Stevie Kim goes on the road once again, this time in eastern Veneto, to the heart of the Prosecco growing region. In this episode,her guests are Diva and Leonardo Polegato Moretti, brother and sister team at Villa Sandi. Diva is the export manager for the UK and USA, and Leonardo is the raw materials buyer for the company. Stevie explains that she typically speaks to their father, third generation leader at Villa Sandi, Giancarlo Moretti, but today her focus is on the 4th generation.
Diva and Leonardo Polegato Moretti
Stevie asks Diva and Leonardo to choose their favourite wines from the portfolio, which holds over 30 labels. Leonardo starts with Rivetta 120, their signature Valdobbiadene DOCG. He explains that the 120 refers to 120 days of second fermentation. He chose this wine because he loves the Conegliano Valdobiaddene area, and he spent time between the vineyards there since he was a child. He feels this wine truly represents the territory.
Diva chooses the Asolo Prosecco Superiore DOCG, extra brut, for two reasons. First, she is very close to the estate that produces the wine, where she enjoys riding every Sunday. Second, the winery has sponsored the snow polo in St. Moritz and it is this wine that was used for the special edition created for the event, with a horse logo and a polo player on the label.
Villa Sandi and the Moretti family
Stevie is confronted with three wines poured by Diva and Leonardo, ready for a blind tasting. She says they look a little different but she can’t actually tell if they’ve poured the same one three times. She goes first in the blind tasting, laughingly declaring the wine is Prosecco, stating the obvious, so the siblings egg her on to dig deeper. Leonardo guesses his glass holds a DOCG wine because, in his opinion, that signifies “hills and territory, and I would say that this one really represents the territory where it’s produced.” Diva guesses her glass is an extra brut from Asolo because it has a very dry finish and “the sapidity from this specific terroir that you find in the Asolo DOCG, which is a riverbank soil with a strong component of iron.”
Stevie reveals the blind wines: No. 1 is Prosecco DOC, No. 2 is Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore, No. 3 is Prosecco Superiore Asolo DOCG, and then Cartizze, which is a very tiny subsection of the Valdobbiadene region. Diva explains that the wine is called Prosecco Superiore di Cartizze DOCG, and it’s the cru of Valdobbiadene.
Stevie asks the siblings her “million dollar question”: how do you feel about approaching the wine introduction to your generation? Leonardo says, “It’s a difficult question. Of course, habits are changing, especially in the last decade. I’m the youngest of the Gen Zs because I’m from 1997. So I’m coming from this new generation of wine drinkers, and unfortunately very few of them actually are wine drinkers. Most of them like cocktails.” Stevie digs deeper, asking what these people are really drinking and Leonardo says his Italian friends drink cocktails, ready to drink beverages, and beer, but not as much beer as the previous generation. He goes on to discuss his friends from abroad, remarking that drinking habits are really changing and the big question is how can we get Gen Zs more interested in the wine industry. Leonardo says, “We’re trying to, of course, but Gen Zs or, in general newer generations, are looking for lower alcohol products. Prosecco, from this point of view, is quite lucky because it is already coming in a very low alcohol position compared to other drinks, but new trends are coming forward.”
The conversation turns to dealcoholized wines, and lower alcohol wines. The speakers agree that there is a need to be more inclusive and anticipate what future trends will be. Villa Sandi does not produce a dealcoholized Prosecco, because they would have to forgo the name Prosecco. Instead, they have a brand called La Josa, which does have a zero alcohol product, which they began producing five years ago.
Returning to Diva, Stevie points out she is the big sister at the age of 30 and asks her opinion of the market, given that she travels a lot for her business in the US and the UK, which tend to be trend-setters. Stevie says all the news points to the younger generation drinking less and less wine. Diva explains that the USA and the UK were the pioneers of the low and no alcohol wines, even before the pandemic. Allowing for the fact that the legal drinking age in the USA is 21, Diva says, “when I approach the younger generation, they are already asking me what is the percentage of alcohol in your prosecco? It’s a question that I wasn’t asked before.” She comments that she already sees larger supermarket space dedicated to low and no alcohol products in the UK, even though only 8 years ago, it was virtually non-existent. Diva is a UK resident and she says, “it’s a huge market for Prosecco. It’s one of the top three markets for Prosecco, together with Germany and the US. So it’s a big thing here that we are talking about low and no alcohol. Especially in the sparkling category in these two major markets, the UK and the US.” Looking for light at the end of the tunnel in terms of the next generation and their attitude towards wine consumption, Diva tells Stevie that “I believe trends come and go. In my opinion, this trend will come, and maybe in a few years, we’ll see it leave. But the consumption of lower alcohol drinks will probably remain. So the category overall of prosecco is in the right place.”
Stevie gets personal with questions about the challenges they face in working for their family business. Diva says, “sometimes, you’re not told off enough whereas, if you had a boss in your office, then it’s kind of different.” She adds that, “when you are involved in a family business, you’re working in your area with your team but, at the same time, you need to be open minded and you need to see outside your specific area within the company.” Leo jumps in to comment that working with his sister is not a big challenge, since they are at opposite ends of the company. He admits, “of course, some of her decisions actually have an impact on what I’m doing in the company. And some of mine apply from my side to her side. But we do follow different things at the moment.” He tells Stevie that, “when I moved to the buying of raw material department, it was during the supply chain crisis. So, in that time where bottles started to explode in terms of crisis, all these things happened. So I would say it was the right time to be in that specific department because it taught me a lot.”
The view on Cartizze
Looking ahead, Diva says, “the main task here is to become fully sustainable one day. So at the moment, using our clean energy coming from solar panels and hydroelectric power plants, we can reach about 45% of our energy needs. The wish is to become 100% clean using clean energy.” Leonardo sums up Villa Sandi as “a family owned business based in Northern Italy. We have always been established in the prosecco area and have a great belief in increasing the value of prosecco in the future market.” Stevie asks about the Palestra in Vigna project, opened in 2018, which demonstrates Villa Sandi’s philosophy of giving back to the community. The project provides a gym in the vineyards that’s open to everyone, where there is no membership fee and it’s open 24 hours, all outdoors. The company is also working on more initiatives to give back to the community, including Villa Sandi for Life. Diva is the co-founder of a charity, constructing schools in Africa which began in 2000.
