Ep. 40 Monty Waldin interviews VIA Italian Wine Ambassador Julien Boulard | Education meets Business

Italian wine podcast. Chinching with Italian wine people. Welcome to this episode of the Italian wine podcast. My name is Monte Gordon. And with me today is Julien Bula, who is a wine educator based in Nanning in Guangxi province in the far south of China. First question has gotta be How did you end up there? Good question. Hello everybody. So, I was studying Chinese at university in France, and so I went to China in two thousand and three to improve my Chinese. And I just felt in love with the place and, the city where I was studying. I guess nobody ever heard about this place, but very nice, near the Vietnam. And, yeah, just like the place and just stay there. So how did you actually end up in Nening then? As we was that student? Okay. Yeah. I was a student. I was studying Chinese. And so, yeah, I went there to improve my Chinese. So we is it is it a very rural place, Nening? Or was it a big city? Whoa. Find big city because our Chinese tender, this is a very small city. It's only six million inhabitants. Only six million. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's very small. It's a township. It's a it's the capital of the Guangxi province. So the Guangxi province is quite a remote place. It's not very developed still. I've been there for fourteen years now. I've seen a huge change maybe in fast lectures or people way of life. And, yeah, it has changed tremendously within last fourteen years. So why do people want to study wine? Because I've think now that the country is opening on towards the the waste and towards foreign cultures, they get very interesting, interested in, in learning new things, maybe wine or jewelry or coffee. People like getting better incomes now. They're getting better standards of living. And so life, I think, is part of it. And so we just want to drink well and eat well. But your students, is wine, just wine, or is it important that a French wine or an Italian wine, how does the Italian wine fit into your to your teaching. So I mainly teach the WSTT. It's a an English course. Wine and Spirit Education Trust. Yep. So it includes a part of Italian wines, a French wine, chilean wines, and wines from everywhere. But there's not a real focus on Italy wines. And that's this what I'd like to maybe to develop in the future. Why? Because I'm I think that there is a big market for Thailand wines in China. Everybody is speaking about French wine there. There's a lot of Australian and Chean wines in China too, but Italian wines are quite they're having a hard time, on the market. Everybody know about Barolo, about Barrasco, about all the candy and the Supertos cans, but we have so much more to say about Italian wines than be regions. Right? So you're saying about the lesser grape varieties and the lesser regions. Which which particular lesser regions in Italy are you are you a big fan of? I quite like Sicily. She's the one from the earthna. I'm a big fan of Nero Mescalese personally. But there's so much more. I mean, I've just discovered the one from the today is someone from Frioli, which were very incredible wines. And so I have some Sardinia. There's a huge, there's a very wide, choices. A lot of choices in, in Italy, you can choose from man. Yeah. Does your teaching include obviously in Italy matching food and wine sort of comes naturally? Not so much, actually. That's a good point because I think it is a mistake to try to promote wine this way in China because we don't eat the same way we So, for instance, in France or in Italy, with one dish after the other, right? But in China, you've got ten dishes on the table at the same time. So you cannot say, okay, you can have a white wine to pair your fish and a red wine to pair your meal meat, right, because you've got meat and cheese and, maybe not cheese tofu, steamed cheese, barbecue, and everything at the same time. So I think I try to promote another way of pairing wine. It's pairing one with your with your feeling. That must be quite tough because you're from El SAS, right? Yeah. Which is like the gastronomic heart. It's got more michelin star restaurants than any other region in France. Yeah. Do you when you see that sort of chaos on the Chinese dining table and you're having to try and try and pin wines dishes. Is that frustrating for you? Or do you see it as a challenge? Not at all. I don't think it's frustrating. I think people are thinking too much about food and one pairing. I just assume that one has to be drunk and whatever you're eating with. Okay? You maybe you need to sometimes avoid some big clashes but still, I think that most wines can pair with most food. Yeah. I take I you're I we're here somewhere on the same page. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So when I see one of the transitions, especially from friends, actually, trying to promote their one regions via wine and food pairing in China, I think it's a big big mistake. Because nobody will eat, it's like in a Western kind of, restaurant, dish by dish. And so if you want to really promote wine, that's not a good way to do it. So the people that come to hear you or to be educated by you regarding wine, who are they? They just, young people, are they people that want to get involved in the wine business? Are they are they do they collect wine? What kind of what kind of demographic are you you dealing with? I think if you are mainly millennials, young people with quite good incomes, I would say that half of them are one professionals and half of them are just consumers. And but advanced consumers, they are very we could say wine aficionados. So when you say wine professionals, the people, they they importers or Yeah. We have some importers, distributors, sommeliers, sometimes, but I would say many distributors and importers. So how are you gonna translate their enthusiasm knowledge and love of Italian wine to to sales of Italian wine, because that's really what it's all about. Well, I'm I will try to convince them that, of course, I'm French. I love French wine. I cannot say, the contrary, but there are so much more in the wine world. And that's why I actually am here today because I love any kind of wine. I don't care where it comes from. Even to come from China or from Peru, I I I don't mind. I don't know if the wine is good. And I think it's a pity to just miss the opportunities that Italy can bring to people. Right? There's so much things to to to drink and eat in Italy. Well, you'll never be able to go back to France. You'll be stuck in Guangxi province for the rest of your life. Thanks to your love of Italian wine. It's been a real pleasure to meet Julia. I hope to see you, in China where you live sounds like an absolute paradise and hope to hope to come to one of these chaotic dinners with you. You're my guest. Thanks for coming in. Thank you. Follow Italian White Podcast on Facebook and Instagram.