Davide Gentile of Lammidia - The Natural Swill Interview
An engaging breakaway into the charming, yet challenging life of a natural winemaker: Davide Gentile.
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Davide is one part-owner, alongside his childhood best mate Marco Giuliani of the well-established natural winery ’Lammidia' - based in Abruzzo, on the central east coast of Italy. Davide and his partner Marco have been making world-class, citrusy wines at their quaint winery by the Adriatic sea since 2014.
This is an interview I conducted with Davide back in 2020, just a few months before I went over to Italy to see what the story was in person, hope you enjoy it!
Natural Swill: How badly did the coronavirus affect you guys in terms of business and wine production?
Davide Gentile: All the orders were delayed, as well as the payments, so the main problem was in terms of cash flow. Last year (2019) we invested all our savings (and more) to construct a new cellar (in addition to the original one ) as well as buying a lot of modern and efficient equipment. So we had hoped to get back some money in this period... that's why we have suffered a little more.
Although since the beginning of May (2020), a lot of clients have restarted ordering and picking up wine again too, so the situation now is more under control. In the end, we can say that maybe it wasn't so bad as we had to wait a few more months extra to release the new wines, and they are now even more ready than in March.
Natural Swill: In recent years you have been producing some outstanding wines that have reached my radar here in the UK on social media platforms such as Instagram & Youtube etc. Recently, when the man himself - Action Bronson, gave your wine a shoutout on his renowned food, wine and travelling tv show - 'Fuck That's Delicious'. How good was that for business?
Davide Gentile: The first time Action Bronson drank our wine was some years ago at "La Kalada", in Barcelona, a smoking club where some of our close friends from Abruzzo work. Our friends were so happy that he liked the wines, and they sent us a lot of crazy pictures... to be honest we didn't even know Action Bronson at the time, obviously we soon became big fans of his too!
I can't give you a real feeling about how the shoutout on how 'Fuck That's Delicious' impacted our business, because from us to the final customers there are several steps, so we don't know exactly how much bottles were drunken thanks to Action Bronson, but for sure it gave a lot of awareness to Lammidia.
Natural Swill: I really like the name 'Lammidia', it rolls off the tongue so easily & has a catchy ring to it. What was your thinking behind your great name?
Davide Gentile: La'mmidia means envy or evil in our local dialect. In our popular tradition, wise women use an ancient practice made of water, oil and spells to get rid of it. When we made our first wine in 2010, fermentation started unabatedly. Since then, she gets rid of La'middia before each harvest.
Natural Swill: Your wines are so clean and pure with a super juicy mouthfeel to them, they really are some of my favourite wines at the moment, especially that crunchy, acidic young rose you have - ‘Miscela’. When the guest or fan of yours tastes their first mouthful of your wines, is there a specific experience you try to create between the drinker and yourselves?
Davide Gentile: ONE MORE GLASS, PLEASE!
Drinkability first.
A wine has to be good to drink, and if it is good, you want more. After that we can start speaking about the terroir, methodology and all other boring things that sometimes "experts" and commentators would love to speak about, to justify their Sommelier title.
After drinkability we need to speak about health; when the wines get into your body you have to feel good, not heartburn or a headache.
Some glasses later we get into the area of soul; you have to feel happier and in a good relation with other people, having pleasure for drinking Lammidia in a wide perspective. In the end, only good memories remain.
ONE MORE BOTTLE, PLEASE.
Natural Swill: To me, the natural wine community is incredibly transparent, filled with vignerons such as yourselves producing fresh and raw wines year in, year out. What exactly made you two join this community and start making your own natural wines?
Davide Gentile: We are wine lovers first, and it is a crucial crucial point for everything we do. The first tastings we participated in were VinItaly, one of the biggest wine fairs around the world. After a couple of editions, we were already bored, everything was tasting the same and we felt no emotions towards the wines we were tasting.
On the same day as VinItaly, there was also a natural wine tasting, possibly one of the first in Italy. Anyway, we got there and it completely changed our perspective; every wine was better than the previous... We went crazy! At those fairs, you can speak directly with the winemakers.
I was impressed by the hands of these people, because they use them to do all of the jobs, from the vineyard to the sales. And they were so open, we asked a lot of questions and they answered without secrets, sharing all of their experiences and knowledge.
QUESTION FROM A MEMBER OF THE NATURAL SWILL COMMUNITY
@jamestaylor96_: As natural winemakers and drinkers (I assume) do you think making natural wine gives us a greater connection to the earth?
Davide Gentile: Natural wines look as if everything is interconnected; the earth, the atmosphere and the people... we are all part of a unique system and we have to be conscious of that, in everything we do.
The Lammidia website is here. Lammidia’s Instagram is right here too.
Easiest way to buy Davide’s wines in the UK is here.
That Fuck That’s Delicious episode where Bronson shouts out Lammidia (3:20) is here.