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exploring taste – Spring/Summer 2016 heritage – Lunch with Gaetano Marzotto

paired with specific wines. He was also a very curious person, lent things, but if you keep them for yourself, it’s very hard
wherever he went he wanted to try the local wine. He liked for you to make it. Then, another key value for us, and by 'us'
Pinot Grigio, it had a pleasant taste and a coppery coloring as I mean both my family and the company, is avoiding to seek
a result of being vinified with skins. The idea of removing the economic return in the short term. We act, we think and we
skins in order to obtain a clear, bright yellow Pinot Grigio im- invest looking towards future generations: we are the fourth
mediately gained popularity for its freshness and elegant aroma. generation of winemakers and the eighth generation work-
ing in the textile industry. Sometimes we experiment, and “Quality isn’t created
Among other things, you reached global success. Can you tell our managers tell us, “Are you really sure you want to invest
us about the arrival of Pinot Grigio overseas? in plots of land,” and the answer is always that we are, even
though we are aware that the returns on investing in plots of
It was a wine that had an enormous success in Italy first. Then, land is quite low. However, we also know that if you have good in the cellar only, it starts with
it happened that Tony Terlato, an American importer, was in soil, you can have good wines more easily. Maybe we won’t
Italy during the Seventies. He was a guest at the Principe di have an excellent return in the short term, but in the medi-
Savoia Hotel in Milan, where he was very good friends with um-long one we will obtain better wines, and the consumer
the sommelier, and to whom he asked: “What is the most pop- will repay you in the end. the soil, with the cultivation
ular white wine in Italy, now?” The sommelier’s answer was:
“Look, one of the wines that we sell the most and that has the In dealing with the consumer, how much has the perception of
most success, is the Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio.” wine changed over the years? We live in an era in which every-
He tried it, and immediately fell in love with the wine. He one seems to be a gourmet. It it really the truth? of grapevines. Undoubtedly,
hurried to Portogruaro. He waited there for three days before
being received—no one knew him, actually—then he said: “If Since Santa Margherita was founded, the perception of
you give me this for the US, I’ll sign a 5-year contract and I’ll wine by consumers has undergone a revolution. Back in the this is the feather in our cap.
try to do my best.” We've been doing business together for 37 day, wine was a simple aliment. Our workers, our farmers,
years now, first with Pinot Grigio and later all of our wines our collaborators, they all used to leave their houses with a
became very famous in the United States. And this year we flask of wine, a piece of bread and a chunk of cheese. And
decided to sell on our own on the US market: it is a crucial and by flask, I mean a 2-liter wicker wine bottle: everyone drank Still, quality cannot prescind
exciting challenge. a lot more than today. Then, little by little, wine has been
refined, improved, we’ve managed to obtain a better result.
This is a time in which the values upheld by brands are crucial, In Italy, we managed to have a far better result, we’re not the
you cannot do business without them. Some companies are first sellers of wine in the U. S. by chance, it’s because Italians from investments.
having to build theirs from scratch. What are the key values of are very good at making wine. With Santa Margherita we ex-
Santa Margherita? press trust in a convivial, pleasant wine, which can be drunk
everywhere in spite of cultural differences. Nowadays, peo-
Quality, for sure. Along the entire chain: quality isn’t created ple drink more responsibly, and they choose wines of higher Our wine cellars represent
in the cellar only, it starts with the soil, with the cultivation of quality. People love wine pairings, they choose their wine
grapevines. Undoubtedly, this is the feather in our cap. according to the food they eat, there are even restaurants in
Still, quality cannot prescind from investments. Our wine which you choose your wines first and your food after. This
cellars represent a good balance between innovation and is all part of the so-called ‘wise pairing’ we are trying to pro- a good balance between
tradition: we take care of our grapes, without crushing them, mote with Santa Margherita.
without stressing them, we even do some things by hand. At
the same time, we invest a lot in technology: when a quick The history of Santa Margherita is the history of an Italian
vinification is needed, we can obtain it because we have the brand with a firm territorial rooting which achieves global suc- innovation and tradition.”
right machinery. Tradition, innovation, quality. We also be- cess thanks its values. A characteristic of Made in Italy is being
lieve in having good relationships with all our collaborators. able to export a certain lifestyle updating it to the times and
We even have second and third-generation workers with us: places we do business with. Why, in your opinion, is the Italian
we think that human relationships based on trust are crucial. lifestyle such a global success?
There are several other values: we do rely on a lot, for instance,
on the ability we have of communicating – you can do excel- Because, basically, it’s a lifestyle that places the individual at

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