interview

<p><em>This interview with Mauro&nbsp;Vergano&nbsp;stems from a series of emails in November 2010.</em></p> <p><strong>You used to be a chemist before you made wine right?</strong><br /> <br /> Exactly. After earning a degree in chemistry, I started with a chemical company where I worked for about 15 years. This period of work was particularly useful for me: firstly, because I learned how to use certain instruments and equipment, but also to experiment with my recipes.<br /> <br /> Secondly, because the company produced substances used in the &ldquo;flavors and fragrances&rdquo; sector I was able to practice on my aromatic blends for years; especially to &quot;train&quot; my nose to recognize all the nuances of fragrances.<br /> <br /> I must say, however, that ever since I began studying chemistry I have held a great interest in the world of wines. In fact, once I finished my degree in chemistry I did a Master&rsquo;s Degree in <glossary title="422">oenology</glossary> and grape-growing at one of the most prestigious institutes in the country. This allowed me to bring together my passion for wine and my passion for aromas and fragrances.<br /> <br /> Furthermore, I mustn&rsquo;t forget the notions that my father, a pharmacist, and my uncle, a producer of wines and&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1083">vermouth</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> handed down to me. In particular my uncle who in his old-age guided me through my first experiences.<br /> <br /> At the end of the 1970s I started my first trials to make&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="287">Chinato</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> For years, preparing&nbsp;<glossary title="287">Chinato</glossary><em>&nbsp;</em>had been a hobby for me: I made it for friends and relatives. Naturally, as the years went by my experience in mixing herbs and spices grew.<br /> <br /> When I stopped working in the chemical industry, the idea of transforming my passion from just a hobby into a real job grew on me more and more. It took me about three years, but finally in early 2003 the first bottles of&nbsp;<em><glossary title="287">Chinato</glossary></em>&nbsp;were proudly displayed on the shelves of my laboratory.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Now that more than seven&nbsp;years have passed, I must say I am really happy with the choice I made. I acknowledge that it has been hard work and risky, but I am aware that my work has been appreciated and enjoyed success well beyond anything I could have dreamed of. My products are highly respected and that makes me very proud and encourages me to improve on them further and to create new products, too.<br /> <br /> <strong>Your<em>&nbsp;</em>Chinato&nbsp;is very classic while your<em>&nbsp;</em>Americano&nbsp;is a more modern, unique expression of this style of wine. What was the inspiration for the<em>&nbsp;</em>Americano? How do you feel about classicism versus modernism in wine?</strong><br /> <br /> I&rsquo;m not sure if I should define the&nbsp;<glossary title="101">Americano</glossary>&nbsp;as a modern product and the&nbsp;<glossary title="287">Chinato</glossary><em>&nbsp;</em>as a classic one. All of my products are based on the tradition of aromatized wines which started in<strong>&nbsp;<glossary title="793">Piemonte</glossary></strong>&nbsp;at the end of the 1700s and which has been carried on by larger and smaller producers ever since.<br /> <br /> I think that we can say that the&nbsp;<glossary title="287">Chinato</glossary>&nbsp;is a more classic product because it reconnects with the tradition of the <glossary title="141">Barolo</glossary> <span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="287">Chinati</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> That said, the&nbsp;<glossary title="101">Americano</glossary>&nbsp;also comes from the ancient tradition of <glossary title="1083">vermouth</glossary> and has been a typical <glossary title="1134">Piemontese</glossary> <glossary title="112">aperitif</glossary> for more than a century.<br /> <br /> All of my products have ancient origins, but they are not simply repetitions or copies of old products from more than 100 years ago; rather they are a re-elaboration that is born of the use of different wines (like <glossary title="510">Grignolino</glossary> in the&nbsp;<glossary title="101">Americano</glossary>) and mixtures of herbs that are no longer what they were in the past (nowadays nearly all herbs are cultivated and no longer grow wild).<br /> <br /> Perhaps this is the difference: every product is the synthesis of traditional recipes that are interpreted with the tastes and imagination of today&rsquo;s producers.<br /> <br /> <strong>Are the&nbsp;bitters&nbsp;you use a secret recipe?</strong><br /> <br /> They are secret in part because the ingredients used to aromatize wines are always more or less the same. Surely the quantities are secret; this is probably the only true secret to my products.<br /> <br /> The truth is that my products are the result of re-elaboration and modification of old recipes. Why re-elaborate them? Simply because, with a bit of ambition, I have wanted to modify them and further adapt them to my taste and to the wines that I have chosen as my&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="146">base wines</glossary><span>.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <strong>You source your grapes from winemakers many would consider as &quot;natural wine&quot; producers. What&#39;s your take on the ongoing debate on natural wine?</strong><br /> <br /> In my opinion, <glossary title="708">natural wine</glossary> is actually a wine that is as &ldquo;simple&rdquo; as possible.<br /> <br /> &quot;Simple&rdquo; because it doesn&rsquo;t contain any of the elements that, firstly in the vineyard and then in the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="254">cellar</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> would make it heavier and more complicated.<br /> <br /> &ldquo;Simple&rdquo; because its fragrance and taste are different from the ones that technologically and scientifically cutting-edge growing and wine-making tend to standardize.<br /> <br /> &ldquo;Simple&rdquo; because it changes from area to area, from vine-type to vine-type, from year to year and from producer to producer.<br /> <br /> &ldquo;Simple&rdquo; because it respects the environment and is healthier for those who drink it.<br /> <br /> &ldquo;Simple&rdquo; because drinking <glossary title="708">natural wines</glossary> is a more moving experience: they are full of flavors and fragrances, more easily digested and never &ldquo;heavy&rdquo;.<br /> <br /> &ldquo;Simple&rdquo; because <glossary title="708">natural wine</glossary> expresses itself more freely, more finely. It is more alive, it has a stronger bond to the area it comes from and of which it is the expression.<br /> <br /> And in conclusion:<br /> <br /> &ldquo;Not simple&rdquo; because in order to choose a&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="708">natural wine</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> you have to go beyond a mere tasting; you have to get into how the individual producer actually works. I must say that it has been easy for me to work side-by-side with them because I have been fortunate to meet, get to know and appreciate the wine-makers first and the wines second. Once you have taken that step there is no turning back.
</p>

producers visit

<p><strong><em>This visit with Mauro Vergano took place in November, 2012.</em></strong></p> <p><strong><em>Words by Jules Dressner, photos by Jake Halper and Josefa Concannon.</em></strong></p> <p>Tucked away in a small alley street in the heart of&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1161">Asti</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> you will find Mauro Vergano&#39;s magic laboratory. Mauro has very little room to store the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="146">base wine</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> which stays in the <glossary title="986">stainless steel</glossary> <glossary title="1140">tanks</glossary> pictured above. He drives over to each <glossary title="427">estate</glossary> to grab the <glossary title="146">base wine</glossary> right before they <glossary title="185">bottle</glossary> their own. To reiterate: the&nbsp;<glossary title="287">Chinato</glossary>&nbsp;is produced from&nbsp;Giuseppe Cortese&#39;s&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="709">Nebbiolo</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> the &quot;Luli&quot;&nbsp;from&nbsp;Vittorio Bera &amp; Figli&#39;s&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="686">Moscato</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> the&nbsp;<glossary title="101">Americano</glossary>&nbsp;from&nbsp;Cascina Tavijn&#39;s <glossary title="510">Grigolino</glossary> and the <glossary title="1083">vermouth</glossary> bianco from&nbsp;Cascina Degli Ulivi&#39;s <glossary title="341">Cortese</glossary> and the Bera&#39;s&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="686">Moscato</glossary><span>.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> These little guys hold Mauro&#39;s herb and spice concoctions.</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_09//94/67/9467ff26c48b359078fe03cf7b6db2f0.jpg" /><br /> <br /> <img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_09//19/92/1992a9d324c6a5bffc5a9314c0983688.jpg" /><br /> Mauro sources his herbs from three&nbsp;different suppliers;&nbsp;the only ingredient he picks himself is&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="1174">chinotto</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> a bitter citrus from which he uses the rind. On average, he picks 20-30 k of the fruit at the end of September, then peels and cuts them himself. <glossary title="1174">Chinotto</glossary> is smaller than a clementine, and apparently doesn&#39;t taste very good.<br /> <br /> In the moment we had all been waiting for, Mauro opened his closet of secret ingredients, many of which you can see in the following picture:</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_09//01/3d/013d454e5ae60eed2105f26bb19e3693.jpg" /></p> <p>All of the herbs and spices are kept together. Many of these are very hard to obtain, because they are protected when grown in the wild.. But Mauro has a friend who knows all the guys who go to the mountains, and they get him everything he needs on the low-low.&nbsp;</p> <p><img src="http://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article/2019_Aug_09//b2/bb/b2bb216a4ddd00cdd1e9a10e1a7663fd.jpg" /><br /> <br /> We got to smell many different types of <glossary title="1175">absinthe</glossary> (or <glossary title="1176">wormwood</glossary>), which really burns your nose if you sniff it too hard. We also smelled cumin, sage, cloves, oregano, and bark from the bahamas! After our&nbsp;scratch-n-sniff tasting, Mauro surprised us with a new experiment: a <glossary title="881">Ruch&eacute;</glossary> <span class="zalup"><span><glossary title="287">Chinato</glossary><span>!</span></span></span> It was very sweet.&nbsp;In this case, he used a mix of the extract used for the&nbsp;<glossary title="287">Chinato</glossary>&nbsp;and &quot;Luli&quot;.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Before leaving, we got a little history lesson. Mauro showed us the&nbsp;original&nbsp;<glossary title="287">Chinato</glossary> recipe from a century ago, scribbled on an old piece of paper. You see, Mauro&#39;s uncle&#39;s father was a barman, and always had fun messing with recipes. After many years of tinkering around, he came up with the base for how all <glossary title="287">Chinato</glossary> is made today. His name was&nbsp;<a href="http://cocchi.it/eng/barolo_chinato.htm">Giulio Cocchi</a>, a name you might recognize since it was trademarked many years ago, and is one of the biggest producers of <glossary title="287">Chinato</glossary> and <glossary title="1083">Vermouth</glossary> in Italy.<br /> <br /> <em>&quot;I have the original recipe! I don&#39;t think the current owners even have it!&quot;</em></p>