We continue our series on women in the wine business, where we repeat podcast episodes while we don't have new shows, due to issues arising from the Coronavirus. This episode featuring Italian winemaker Ornella Molon was originally broadcast on May 15, 2019, almost exactly one year ago. 

Ornella Molon and Loris Traverso are in with Don Chigazola today on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Ornella Molon and her son Loris Traverso produce wine at their family's two wineries, in the Veneto and Friuli regions of Italy. (In a couple of places, Ornella speaks in Italian, then her son translates for her. For anyone interested in her comments in Italian, there is a transcript and translation of her words, at the bottom of this page.)

Loris explains how his parents started in the wine business in 1982. Neither his father nor his mother had a background in wine. When his grandparents gave them a vineyard when they were married in 1977, they started making wine, first for friends and then professionally. When they registered the winery as a business in 1982 at the Chamber of Commerce in Treviso, it was the first time that a woman was put in charge of the company. People were skeptical of a woman in that role, but Ornella has had great succeess and in Loris’ words, “My mom would say that she had to prove herself at the winery.” She says it was hard but it was good because she had to prove herself to everyone. Her advice to other women in the wine business is, “keep fighting, show who you are, and show everyone your value.”

They are located in Treviso, a small city about 30 minutes from the city of Venice, in the Veneto region. Their villa and cantina, centuries ago, was the summer home of the Doge of Venice (English pronunciation is “dodj” and the Italian pronunciation is “DO-jeh”).

Don Chigazola tells how he got started as a wine importer. He is retired from the tech industry and he has followed his passion for Italian wine since founding Chigazola Merchants with his son. They travel the back roads of Italy and look for small family producers who are making excellent wine. Don also speaks Italian, which is important for his business.

Don and Dan agree that it is the small producers in Italy make these very fine wines. The larger producers in Italy are the ones who supply American supermarkets and those wines are nothing like these. Dan Berger explains that American supermarkets do not stock the kinds of wine that Don Chigazola imports. Don’s wines are in some local restaurants (he mentions Riviera and Ca’ Bianca) and at Oliver’s Markets. They are also at Bottle Barn.

They taste a Rosato, which is Italian for Rosé. It is a 2017 and has light bubbles. This Rosato is made from Cabernet Franc, which is a very common varietal in northeastern Italy. They make it as a red and a rosato. It is very dry and has very thin bubbles. Dan explains that you can taste the wine with the bubbles, then wait a while and the bubbles will go away, the wine is equally interesting but different.

The next wine is their newest release, a 2017 Pinot Grigio from their second label and cantina, Vigna Traverso in Friuli (in northeast Italy next to Slovenia). Steve asks Dan how this Italian Pinot Grigio differs from the ones from California. Dan says that here, we start with much riper grapes, so we get more florality and are more alluring in the aroma department. However they have less acidity. Then there are two Italian styles, mass production and also cold climate small production. This is one of those cold climate wines that would go well with food.

Loris tells about the vineyard. Ponca is the name of the kind of soil, called marn in English. They do not use any barrels here. They only use French oak for their red wines. Loris also tells that his mother and father each have a vineyard and wi...