Community Craft Spirits & Wine’s “At The Bar Series” provides an in depth look at the people, and passion behind the spirit.
In this episode we chat with Francesca Mancarella, International Export Manager for Amastuola Winery. Located in the storied Puglia Region of Italy making some of the best wines in the world.
hey everybody this is Jonathan himay
with Community craft spirits and wine
and today we are at the bar with
Franchesca is with amasta Winery yes in
southern Italy right it’s on the east
coast of Italy so tell us about the
terrier in that in that region the
terrier is a mixed one we called it uh
um mixed mixed texture that means that
um it contains the right percentage of
each kind of nutritions and parts ideal
to grow um to cultivate uh uh plants
generally speaking Vines and uh um Olive
uh um trees in particular okay so it’s
so you’ve got Olive Groves and then
you’ve also got obviously quite a bit of
Vineyard from what you told me so how
many how many hectares of Vineyard 110
110 hectar a lot a lot we’ll do the
conversion one just one state right so
it’s the visual impact when you look at
the The Vineyard uh not The Vineyards
but the vineyard just one it’s
impressive because it seems to be just
to be surrounded by uh a huge lake with
a lot of
waves and uh it’s a very very nice
that’s what it is right you had
explained to me that The Vineyards are
planted in a wave P pattern which is
unusual right absolutely we are the soul
ones so that’s what you see from the
winery which is located exactly here on
a n of 250 M on the sea level okay so
the reasons why we decided to to create
something like this again um we are
pretty famous to um not pretty famous
pretty proud and glad to know that the
National Geographic stated that we own
the most beautiful garden Minyard in the
world that’s awesome and for sure it’s
the only one up to now of course okay uh
so the main reasons for which we decided
to create something like this are three
the first one is absolutely um the
visual impact so to have something
different uh and
emotionally
um important to see uh secondly uh we
are very close to the Sea so uh thanks
to the shape of the Rose uh the sea
breezes in perf during the night and
they blow constantly okay and they are
also coming from blowing from the sea up
to the n and Rich um in uh in Salt of
course because they are salt yeah Salt
Air they blow through the crust the um
the vines and absorb all the humidity so
we are again organic certified and but
in our case it’s a little bit easier to
be like this because in in few words our
Vines do not suffer from the standard
diseases that you will find everywhere
else so the Salt Air helps keep those AB
absolutely all right so what is your
role with the winery I’m the expert
manager inside the winery so um the poor
girl traveling all over the world
meeting people and trying to um uh uh
promote Pro not just promote to
introduce my territory and introduce my
wines and tell people that it’s so easy
to to without investing the fortune to
to buy good wines which are organic that
iners means no pesticide and no
chemicals at any time at any level so
from the soil up to the the botling and
vegan for people who are uh vegan and
they are also the right to to to drink
and enjoy wine because a lot of people
think that all the wines are vegan but
they it’s opposite all the wines are not
and we are just vegan or very few
wineries because we don’t use any animal
sub product to clarify or before fil
trting the wine so I was not aware of
that so some wines will use some
byproducts uh yes no all the wines yeah
we particular um white egg and fish glue
okay so that’s the reason why so so none
of that exist in your no absolutely
absolutely so that’s the reason why we
are vegan vegan friendly and but that
vegan um part of the wine does not
influence at any level the flavor the
color and stuff okay cuz we are talking
about something totally different so
about the region where this Winery is
located what’s a what’s a big
misconception about that particular area
of Italy it is Coastal right and it’s in
the southern part of Italy obviously the
the the central part of Italy is the big
right the big famous one and then up
north you’ve got the prco and all of
that so what is what’s the one big
misconception about the region that
you’re in I can least do at least two
okay so the first one is that uh the
more uh South you go less quality you
find which is
opposite um together with Sicily Pula is
at the moment the the biggest wine uh
producing um region so quantities are
extreme volumes
are huge okay and quality is among the
best across Europe at least okay don’t
forget in particular that it would be
much easier faster with no controls or
almost no controls should we decide to
produce cocaine on the other hand
alcohol even though they are not spirits
of course because they do contain
alcohol but just from 12% up to 15.5 so
something still bearable yeah for
everyone um we are and even because we
are organic certified and big and and
stuff so we do um undergo controls sou
controls because nobody
knows so if I were sitting on the patio
at your home mhm um it’s early summer
right what bottle from what we have here
in the selection would we be drinking
today this is a very easy question
because my friends pretend to to
find those wines according to the the
the period uh of the time of the year
for instance during the
summer the first three wines are the the
mastering at Francesca’s place okay so
um extremely versatile they offer three
different colors with three different
taste but they are all easy drinking so
that means that uh as soon as they they
knock on the door and go to the fridge
and open a bottle um they go for the
white and then see for instance or the
Ros and seats on the sofa just chatting
with the other friends idle conversation
we call yeah exactly we we call called
them chat
wines after which I start serving first
the prity which can be fries or chips or
okay nothing special and they while
drinking those wines start eating okay
um this is the wine I do prefer but I’m
more a red um fan generally speaking um
even some of my my my friends do and the
the the they enjoy this wine in
particular because it can be chilled
during the very hot summers because last
year just for you to know we reached 48
de C in the shade it was August and it
last sounds like South
Florida with the humidity levels of 98%
it it was a disaster last year hopefully
this year we’ll have more more
comfortable yes yes hopefully um even
though there are still 37 degrees so
what is the what is the blend here here
is a blend of Shir and primitiv 70%
mainly Shir 70% and 30% primi okay so
which blend which match very well
together so the the luxs of of one great
variety are the Gap are folded um by the
other one so it’s a very nice C get yes
and the acidity of all those wines we
are pretty famous for the acidity is so
well balanced that you even though they
come from a very um hot area they still
taste fresh extremely fresh even if they
are not chilled at all so we talking
about something very nice even because
they are extremely dry okay but you w’t
taste the extremely uh dryness and the
extremely uh
[Music]
um the very low residual sugar they are
anyway well balance and tasty okay and
sometimes when you chill um a wine that
does have those really sugary sweet
notes it can amplify that right so um
okay so now we we’ve spent some time
chatting right and um we’re going to go
have a meal now in summertime early
summer in southern Italy what what’s on
the menu tonight on the menu tonight oh
I’m the worst person to talk about food
I can eat very well but not cook at all
but um I can tell you what I buy from my
place so when I have guests okay um we
do offer which is very typical um um a
mix of uh different cheeses and uh
salami okay and some talini I don’t know
if you know what they are which small
crackers uh they are just one bite okay
and uh this is something that I always
offer uh together while pouring neg I
which is
uh the second most important great
variety from the southern part of P okay
because don’t forget that um p is the
longest region of Italy so long that we
all at National level how how big is
that Coastline uh the coastline is 800
km if I’m not wrong quite large yeah but
the the the the region is long just a
little bit more than 500 kilm okay um
but it’s it’s like a a peninsula of a
peninsula because Italy is a peninsula
as well right so it’s but it’s white
just 35 kilm and it’s widest part so
it’s really a tongue on the on the SE
because our is not an ocean it’s a huge
Lake okay so this is what you’re pouring
with the uh what we would call a shudy
okay okay yes
or king of food or what what do they
what do they call it antipasti antias
exactly um made of also fried uh
meatballs um negramaro in along the the
very long list of Italian official
Italian gr varieties is considered one
of the most versatile that means that it
matches ideally well with pasta Pizza
Rice antipasti fish shellfish uh just a
salad very exactly uh cheese fresh or
hard um white and red meats up to dark
chocolate okay so it’s a very nice wi
even to bring even spicy foods it’s a
very nice idea to as a bottle as gift to
bring with when you are invited not sure
what the menu is right something that
you won’t fail in this case so chilled
or room temperature was the best it
depends on the season during the summer
so the the ideal temp Ser serving
temperature would be from 15 up to 17
okay Celsius so if the room temperature
doesn’t show those figures I would chill
it for 10 minutes
okay without any problem okay all
right so tell us about the rest of the
line here and what would you pair with
this so this is the right tasting scale
so after negr so they share more or less
the same label just with different
colors CU it identifies easy drinking
wines no Oak at all okay so really very
easy drinking yeah approachable with 14°
alcohol only okay uh Primitivo is what I
usually offer when uh my friends do the
barbecue okay cuz it’s more meaty food
uh um wine so food wine to be matched
with the white but in particular red
juicy meat okay sopia is going to leave
some kind of a exactly interesting so
and then we come to the top range which
is made of three different
wines the even the bottle the packaging
is different mhm I noticed that yeah um
the first one is the second and last
blend we have in our range so made of
four different great varieties two local
which are Alano and Primo and two more
International so Merlo
and 25% each each so equal equal exactly
so that it’s a more interational wine
that can be easily appreciated by every
single Pro every single tongue okay
because someone for sure will find out
something good for it his palette okay
and it is um so I told you that the
first part of the wines are not oaked at
all right here we start the Aging um how
much time is in this case 16 months in
French okay in French
uh and we always use some French Oak
called Al medium toast very elegant very
smooth okay even in this case the um
alcohol percentage is just 14 but here
the structure of the and the body of the
wines starts increasing
okay with this wine with all those wines
you can match every single kind
example of high
Cuisine okay local or International
because they they are really EAS very
easy to pair with to pair with exactly
and then LaRosa which is a wine that um
I think can be very successful here
across us because it’s 100% primitiv um
more and more fam famous here as a great
variety again 100% primitiv a little bit
higher in alcohol 14.5 so they are more
celebration or weekend um
wines and it is aged for 12 months so
one year in American brand new brick of
225 L each and you taste it there’s an
is there a toast on that or is it is
there a toast yes but I get a light yes
but for one year so 12 months in small
right um
yeah tasks so the release is much
higher yeah more exactly and less wine
and the in this case the vanilla
aftertaste is important okay but your
tongue with barbon and whiskey is
comfortable with this kind of taste and
with primitiv it t it matches very very
well so that’s the the surprise okay but
still approachable approachable exactly
so something that you can drink even
during the the the week with for
instance
land okay or a stape yep and then last
but not least High our top range
Primitivo again 100% Primitivo in this
case these one The Grapes um with which
we do uh create this one which are the
same ones of the 100% primitiv here and
the the second one um do the undergo the
aasim method I don’t know if you know
what it is I go ahead and expl okay um
it’s um we after harvesting The Grapes
so we pick up some some uh uh
clusters roughly 25
30% and leave them in the aiment room
which is a room dedicated to this kind
of process and they stay there for um a
couple of months losing totally their
water or almost totally their water
condensing the flavors right exactly and
increasing the alcohol residual right
they start to naturally for but in this
case the um sweetness is um we call it
second sweetness but it’s not the
residual sugar of this one in particular
is six around six but it’s the flavor
that’s coming is what you’re looking for
exactly
um 2 years so 24 months in French Oak
but in this case big barrels so 5,000 L
each of the same French O we had with on
Tempo so Al medum toast okay in this
case we are talking about a big guy 15.5
alcohol but the trick is that it’s so
well balanced and so elegant that you
wouldn’t taste that alcohol it’s juicy
it’s still easy drinking and
approachable without any problem and
silky and velvety so it’s a pleasure to
enjoy this wine even with my food as a
meditation yes or with a cigar okay or
with dark chocolate or even
after dining okay excellent nice guy
that’s a nice one so where are you
headed next so you’re here in South
Florida you were here for a show right
and also working with the I will yeah I
will fly back home to tonight arriving
tomorrow night and then I uh will spend
two three days in the office after which
kazakistan almati is waiting for me and
then I will stay there um doing more or
less the same we will be um more than
this um attending the um gam Roso so the
red sham
um Road Show they will took us already
in Dallas uh in uh here and then almati
and then oim and
Vietnam uh which will be my immediately
after stop after which I will fly to um
um Denmark if I’m not wrong and then
back to kazakistan so one of the things
that is interesting worldwide right is
there’s there’s a wine culture just
about everywhere right yes culture is a
big word y culture that that’s the
reason why um uh I’m part of the uh of
the amast team yeah so my my main job my
main task is to uh travel the world meet
people and explain who we are from where
we are and why our wines are made like
this and why the results are like this
right no pesticide no chemicals and
which is and very low addal fights which
are three winning points at the same
price cuz we are not selling that
special prices right so they are all
affordable and it’s a shame because
people should know that there’s really
no need to invest a fortune to drink
very well yeah absolutely Franchesca it
was a pleasure thank you for joining me
at the bar at Community craft Spirit
much I really hope that what I told you
was uh um clear superb English your
English is very good by the way of
course the last point point I would like
to to
underlight
Neo and Primitivo are two local gr
voyages that grow just down there
nowhere else in the rest of the world so
maybe you won’t like it cuz every single
palette is different but at least be
sure that you are enjoying something
unique and Regional yeah absolutely
that’s awesome so we are Specialists
we’re professionals excellent well we’re
proud to be offering this at Community
craft spirits and wine you’re welcome to
give us a call anytime and we can uh
sample you on it you’re welcome to come
here to the tasting bar as well have a
great time thank you very much