At Pizza 4P’s, Earth to People is our expression of gratitude to natural ingredients, from their origin, their growers, our chefs and our beloved guests. This makes it especially exciting to introduce our new selection of Natural Wines. We deeply value the traditional winemaking technique by the Braghieri family, who have been cultivating organic grapes for 16 years to supply their winery Il Vei in Piozzano, Emilia-Romagna—one of the oldest traditional winemaking regions in Italy.
So, what is natural wine?
This traditional winemaking process only uses the yeast available in the vineyards and strictly avoids adding chemical flavours. This method helps to ensure that all batches are up to standard, combining unique flavors of the soil, resulting in what’s known as “The Terroir Wine”. This is the key factor in determining the essential values of natural wines, which is entirely aligned with our food philosophy at Pizza 4P’s.
Natural wine made with love from Italy
Our selection of natural wine is from the small, family-owned winery called Il Vei, located in a small village named Piozzano, in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, in the northeast of Italy. Today we’re taking a closer look at the origin of this very special wine.
More than 40 years ago, Mr. Savino, Mrs. Annamaria Braghieri decided to leave city life and move their family to the peaceful countryside on the Piozzano hills of Emilia-Romagna. These hills are surrounded by unspoiled and nutrient-rich soil, in which chemical fertilizers and agricultural chemicals have never been used. Early on, they started their vineyard with only one hectare of land, cultivating grapes organically and naturally. 16 years later, they continue to follow this practice, and their Il Vei winery has grown into a beautiful farmhouse with over eight hectares of land.
Today, the Braghieri family is very proud of the development of their wine-making process, and are very excited for what the future holds, with their son Riccardo looking forward to leading the future growth of the business in order to continue preserving the long-standing traditional wine-making method in Italy. Ripe grapes are harvested and processed by the farmers manually in preparation for the fermentation process in the barrel. Grape juice is then fermented into wine by using native yeast, naturally circulating in the air and landing on the grapes, instead of using industrial yeast. In addition, they do not use any flavor additives, which helps to ensure the original taste of each grape season. This is completely different from the typical practices of producing wine.
The unique characteristics of Il Vei natural wine
To demonstrate the distinctive flavour textures of Il Vei’s Natural Wines, we would like to share with you more about three different types of grapes used for different types of wines.
The main ingredient of Il Vei Sauvignon & Il Vei Frizzante Bianco (White) is the Sauvignon Blanc grape, which features the signature aromas of lime, white peach, passion fruit and green apple.
Il Vei Pinot Grigio (Rosé) is fermented from Pinot Grigio grapes–the only white wine grape that has a rosy colour. The finished wine product has a copper colour with a shade of pink, together with fresh, delicate tropical fruit aromas, mixed with a sweet hint of pear, raspberry and dried flowers to help balance out the flavour.
Lastly, we have Il Vei Bonarda & Il Vei Frizzante Rosso (Red), both made from Charbono grapes (also known as Bonarda). You can sense a subtle sweetness of blueberry and blackberry, blending with fruity flavours and great acidity.
You can enjoy these natural wines over gatherings with your loved ones at five of our restaurants: Le Thanh Ton, Hai Ba Trung, Xuan Thuy–HCMC; and Trang Tien, Phan Ke Binh–Hanoi