When the pandemic knocked on the door and locked the people of São Paulo at home, sommelière Gabriela Monteleone, 38, head sommelier and wine director of Grupo DOM, was already in bed.
Thinking about how to bring the work and philosophy of producers closer to wine drinkers, in March 2020 she created the project “Tão Longe, Tão Perto”. To help her in the endeavor, she called her Argentine friend Ariel Kogan, who works in the import and sale of wines, and soon the two became partners.
The duo makes a selection of labels, assembles a box and sends it to customers, who later receive an invitation to participate in lectures and online tastings with those responsible for making those drinks. The chat lasts about 1:30 am.
“My idea was to do a tasting in which the narrative was not centered on me. I am a sommelière and my job is to communicate the work of winemakers and things that permeate wine matters”, explains Gabriela.
The guidelines chosen were never tips to differentiate a chardonnay wine from a sauvignon blanc, for example. “We discuss styles, aesthetics, agriculture, consumption.”
After 20 meetings and more than 50 hours of information exchange throughout 2020, the program grew and the duo set out to encourage the sale and consumption of Brazilian wines, but far from being a formal experience, like in a starred restaurant Michelin. That’s when they got to the barrel filling.
“It was a model of on tap service that I had already seen in other places in the world where I traveled, but which was still unheard of here”, says the sommelière, who also serves chefs Bel Coelho and Gabriela Barreto, from the Chou and Futuro Refeitório restaurants .
The latter, in fact, has just received “the taps that pour out wines”. “At Futuro Refeitório, we set up a kind of flagship store for ‘Tão far, so close.’ in carafe [300 ml].”
There are six taps for extraction: three of them are permanent, with a red of cabernet sauvignon, a white of lorena grape (hybrid strain developed in Brazil in an Embrapa program) and a rosé, blend of lorena with merlot; the other three are for limited editions.
“We’re going to launch a cider in partnership with Vivent winery and I’m combining a sangiovese with a winemaker, very pale, to serve ice cream.” In fact, as it is extracted at the ideal drinking temperature, the ideal is for the wine to be consumed immediately, in an uncomplicated way, perfect for get-togethers.
The first barrel wine of “Tão Longe, Tão Perto” was made with a 2020 vintage by the Gaucho producer Ivan Tisatto, from Caxias do Sul (RS). “It was a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon red. It is important to emphasize that these are not ordinary wines, but rather fresh drinks”, says Gabriela. “Eliminating the bottle is a way of dialoguing and exercising sustainability. Ethical thinking with wine and without generating waste.”
The 20-liter barrels were shipped to São Paulo through the intermediation of producer Gustavo Borges, from the Bellaquinta winery, in São Roque, with whom Gabriela negotiates and selects some labels for the restaurants of Alex Atala, DOM and Dalva e Dito.
Who opened the doors to the proposal, baptized by the partners as “pressure wine”, was the pizza restaurant Carlos and the restaurant Le Jazz, both in Jardins. But the project’s expansion plan intends to reach points far from the central axis, Jardins and Pinheiros. Today it is also possible to taste these wines at Soul Botequim, Brooklin, Mescla, Barra Funda, and Casa Meio do Céu, in Bela Vista.
WHERE TO DRINK WINE IN TAP
Carlos Pizza
R. Harmonia, 501, Vila Madalena, western region, tel. (11) 3813-2017
house midheaven
R. dos Franceses, 258, Bela Vista, central region, tel. (11) 99978-7002
future cafeteria
Cônego Eugênio Leite, 808, Pinheiros, western region, tel. (11) 99889-5280
Jazz
R. dos Pinheiros, 254, Pinheiros, western region, tel. (11) 94216-9564 (WhatsApp)
Mix
R. Souza Lima, 305, Barra Funda, central region, tel. (11) 91107-8943 (WhatsApp)
Soul Botequim
Av. Padre Antonio Jose dos Santos, 812, Brooklin, southern region, tel. (11) 3297-0006
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I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.
