Ep. 1506 Vinicius Santiago Interviews Flavio Geretto | Clubhouse Ambassadors’ Corner

Since 2017, the Italian Wine Podcast has exploded and expects to hit 6,000,000 listens by the July 2023. We're celebrating this success by recognizing those who have shared the journey with us and and giving them the opportunity to contribute to the ongoing success of the shows. By buying a paper copy of the Italian wine unplugged two point o or making a donation to help the ongoing running costs, members of the international Italian wine community will be given the chance to nominate future guests and even enter a prize draw to have lunch with Stevie Kim and professor Atigio Schenza. To find out more, visit us at italianwinepodcast.com. Cin cin. 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. Alright, it's half past five in Italy and that means it is time for Ambassador's Corner today on the Italian Wine Club, now called the house Italian Wine House on Clubhouse. Welcome, everybody. You know, so, you know, I think most of you know how this works. We record a call here with one of our Italian wine ambassador as the mod, and then we get to replay it on, of course, our Italian wine podcast. So follow us if you want to hear the replay on Italian wine podcast wherever you get your pods. Alright. So today's show is, of course, we always have one of our Italian wine ambassadors at large. They get to, one, pick the producer of their choice, and two, moderate the entire session. This is why I love this Clubhouse thing. So let's welcome Vinicius. Ciao, Vinicius Santiago. Ciao Stevie. It's been a while since we talked last time. It's a pleasure to be here. Yeah. Where are you? Where is here? I'm in Brazil right now. So What part of Brazil? I'm in Sao Paulo. Right. And what's the weather like there now? It's winter, but it's chill. It's kind of, like, fourteen, fifteen Celsius degrees. It's it's really comforting right now. Oh my goodness. I wish we can exchange places. You know, it's been brutal here. Actually, today's kind of a nice day, but it's been absolutely brutal here. And I'm sure you'll find out also with your call today with Flavia. There's been some very bad weather on this part of town and all over Italy, all over Europe, actually, all over everywhere, it seems. Right? So so Vinicius Santiago. Of course, you're a Psalm from Brazil. But tell us a little bit about yourself. I'm, familiar from Brazil. So I learned about the some job here in Brazil. So I took the formation of the Brazilian Sommelier Association. That's like ICE. Right? The equivalent of Yeah. That's like ICE, but in in Brazil. In fact, the Brazilian Sommelier Association answers to ICE. So the Okay. So it it answers to the International Sommelier Association, and I'm also a beer sommelier. A beer sommelier. Italian wine ambassador. I like I like beverages in general, so that's it. But I must say the most important certificate you have, of course, is Italian wine ambassador from Vinital International Academy. I just want to underline that small fact. That's for sure. I've been talking to some friends lately. Yeah. The most rewarding certification I've had was the Italian wine ambassador because the level of study and knowledge and you must have to be an Italian wine ambassador is huge. Right. It's really intense. Right? But I hope you enjoyed it. We certainly enjoyed having you at the course. I loved it, and I could learn so much more about Italian wines and wines in general. And and it was so rewarding. It is really, really incredible. So you're also a teacher. Right? What are you teaching? I'm teaching WSET. Okay. I'm I'm teaching French wine scholar. I'm also teaching sommelier courses in Brazil, so I'm also a teacher. Okay. So you need to start teaching some Italian wine now, the Maestro program. Yeah. We are trying to bring it to Brazil. I've I've been talking to Pablo lately. That's nice. Bringing my extra to Brazil for sure. Okay. Great. Listen. But is your full time job teaching, or are you working somewhere as a Sam? I work somewhere as a Sam as I'm I'm head sommelier of an importer in Brazil. So I work for the Vicimo Group Right. That has two brands, so Evino and Grand Cru. They are major wine, wine shops in Brazil, both digital and physical shops in Brazil. Okay. And is a Villa Sandy one of your suppliers? Yes. We have the wines, the sparkling wines from Villa Sandy. And, and, we started to work with them, recently, and it's been a pleasure to work with, Villa Sandy Proseccos and sparkling wines in Brazil because they they are being really successful in Brazil right now. Okay. So I guess that's one of the reasons why you've chosen Villa Sandy. Is that correct? Yeah. This is correct. Because we work with them, but also because Villa Sandy is one of the benchmarks for Prosecco as a producer, as general practices in, grape growing, winemaking. And because they can as they produce several styles of Prosecco in several subregions of Prosecco, they really know about the the subject, which is Prosecco. Have you been to Villa Sande yourself? No. I couldn't visit them yet. I'm planning to visit them, this year or in the early next year for sure. Oh, fantastic. Because it's, of course, a beautiful estate, and they have this beautiful villa. I think in fact, it was chosen as one of the best vineyards, you know, that top best vineyards list that they have, so that will be very good. And as you know, we get a little bit geeky around here. So what are the learning objectives that we should expect from your call today with Flavio? Villa Sandy has a particular winemaking method, a particular approach when making Prosecco, and this is really particular and interesting in Villa Sandy's, project of making Prosecco. Also, understand Prosecco in the international market for wines because it plays a a huge role in the sparkling wines market and also to learn a little bit what Villa Sandy is doing, to deal with the climate change because you are in in a in a year, in a in a summer that is really hot, really warm in Europe right now. So what is Villa Sanjay doing, and how they deal with this? So these are the the learning, objectives today. Yeah. I'm very curious as to what they're doing as well. So I'm much looking forward to this conversation. And so what happens now is that I will mute myself. And as you know, that rarely happens, so you have to take full advantage. And, I will come back with Laika in the very end to take any questions if there are any. Okay? Okay. Thank you so much. Ciao, Vinicius. Ciao, and I'd like to welcome Flavio Gereto. Flavio Gereto is the chief commercial director of Villa Sandy. He's at the company since 2015. Hello, Flavio. How are you? Hello. I'm fine. Thank you for, inviting me to speak about Prosecco and our territory. It is a very important chance, and a big shout to Stevie, because, the podcast is very important and also the activity that, she's doing with the the the ambassador is very important because, I find all over the world people with an improved culture of of Italian wine thanks to the effort that they are doing together with the with Italy ambassadors. Yeah. And you are, you have almost twenty years in the wine business. Right? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. I was born, in a family who is involved in the wine production in the Northeast Of Italy. And so we can say that, wine is not only my profession, but it is my passion. Great. He's grad he graduated in economics at the University of Padua. He is from ONAF, the Italian Organization of Wine Tasters. He had the certification from Cae