I reach Gaby at the Castello di Morcote estate, where she spends her working days. The landscape is idyllic, all taken care of down to the smallest detail: the vegetable garden, the flowers, the vines and then the wine cellar, created from the old stone farm. But what «that excites me the most are the smells, intense and unique. I look down and among the wild roses and rosemary I see a ladybug…
A dream, your dream ...
(He smiles happily) "My dream was to produce wine on this land and I am still in a phase of disbelief because everything you see has been built with patience and determination over many years, we only completed the cellar one year ago and now the company has finally become as I imagined it since I was a child ».
We move to the spaces dedicated to hospitality and tastings, restored with care and respecting the Ticino tradition. From the windows you can admire the vineyards, the olive trees and the lake…
«The agricultural and wine-growing company has 150 hectares. We have seven hectares of vineyards here in Morcote on red porphyry, a rock of volcanic origin, a peculiarity of this magical place and unique in Ticino. If you look closely we are on a peninsula, surrounded by the lake and the thermal winds give us a mild climate, which characterizes this terroir, which is reflected in the soul of our wines. We also have several vineyards in Mendrisiotto, on predominantly calcareous soil, each with its own particularities. For us it is essential to respect and enhance the different terroirs in our wines. You must know that at the beginning there was only one wine: the Castello di Morcote black label, I'm talking about thirty years ago, then from these vineyards we created the Castello di Morcote Bianco, the Castello di Morcote Riserva, our Rosé and the Fuoco, while the other four labels: Il Moro, Biancamaria, Rubino and Chardonnay in purity come from Mendrisiotto ».
So eight labels plus a new award-winning Rosé that marries the two terroirs (Morcote and Mendrisiotto) and remembers the importance of the female presence in your company ...
(Smiles) "Ours is a continuous, daily research, we have also started to use terracotta amphorae, a very interesting material with a porosity different from that of wood, capable of enhancing some characteristics in white wines such as fruit and minerality , present for example in our Chardonnay vinified entirely in amphora and bottled without filtration ».
I know your searches are never random ...
«Each of my choices has a deep connection with the land and with my family. My ancestors were originally from the Tuscan coast, also called the Etruscan coast, where the use of the amphora is quite widespread. This method of vinification and aging of wines is very ancient, born in Giorgia more than 7000 years ago and was then also adopted by the Greeks and Romans. Furthermore, on our land, inside the Morcote Castle, there are the remains of a Roman lookout tower, all this led me to see the amphora as a historical continuation that had an important meaning for us " .
You often talk about your roots, your links with history, family, the land and your grandfather ...
"My grandfather, I think every day, had a great passion for wine, he loved and respected the land, it was he who passed on to me the immense love for this place".
Tell us about your grandfather, what he did and how he came to create this immense estate ...
“He was an engineer, the youngest of nine children. His great-grandfather had emigrated to Ticino from Tuscany and his father was a bricklayer and farmer, a bit like everyone on the banks of the Ceresio in the 800th century. In these large families, as often happened, everyone had a task and since he was the youngest, and he was very smart, his parents suggested that he go to study in Germany. We are talking about the beginning of the 900th century, so for my grandfather Massimo it was a great opportunity. At the end of the First World War, after having trained in mechanical engineering in Friborg and Stuttgart, he had the idea of importing machinery that manufactured precision parts for industry from Germany and founded his own company in Milan. Despite the entrepreneurial activity, which occupied him a lot, his love for the land, linked to peasant origins, was always present and his desire was to have a farm. When he returned to Vico Morcote and met my grandmother Maria, younger than him and, from what I have been told, very beautiful, the grandfather decided that she would create her estate exactly where we are now. He understood the extraordinary beauty of this peninsula and had a visionary project. With great tenacity and conviction he bought over 500 plots of land, also exchanging land at the lake. In doing so, the Arbostora Agricultural Company was born, from the name of the mountain, which then gathered 172 hectares of land. Not happy (he says it with a smile) he began to take an interest in the ruins of the Morcote Castle, which belonged to the Paleari family, descendants of the last castellan, who had received the castle after the fall of the Dukes of Milan. With his tenacity and patience my grandfather managed to convince the Paleari brothers, who had no direct heirs, to give him the ruins of the castle and the adjacent lands. It so happened that the seller was none other than Giuseppe Paleari, director at that time of the agricultural institute of Mezzana, father of the Ticino Merlot. Paleari had imported the first Merlot cuttings from France and planted them right around the ruins of the castle. From that moment my grandfather started cultivating the vineyard, I still have the drawings of the 30s vineyard project and the subdivision of the land into parcels to experiment with different vines, really fascinating. My grandfather Massimo was a great source of inspiration for me ».
So this passion for the land has skipped a generation, even if you initially made other choices ...
«Yes, it's true, when I was a child I lived in Milan until I was 15, but I was always very excited to spend the weekends in Vico Morcote surrounded by nature and even when I was very young I thought that I would take care of this land, which I have always loved deeply . I think that each of us has a destiny in life, a task, although I felt the call immediately, I realized it later, when the right time came... I became a very young mother, at 24, and I went to live in Lausanne, I studied literature and history of art. From a distance I could see my cousin tending the estate, but then he died young and my father and my uncle decided to rent the land. At one point, in 1996, I returned to Ticino and had a sort of epiphany. It was Christmas Eve and my dad had begun a speech that presaged the sale or at least the transfer of the land, at that moment I realigned myself with my destiny. It was at this point that I decided I wanted to do it myself, even though I didn't have the knowledge or experience in the industry at the time, and had two small children. Initially my father and my family were very surprised and unconvinced of my choice, but I was absolutely determined and went my own way, alone. It took me twenty years, but in the end I made it (a moment of silence, a great emotion).
I don't hide from you that I also encountered great difficulties, there were very hard times, but I knew I had to stay there, not give up. First I took care of Alpe Vicania, creating a restaurant surrounded by nature then, when I was able to return to the vineyards (which had been rented by my father) I started to take care of it with all the love possible, together with the oenologist with whom I was collaborating then, and in 2009 we made our first harvest. The cellar was the last piece of this great project, which required an important investment and a lot of waiting, but as you can see, this dream has also become reality. Look here (he shows me the objects scattered around the room), there are still the old wooden crates for my grandfather's grape harvest, the bins used to transport the milk of the cows, how many memories ... ».
You are an organic company since 2014, certified since 2017, you were a step ahead of everyone, and now you have started with biodynamics, although it is not easy with a climate like that in Ticino. Tell me what exactly do you do?
«Certainly, also because this is a theme that is very close to my heart. Originally the vine, which is a climbing plant, was left to grow towards the sky then, for a matter of convenience, intensive plants were created, it was exploited, folded, cut and tied, the cuttings undergo the practice of grafting ( the different varieties of Vitis Vinifera are applied on a foot of American vine, resistant to Phylloxera). Thus the plants have become increasingly weak, sick and consequently treated heavily with synthetic chemicals against numerous diseases, chemically weeding under the rows, and all this renders the soil lifeless, a vicious negative cycle is created both for the earth both for the plants, which take their nourishment from the earth.
The purpose of organic and biodynamic management is to restore fertility and biodiversity to the soil, not to strain and exploit the vines, so that they can find their balance. For this reason, pesticides, herbicides and chemicals are banned first of all, but only natural preparations based on plants, animals or minerals are used. The biodynamic method, born in the 20s by the anthroposophist Rudolf Steiner, is a further tool that we combine with bio to further fortify the soil and vine plants, always with the aim of creating balance and fewer diseases. It is a holistic view of agriculture where the earth, plants, animals and the man himself who takes care of them are interconnected. Nature, and in particular the plant world, has always been linked to the cosmic rhythms that influence its life cycle. For this reason biodynamics observes the cycles of the moon as those of all the other planets of our solar system and of the constellations that surround them. What does this actually mean? That we must try to follow the lunar and biodynamic calendar during all phases in the vineyard and in production, distribute biodynamic preparations on the soil and on the vine plants, such as the manure horn and the silicon horn. The manure horn, so I'll give you a practical example, contains the manure of a cow that has already given birth, is buried before autumn and in the spring its content, rich in millions of bacteria, is dynamized in a copper pot with water spring and then sprayed by hand on the soil, in the root zone. They may appear witchcraft, but I assure you that the quality of the soil, of the leaves and of the grapes, change. These choices involve a lot of extra work and are a sacrifice, we must believe it, but it is amply rewarded in seeing a wonderful biodiversity in the vineyard, and hearing how vibrant the wines become. Just think that this year I was chosen for the new Swisstainable campaign by My Switzerland (Switzerland Tourism) as a “changemaker” personality, and the video is really exciting, it tells in images the words I'm telling you ».
It seems that you are talking about a distant era, where time has stopped, where nature takes the right measure in our life. And the Relais Castello di Morcote?
“It was a bit of a consequence of what was built. When the first people came to the cellar to taste the wines, they wished they could stay longer to enjoy the beauty of the place, so they asked me where they could sleep. I thought it would be nice to offer them a place that reflected the philosophy of the estate and the magic of the castle. The beautiful building, part of an ancient 1600th century convent, which houses the Relais belongs to a family of friends, they are the ones who have refurbished it with extreme taste, with eco-sustainable materials, and we manage it. There are twelve rooms, all different from each other, and I feel I can say one more beautiful than the other ».
However, you also have three children and a husband next to you ...
(Smiles happily) «Yes, and without them I couldn't feel so complete. Maurizio, my husband, had a very important role in this project, he gave me the strength to do the final sprint because he himself is a great wine lover. When I met him in 2017 for work we immediately started talking as if we had known each other forever and after only three weeks we decided to live together, I think it only happens when you finally meet your soul mate. Now he, who comes from the world of aviation, is the captain of our team. I always tell him, laughing, that I am very grateful that he has chosen to come down from heaven to earth for me ».
Maurizio also has children, there is someone who is already thinking of working with you ...
(Laughs) «Actually we are a big family, five boys and us. For now we are so passionate that we will continue to work full time, even if of course we involve our children as it is an all-encompassing activity, and everyone helps and supports us in their own way, we'll see in the future. Our team of collaborators is very young, flexible, also because to have a sustainable approach you need an open mind and availability, especially for biodynamics... because it happens that you have to wake up in the middle of the night to give biodynamic preparations, in order to respect all a number of parameters.
You talked about teams, we have already said that you have many women who work with you, even the winemaker ...
«I am very happy with my team which includes two exceptional women: Erminia and Benedetta, but the whole team is very close and also the guys in the cellar and in the vineyard do a great job. Benedetta Molteni is our oenologist, she has international experience behind her and worked for a very renowned winery before coming to us, then fate, we can say so, brought her here. I am delighted to have her with us, also because she is not yet thirty years old and full of energy and she knows how to make wine well. We were able to create a bond with her, an excellent harmony because we have the same idea of how wines should be: fresh, fruity and elegant. And above all a vibrant expression of the terroir they come from ».
How exciting it would be to have your grandfather Massimo next to you for an instant!…
«I would hug him very tightly and I would say to him:“ Thank you for seeing something that only you have been able to see and thank you for having passed on this passion to me ”and“ that when I thought I could not make it, in every difficult moment, I thought of you grandfather ”. He is a little bit my guardian angel ».
