Villa del Conte: Oh, 'cioccolato'!

MANILA, Philippines - If I may quote an oft-repeated line, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.”

Perhaps Forrest Gump, the perfect idiot, has not tasted the perfect chocolate, like what I recently discovered on one of my chocolate binges. Because with Villa del Conte, the cioccolato sublime from Padova, Italy, you know exactly that you’re getting only the best chocolate from Italy’s culturally opulent Veneto region where people are as proud of their roots as they are of their cacao beans.

It all started with chocolatier Nazzareno Cattapan whose all-consuming passion for cioccolato gave birth to probably the finest artisanal chocolates you’ll every lay your hands on or bite into. The cacao beans are handpicked to ensure that only the beans of the highest standards are used in making these chocolates that are handcrafted by artisans in a factory in the town of Villa del Conte in Padova, Italy.

Like a prized heirloom, Nazzareno passed on his recipe to his son Orfeo Celestino, who in turn passed on this cioccolato legacy to his son Enrico Cattapan, the third-generation cioccolato connoisseur.

Today, that 75-year-old sweet tradition lives on and we get to indulge in Italy’s rich chocolate history, thanks to Vince Aldanese, a muy simpatico Spanish businessman born and bred in the Philippines. On a visit to Padova, he met Enrico and his Filipino wife. Needless to say, it was a sweet encounter. Vince tried the Villa del Conte chocolates and he confesses it was love at first bite. He knew he had to bring it home to share with his family and friends. But the invincible Vince didn’t just bring home a box of chocolates, he brought home a whole store.

Sweet success: Villa del Conte chocolates are today’s favorite giveaways for weddings and other special occasions. “We customize our chocolates and we can work around your budget,” says Vince Aldanese. Photos by WALTER BOLLOZOS

“No, they didn’t have to sweet talk me or convince me to bring their chocolates to the Philippines,” says Vince. “I begged them. They’re used to selling in bulk. They average six workers per line, per shift. They have three full lines; there are two shifts, 12 per line, that’s 36. They’ve got about 64 to 65 employees for this factory.”

During the two lovely weeks he was in Padova, Vince relates that he taste tested over 277 different combinations. “The reason it takes that long is because for example, if you just tried coffee, which is a famous flavor that’s doing well, you have to wait a certain amount of time for your palate to clear, you have to brush your teeth, use mouthwash, because if you’re now going to try a strawberry or a mint or a banana flavor, you will not be able to appreciate the whole flavor of that chocolate.”

Out of the over 200 cioccolato flavors he stumbled on, Vince brought only 13 flavors to the Philippines “because I’m just starting off and from being born and raised in the Philippines, I think these are the flavors the Filipino palate is looking for. Like banana and coffee. We have hazelnut. We brought in something which nobody else has — cereal. I was thinking I loved Nestle Crunch as a kid. Our cereal is smaller and we put it inside.”

Vince is playing around with a special dark chocolate with pistachios. “To my surprise, a Filipino customer asked me, ‘Can I have a more bitter dark chocolate?’ I didn’t see that coming because Filipinos have a sweet tooth. I guess they realize the advantage of a dark or bitter chocolate. A study says that dark chocolate is the healthiest of all the chocolates,” he notes.

Sweet temptations: Vince is a great ovicini fan. You can have a jarful of big ovicinis at Villa del Conte. “They’re Italy’s M&Ms,” says Vince.

To reveal some of chocolate’s deep dark secrets: Because chocolate is made from plants, it contains many of the health benefits of dark vegetables, like flavonoids, antioxidants that protect the body from free radicals that cause damage that can lead to heart disease. Fact is, dark chocolate contains a large amount of antioxidants, eight times more than can be found in strawberries. Dark chocolate is truly good for the heart — just a small bar every day can keep the heart doctor away and the cardiovascular system running. It can reduce high blood pressure and reduce bad cholesterol by up to 10 percent. It stimulates endorphin, the feel-good chemical.

 “On our next order, we’ll probably go from 13 to 17, 18,” Vince counts. “In fact, the inquiry now or what they’re asking for is sugar-free chocolate. Enrico and I are working to put together a sugar-free chocolate. We already have an organic chocolate bar, which we want to bring in and which we think will sell very well. Organic means all fresh ingredients, no preservatives, no additives, no pesticides.”

So you can have your Padova cioccolato as fresh and velvety smooth as the day it was made, when it’s shipped to the country, its box is surrounded inside by bubble wrap and the chocolate itself is put in a plastic bag which is vacuum sealed.

Vince assures us, “If you keep them within 12 and 16° temperature, the shelf life for most chocolates is nine months or a year, but I order just enough to be able to sell them within six months because even though I keep them properly refrigerated, I want to make sure my product doesn’t sit there; the worst thing you can do is to sell old chocolates or chocolates that are already expired. That’s where you destroy your name.”

He adds with a sweet smile, “And here’s what we do to guarantee freshness. We don’t sell samples, a practice by other stores that bothers me. We never get the chocolates we sell from the samples. Because of the fluctuating temperature, every time you open the shelf, the shelf life of the chocolate is affected. In our store, we have a refrigeration unit behind, which is the only thing that I touch. We put out the box, weigh it, and put it in the bag right away.”

Villa del Conte has a dozen packaging makers. “We want to make our boxes thick and even put a chipboard inside so it’s really thick because if you put it in the ref and it’s too flimsy, masisira siya because it will get wet and moist,” Vince explains.

There’s a chocolate for every reason and season. “What’s interesting is people have been buying for weddings. They want to buy for the major sponsors, as their giveaways,” says Vince who has his hands full in December, the marryest season of all. “Chocolates also make great corporate giveaways. Today, we just finished a meeting with SM, they’re ordering 4,700 boxes of chocolates for the SM accessories group to give away for Christmas. Globe Telecom is inquiring, too, so if you’re a valued customer and you call up and you’re upset, you get a box of chocolates. Chocolate is their way of saying they’re listening to your anger. St. Luke’s Medical Center is getting not only ‘goodnight chocolates’ for their patients but also welcome chocolates for guests. St. Luke’s is also talking to us about sugar-free chocolates.”

You think you can’t afford Vince’s sublime cioccolato? Well, here’s sweet news for soon-to-wed couples: “Since I own the company, I will make it very easy for you,” he says with a convincing smile. “You tell me what your budget is and I will make the box fit that budget; my designer will work with you and your wedding coordinator to match your entire motif. We customize for any occasion at any price.”

And here’s probably the sweetest news you’ll hear from Vince (that is, for now): “You may think our clientele is only the AB market. At our newly opened Villa del Conte in Greenbelt 5, we have a new packaging called tre, which has only three chocolates. I think it’s going to fly off the shelf — three pralines for only P145. Now, the CD market can try artisanal chocolates.”

Villa del Conte has zeroed in on praline balls and praline sticks. “Just that. What you just do is decide what you want to put inside. You decide whether you want it to be in a stick form or a round form,” says Vince.

Aside from its kiosks at Shangri-La Plaza Mall and Greenbelt 5, Vince tells us, “We’re also at Resorts World, right beside Maxim’s Café. Right beside us is the only entry point from Marriott Hotel into the casino. It’s a 20-square-meter linear in-line store, which is going to be our concept flagship. We’re trying to make it look like Italy — old wood that’s cracked. It’s old-world Italy.”

Ah, let’s not forget the ovicini! “When I was growing up, and everybody was growing up, everybody loved M&Ms, even up to now,” Vince gushes. “Ovicini is Italy’s M&Ms, but it’s so big. You can either suck on it like candy until it melts in your mouth. It’s like a jawbreaker. Or you can bite into it like your traditional M&M. Or you can microwave it, put it on top of ice cream, and when you crack it with a spoon, it breaks open and all the chocolate spills over the ice cream.”

Oh, cioccolato! There’s no telling what other sweet surprises Villa del Conte has in store for all chocoholics out there.