Ep. 1902 Stephanie Johnson | Masterclass US Wine Market With Juliana Colangelo

The Italian wine podcast is the community driven platform for Italian winegeeks around the world. Support the show by donating at italian wine podcast dot com. Donate five or more Euros, and we'll send you a copy of our latest book, my Italian Great Geek journal. Absolutely free. To get your free copy of my Italian GreatGeek journal, click support us at italian wine podcast dot com, or wherever you get your pots. Welcome to Mastercost US Market with me, Juliana Colangelo. This show has been designed to demystify the US market for Italian wineries through interviews of experts in sales and distribution, social media, communications, and so much more. We will quiz each of our esteemed guests at the end of each episode to solidify the lessons that we've learned. So sharpen your pencils, get out your notebooks, and join us each week to learn more about the US market. Hello. Welcome to Master class US wine market on the Italian wine podcast. I'm here live this week at Vin Italy with my guests. I have today's Stephanie Johnson. Stephanie Johnson is the Italian wine editor for wine and spirits magazine based in the United States in New York. She's here at Van Italy. And fun fact, this is her first podcast. So Stephanie, thanks for being here with me today. I really appreciate it. Thanks for inviting me. But Stephanie has been to Ven Italy many times and wine to wine often doing presentations about wine and various magazine and their tasting process. So we're really excited to dive into that a little bit more today. And not just about the critic side and tasting and scoring wine, but the editorial side and telling your story. So Our focus for today's episode is gonna be on how to better tell your story to journalists and to US journalists and specifically. So, Stephanie, to start, tell us a little bit more about yourself and your background and how you ended up in the position you're in today with White and spirits magazine. Sure. So I had this is a second career for me. I started out in book publishing, which I really enjoyed. I published college textbooks for business and economics and psychology. At some point, I started taking classes at the WSET. I was just interested in wine. And the more classes I took, the more I would find myself at work, you know, wanting to, like, break away from what I was doing and study my great variety charts and I just found that my passion for wine was just kind of outpacing my passion for book publishing. So I just took a my toe in the water with a little bit of work at pastor wine retail just to kind of get a sense of what was going on. And then a friend of mine was starting a wine bar restaurant in New York City called City winery, which is a music venue and also a wine bar and restaurant, which now has something like eight or nine locations around the country. But at that time, it was the first one. What year was that? That was, I think that was two thousand and seven. Two thousand and seven. Yeah. And we, he just said, well, why don't you come and work with me? And helped me build the wine list. And I said, you know, I don't really know what I'm doing, but he said, well, we'll, we'll figure it out together and we did. And it was really great. And I was there for about five years. Beautiful experience. And learned a lot doing it. And then I was able to make the the shift over to back to publishing Right. With wine and spirits kind of combining the two worlds, the wine world, and the publishing world. So I went in that was in two thousand thirteen. Okay. So you joined wine and spirits magazine in two thousand and thirteen. And how did you meet the editor in chief Josh or find out about that opportunity? Yeah. I had met him at various wine events. He actually had come to City winery for something, but it was through a mutual friend of ours. Okay. Allison Carriaga who knew who knew Josh very well and had actually been consulting with City winery on of the wine program in. And how did you find your passion for Italian wine specifically? You know, I had always loved it and I had been to Italy a number of times prior to even just getting into the wine business. I will say it was a little bit lucky that I ended up covering wine for wine and spirits because when I was hired, I was the tasting director. So I was, I was working across all of the different regions and coordinating all of the wines that were coming in to the magazine tasting and working with the sommeliers that we taste with on our tasting panels. But I started sitting in on more and more of the Italian panels, and I my boss, Josh, the publisher, Joshua Green, he's really more of a francophile I would have to say. And, we didn't at the time have an Italian critic, and I, so I sort of just went for the opportunity. Right. There's an open space to fill the role. Yeah. Lucky to be in the right place at the right time. Absolutely. And now you're here at Vin Italy. I imagine most years or at least what Vin Italy is this for you? You know what? Oddly. This is only the second Okay. Alright. I mean, I do, it's actually great when I have come and also wine to wine, but my first kind of love, in the way that I really love to experience the wine and learn about the wine is to go to the, to the wineries, of course, and travel through the country. And I know that's not practical. You can't see as many people. But it's certainly more immersive and just kind of more emotional. Yeah. Tactile, I think, too, to really see the place. Absolutely. Well, four listeners are three key takeaways for today and what we're gonna focus on with Stephanie and her experiences. Number one, how do you talk about your winery or stories. So storytelling. Number two, how do you prepare to speak with a journalist and really prepare for those meetings? What kind of information do you share? And then finally, I think talk a little bit about, you know, wine journalism in general. Too. So Stephanie for starters, talk to us about when you're looking at editorial plan for wine and spirits magazine. What for you are the elements of a really great wine story? You know, for well, of course, the wine has to be. Good. But I personally love to tell stories about people in places that are maybe not the most prominent. Okay. And so some of the favorite my favorite stories that I've done have been in place is like the most recent was Valtelina. Okay. You know, it's it's a little bit out of the way for a lot of people to go to and the wine is not a huge region in terms of production, but it is one of the most fascinating, beautiful, like physically beautiful and really difficult places to make wine. And so for me going there and seeing how many challenges they face, Right. Just to to make the wine every year. Mhmm. And their market challenges, like the history of having been, you know, really selling all their wine to Switzerland for years. And then that market just dropped out and they were nowhere. And I mean, those kinds of stories are really compelling to me where there's, you know, something about the winemaking that, you know, maybe is a little different or different challenges, and then also the way that people respond to it. And it's just I love to hear that human side of how people are dealing with all those challenges. Right. It sounds to from what you're saying. You wanna hear the stories of how people overcame a challenge, right, and that tension that there is there. So I think we sometimes see on winery websites or brochures or materials. They're really glossy, beautiful stories, but what I'm hearing from you is that it's really important to also talk about your challenges and your history as well and how you might have overcome challenges in the past to get to to where you are today. Sure. To me, that is really interesting. And I think I think it is to other people too, you know, and I when you talk to so many winemakers, I mean, they're farmers and every person making wine in Italy has challenges. Yes. Whether it's because the climate now Mhmm. Or because of, you know, whatever all the rules that they're having to deal with, but it is they're just different in different regions. So, but I, to me, it's really interesting to discover that and how they are responding to it or what they're I love to hear about the family history also and how they ended up where they are or doing what they're doing. I did a story on Luca in that area and how it's such a kind of concentrated pocket of biodynamic producers. And how does that happen? Like, why is this Why is this occurring here? You know, what are the differences among these producers? But they do sort of have that thread in common. Very interesting. Yeah. And you mentioned Stephanie that you really appreciate being able to visit the wineries themselves and meet with the producers. For you when you visit a winery, what's an ideal visit look like? I like to get very specific with guests on this interview to give our listeners really tangible advice. So talk to us about, like, what a a perfect day at a winery might look like for you as a a winery. Yeah. Yeah. So everybody probably does this differently, but for me, I don't like to do just hit and run visits. I I like to do an in-depth visit. And if I if I have identified a winery as some place I want to visit, usually it's because there's something about it already that interests me. But let's just assume maybe I haven't really experienced them before, never really before or tasted the wines before. So for for me, the first thing I would want to do is taste the wines. Because it's not even decided to visit. No. No. At the at the winery, if I haven't, like, had extensive experience with the wines. But even if I have, I like to know what's going on with the new vintage. I like to taste the wines in situ, you know, kind of like where they have been produced. And I think everything flows from that. Right. You know, so of course, you know, the amount of investment you want to put into the place kind of depends on how enthusiastic you are about points. Yes. Of course. So I I like to taste first. And I I would say I know this is really hard for people, but I think a lot of people have a tendency to wanna just fill empty space empty air with talking. And Right. I think it's, for me, it's really important to just be able to taste the wines and not be told what I'm tasting. Right. But to taste them and then ask questions about what I'm tasting and why might that be the case? Like, what's behind that? So I would prefer to have that kind of a conversation as opposed to just getting a down of, like, you're getting these flavors and, you know, Yeah. I think that's great advice because I know for me personally, as soon as someone says, yeah, you're getting notes of cherry. I'm like, yeah, I am getting cherry. Like, as soon as they say something, I'm like, it kind of makes me think like, yeah, that's what I'm tasting. But if they don't say anything, I usually could have a different Yeah. Response. So I think that's really helpful advice. Keep it quiet. Don't mind the awkward sentences during the tasting portion. Okay. So starting with start tasting the wines and then and then next, what do you what do you like to see? Italian wine podcast, part of the Mona jumbo shrimp family. Then I really love to see the vineyards. Okay. And that is really probably after chasing the wines. The most important thing for me, and I know the weather is not always ideal or maybe the vineyards are further away. But I really try to arrange my visits so that I can see at least one of the vineyards and often more because they can be really different, of course, as we know. So that's really important to me. And I actually really love to just walk through the vineyards and see the, how the soil feels and, you know, how they're training the I mean, I just, I'm a little geeky, you know, right? So I do like to get into the technical details Okay. Of it personally. Right. And then after that, you know, for me, the seller sometimes I will visit the seller and sometimes I won't. Okay. It's it kind of I always sort of say, well, if you're doing something different Right. Yeah. Your seller, then let's go see. But if you're not, then I've, you know, we've all seen a lot of sellers. Exactly. So it's not quite as important to me. We've all seen a lot of presses too. Yeah. Yeah. I know every winemaker that tends to like to show off their their equipment, but I feel like, you know, For me, at least similarly, like, unless there's something really unique or special about it, you know, we've we've seen it. Although, I will say that you can sort of glean a lot of information sometimes, by just the way the seller is. Like, there you go to some sellers and they're they're just pristine, you know, and it's everything is stainless steel and that you could eat off the floors. And that tells you something. Yes. About that winery. And then you go to another winery, like Montevertinee, for example, or where the cellar is just dark and Yeah. You know, there's black stuff all over the walls. You know, and these ancient farm implements hanging everywhere. And you're just like, wow, this is so interesting. And these wines are so great. And you, you know, it just, like, gives you kind of the aura of place. Right. Interesting. Going back to the wines, I wanted to ask, are you always interested in just tasting curt or at least it is, do you like to taste wines in the library or taste things out of barrel? What's your when it comes to what you're tasting at the winery? It really depends. I I like to taste current releases, although I'll often be able to taste them in New York Right. In our office where we do our tastings. I do enjoy tasting from barrels sometimes particularly if it is, let's just say, like, a place like, you know, Corolla, where the next vintage, you always really want to be building your knowledge base and your anticipation of what's coming Right. In the next few years. So if you can start to taste from barrel before the next vintage is released, you already are starting to form that impression. Right. Absolutely. And I think something that's important for our listeners to understand too every publication is different, but at wine and spirits, for formal tasting, you're only tasting in New York at the office. Correct? Like through the formal submissions. So when you're visiting a winery to taste, it's really it's more about storytelling and learning about the the wines, not for on-site Correct. Scoring? Yes. No. We never score wines except for those that go through our blind tasting process, which is a two step process. It's the first step is tasting the wines blind in a panel with sommeliers and wine buyers. Where we vote and the wines that pass, I taste again lined right afterwards, and write my notes, score the wines, and then I find out sometimes not for two or three weeks. What the wines are. And then once I have the key sheets, I can go back and, like, add some information or background or something. Great. And if I've visited winery, I can go back to my notes, and I can refer to, like, what we talked about and add some color to to those details. That's great. Yeah. I think that's really important to reinforce. I know every publication's different. It's like distributing and selling wine in the US. Every state is different and they're their rules and law. I think that's a helpful tip for for listeners. More of a just a tactical question I suppose. How do you organize your notes after winery visits? It's so hard. I've tried a number of different systems. I mean, to be honest, Right now, I've gone, for a while, I tried some electronic systems. I cannot stand being in a minor y and typing. Like, I just can't, it doesn't, it doesn't fit with the vibe. Yeah. I'm not a stenographer. Like, I'm not trying to write down or record everything that they would say. So now I've kind of settled upon this system where I do have notebooks. I have those, like, bound notebooks and I have a whole series of them. Me too. I've had to sort of like create indexes. Okay. So that I can go back and find things. Right. And I put labels on them of what year they're from. But and I've also started to it's like when you're in a car and you're like in a jeep and you're going up a really steep hill with all these holes in it, you know, potholes and stuff, you can't ride. No. And so I've started to record parts of the conversations just so that I can go back if I wanna have a, you know, a word for word quote from somebody, I have it on tape. Yeah. Absolutely. And who do you wanna meet with when you're visiting a winery? Who do you like to meet and speak with? I really like to meet line maker. I mean, or a, you know, a vineyard manager, if there is sometimes that, you know, depending on the size of it. Like, sometimes it's the same person. Sometimes it's not. So if it's a small place, I really want to meet with either the winemaker or the owner who's like a really hands on owner. Right. It's involved with the winemaking. Right. Not an export director. No. Yeah. Personally, sorry. I mean, I don't need to be out of. It's veraging, but But I could meet with those people in New York. Exactly. And I I just I really want to talk to the person whose hands are in the soil and in the fats. And I that's what I like to hear. And then I also, you know, some people like to talk about this more and some people like to talk about less, but sometimes if there's like a really interesting family story Okay. Or a personal story Mhmm. That to me is don't know. I think I find that really interesting and I sometimes love to go back and bring in that kind of color to the. Right. And they're memorable. Right? Those stories for sure. How about, you know, we're here in Italy. Sometimes the Ymaker distance to English. Yeah. So how do you go about those situations. I'm assuming you don't speak in time, but you might surprise me, so you do. I do. But I do. We can learn together. I've been I have tried multiple ways of doing that. I've not been so successful. But, you know, a lot of times, there's like a, you know, a person on that they work with. I've had it all different ways where, like, sometimes traveling with somebody who does speak Italian or enough Italian that we can get by that way, or Sometimes they have a son or daughter that they will ask to sit in. Right. Usually, that's the case if it's like an older filmmaker. Sometimes I've even had people call a neighbor and say, did you come over? Yes. Interhensley for us. And they and it's great, you know. And so that's usually how it works. Yeah. And I think that's also just an important point for our listeners. Don't let language be a barrier to letting your winemaker talk about their wines to a journalist that is this in is like Stephanie's badge in the laps who they wanna speak to. So I think that's a an important reminder. Stephanie, as we wind down, what are some things you're really excited about right now in Italian wine? You know, we just did our for our April issue, which is always our restaurant issue, we did a survey of one hundred different sommeliers around the country in the U. S. And to identify different trends. And one of the trends that really came out of it, there were a lot that were, you know, probably not surprising, but one thing that just really popped out at us that so many people were talking about is chillable reds. Okay. And you can call it any number of things light reds or you know, crushable reds. You know, people use different Port pounders. Yeah. Right. But I think that's becoming a big category in the US as people go towards lighter styles of wine. And if you're a red wine drinker, you want something, but you don't want a heavy wine, or also because of the climate. I mean, let's be honest, you know, it's just warmer, more parts of the year, and there's a lot of people in the south, like the two sommeliers that I brought here to do a presentation. One was from Miami Beach, and one was from New Orleans. And that those places are warm ten months of the year. Yeah. Very hot. I have been in New Orleans in July. It is extremely hot. Yeah. So I think that is a big opportunity for Italy because there's so many varieties here that can fit into that niche. And so I think that sometimes we just try to stay in our regional boxes Right. But I think when you have a a sort of a category like that or a style, it crosses many boundaries. Mhmm. I think that that I don't know how you exploit it. I'm not a marketer, maybe you can do this, but But I think that's something that people really would be smart to exploit, you know, if you're making Frapata or Skiava or Palavera. Right. You know, to like really go I've seen it on on restaurant mindless, even in New York. Like, people will have a chillable red trying to see that more too now. I mean, Lambrusco. That was a up to my mind first. When I think about chillable reds, there's so many great mexico classic, dry Lambrusco's too that are awesome chilled. So, cool, chillable reds. That's one thing. And then I just I'm going to Sicily next month. I mean, it's just, it's one of my favorite places to go, and I'm really excited to go back. And I've always loved to learn more and more about that. Great. And Valhelina was a really eye opening trip for me Okay. As well. Awesome. So Yeah. But I'm also going to Freally in a couple days. So amazing. Alright. Little postman Italy trip. Fantastic. So at the end of every episode, Stephanie, we do three rapid fire questions. So question number one. And if you can answer these in just a couple sentences, what is your number one tip for mastering the US wine market? Honestly, I would say have a really good inside person, whether it's your importer or a consultant or somebody, I don't know how they navigate. Yeah. The it's such it's it's fifty markets, really. It's not how much. So, you know, I sympathize, but I think it's really important to have someone on the inside who can tell you what the perception is of your wine and of the importer that you might be working with. Yeah. Very valuable advice. Question number two, what's something you might have told your younger professional self about working in wine? Keep an open mind and listen to everybody's stories and don't go into different regions with preconceptions, you know, try. Good advice. You know? Yeah. Because there's so much variety even within regions. You might think you don't like a certain type of wine. Right. And you don't know. There's people doing all kinds of really interesting things everywhere. Great advice. And finally, we're all traveling lots in this industry. We're here in Italy. As we speak. So what's one of your favorite travel hacks when you're on the road? Slippers. Slippers. I yep. I bring slippers everywhere I go, and I have them on the airplane. And I have them in my room because I just like to it's like a it makes you feel comfortable. He's at home. Yeah. Yeah. I love that in my slippers. Okay. Well, on that note, Stephanie, thank you so much for joining me on the Time wine podcast. How could our list follow along with what you're up to. Wine and spirits is on we are online at wine and spirits with you spell out word and so wine and spirits dot com, and we're on Instagram also at wine andsters. At wine and spirits. Fantastic. Alright. Alright. Thank you, Stephanie. Thank you. Thank you for joining me today. Stay tuned each week for new episodes of Master class US wine market with me, Juliana Colangelo. And remember if you enjoyed today's show, hit the like and follow buttons wherever you get your podcasts.