Ep. 1206 Arlene Oliveros Interviews Francesca Vajra | Clubhouse Ambassador's Corner.

Some of you have asked how you can help us. While most of us would say, we want wine. Italian Wine Podcast is a publicly funded sponsor driven enterprise that needs the moolah. You can donate through Patreon or GoFundMe by heading to italianwinepodcast.com. We would appreciate it. Oh, yeah. Welcome to this special Italian wine podcast broadcast. This episode is a recording of Clubhouse, the popular drop in audio chat. This Clubhouse session was taken from the Wine Business Club and Italian Wine Club. Listen in as wine lovers and experts alike engage in some great conversation on a range of topics in wine. If you enjoy listening, please consider donating through italianwinepodcast.com. Any amount helps cover equipment, production, and publication costs. And remember to subscribe and rate our show wherever you tune in. Hello, everybody. Today is actually Thanksgiving Day. So happy Thanksgiving, everybody. I don't know where you are. In Italy, of course, there's no such thing as Thanksgiving. We do try to celebrate. Usually, we, the staff, they actually make some, they bake turkeys, and they bring it to the office. We had a different Thanksgiving at a restaurant this year, but happy Thanksgiving, everybody. Hello. And so this is Italian wine club on Clubhouse. This, I believe, is our sixtieth, 60 plus episode on Clubhouse dedicated to the Ambassador's Corner. Ciao, Laika. Ciao Stevie 770. Oh, seventieth. Okay. Seventieth. Okay. Fantastic. That's that's way, way beyond a year. Every week, as you know, we, record the session. This is we're using mostly as a platform now to record, and then we replay on the Italian wine podcast, and I do believe we are the number one wine podcast in the world now. So thank you, everybody. And that's also thanks to our Via community, all the ambassadors who participate, and all the producers that they interviewed, and, of course, the audience that we have. It's a little quiet today, but let's bring on our Italian Ahmad today, and that's Arlene. Hello, Arlene. Hello, Siri. Such a pleasure and so grateful to be here. It's been a long time. I know. I can't even remember the last time I saw you, to be quite honest. I know. I I I I I I am in, in two places most of the time between, North America and and Asia. But it it's such a great pleasure to be here. And on Thanksgiving Day, happy Thanksgiving to you. Does it does, are you in Philippines right now? I am. I am in Philippines now. Day celebrate I mean, there's nothing not no such thing as Thanksgiving, of course. Right? Oh, but it's well celebrated here. Oh, really? You have Okay. Yes. So, Arlene, I I know you're also friends with Laika, but how how are you doing? What are you doing now? So tell me because I haven't seen you in such a long time. I know. Well, I'm currently based in The Philippines. I've been here from, February, as I established my own restaurant, Anoteca and Bottle Shop. It's called Olive Rose Farmhouse, but it's also where my micro vineyard is being cultivated. And aside from my personal venture in viticulture, I'm also overseeing and guiding other viticultural investments in in the country. So a very interesting time for The Philippines at this point. So the Olive Rose Farmhouse, it's a restaurant? It is a restaurant, that is, inspired by the terroir of a region outside the capital city of Manila, but it's also operated in partnerships with, the farmers, the fishermen, and the artisan of the community. So it's it's a social enterprise in a way. So what kind of wine are you producing the in The Philippines? Because we are just planting the seed for this first viticulture project, what I've been trying to do in the past months is I've been researching on what has been planted, on the soil of The Philippines. And fortunately for me, I found, a few of, vitis vinifera. Not the not there's not a lot here at this point, which is actually a more exciting time for me because I I like to trailblaze, and I like to create. I love the creation process. But so far, I found, mascot. I found ravelsina. There are some pinot blanc around, the country, especially in the South. But what I'm trying to impact is, the placements of the vines. At this point, most of the investments are on table crepes, and I think we're skipping on the potential of the soil here because we have been, stuck on table grapes and producing wines out of tropical fruits. Wow. That sounds like a big challenge you have, but Arlene, I I think you you start your fur very first edition of Vinital International Academy. Is that correct? That is accurate. Oh my goodness. So that's that's way better. It's Thanksgiving Day, CVs. I must start with saying thank you. Because once I started my career as an Italian wine ambassador, it really has paved the way for many opportunities for me, and it became life changing. So for that, I'm very grateful to you. Well, I'm glad grateful that you were able to join us since, 2015. So I hope you get a chance to come back to Italy very soon. In the meantime, you, of course, have, you've chosen Francesca Varad, as your favorite producer today. I know Francesca, so I'm I'm pretty excited to just, you know, take my tea and listen to you guys. Why did you choose Francesca as your producer to be on the call today? Well, the past years, particularly at the height of pandemic, in both my personal life and professional work, I have reflected more on kindness and purpose and how we can positively impact each other. So when asked of memorable wines, I have a personal list of favorites, which I love to refer to as the kind of wines. And I love to think of these wines as wines of genuine character, but also from wine producers and winemakers who are kind to the planet, kind to their employees, kind to their consumers and communities, and kind to the legacy and history of the wine grape. So, you know, we love to refer to wines as bottled poetry. But I thought, what if wine producers and wine professionals like us start thinking of wines as bottled kindness? And how do we imagine that wine to be? There is an abundance of delicious character filled wines in Italy, but to me, kind wines linger longer than the simply delicious wines. And when I think of the kind of wines, I'm quickly reminded of the Viro wines. Aldo Viro's winemaking philosophy also inspired me. I remember him giving the best definition of what purposeful winemaking is about. On his own reflections of his winemaking career, he recalled how the vineyards can make him feel victorious at times, but also when the vineyards make him be abandon humility. He said that having loved his vineyards and his job for many decades, he has recognized his purpose. And that purpose is not only to make wines, but to make wines that give joy to people, to share bottles that will create moments of happiness. He believes that through creating moments of happiness, he can make this world a better and more beautiful place. So I chose them as my favorite wine producer because I feel aligned to their ethos and values, Stevie. That's you it sounds like you've never left Italy in reality. I don't know. I know. Like, I so love, Italy's Stevie. It's it's a part of me. I when I'm asked by people, by my friends and and colleagues, you know, they always tell me, you split your life in in three places. And I always tell them, but I am never confused. I know that I love my birth country, and I will always feel grateful to the foundations that that it gave me. But I will give my life for Canada because Canada opened up many opportunities for me. But Italy to me, CV, is my respite. It is such a beautiful refuge, and it is really what has inspired me tremendously in life. Well, that's why you make such a great Italian wine ambassador, I suppose. So, you know, we get a bit geeky around here. So, we do have a geeky via community, as our audience. So what are the learning objectives that we should expect from you today? I wish to learn with with our community this e