Ep. 2331 Zulfiya Ibragimova of Almawine Group | Asia Wine Market: Almaty Special Edition

I'm very happy today to welcome Zulfia Ebragimoa, the president of the Kazakhstan Somalia Association as our first guest in her current role at Alma wine country's leading wine and spirits importer and distributor Zurfiy ad leads wine imports and portfolio development. For today, our three key learning objectives are. First one, we are going to explore the evolution of Kazakhstan's wine industry and the role of Kazakhstan Somalia Association and growing Somalia community. Second, we are going to learn about Alma wine. And third, we are going to identify the opportunities for Italian wines in our markets including some popular styles underrepresented regions and importer preferences. Welcome to Asia wine market. Almati special edition with me. Your host, Rosa. In this special series, we're exploring the growing wine culture of Kazakhstan, with almighty at the heart of it all. Each episode will meet with Italian wine professionals, importers, psalms, and producers who are shaping the future of wine in central Asia. Whether you are a winery looking to expand into new markets or a local expert curious about the market dynamics, you are in the right place. Hello, everyone, and welcome to our first ever episode of Asia wine market, almost a special edition. I'm very happy today to welcome Zulfia Ebragimoa, the president of the Kazakhstan Sonilla Association as our first guest Zutviyah has worked across multiple sectors of the wine industry. Her diverse background includes roles as a wine consultant, restaurant song, wine school teacher, and private tasting organizer. In her current role at Alma wine country's leading wine and spirits importer and distributor, Zulfia leads wine imports and portfolio development. She's also an active member of the exam and education committee of the International summary association. So welcome, Sofia. We are very happy to see you here today. Hello, Rosa. Thank you for inviting me. I'm really glad to be with you today. I'm very glad too. And what I wanted to say that Sophia was one of the first acquaintances I made in Kazakhstan in the wine industry. So I'm very happy that she's my first guest. And before we dive in into today's main topic, could you please share some of your personal experience your personal journey into the wine world and how your role has evolved over the years. Before we start, I just wanted to say that it's my very first podcast, and it's gonna be my very first experience in this type of interaction. So I'm a bit nervous, but I'm really glad to be here with you. It's also my first ever interview as a host I was editing before. So now I'm sitting in front of the mic. If it's gonna make you feel better. I'm nervous too. So we're gonna be nervous together. Yeah. I want to add that if I start to make something very new to me and I'm very excited to do so, I always make a wish So I think that you can also make a wish today, and it's gonna be done perfectly well. Yeah. So I started ten years ago. I was working as a cubist in, wine shops. They used to call Nicola. They are closed now, unfortunately. I met there, my very first mentor. Roman Paul is a great educator, and he gave me lots of basics of wine knowledge, which I use today on everyday basis. Then I used to work several years as a sommelier in restaurants and wine bar. And afterwards, I decided to start something very new, and I joined on Hawaiian And I'm really glad to be part of this beautiful company because our CEO, he supports us very strongly in every hour idea, which help us to develop ourselves and the company itself as well. Alright. Thank you for sharing all that experience. And I must say that Sophia already has over ten years of experience in the wine industry, if I'm not mistaken. Mhmm. Right? She's driven. She's young. She's very enthusiastic, but at the same time, she's already gained a lot of experience in different positions in this industry. So this makes her a valuable guest because she can answer our questions as a professional with a lot of experience already. But at the same time also as a young generation of wine professionals, which is pretty cool, I think. So for today, our three key learning objectives are first one, we are going to explore the evolution of Kazakhstan's wine industry and the role of Kazakhstan's family association and growing some of your community. Second, we are going to learn about Alma wine, as I've already mentioned, it's one of the leading wine distributors and importers in our country. And third, we are going to identify the opportunities for Italian wines in our market, including some popular styles underrepresented regions and importer preferences. Alright. So let's dive in. And first of all, as I know, Kazakhstan's family association plays an important role in developing the wine culture helping the wine professionals in advancing their careers and education. So let's start our conversation with this topic first. You are currently the president of Kazakhstan Hamway Association. Could you tell us more about the association and how we came about. And when did you join it? Our similar association was founded in two thousand seventeen. As a commercial project, I was one of the first members of this association. And for me, kinda like a family where I can do something to grow together. We joined International Assembly Association in twenty nineteen, and it's a very big step for our market as well, for our community as well. Because they give us the direction, how to develop our skills, how to develop the community, the passion of so many of the professionals in wine industry to speak with the best so many of the world to speak with the best futures and best wine educators, it's very encouraging. I became a president in two thousand twenty two. From this year, I cannot join anymore the competition, which is good. It is one of the rules of Casa Sanlamilia Association and ASI, which is international summary association, to give more opportunity for some ideas who are not involved in creation of the politics of the Sonya Association. So about our association, we are a very young and very passionate community, which are noncommercial since two thousand twenty two. And our ideas are to support each other to grow together and to share our ideas within our market. And that's pretty cool. And I would also like to add, from my part, as I'm also a member of Kazakhstan Wee association. And actually yesterday, I had a chance to attend the annual meeting of the assembly association where the board members have provided us with the information on how was the association working over these past two years. And again, as Sophia just said, the association is a nonprofit organization. They're not commercial, but at the same time, they're giving us pretty good results. I really appreciate the work of the board members that you've done over this past two years and also before. I think it's critical. That is the organization that is driving the growth of the wine community, wine professionals, and also teaching the customers in our market. So thanks a lot for that. Could you please tell us how many members currently part of the association? What types of professionals do you work with? And also maybe you can tell us about some of the key projects or some collaborations and initiatives that you're focusing right now. Thank you for your kind words. I just had a goosebumps, actually. So I'm pretty glad that all work can be appreciated, especially from our member who is not always in our office. So we were very glad to see you yesterday. Currently, we have more than eighty member who are part of our wine community. Mostly, we have several bartenders, but they are not involving in our activities that much. Most of our members are some of this, wine specialists, wine educators, brand managers, and wine trading companies as well. And of course, we have wine enthusiasts. So for now, we are preparing our candidate for this summary of Asia Noshania, which will be in Malaysia, this autumn, and Radmiro Schmidtov who won the internal selection. He will represent Kazakhstan in this beautiful competition. Our ideas are to help each other for this preparation. So that's why they created boot camp with the Roman Sherbakov to be more prepared for this competition because it's quite difficult and tough to be evaluated as a professional if you have a small market as a kazakhstan. Of course, as we are a part of ASI, we actively join every single event that they create. As Rosa mentioned before, yesterday, we did a report for our members. It was in a general assembly of Casasan's familiar association. We gained a lot of funds. To support our members. And one of our programs is to financially support our candidates to join Vasimani of Asia, Nashania, Vasimani of the world. To join the general assembly. Next general assembly is gonna be in South Africa, and Yikitini Kimawa, who is currently our financial director. She will fly there. And I'm planning to send our three candidates if the selection of ASI will be done well to Singapore this summer, and it's very exciting. I'm still shivering now because I think that it's very cool and it's one of the parts how we can help our familiar association to be stronger, more educated, to have more connection with the wine world internationally, because I think that if you travel a lot, if you meet a lot of people, if you see a different culture, you will be excited, you will be motivated, and you will feel a lot of encouragement. And when you come back home, it's gonna be your strength. That's so true. And and I think that is also a way to become more confident in your skills too because sometimes always think that we're not enough. The wine world is big. We still have to learn many things, but at the same time, I think getting acquainted with other people. At one point, you can gain knowledge from them, but in the other point, you can also become more confident. Mhmm. I agree. I would say that these international interactions are very important, not only for us, but for the ASI as well. Because as I currently, a part of exam and education committee in ASI, we have different opinions. And for example, for us, as cause of time, is a part of ASI since two thousand nineteen. So roughly six years, we used to have difficulties running the exams because I'm the part of this department. I can give a tips how to help other countries who are starting to run this exam on the very first time to be more confident, to do it right, and to give a feedback as well. Last year, we invited the best family of Asian Oceania, Mason from Singapore. He's a very nice guy. He's a friend of mine. He's very supportive, funny, and in the same time, very intelligent, very talented. And he's a person who really inspires a lot of people, and it was a big fortune to have him here. And I was excited. It was amazing. And I hope that this year, we're gonna do the work more efficiently. And I hope that our candidates who will join ASI events, they will bring to us more inspiration, which will help us to be more efficient. It almost became Mason's podcast. Mason, if you listen to the Italian wine podcast, cheers to you. Mason love you. Okay. So now let's move on to your current role at Alma Wine. Could you tell us more about the company and how many cities across Kazakhstan does Alma operate? What sales channels do you cover? And again, what are your main responsibilities there? I joined I'm a wine three years ago, and I started as a wine educator and wine development manager. Then my CEO offered me to be a portfolio manager. So now I'm currently working on a selection of wines to our portfolio, especially Italian. And that was a big job because we used to have not a big range of Italian wines. So I'm very glad that I'm a big part of importing Italian wines So, basically, I'm a person who creates the portfolio. It's a very important position. So I'm now I'm traveling a lot. I just came back after Vinay delim. It was a very good event. I met a lot of people. I met my producers. I joined trade after parties as well. It was very cool about Almerline. We are one of the strongest wine importing companies in Casa. We work more than twenty years in general. It's a big holding called Online. And it includes, wine distributional company. It includes wine importing company where I work. It includes logistics company as well. And we have our own one school called Iron. Our company operates in twenty cities in Pakistan. So we work basically in every channel where we can represent our products. And Alma Wine also runs retail. It's own wine shops and also restaurants. So could you please tell me how do you approach consumers in your retail business in wine shops and restaurants? Maybe some events that you make their or some special offers. We have several wine shops. And in one of them, we do a wine tastings for our customers. So basically, you don't have to pay a lot The price is very nice. The educators who work there are quite friendly, and they explain about the wine in a friendly way without any nerdy stuff. They might use some terminology, but they they are quite good. And of course, we interact with our IWine school, where we can send our customers if they want to be more involved in the wine industry to understand how wine was created, what is the difference between the styles, And what is the idea behind this beautiful beverage? I think, that is pretty cool that you're not only the importer and distributor, but you also work with consumers closely So you actually know their preferences. Okay. You also mentioned Alma wine's portfolio. So let's move on to Italian wines now. Could you please tell me more about Italian wine portfolio at Alma Wine. And which regions or styles from Italy are currently well represented in your portfolio in your selection? I can speak a lot about our wine range that we have in our portfolios. So I would highlights the most beautiful of it, the pearls of our collection. I'm really crazy about our wine selection from Sicily. One of the beautiful pearls coming from Aetna, which is Jolla Maruso and Ben90. And I really do hope that we can invite them to be a representative of Italian wines this autumn in a best city of Kazakhstan, the ninth edition. Then we have, several producers from Venetal. Of course, it's a very solid gold producer called Masie. I think you know them very well. Then we work with the two producers from Prosek Korea, which is Serena and Adami. And we're going to sign a contract with the bertanyi, which has a very good interesting company with a good selection of very old vintages as well. And for Pamonte, one of the first projects that I started working on was Elvio Konya. I visited them last year. It was a beautiful view on vineyards. And Farter with his wife. They did a good job posting us there. I'm very thankful for that. We also work with Cortesa as well from Barbarescu. Then for Tuscany, we have a quite nice selection, and it's a producer's Matse, Avian Energy, Frini, and of course, we have Moseta as well. With Trintino Altaiture, we work with Nars McGrawide. They are going to be a part of events which will held in Amatek, And they're gonna come here and help us to do a beautiful wine dinners together with Avinioneji. Yeah. That's nice. So it's gonna be a very good selection, whites from Trentina and Perez from Tuscany. I think it's gonna be amazing. I'm really looking forward. And when is that gonna happen? I think it's gonna be six of May. I'm still I'm still trying to collaborate with them and, of course, with the restaurants in this particular period, it's gonna be very crowded, umati. So we'll try to work on it. Then, we have, of course, producers from Abruso, which has continued all a quite big but still good in terms of prices in terms of quality, in terms of the range that they introduce to the world. From basilica, we have Elena Fucci, we work with Sardinia as well. I hope that I can create a wine tour with our customers as well to Sardinia. And I hope to visit Silvio Carta, which is our beautiful partner from this area. We cannot skip Pulja as well. We have Okay. Yeah. It's pretty famous. It's it's one of the regions that is RIVi, among the others, I would say, in our country. And we we work with Vairvall unit. They are quite strong, and they're quite nice. They visited us twice since we started working with them, and I think it's a great collaboration. Okay. That's a good selection you've got there. And you also know the portfolios of other companies. For sure, from your perspective, are there any Italian wine categories or regions that are still missing from the market or, like, which styles that's in your opinion could perform well, but they're still under explored in our market. I will answer your question separately for popularity and for for under its region. I think that Fioli, it's a very underrated region, which can perform very nicely in our country. Now I see that the trends of consuming the wine changing. When I started most of the people, they used to drink red wines. And now I see that customers, they're trying to discover something new. So, basically, they go more to white style to sparkling to Rosay. And I hope that this start help us bring here more interesting producers. And free willy can give quite a nice range of, different gray varieties, different styles. That's for sure. And, unfortunately, now Priula Vigna is not performing well when it not comes to just Pinna Grisha, you know? Of course, Vivinian performing well, Pinna Grisha also one of the popular grape varieties, but we do know that they are different grapes which we have to discover with our customer and we have to educate them. And it's a bit difficult because for this region, most of the producers, they cannot give us too much marketing tools because they're quite small and very high ended. And we have to sell a lot Mhmm. To receive this marketing tools. So it's like a cycle. You have to broke Oh, yeah. To start something. And of course, immediate, yeah, in my opinion, that would be a good trend if we could support and could provide the interesting events with the dry red Lundustko, which quite nice, which is very fruity. In the same time, you can do a good wine events. You can give a great wine pairings as well because it's quite customary. And there is different range of this particular red Lambrusco. And our people, they get used to a different type of Lambrusco on our market, and we have to change this. I also think that Lambrusco has agreed potential on our market, like in any other market, actually, I would say. And as you said, it's very fruity and high quality. The quality range can be different, but Montruz School can be very high quality, very nice. So, yeah, I agree with you. Definitely. I think the very first step is start to change the minds of wine professionals. That's the very first step. Mhmm. Then we can try to work on our interaction in restaurants and wine shops, do some tasting, do good events, maybe to create some festivals, sparkling wine, why not? I think it's a good idea maybe to create something together with all of our wine importing companies. Mhmm. Because if everybody start to do something by themselves, it's gonna be a very long road. And we can do it more efficiently if we will be together and start to promote the styles. And also at the same time with the help of your suppliers, the producers, if every company, every importing company brings, for example, for this wine festival, at least like two, three producers. Mhmm. I think that would be very cool, and that is something that can be done. Again, in the shorter period of time and also maybe with less effort because all of these efforts will be divided between all of you. Mhmm. I agree. I agree. And I think that it's very good point to be stronger in communication inside of the market because you cannot just split the pie and start just to have more and more pieces without giving something on a table. And Of course, we have Alastandiguri, which is quite small, underrated, but sometimes the prices can be very challenging challenging for, for people who do not know about these regions. Of course, if they go there, see the site views, see the beautiful nature, enjoy the interaction and the culture, enjoy the local food, they're gonna love it. But most of the people, they do not travel a lot here, and I hope that it's gonna change in several years, and it will help us as well. Alright. We're a little bit short on time. Let's move on to the Italy Kazakhstan roadshow that you participated last year. With the company and also with Kason. Mhmm. So can you please tell me about your experience at the roadshow? And did you get something valuable for yourself? And also do you think these kind of events are important? Not only for the producers who promote their wines, but also for the local professionals. As I said before, as I mentioned, before, not everybody, not everyone can travel a lot Not every person in the wine industry and then just a wine enthusiast can afford a trip to Italy to go to beautiful, Vineetale wine fair. So, basically, it's a great event which can open the horizons, open the mind of the people. So I think that the very good points of this interaction on the first place is that we started working with the international wine community with our summary association in our country, which is very huge step. Then, of course, there were several wine enthusiasts who saw this culture of wine, not just drinking, but enjoying speaking about the beverage, speaking about the history and trying to interact, have some context to text them and then maybe visit them in Italy. And for me, it's a very beautiful moment that I always appreciate for these events as well. And I think it's a big step to make a Pakistan market more important in a wine world. And these very small steps will help us create a very strong community to consume the wine because our area is not a wine consuming historically part of the world because our ancestor used to be nomads. So when you are nomads, the only beverage that they used to drink, it was just fermented milk. Which had Residio, alcohol, and that's all. And now everything is changing. Of course, we are no mods. Now we can go and visit different places in the world and in every place I think it's gonna be a glass of wine waiting for you in a certain area or restaurant or I don't know, vineyard. Yeah. Exactly. I agree with you because we are historically. We don't have this wine culture as much as some of the countries do. That is why these kind of events, they are very important because they show that the producers they're interested in our markets, they are giving us this kind of recognition. They recognize us as a potentially growing interesting market. And that means a lot to us, to the wine professionals working here, and also consumers too because they get all these news on the media that for example. This interesting fear is going to happen in our country. This year, we are going to have the Italy Kazakhstan roadshow Inomiti on July seventh. And I hope that both Italian wine producers and also wine professionals from our country, from different cities, not just from ALmaty, will be interested in participating in that event and gets this great networking opportunity. Right now, we have to wrap it up But before doing that, I'd like us to do three rapid questions to finalize the episode. So are you ready? Yes. Okay. So let's start. So the first one is going to be What's one key thing that Italian wineries should keep in mind when entering our markets? The very first thing, you have to keep in mind that we are quite friendly we're curious, we're young. And just be your friend, just speak in a very, very friendly way, do a good interactions. I would say if you invest in our market, you will see that we can grow that we can support, and we can be quite funny. That's pretty nice. And I think the keyword for me here would be curious. Again, the wine community is young, driven, and most importantly curious, which is, I think, which is good for, especially Italian wine producers with all the diversity that they have to offer. So Yeah. I agree with you totally. Thank you. Thanks. And the second question, if you could introduce one new wine trend or grape variety, Italian, please, because we're Italian wine podcast, to cause extent, what it would be and why? I just spoke with my colleague who works in one shop downstairs. You saw him. So, actually, our people starts to drink very fruit driven. Is it drinking friendly style of wine? So I would say it's a great potential to grow while Paulicello. Yay. And we're pretty much all. Yeah. Looking forward. Okay. I hope that Valicello can sort too. We'll hear that Okay. Thank you. And the third question, which is not related to wine, I would like to ask you if you weren't working in wine, what other profession or in this tree? Could you see yourself in? I don't have the direct answer to this question. But if I had an opportunity to choose something, I would like to choose to work with the international community where I can speak in a different languages when I can infuse a culture as well, different ideas of lifestyle because it's really gives a lot of experience and travel a lot in this changing world, I want to be, with the people. With the people around the world. Yes. Breaking boundaries. I really like this interaction. Every time I grow abroad, I speak with different persons, I really find something interesting, and I enjoy the food. So, basically, if it's also interactive, I mean, actually, I I remember that I had crazy idea. It was before I started the wine career. I wanted to be a cheese taster. Okay. Like, I'm very, I'm very big lover of cheese. I would love to have an opportunity to visit Chisarius and to try a different style of this great product, and it's very close to wine. So why not? So we came back to wine. It was not supposed to be wine, but somehow, we came back to wine. Alright. We're going to wrap it up. So thank you a lot for for your insights. Again, thank you a lot for your work to you and to your team at Kason. That is really important for all of us, the work that you do. And hope to see you in July. Thank you so much. It was a great pleasure to be with you today in one building because we mostly see each other abroad. I was very nervous at the start, but now I'm very comfortable with you. I and I wish you to have very nice guests to find out a very interesting topics. And I appreciate your work as a host It was a pleasure to be here today. Thank you so much. Thank you. Ciao. Down. Thanks for listening to Asia wine market Almati special edition. Don't forget to subscribe and follow the Italian wine podcast wherever you get your parts. And if you are curious to discover more about the central Asian wine scene, join us at the Vineet Lake Calleksan roadshow on July seventh. See you in the next episode. And until then, cheers from Almaty.