so in cas Paladin, as
you say, we firstly the oldest, one of the oldest wine that we
produce is the malbeca. I know, no everyone knows malbec in Argentina,
so usually is the most common varietyin Argentina. So we are very very
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few companies here. Winery is herein Italy that we produce malbek one hundred
percent. We produce the first vindagein nineteen seventy four and it's one of
the most awarded wine for us.Malbeck has been planted so in a very
very in the pasta and now isunder Paladin a brenda and it's a beautiful,
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spicy not beautiful full bodies and whatit makes really really a beautiful infos
about that. We are beautiful longevitywith the malbec. Because the soiler here
just to start from the roots,not of our area. So the soiler
is based on clay clay gives beautifullongevity to all our wines. So you
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can find here when you come tobe it us, you can find the
possibility to taste warmal bec Savignon,which is another variety that it's very very
important for us that we are doinga lot of experimentation about Savignona to find
the different clans and so ona.Also this one won the gold medal of
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the Border for the best, soit's a very very high premium about your
TALKTNA, it's important to highlight theFosco. I don't know if you ever
heard about it. It's a refoso. It's the so called name is literally
the most soutna variety for the Venice, the ancient republic of Venice. That's
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so called the Sertinisma. Refoce Cois a greater is a red greater.
That it's very famous because it's beendiscovered during the period of Venetian merchant and
it was used to bring in thebota because as a longer acidity is a
high acidity and a long lasting alsoduring the longer trip that the boats what
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used to do. We do havedifferent type of wine and we have a
refos co impurity. So one undredpresent in a palatine, a wina which
does just like a few months agingon the on the stealing steeler that is
a very fresh wine but with beautifulacidity. We do have done de robery,
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which is a blender among which isone percent. Also the Fosco age
in the in the oak. Anotherimportant variety that it came into my mind
that it's very important it is raboso. Raboso as well as a beautiful acidity,
is a red grape and is outof ton and it's it's very nice
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that we produce because it's sparkling.So you can find like as a sparkling
wine, super fresh, beautiful fora summer to drink, also with with
beef and so on. So allthose those variety are are very important for
us because it's important to keep themto work again on them because like considered
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that as ages and ages are allthe the oldest wine wine s here,
the all the variety here, andwe need to keep them alive. Of
course, when you come here,when you can come here and will invite
all of the listeners to come tovisit us, of course you can have
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also literally an experience very very closeto that. We have beautiful sensorial wine
tasting which you through which we addressall our visitors to a beautiful three hundred
and sixty degrees approach in the winetasting. So we will describe you which
can kind of variety do we have? Watch? What are the most important
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smell that you can perceive? Likefor example, mint tomato peer bringing literally
in front of you the mint oflift the pier the tomato. I don't
know if you remember Melanie and Davidwhen we went through the through the park.
So through the museum, it's supersuper interesting. Oh yes, we
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did. Well. We actually wantto touch on that because it's it's it's
an out we have. You actuallyhave two museums. Okay, you have
an indoor museum that tells us thepower and story and shares the philosophies.
It's quite fascinating and historical. Andthen you have the outdoor viticultural museum.
Yeah. The the indoorra is thestory, you know, the story about
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our family, about the values thatwe do have and some fun facts that
you can find indoor outdoor is thetime of the Vina. The so called
time of the Vina is the firstmuseum outdoor at European level, which explained
the the viticulture which would be thefuture of the culture, and which are
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the different type of the culture thatyou can find trust the worldwide. You
know, do you know how itit burns this this museum. So it's
it's a very nice story because aswe say previously, now the four pillars
of Casta Paladina, the philosophy,at a certain point we find each other.
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Now, we were sitting at thetable I remind with Francesca Valentino,
which are my cousin and they areworking in the winery, and my dad
and my uncle, and we werediscussing about some some activities about the work
that we we we should have donein some celebrity to the sustainability. But
at a certain point we realize thatwe have done and we are doing a
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lot of activities, a lot ofinvestment on that. But sometimes we don't
know if our clients, see,if our customers and all the people literally
know and understand and not because sometimesyou speak about sustainability, but in reality
you don't know what sustainability does itmean. So that's why we decided to
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make this museum to literally bring visitorshere and touch with their hands. What
we are talking about, what arethe activities that Casa Paladina and then so
also with the other synergies of universitiesand so on, we do for the
sustainability and for the future soviety culture. So this is very important because it's
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a beautiful experience three and sixty degrees. Well, we found it facett and
we were there in November, sowe can only imagine what it's like other
times of the year. But foranyone who really wants to get down and
understand the differences in in vines andsoil and elements natural elements, we found
it really great. I'm looking overour notes. I really really loved the
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riboso, the fiori drivoso and thesparkling. I thought that was really unique,
and as you said, there's astory marking it back to the Merchants
of Venice. In my notes.We also tasted the Pino Grizio dela Vinzi,
which is why we ended up comingin the first place. The Concertio
Pino Griggio dela Vinizi recommended us.You to us, and we're grateful because
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when we came to attend their conference, we said we'd really like to go
to the different production areas to betterunderstand how this variety adapts to different environments.
We found that very helpful in mynotes. I felt that there was
a lot of gooseberry and citrus inyour Pino Grecio dela Vinizi, twenty twenty
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two. And then the other themalbeck was fabulous. Yeah, the characteristic
in general, as I say,the soil is based only you know so
and as I say previously calta palladinisliterally in the middle among mountain and the
sea. So from one side thatwe have all the freshness, so the
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minerality and stapidity coming from the AdriaticSea. And on the other side we
are covered from the bad weather andstuff from the north. So we are
in a perfect microclimate which allows usto have a very very beautiful expression of
the variety that we do have.You know, Malveca is a variety that
is as spicy, not blue beerryrasperis so as these beautiful red fruits that
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came into into your nose and thosein your palate. And this is the
maximum expression of that variety for ushere in our in our area, you
know, you know, like isthe most important variety in our area into
of appellation because considered that out ofone hundred of the production of pinotrigio,
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ninety percent is produced in our area. So the doc the Levants appellation is
one of the most important the appellationfor pinogrigio because the most of the production
comes from here in the United States. Pinogridio is going a lot. So
it's very you I know that,Alsotjana, it's beautiful for with the meat,
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with the painting, also with yourfood, because like it's it's fresh,
is it to drink, but it'salso it's also beautiful structors. So
it's very very well balanced among thefruitness as you say, melanie, and
the freshness, the minerality. Soit is a perfect and important balancing among
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those those senses. You know.I think David and I were both I
think for me, I had nothad a lot of romato, which is
basically the pinot grigio delivered say rose, and found it to be terrific.
You know, the US market is, you know, an abundance of different
rose, some very good, somenot so good. Uh. These wines,
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you really taste the region and thewhere they're from. And that's why
when you do. If you areshopping for pino gregio in a wine shop
or supermarket in the United States,you really do need to look at the
designation of origin, because not allpino gregios are the same, and this
particular region in the Veneto makes someof the best in the world. It's
(33:36):
also interesting the Maulbeck because you know, the Argentinians believe they own mailbak now
and they believe it must be highelevation. The higher the elevation, the
greater the wine. But Alanin isnot at a high elevation. Yeah,
so you've proved them wrong. Iwould, like you know, I was.
I was literally like talking a fewdays ago with some Argentina's friends and
(34:00):
like we say, no, youshould try. It's the ones because of
course now each area, each countryas the specific or the most important varieties
and so on. I don't wantto be in competition, of course with
Malbro, but it's well, Ithink you're lucky because of the soils and
(34:21):
also you've got those great breezes fromthe Adriatic because Mouth back in France had
a tougher time, uh back inthe day in the swampier areas of southern
France. But you you know thatAdriatic breezes cannot be underestimated and also the
winds down from the mountains. Imean it's a it's a great location between
mountain and sea. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely you you say right, So
(34:45):
it's it's an important synergiest that wedo have in terms of environment, and
I can guarantee that like it's it'sthe most important extra version of our soil,
our our mauldback. And then asyou say, because you say something
very interesting, now, when whenyou go to the shelves that you want
(35:08):
to buy a winer, it's importantto see the appellation where it comes from
the origin of the bottles. Andit's also because of that that we we
add on the net label at QRcode every time in all our wines.
That supports us the customers who scanthe QR code and enter in live in
(35:29):
our in our winery. So youhave all the information about the origins,
you have all the information about thevalues the family is the wineries, and
and also more information about the productthat you are going to see to evaluate
eventually in your in your purchaser.So it's it's very very important, very
(35:51):
important the the evaluation and the knowledgethat is behind behind the product. Absolutely,
So what next for your family?I mean, you're in a really
great place with six states acclaim.Is there anything in the in the works
for the future, Well, thereis. There are a lot of activities
(36:15):
that are going next. So forsure this year we are super happy because
officially started the all the wine exhibitionaround the world. So we are starting
in February with the wine parties.Then we will move to Provida in Germany,
in Italy. In Italy, oneof the most important, the most
(36:36):
important whine exhibition is here in Italy. The next Hong Kong we would have
in Mexico and we would have somegamberos tour in the United States, other
province around the world. So weare very very focused on that. We
strongly believe to work harder, firstlywith all the marketing activities because nowadays we
(36:57):
do have a stronger marketing team,because we strongly believe that the communication part
and the commercial part is to workin a strong synergies. You cannot work
without a good communication. So weare doing a lot of activities as we
say, but it's important, it'simportant to connect, to see and communicate
correctly to our audience. And tocreate like a sense of a partners now,
(37:24):
a sense of bi Part of ourwiner is that it was really strongly
believe that it's super important. Wewould work a lot in export. So
this yer, it will be asuper push on all the most important markets.
Consider that Casa Paladina the most seventypercent it made in the export activities,
(37:47):
so it's important we would keep ofcourse also the the national market because
we have receiving beautiful, beautiful results. What we are saying, we will
do the Agricanto anniversary. Agricanto isa liquor, is a liquor made of
raboso, as we say previously,the most important variety for us because it's
(38:09):
our docton. And it is aliquor made of cherry almonda a rabozo wina.
And this yet there will be thethirty anniversary. You know the story
of Agricanto. It's so funny becausemy grandfather Valentino, after the harvest,
he was used to squeeze a cherryin the grappa. You know, Grappa
(38:30):
is so famous for in the mostlyin the past, like all the people
were used to drink grappa and hewas just squeeze that this this cherry,
so all people and all this trendafter the harvest was stopped to his house
to drink is beautiful. Let's letme call the cocktail the engine, the
(38:51):
past cocktail and and now we inventedthe agricanto. So it's already thirty years
that we have in the market theagrica that cames from this concept to sow
grappa, squeeze sherry, almonda andraboso wine. All these beautiful mix and
recipe make the agricando. Agricanto meansthe singer of the lend, so is
(39:14):
the Venetian liquor for excellent for ourin our area. That you can drink
by itself, you can do inthe mixology. So it's very interesting and
invite also the listener to go toAgricanto dot I t because you can see
literally what I'm talking about. Weare doing a lot of activities of signature
cocktails with the Barnman across worldwide andit's so nice. So this will be
(39:37):
the one of the most important projectsand the other one will be Lucrezia.
Lucrezia is the most important product inour line apples for French Corta Castellogonomi and
we will present before in Italy toall the journalists national and international and the
most important client the look two thousandand four, so twenty years aging on
(40:04):
this that the government has been donejust like last week class so will be
the new lucretsa black label with twentyyears aging on this considered that will be
really really a beautiful, beautiful productsand we will are being limited edishow so
two hundred and fifty boothos that wewill dedicate to this beautiful trial and result
(40:30):
for French REQUORTA. So we havea lot of a lot of projects and
we are super excited, full ofenergy because like the we we are so
happy that we are increasing increasing moreso all the five estates will have a
specific project and specific activities to growto an answer. We'll have to come
(40:52):
back and like we said, wehave not been the French recorder. In
my notes, I know, Idon't think we tasted the cred So we
tasted another friends recorded its just fiveyears on Lisa and I wrote love.
So we had to come back andabsolutely absolutely well we will continue that conversation.
But we really have enjoyed speaking withyou. You travel, do you
(41:15):
go to Asia much? In yourrole. Yeah, the last trip that
I've done now in November, sousually consider that like the last month,
we're very very super busy. Ispend the fifteen days and thirty each month
in Asia. So in November I'vebeen in Korea and Singapore, and before
(41:36):
I went to China and India.So I travel a lot, and I'm
so happy because, like I really, travel is one of my passions,
the most the best passion that Ihave. So I feel very very lucky
to be able to mix work andpassion together. You are and we love
the travel as well. We're curiouswhich of your wines or more popular in
(42:00):
Asia because we know that's a veryspecific particular palate market. Yeah, the
most important product and wine is DragoRosso. And you know this year,
in the ten of February will bethe New Year's EVA for Chinese, so
the Chinese a new Year's EVA andit will be the year of the Dragon,
(42:22):
So twenty twenty four will be theyear of the Dragon for them,
and Drago also will be the ambassadorfor most of the Asia. Is a
one hundred percent Merlo and it agesthree months on Barrica. So as a
beautiful full body tone is very elegantperfect with the meal that are based on
(42:43):
beef, but not very well structors. So we have a beautiful, beautiful
pairing with different meals mostly Asian mealas well, so spicy food, Chinese
food like some fries food are veryvery perfectly well with the dragon Rosso and
the dragon also is as a nicestory because it's the representation of the fire
(43:09):
in the label. You see thesignature of the dragon which are made of
the fire on the two different corneron the top of the corner and on
the below corner of the label.And the dragon also is the expression of
the celebration of Venice, because Veniceis very very full of legends about Drago
(43:32):
and there are a lot of storyabout the powerness, about the longevity the
strengths of Drago. And so wewe strongly find the synergies among the dragon
and among them loot, so thevariety, the merlot as the beautiful longevity
as a very strong power in termsof taste and beautiful tradition and roots as
(43:58):
the dragon also, So this isthe scene gist that we find among drag
Rosso and and Venisa. So Ican say yeah that literally drag roso Shira
as well, but all the redwines that are full, fruity, full
bad dais are very well welcoming byby Asian people. That's fascinating. It
(44:20):
is very fascinating and how timely thatit's the ear of the dragon. One
of the things I love that Ilove about the red wines from the Venado
is the fact that they've just gotgreat acidity to them as well. Yeah,
exactly exactly. So the acidity camebecause of the of the clay,
you know, and also because weare in our area that is full of
river. We are very very fullof rivers, so all the minerals and
(44:43):
stuff and the acidity. We havefresh air humidity that gives the acidity more
perceivable. Yeah, it's not it'snot unlike California. It's not all about
how much body does it have andhow plush it is. It's it's about
acidity and austerity. And I loveabout those ones about the red wines from
this region. Definitely, definitely,definitely wanted to seek out and in and
(45:07):
in the local markets in the UnitedStates. Martina. We've really enjoyed speaking
with you today. Again, thankyou for your hospitality. Thank you to
everyone at Casta Paladin for a wonderfulvisit and we had lunch and we spent
the day. It was it wasfaut It's a beautiful place and we encourage
everyone to check it out. AndUH in the United States, who are
(45:29):
your key importers, so our keyimportance in units are MASONOISA for Mosco del
Marlow and certain Depity for Palladina,so you can find all our wines spread
to the United States and again.And the website is Cata Paladins p A
(45:49):
l A d I N dot IT correct. You can find everything there
exactly in case that you and youhave any questions or you want to get
in contact with us and Sona.You can also write an email to expert
at Paladin do I so whenever youneed any kind of information and so on,
it will be more than welcome.And as we say in Italy,
(46:10):
like all our homa is your homeless, So of course Melanie and David,
you are more than welcome to cometo visit us whenever you want. And
that's been really really a big pleasurebecause you are a beautiful person and it
makes me feel really feel proud tospend some time together. So really thank
(46:32):
you glad to to me. Youknow, Italy is like a second home
to us right now, so wecan't wait to return. So this is
another edition of a Connected Table.We hope everyone listening has enjoyed it.
We hope you're planning a visit toItaly and to Cassapaladan and it's a state,
or going to your local wine shop. We always recommend going to you
(46:52):
know, get a great relationship withthe local wine retailer and develop and conversation
because you can really have great experiencediscovering many wonderful wines. Find us on
Instagram at the Connected Table. Youcan listen to all of our shows on
more than forty podcast channels, includingall the major ones, on demand anytime,
(47:12):
and please see what we do atthe Connected Table at the Connected table
dot com. We thank you forjoining us. Thank you again Martina,
and of course our message is alwaysstay insatiably curious. Thank you su
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(00:21):
FOURCY Radio. Welcome to the ConnectedTable Live where your hosts Melanie Young and
(00:45):
David Ransom. You're insatiably curious culinarycouple. We travel the world to bring
you the dynamic stories of the peoplewe meet who work in wine, food,
spirits and hospitality. We love sharingtheir stories and they all have fascinating
he wants to share. Today,We're taking you to Italy, to an
estate that we had the pleasure ofvisiting in November twenty twenty three when we
(01:10):
were visiting for a conference for thePinot Grigio de la Venzi group, followed
by wine to Wine Verona. Thisis a wonderful family story, right David,
it really is, Melanie, andit covers a lot of different facets
of the food and wine world aswell. And what's interesting about it is
it kind of started with a simpleloaf of bread. We're talking about the
(01:33):
Paladin Wine Estate, which is runby brothers Carlo and Roberto. They followed
their grandfather's wine making traditions since Paladinwas established in nineteen sixty two. It
is literally a fascinating story about howPatriarch Valentine Paladin started. And we are
joined today by his granddaughter Martina Paladin, who we had the pleasure of visiting
(01:59):
and meeting her stirs and cousins whenwe visited Palada Wine Estate, which is
located in the Veneto. She'll explainmore detail where and she's going to share
this story and how now they haveseveral estates throughout Italy and we had the
pleasure tasting a number of their wines. So Martina Paladin, Welcome to the
Connected Table. Hi, Hi Melanie, Hi David, Thanks a lot.
(02:23):
It's really really a grateful so gratefulto be here with you, and Hi
to all our listener. Well,we're thrilled to have you join us today
and we had such a great timevisiting you at the winery, Martina,
Why don't you give us a senseWe said it's in the Veneto, but
why don't you give us a senseof where in the Veneto, because it's
a very big region that Casa Paladinais located. Yeah, so Casa Palladina
(02:47):
is as you say, it's ourwinery is a group of family group,
a driven business founded by my grandfatherValentina Paladin more than six years ago.
Specifically, we are located in venettonortheast Italy, in the very close to
the Adriatic Sea, and the nameof the small town is so called Unknon
Evanto, which is literally forty kilometersto Venice, so very close to Venice,
(03:10):
one of the most uniquely important cityin Italy. Our area is a
beautiful area because it's very close tothe sea. So we have the beautiful
influence from the sea in terms ofminerality, freshness that gives and the effect
also our grape. And we arevery very close also to the Dolomites and
(03:31):
all the mountain chains that we havefrom the north. So the location of
the area is on the northeast ofItaly. You know, it's an incredible
area because you are near the seaand the mountains and very fertile land that
grows a lot of things in additionto grapes. Let's talk to us about
(03:52):
the founder, your grandfather, Valentino, because it really came from, as
you said, humble origins and lookwhere you are today with not multiple estates.
Yeah, you're right. Malanisa ValentinoPalladina, my grandfather, he considered
that she born in nineteen twenty eightand when he was sixteen he became unfortunately
(04:14):
orphan, so he had to followand driven all his family. Starting from
a very very young age. Hewas living in Saint Paulo, which is
a small hometown town in close toTradiso, close to our area, and
he is starting since the beginning towork with his family. He was used
(04:35):
to have animals to produce, youknow, all the raw materials like cheese,
milk. He was used to havethe chicken, and he was used
to do these kind of really reallysimple works as you say, like he
was a baker, so before tostart with the wine, he was a
(04:55):
baker. He was used to havea very small grocery store in the town.
You know, in the past itwas so common to have like for
the families, those small grocery sortthat was effectually like a kind of a
point of interest for a lot ofpeople not across the town, mostly because
you can consider that our town arevery very small, so we're talking about
(05:16):
twenty thousand inhabitants now, so it'sa very small village. And so he
was he had the small grocery.He always had also the passion for the
wines and the winer that he wasused to have very few plans and to
make the so called wine through thetanks that he was used to to sell.
(05:40):
And then in nineteen seventeen seven hestarted to boast the first eight aectors
in Anolebana to where then there isthe winery. As you can imagine,
at the beginning he was used todo like mostly in tanks, and then
he swifted literally to the bottles,not so he started to do the first
(06:00):
label and so on. My grandfatherValentino Palladino was a special person and he
was very humble. He learned andhe taught to us a lot of passion
about the territory, about to takecare always to our land and to make
it and take from the land ina gentle way, a beautiful, beautiful
(06:25):
wine. So he was very humble. He was very well appreciate and people,
all people really loved him. Hewas always he teaches a lot to
us. He taught a lot tous, to me as my parents,
but also my cousin because we wereused to go always in the vineyard to
make a walk every day, andwe were used to do the harvest together.
(06:47):
So he never lost a day inhis life to come to visit all
the employees and all the people inthe wineries. So he was very,
very beautiful gentleman. You know whenwe had lunch with you, you said
that he said to you, alwaysbe humble. You're here for a reason.
Yeah, exactly. This is somethingthat it reminds in my mind a
(07:11):
lot, because sometimes you know,sometimes when you when you are successful,
you lose now you lose the importanceto be to be humble. We are
here for a reason. Because weare here, we always need each of
us as to find no it's itsown way. And I think that I've
been very lucky to to found myway because Valentina and my grandfa my grandfather,
(07:38):
it taught me to be always humble, but not just with people,
also with the nature, also withthe soil, with the land, because
the more you understand what is goingaround you, the better it is to
make it the difference. Now,so in your life, we always need
to make the difference. It's notimportant whatever you do, but it's important
(08:00):
to make something that makes you happyand also that can make the difference and
creative for us. For example,beautiful wines, high quality that can make
the difference in different in different areasand the environment. Yes, such a
great point, Melanie, it is. Why don't you tell us a little
(08:20):
bit about your role in the winery. Your father and your uncle are also
involved and as are you, Sowhy don't you tell us about what you
do and where you focus your activitiesat the winery. Yeah. So I'm
responsible for the export, so I'mone of the export manager of Casa Paladina.
(08:41):
I'm responsible for all the Asia markets, South Asia and Oceania and a
little bit part of the South America. Then I get my cousin Francesca that
she's my age as well, andshe works also in the export team,
so she works for all the UnitedStates and Canada. And then we have
other teams, the other people,the expert manager that they work in separating
(09:07):
in other countries. My grandfather isthe director of Italy, so his follow
hold the trade in our national country, and my uncle he's following all the
production, so all the part relatedto the production and unification of all the
Casapaldin group. You know what Ilove about your story the Paladin is it's
(09:28):
a family business. And I thinkit's important here to underscore to our listeners
how many wineries we have met andvisited around the world, and especially in
Italy that are run by families andnot conglomerates and corporations. And that's so
incredibly special these days as consumers lookfor bottles with stories and they don't want
(09:48):
to have a corporation behind the bottle. They want to have a family.
But your family has done well,you have expanded and you've got now you
have or states. You have CastaPaladin, and then you have Basco de
Merlo and Fluui and castell O Banamiand Lombardia and fran Chacorta and Castel Veki
(10:11):
and Tuscany. How did that evolution? Uh, those developments roll out over
time and tell us about each oneyeah, so Casa Palladin, as you
say, Melanie as a beautiful mileso in its in its story. So
we start in sixty two when wefounded the first, the first, the
(10:31):
first winery here in Benito. Innineteen seventy seven, Bosco del Marlo Borna.
He was the first winery and firstbrand the bio. So what was
like is the brander related to theresearch and developmental disperimental activities that we do.
So Bosco del Mendo nowadays represent abeautiful, stronger Friuly identity. When
(10:54):
we have beautiful Sauvignona, beautiful winewines, the wine that comes from our
Tutn's variety. We are in thewest part of Freely, the region that
is very close to Veneto, inthe northeast of Italy. Then we have
Paladina, which is the first brandthat we do have here in Vanto,
(11:15):
where we produce a beautiful prosecco orred wine, a reforce Go Milbeck,
Chardon Sauvignon, Pinot Gridge or dotDoc the Levenette. And then in two
thousand and four we started to moveto Toscany. We have a beautiful millenarial
winery. You can consider that ourwinery. It comes from one thousand and
(11:37):
forty three, so it's a veryold, old ancient winery, beautiful in
the Canty Anti Classical hills. Andyou know, the idea for Kaza Palladina,
as you say, is a familydriven business. But what we strongly
believe is also to look beyond,not the the boundaries. A c an
offer to our clients' high portfolio,differentiated with different also regions. So we
(12:05):
started to move not just in Veneto, because we wanted to know to learn
more and more about wine, becausewine is a beautiful world and you know
sometimes that you need to travel tounderstand as you do to understand better.
So we get we fall in lovewith Canti Classico. So nowadays since two
(12:26):
thousand and four that we have CastelVaki, which is our winery in Canti
Classico is six hundred meters about thesea level. So we have santrose Canayolo,
so beautiful and red town is fullbodies. Tone is there. In
two thousand and eight, as yousay, we moved to French reporta.
(12:46):
We are literally forty kilometers to Tumilain castell Abonomi. In Castonomi is the
unique chateau in French reporta is threehundred meters about the sea level. In
Monte Orfano area is a conglomerate.Is that based based on calcaos with red
(13:07):
soil that gives us beautiful mineral andstability French reporters, so they is so
called Italian Champagne. And in twentysixteen we moved to Valpolicella with Casalo it's
our branding which we produce Valpolicella anda Maarona. So nowadays, as you
say, Casa Paladin count five differentarea in Italy with five different type of
(13:33):
product that can be all associated underthe beautiful umbrella of Calca Paladina group.
That's quite an expansion and very impressive. Can you visit each of these properties?
Absolutely absolutely so we're strong we stronglystrongly believe that it's super important eno
(13:54):
tourism. We refer to our toour audience, to our visitors beautiful experience
seeing three of our wineries, theTas Canyon, one Transporta and then heare
people. And I will also takethe advantage to advise to to all our
listeners to come to visit Daza becausethrough the website so Castelvaki dot I T
(14:18):
cast I T and the Busco delMarlow and Casa Paladin I T. You
can come to visit us as youdid, and also Melanion David So as
you did. Through wine tasting thetour guide, you can literally perceive a
very very close our passion for thewiner and how all the different type of
(14:39):
wines are produced. Well, we'vebeen to three of the regions, Melanie,
but we haven't been the front recordyet, So I think that's the
next one on our list when wecome back to visit you, Martinez.
We've only visited Castle Paladin, sowe need to visit your under states.
Yeah, absolutely, I count onyou. Well, we'd love that.
So I want to talk to youabout a bit about the family philosophy.
(15:01):
The Paladin family has really what youcall four pillars of philosophy that you that
you live by every day. Whydon't you tell us about that and expand
on that a little bit? Yeah? So, uh, it's important for
us our pillars because I think it'sliterally what since our grandfather Valentino Palladina to
(15:24):
to us and started with with hiswork and with his passion. The four
pillars are the so called four vphilosophy is a philosophy that embrace all the
different brands, so starting from CasaPalladina to Franchi Corta, Camyo, was
Godel, Marlow and Kianti. Onthis way, we do have a four
(15:45):
v The first one is related tothe vina. So all the activities that
we do literally on the on thefield. So for example, we have
the so callder rezon viticulture. It'slike a kind of an approach in which
we treated the fertilization natural fertilization literallyplan to plant. So we have a
beautiful GPS and maps that our workerssee with different colors, and in each
(16:11):
color I can understand what is theplant asking for me. So we work
strictly to not waste any kind offertilization, not waste any water activities and
soon so reducing as much as possibleto be as much as possible sustainable.
On the other side we have allthe green part. We work a lot
(16:32):
for the biodiversity. It's super importantacross all Italy the biodiversity because it makes
we need to keep and we needto preserve our our lender and our soil,
you know, like unfortunately global warmingis going trust worldwide, and we
need mostly for the wine and notthat it is something that came literally from
(16:53):
the nature. We need to workhard to preserve what is our environment,
our biodiversity around. Also course consideredthat the beautiful wine that then you you
drink, not through the bottle,is because of the of the environment in
which our wines are, in whichour great part, and this is super
(17:17):
super important. On the other side, we have all the part related to
wine. So what is happening insidethe winery, so we need to be
We are working a lot with oursupplier to be as much as possible sustainable
with all the recycling with paper,glass boxes and so on. And then
(17:37):
the life, the life pillar,the life pillar, it's related to the
ethic part. It's related to thesocial part. We are doing a lot
of activities in the social and inour community, not just in Italy but
also worldwide. So all those fourpillars related are related to the philosophy,
and it starts with some activity.It has been already started by my grandfather
(18:02):
Valentino, and then we are bringingmore and more activities on them. Well,
as he said, you were herefor a reason, and that really
resonated with us. My mother believedin that philosophy and in my notes,
I'm looking at my handwritten notes Ihave here under green veryday avoid plastics.
(18:22):
You're very conscious about the materials youuse, so that you're not using materials
that are not good for the environmentand under life. Obviously, you were
very involved in a campaign to supportbreast cancer research and awareness, and I
am a breast cancer survivor, sothat really rang true to me. Talk
(18:44):
to us about that and your andyour program which is fairly significant. Yeah,
Melanie, I remember, I remembervery very well when you when you
came here and I present you allour projects and I re mind and all
the conversation that we Yeah, thenit touched me a lot, because I
this is important not to do somethingthat it's good also for people and for
(19:07):
the association association. As you said, we are working since six years nowadays
with the most important association in Italy, which is the LILTA is an association
that works a lot for the preventionthat we really believe that it's super important
and to against the branch cancer.This association. We have been the first
(19:33):
winery to support these association since sixyears and now we can count twenty four
thousand euro. And to me it'simportant say that notes that number because it
means and they want to really tosee how much it's important that each of
us do a small sign, asmall action to support because at the end
(19:56):
you can consider twenty four thousand euro, it's a lot we can literally support
support them. We we put onthe place with true products Roseco Rosebo Merlo
dot u c and Pinot region rosebodyou see the levee. Those two products
are our ambassador for the life inRoselle. Life Rose is a concept that
(20:19):
goes beyond that is but it's literallylike a philosophy, a way of life.
So the way to push each otherbeyond the border we are the limits
to see how much is important thehealthy, the life style and the life
styla doing the prevention. So it'sall a philosophy around the the perfect life
(20:44):
styla that Marlow is ambassador support.So not just related to support, but
also related to eat properly, havinga healthy and a well balanced, high
quality life. Now I remember whenwe were together we were also saying sometimes
we we lose now we lose alittle bit of our way because we are
(21:07):
super full of a lot of activities. We have super busy because of work,
but sometimes we need to stop eachother and to think about what is
really important. And like with Boscodel Barlo, our object and our goal
is to spread and all this thisvoice and this this idea, to focus
also on the things that make youmake you active and make you feel better,
(21:33):
so to have an approach of agood lifestyle. So with Bosco we
do that. Like Rose then it'sit's important because after our meeting then we
have some news also of because wehave been a supporter with boscod and Medlow
to see Big un for Cure,which is a Canadian cancer society in Canada,
(21:56):
where with our Rose we are supportingthe the association. So this for
us is a very big owner andwe are super proud of that because this
means that it's not just national,but we are we want to make this
philosophy and this approach worldwide. Well, thank you for doing it because it
is important and you know, thegreater the cause, the greater the product
(22:21):
in our in our minds because businessshould always have a cause to it.
But let's go back to our visitand we want to underscore that that you
have six estates throughout Italy. Wevisited one. We visited Cassa Paladin,
so we'd like to focus on thatarea. Since we have context, let's
talk about what grows well here andwhy and some of the more indigenous varieties
(22:48):
that one can experience and taste.Yeah, so in cas Paladin, as
you say, we firstly the oldest, one of the oldest wine that we
produce is the malbeca. I know, no everyone knows malbec in Argentina,
so usually is the most common varietyin Argentina. So we are very very
(23:08):
few companies here. Winery is herein Italy that we produce malbek one hundred
percent. We produce the first vindagein nineteen seventy four and it's one of
the most awarded wine for us.Malbeck has been planted so in a very
very in the pasta and now isunder Paladin a brenda and it's a beautiful,
(23:33):
spicy not beautiful full bodies and whatit makes really really a beautiful infos
about that. We are beautiful longevitywith the malbec. Because the soiler here
just to start from the roots,not of our area. So the soiler
is based on clay clay gives beautifullongevity to all our wines. So you
(23:57):
can find here when you come tobe it us, you can find the
possibility to taste warmal bec Savignon,which is another variety that it's very very
important for us that we are doinga lot of experimentation about Savignona to find
the different clans and so ona.Also this one won the gold medal of
(24:18):
the Border for the best, soit's a very very high premium about your
TALKTNA, it's important to highlight theFosco. I don't know if you ever
heard about it. It's a refoso. It's the so called name is literally
the most soutna variety for the Venice, the ancient republic of Venice. That's
(24:44):
so called the Sertinisma. Refoce Cois a greater is a red greater.
That it's very famous because it's beendiscovered during the period of Venetian merchant and
it was used to bring in thebota because as a longer acidity is a
high acidity and a long lasting alsoduring the longer trip that the boats what
(25:08):
used to do. We do havedifferent type of wine and we have a
refos co impurity. So one undredpresent in a palatine, a wina which
does just like a few months agingon the on the stealing steeler that is
a very fresh wine but with beautifulacidity. We do have done de robery,
(25:33):
which is a blender among which isone percent. Also the Fosco age
in the in the oak. Anotherimportant variety that it came into my mind
that it's very important it is raboso. Raboso as well as a beautiful acidity,
is a red grape and is outof ton and it's it's very nice
(25:56):
that we produce because it's sparkling.So you can find like as a sparkling
wine, super fresh, beautiful fora summer to drink, also with with
beef and so on. So allthose those variety are are very important for
us because it's important to keep themto work again on them because like considered
(26:18):
that as ages and ages are allthe the oldest wine wine s here,
the all the variety here, andwe need to keep them alive. Of
course, when you come here,when you can come here and will invite
all of the listeners to come tovisit us, of course you can have
(26:41):
also literally an experience very very closeto that. We have beautiful sensorial wine
tasting which you through which we addressall our visitors to a beautiful three hundred
and sixty degrees approach in the winetasting. So we will describe you which
can kind of variety do we have? Watch? What are the most important
(27:04):
smell that you can perceive? Likefor example, mint tomato peer bringing literally
in front of you the mint oflift the pier the tomato. I don't
know if you remember Melanie and Davidwhen we went through the through the park.
So through the museum, it's supersuper interesting. Oh yes, we
(27:26):
did. Well. We actually wantto touch on that because it's it's it's
an out we have. You actuallyhave two museums. Okay, you have
an indoor museum that tells us thepower and story and shares the philosophies.
It's quite fascinating and historical. Andthen you have the outdoor viticultural museum.
Yeah. The the indoorra is thestory, you know, the story about
(27:49):
our family, about the values thatwe do have and some fun facts that
you can find indoor outdoor is thetime of the Vina. The so called
time of the Vina is the firstmuseum outdoor at European level, which explained
the the viticulture which would be thefuture of the culture, and which are
(28:12):
the different type of the culture thatyou can find trust the worldwide. You
know, do you know how itit burns this this museum. So it's
it's a very nice story because aswe say previously, now the four pillars
of Casta Paladina, the philosophy,at a certain point we find each other.
(28:36):
Now, we were sitting at thetable I remind with Francesca Valentino,
which are my cousin and they areworking in the winery, and my dad
and my uncle, and we werediscussing about some some activities about the work
that we we we should have donein some celebrity to the sustainability. But
at a certain point we realize thatwe have done and we are doing a
(29:00):
lot of activities, a lot ofinvestment on that. But sometimes we don't
know if our clients, see,if our customers and all the people literally
know and understand and not because sometimesyou speak about sustainability, but in reality
you don't know what sustainability does itmean. So that's why we decided to
(29:22):
make this museum to literally bring visitorshere and touch with their hands. What
we are talking about, what arethe activities that Casa Paladina and then so
also with the other synergies of universitiesand so on, we do for the
sustainability and for the future soviety culture. So this is very important because it's
(29:44):
a beautiful experience three and sixty degrees. Well, we found it facett and
we were there in November, sowe can only imagine what it's like other
times of the year. But foranyone who really wants to get down and
understand the differences in in vines andsoil and elements natural elements, we found
it really great. I'm looking overour notes. I really really loved the
(30:10):
riboso, the fiori drivoso and thesparkling. I thought that was really unique,
and as you said, there's astory marking it back to the Merchants
of Venice. In my notes.We also tasted the Pino Grizio dela Vinzi,
which is why we ended up comingin the first place. The Concertio
Pino Griggio dela Vinizi recommended us.You to us, and we're grateful because
(30:30):
when we came to attend their conference, we said we'd really like to go
to the different production areas to betterunderstand how this variety adapts to different environments.
We found that very helpful in mynotes. I felt that there was
a lot of gooseberry and citrus inyour Pino Grecio dela Vinizi, twenty twenty
(30:52):
two. And then the other themalbeck was fabulous. Yeah, the characteristic
in general, as I say,the soil is based only you know so
and as I say previously calta palladinisliterally in the middle among mountain and the
sea. So from one side thatwe have all the freshness, so the
(31:14):
minerality and stapidity coming from the AdriaticSea. And on the other side we
are covered from the bad weather andstuff from the north. So we are
in a perfect microclimate which allows usto have a very very beautiful expression of
the variety that we do have.You know, Malveca is a variety that
is as spicy, not blue beerryrasperis so as these beautiful red fruits that
(31:41):
came into into your nose and thosein your palate. And this is the
maximum expression of that variety for ushere in our in our area, you
know, you know, like isthe most important variety in our area into
of appellation because considered that out ofone hundred of the production of pinotrigio,
(32:06):
ninety percent is produced in our area. So the doc the Levants appellation is
one of the most important the appellationfor pinogrigio because the most of the production
comes from here in the United States. Pinogridio is going a lot. So
it's very you I know that,Alsotjana, it's beautiful for with the meat,
(32:30):
with the painting, also with yourfood, because like it's it's fresh,
is it to drink, but it'salso it's also beautiful structors. So
it's very very well balanced among thefruitness as you say, melanie, and
the freshness, the minerality. Soit is a perfect and important balancing among
(32:50):
those those senses. You know.I think David and I were both I
think for me, I had nothad a lot of romato, which is
basically the pinot grigio delivered say rose, and found it to be terrific.
You know, the US market is, you know, an abundance of different
rose, some very good, somenot so good. Uh. These wines,
(33:13):
you really taste the region and thewhere they're from. And that's why
when you do. If you areshopping for pino gregio in a wine shop
or supermarket in the United States,you really do need to look at the
designation of origin, because not allpino gregios are the same, and this
particular region in the Veneto makes someof the best in the world. It's
(33:36):
also interesting the Maulbeck because you know, the Argentinians believe they own mailbak now
and they believe it must be highelevation. The higher the elevation, the
greater the wine. But Alanin isnot at a high elevation. Yeah,
so you've proved them wrong. Iwould, like you know, I was.
I was literally like talking a fewdays ago with some Argentina's friends and
(34:00):
like we say, no, youshould try. It's the ones because of
course now each area, each countryas the specific or the most important varieties
and so on. I don't wantto be in competition, of course with
Malbro, but it's well, Ithink you're lucky because of the soils and
(34:21):
also you've got those great breezes fromthe Adriatic because Mouth back in France had
a tougher time, uh back inthe day in the swampier areas of southern
France. But you you know thatAdriatic breezes cannot be underestimated and also the
winds down from the mountains. Imean it's a it's a great location between
mountain and sea. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely you you say right, So
(34:45):
it's it's an important synergiest that wedo have in terms of environment, and
I can guarantee that like it's it'sthe most important extra version of our soil,
our our mauldback. And then asyou say, because you say something
very interesting, now, when whenyou go to the shelves that you want
(35:08):
to buy a winer, it's importantto see the appellation where it comes from
the origin of the bottles. Andit's also because of that that we we
add on the net label at QRcode every time in all our wines.
That supports us the customers who scanthe QR code and enter in live in
(35:29):
our in our winery. So youhave all the information about the origins,
you have all the information about thevalues the family is the wineries, and
and also more information about the productthat you are going to see to evaluate
eventually in your in your purchaser.So it's it's very very important, very
(35:51):
important the the evaluation and the knowledgethat is behind behind the product. Absolutely,
So what next for your family?I mean, you're in a really
great place with six states acclaim.Is there anything in the in the works
for the future, Well, thereis. There are a lot of activities
(36:15):
that are going next. So forsure this year we are super happy because
officially started the all the wine exhibitionaround the world. So we are starting
in February with the wine parties.Then we will move to Provida in Germany,
in Italy. In Italy, oneof the most important, the most
(36:36):
important whine exhibition is here in Italy. The next Hong Kong we would have
in Mexico and we would have somegamberos tour in the United States, other
province around the world. So weare very very focused on that. We
strongly believe to work harder, firstlywith all the marketing activities because nowadays we
(36:57):
do have a stronger marketing team,because we strongly believe that the communication part
and the commercial part is to workin a strong synergies. You cannot work
without a good communication. So weare doing a lot of activities as we
say, but it's important, it'simportant to connect, to see and communicate
correctly to our audience. And tocreate like a sense of a partners now,
(37:24):
a sense of bi Part of ourwiner is that it was really strongly
believe that it's super important. Wewould work a lot in export. So
this yer, it will be asuper push on all the most important markets.
Consider that Casa Paladina the most seventypercent it made in the export activities,
(37:47):
so it's important we would keep ofcourse also the the national market because
we have receiving beautiful, beautiful results. What we are saying, we will
do the Agricanto anniversary. Agricanto isa liquor, is a liquor made of
raboso, as we say previously,the most important variety for us because it's
(38:09):
our docton. And it is aliquor made of cherry almonda a rabozo wina.
And this yet there will be thethirty anniversary. You know the story
of Agricanto. It's so funny becausemy grandfather Valentino, after the harvest,
he was used to squeeze a cherryin the grappa. You know, Grappa
(38:30):
is so famous for in the mostlyin the past, like all the people
were used to drink grappa and hewas just squeeze that this this cherry,
so all people and all this trendafter the harvest was stopped to his house
to drink is beautiful. Let's letme call the cocktail the engine, the
(38:51):
past cocktail and and now we inventedthe agricanto. So it's already thirty years
that we have in the market theagrica that cames from this concept to sow
grappa, squeeze sherry, almonda andraboso wine. All these beautiful mix and
recipe make the agricando. Agricanto meansthe singer of the lend, so is
(39:14):
the Venetian liquor for excellent for ourin our area. That you can drink
by itself, you can do inthe mixology. So it's very interesting and
invite also the listener to go toAgricanto dot I t because you can see
literally what I'm talking about. Weare doing a lot of activities of signature
cocktails with the Barnman across worldwide andit's so nice. So this will be
(39:37):
the one of the most important projectsand the other one will be Lucrezia.
Lucrezia is the most important product inour line apples for French Corta Castellogonomi and
we will present before in Italy toall the journalists national and international and the
most important client the look two thousandand four, so twenty years aging on
(40:04):
this that the government has been donejust like last week class so will be
the new lucretsa black label with twentyyears aging on this considered that will be
really really a beautiful, beautiful productsand we will are being limited edishow so
two hundred and fifty boothos that wewill dedicate to this beautiful trial and result
(40:30):
for French REQUORTA. So we havea lot of a lot of projects and
we are super excited, full ofenergy because like the we we are so
happy that we are increasing increasing moreso all the five estates will have a
specific project and specific activities to growto an answer. We'll have to come
(40:52):
back and like we said, wehave not been the French recorder. In
my notes, I know, Idon't think we tasted the cred So we
tasted another friends recorded its just fiveyears on Lisa and I wrote love.
So we had to come back andabsolutely absolutely well we will continue that conversation.
But we really have enjoyed speaking withyou. You travel, do you
(41:15):
go to Asia much? In yourrole. Yeah, the last trip that
I've done now in November, sousually consider that like the last month,
we're very very super busy. Ispend the fifteen days and thirty each month
in Asia. So in November I'vebeen in Korea and Singapore, and before
(41:36):
I went to China and India.So I travel a lot, and I'm
so happy because, like I really, travel is one of my passions,
the most the best passion that Ihave. So I feel very very lucky
to be able to mix work andpassion together. You are and we love
the travel as well. We're curiouswhich of your wines or more popular in
(42:00):
Asia because we know that's a veryspecific particular palate market. Yeah, the
most important product and wine is DragoRosso. And you know this year,
in the ten of February will bethe New Year's EVA for Chinese, so
the Chinese a new Year's EVA andit will be the year of the Dragon,
(42:22):
So twenty twenty four will be theyear of the Dragon for them,
and Drago also will be the ambassadorfor most of the Asia. Is a
one hundred percent Merlo and it agesthree months on Barrica. So as a
beautiful full body tone is very elegantperfect with the meal that are based on
(42:43):
beef, but not very well structors. So we have a beautiful, beautiful
pairing with different meals mostly Asian mealas well, so spicy food, Chinese
food like some fries food are veryvery perfectly well with the dragon Rosso and
the dragon also is as a nicestory because it's the representation of the fire
(43:09):
in the label. You see thesignature of the dragon which are made of
the fire on the two different corneron the top of the corner and on
the below corner of the label.And the dragon also is the expression of
the celebration of Venice, because Veniceis very very full of legends about Drago
(43:32):
and there are a lot of storyabout the powerness, about the longevity the
strengths of Drago. And so wewe strongly find the synergies among the dragon
and among them loot, so thevariety, the merlot as the beautiful longevity
as a very strong power in termsof taste and beautiful tradition and roots as
(43:58):
the dragon also, So this isthe scene gist that we find among drag
Rosso and and Venisa. So Ican say yeah that literally drag roso Shira
as well, but all the redwines that are full, fruity, full
bad dais are very well welcoming byby Asian people. That's fascinating. It
(44:20):
is very fascinating and how timely thatit's the ear of the dragon. One
of the things I love that Ilove about the red wines from the Venado
is the fact that they've just gotgreat acidity to them as well. Yeah,
exactly exactly. So the acidity camebecause of the of the clay,
you know, and also because weare in our area that is full of
river. We are very very fullof rivers, so all the minerals and
(44:43):
stuff and the acidity. We havefresh air humidity that gives the acidity more
perceivable. Yeah, it's not it'snot unlike California. It's not all about
how much body does it have andhow plush it is. It's it's about
acidity and austerity. And I loveabout those ones about the red wines from
this region. Definitely, definitely,definitely wanted to seek out and in and
(45:07):
in the local markets in the UnitedStates. Martina. We've really enjoyed speaking
with you today. Again, thankyou for your hospitality. Thank you to
everyone at Casta Paladin for a wonderfulvisit and we had lunch and we spent
the day. It was it wasfaut It's a beautiful place and we encourage
everyone to check it out. AndUH in the United States, who are
(45:29):
your key importers, so our keyimportance in units are MASONOISA for Mosco del
Marlow and certain Depity for Palladina,so you can find all our wines spread
to the United States and again.And the website is Cata Paladins p A
(45:49):
l A d I N dot IT correct. You can find everything there
exactly in case that you and youhave any questions or you want to get
in contact with us and Sona.You can also write an email to expert
at Paladin do I so whenever youneed any kind of information and so on,
it will be more than welcome.And as we say in Italy,
(46:10):
like all our homa is your homeless, So of course Melanie and David,
you are more than welcome to cometo visit us whenever you want. And
that's been really really a big pleasurebecause you are a beautiful person and it
makes me feel really feel proud tospend some time together. So really thank
(46:32):
you glad to to me. Youknow, Italy is like a second home
to us right now, so wecan't wait to return. So this is
another edition of a Connected Table.We hope everyone listening has enjoyed it.
We hope you're planning a visit toItaly and to Cassapaladan and it's a state,
or going to your local wine shop. We always recommend going to you
(46:52):
know, get a great relationship withthe local wine retailer and develop and conversation
because you can really have great experiencediscovering many wonderful wines. Find us on
Instagram at the Connected Table. Youcan listen to all of our shows on
more than forty podcast channels, includingall the major ones, on demand anytime,
(47:12):
and please see what we do atthe Connected Table at the Connected table
dot com. We thank you forjoining us. Thank you again Martina,
and of course our message is alwaysstay insatiably curious. Thank you su
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