Ep. 391 Elmar Hofer

Italian wine podcast. Chinchin with Italian wine people. Hello. This is the Italian wine podcast with me Monte Wallen. My guest today is Elmar Horfa, who is a former professional skier, turned Sommelier. Welcome. Yes. Hi, Monte. Elmer, can you just let us know what you're currently doing in the wine industry? Currently, I'm working as a family in a three star Michelin restaurant in Sactobertos in San Cassiano. For those who don't know, sanctubertus, it's a small restaurant, in the heart of the dolomites. And, the restaurant, it's mostly known for his sustainably, because we are using, ninety percent of our products from our region here. And the chef, Norbert Nida Koeffler, is basically, I guess, the only chef, Italian chef, who is not using olive oil or any lemons. Really? Yeah. Why doesn't he use olive oil at lemons? Yeah. Because, we hear in the months, we don't have the the lemons and also not no olive oil. So we are using, grape seeds oil. And for the lemons, we our chefs, they have found some, old, fermentation methods, and they're using, yellow plums or normal plums, and they go fermenting them. And through the fermentation, they get this acidity like a lemon, and so we are a little bit special in that way. But you used to be, as far as I know, a professional skier. So how did you transition from that to, the hospitality industry, the wine industry. Yes, indeed. I I was, seventh for professionals here for around fifteen years. And, was being, be a part of the Italian National ski team, made some world cup races, also some European cup races. And, yes, as athlete, basically you live in your own world. And after after I quit it, I was searching for a new experience and, new joy something what what where I can find a new passion in. And as an Italian, what what was the closest way? We like to drink, we like to eat, and that's why I'm, started to, interesting me for the wine business and for the wine industry, started by myself. And then afterwards, my, girlfriend pushed me a little bit to starting and learn more seriously and, becoming a sommelier. And after that, I took care of the Italian wine numbers at our course with the, we we, Italy, international academy. And, yes, now a few years later, I'm here as a summary. So what would you, you know, is this familiar? What wine would you recommend to celebrate or commiserate after a competition or even just our for a hard day's, training. For sure after a great, victory or a great result that in a in a competition, I would go for a for a nice, sparkling wine, absolutely. But, after a hard day of, really hard working, training, I would go probably for a ice cold beer. Oh, okay. Well, that's the end of the interview. Thanks, Ray. Okay. So, when you're working in the restaurant, what is your approach to food and wine pairing? Are you very precise or are you a little bit more flexible? How does it work for you? But we don't, in the restaurant, we don't have an an pre authorized wine pairing. We can go a little bit far ourselves, and, I'm going basically with two approaches with the, main rules. One is the wine should complete the food. Should smoothly, go with the food. And the second approach would be, you're going a little bit edgy, you're going a little bit to contrast the food, and, to create a little bit different tastes and flavors. That's the basic, I think. Okay, Jim. And do you have any, sort of, really unusual pairings that you, that you personally like or that you maybe find some of your guests, personally like? Anything unusual? Yes. Many, many guests are looking a little bit surprised when we when we introduce our our pairing and in the pairing, we have an apple cider or a crafted beer. Always from small local producers, of course, here next, in our region. But, yes, they're looking a little bit surprised about that. So in, in Northern Italy, which is obviously where you're your base. Have you got any favorite local or grape varieties that you particularly like? Loca, I would go for white wine. I would go with a nice, pinot bianco, because I I think, the pinot bianco here in in Arto, it's, showing the best of our terra, and gives a nice fruit, ripe fruits, and you can match it almost with everything. And for the red wine, I would go with as Kiava, in German formats, native grape variety of our region, and, mostly underestimated, I think, and also not really appreciated by most of the people. But if you have a nice, a nice, for nuts, it can be really fresh, nice, for, red fruits and a little bit of spices inside. Mhmm. Do you think, I mean, is is there a difference between say local customers, people that live in the region that maybe know some of these great varieties or or, guests from wherever from, from the states or other parts of the world. Do they have very different tastes? Yes, a little bit. The the, let's say, the Italian guest, they are searching more Italian wines more, not not really locals. But if you have guests from the States, they are searching really for the local, the local ones, also small producers, and that's, I think it's really nice with working with them. So Yeah. That's it is nice. And when you get the niche, niche wines out. So, you've also lived in Hungary. Do you have a favorite, hungary wine? I'm sorry, Hungarian wine, and what should people be looking for in Hungary other than the famous Tokkeye? Yes. I was living for, half a year over there. It was a good experience. Learned a lot of new people, but, and, yeah, Hungarian wines are quite we have some quite nice wines there, also native grape varieties. My favorite, wine is still coming from the Tokai region, but not, as many would expect the sweet wine. It's a dry, a great variety, a dry, white wine made from the harsh level. House level use also on native grape variety. And then, of course, there are few other regions, what doing nice, also red wines. We have, for example, Wilan. It's a small region in southern of Hungary. They are doing some nice Temanilo or some native grape varieties, red grape varieties like Cadarka. And then and also in the Shamlo region, we have ViewFark, yeah, really nice wines a little bit different what we know at the moment, more acidity, but really nice. Yeah. Those kind of mouth watering wines with, with plenty of Yeah. So you live in, Bolzano, Obviously, the climate there is typically Alpine Mediterranean, which sounds like an oxymoron, but makes sense if you live there. So surrounded by the Alps, and Bolzano can be, one of the hottest cities in Italy during the summer. Is that the secret of the wines from, Suttierhol? Is that why they're so successful? Do you think that that climate or any other reason? I I think the secret of the local wines is, is the fresh and long spring, what what we have, and then the changing, the fast changing into this, the Mediterranean summer, the gift, I think, the little extra to our, citroenian wines here. Is that in terms of, rightness or or fullness of body or just texture? Both I guess, texture also, but also the the ripeness of the fruits. And during the spring, you have this, day night, temperatures, changing. And so you have a lot of freshness also in, in the grapes. So I've got one, I've got one final final question. We often, you know, I, I like watching sport, and, you often read about sportsman, elite sportsman, or sportswomen, who, when they leave their sporting careers, you have to because if your body can't take it anymore because you get a bit older, don't often have a plan for what they're gonna do in the next stage of their lives. We were always very clear in your mind that you, a, needed to get a job, and, b, you wanted to get a job that clearly, you like, the job that you want you want to enjoy, not just a nine to five job. Was that a really important thing for you? Yes. Absolutely. I was, after after I quit it, I I was basically in the in the sport group first also. Fiyamejale. It's paid off the, in the world, the financer. And I always knew that I will never stay for the whole life there. So I was searching for something what I really like, and where can I make, my new passion from it? So that was the important thing after I quit it. Perfect. Okay. Well, that's good to hear that your, you know, you're you're you're enjoying your second career as much as you clearly enjoyed your your first career. So I just wanna say thanks very much to you, for chatting us chatting to us about, the wonderful region that you live in and also your experiences. Both on the sporting field and, as a summary. Thanks very much, Alma. Thank you very much, Mandy. No worries. Hope to meet you face to face at some stage as well. Yeah. I hope to. Alrighty. Thank you so much. Thank you. Listen to the Italian wine podcast wherever you get your podcasts. We're on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, HimalIFM, and more. Don't forget to subscribe and rate the show. If you enjoy listening, please consider donating through Italian wine podcast dot com. Any amount helps cover equipment, production, and publication costs. Until next time,