Ep. 1913 Luis Reyneri | 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. I'm here today at VIN Italy recording live in the studio at Wynton Digital, which is very exciting. And I'm very excited to have with me Luis Renari on the Italian wine podcast. Welcome to the show Luis. Great to have you here. Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here. It's my third in Italy. And as you can imagine, there's a lot to see, lot to taste, and definitely great people to meet. No. Always, of course. Luis is the co owner of the Grove Pucina and wine, which is in Hobis Sound, Florida, in between Miami and Orlando. He's also an Advanced Sommelier, an Italian wine professional, and a wine educator. Luis, how did you get so interested in Italian wine? Tell us a bit about your background. Yes. So I was born in Cuba. I grew up in New York and then Miami in which school in Boston, studied hospitality management. And through the restaurants, I started to get to know wines with friends and what have you, and I really fell in love with it. And then while working in Las Vegas and Bellagio, I started to study for the master simulation deployment at the time. I thought, well, gosh, there's no Cuban born American raised master simulation. So that'll be my best. And hopefully I can get back to one day and teach Cubans who don't get access to North American wines about what we do. Right. Although I did a past the exam, a past theory and their service, which that's still impressive. That's what I know. Yes. And then I got a chance to work. The harvest and burgundy with Lujado, and then Amazing. And Ryan Hessen with, fitzhasselbakovic since passing. But to my favorite guy, tells it to be an eight month, eighteen thousand mile self sponsored sabbatical with my wife, Janet, our son, Wakani, who was able to hold at the time. So it really just deepened my love for for the technical aspects and just traveling and how food and wine is really about fun, fellowship. And of course. These memories. And so we bought the restaurant five years ago, being an Italian theme. I just wanted to deepen my education for Italian wise, and then I took the Italian wide professional course. Okay. And then, setting for the Italian wide scholar. Exciting. So lifelong student, it sounds like a line. Yeah. And where'd you go on that eight month sabbatical? Oh my gosh. Just about circumnavigated. You started meditated to draw a line down to Edez crossed over to Gibraltar back circumnavigated out of Spain, Portugal, and then we actually rented a, we bought a Ebola with overseas program and just drove that baby. We bought a shampoo picked it up on bastille day in Paris. That's fine. Champaign, war, just the same thing with France, spent a few weeks a month really in Tuscany and then Barolo. With an eight year month old. So that's impressive. That's amazing. Wow. Good for you. Yeah. I mean, it was raised in it. Right? Yeah. Back of the day, when there was a thing called AAA map, that's what we use, and we highlight all of So we also have a frame professor in our restaurant that stands at the end. Oh, I love that. It's within Genesis's travel, food fun explorations. What a great story. That's fantastic. So, Luis, we're very excited to have you on the show today, and it's great to be here in person with you. I've been Italy, and we gonna focus on the opportunity with the Latino consumer for Italian wine specifically in the US market. It's a topic that we've discussed before on the podcast and here at wine to wine, but I think it's a topic we should continually come back to because it's an important one and it's an evolving conversation. But some of our takeaways for today's episode and what we really wanna learn from you are number one, what are some of the opportunities with the Latino market for Italian one in the US what market specifically? Which wines do you think have opportunity? You know, number two, how has an Italian winemaker winery might you think about reaching this market and reaching new audiences with Italian and then finally, you know, things are changing constantly in our world as we know. So what what's next with this consumer and how is this population evolving and changing, you know, in the US? So, you know, for starters, let's just talk a little bit more generally about the the Latin summer in the US and some of the key markets and some of kind of the key trends of Sure. Obviously, my state of Florida is a big big one. And we have taxes in California, even New York. And so not only are they large in terms of Hispanic based, but also wine consumption. Right. Top five. So you had that nice bridge right there. We have sixty three million in Spanish right now. It's twenty percent of the population and it's expected to reach over a hundred million in two thousand and fifty. So Wow. Not only Twenty percent of the population of the rats. Yeah. So think about it. And, one in five consumers. I like to, like, repeat numbers because I get supported. Yes. We're growing fast. Yeah. I mean, I myself was born in Cuba. Like I said, and and so this is a it's an interesting sector. I think that Italian producers can pay attention to because I think culturally, we have a lot of overlying values as well. You know, if you there are a lot of folks that are bilingual either Spanish and and Italian speaking about it first. I've already seen that here this weekend. Right. In Italy, we work along with Italian and Spanglish, so to understand each other. So so there's no barrier there and just culturally. The other thing we have in common is we're very family oriented. I think, you know, it's always about a big celebration. Yes. You come to my house, you have a coffee, you have a prokodica, the prosciutto, whatever, and I think it sounds like that too. In fact, my paternal side is from compilers. So Oh, okay. I'm on the other side of Spanish. Yeah. The other thing that's gonna say that, the US population grew by twenty four million in twenty ten to twenty two. And that's fifty three percent increase. Wow. So not only is a bit the the basic standard was expanding quickly. Yeah. It's a large piece, GDP. The largest GDP. Larger than Germany in India. Wow. So so there's a lot of potential there. And and we and we like to spend money. This was translated. It's about three point four trillion dollars of purchasing power. So the second point I think is how how do we connect? Well, I think presence. You know, the more we can expose things like the nearly in Chicago or programs in Miami with Right. A tenant trade agency, which I try to get to as much as possible. I think we not only need to increase that. Right. In these major states, but also other cities, for example. For sure. We all focus a lot on South Florida, but perhaps in Orlando, where maybe some folks from all throughout the state. Not to mention the West Coast. I mean, right? I I was living in California for a while. It's a huge population out there, Denver. Denver, I mean, Texas, you know, you have great, some of the aids in all these markets. And Right. I'm sure they all love Italian wines. And so Italian is just in general or Right. Americans in general are, you know, hoarding more Italian wine than ever, over thirty percent, I believe, if our imports are Italian wines. Right. Now you have, again, another bridge, another building point of Absolutely. Interest between American and Hispanic that are growing basic, growing population. For sure. Education as much as we can give to the consumer. I think Okay. Would be a key step Yeah. In increasing our awareness. And also probably some other interesting regions that we haven't really explored in the US. Mhmm. Southwest. Two summers ago, I had a piece of drive from Compania recovered five regions down there, drove off of the city, Colorado Calabrio. Amazing. Sicily back to Pulia, and it was a great discovery for me. Okay. All these wonderful regions outside of central and Northern really have so much diversity in terms of food Right. And wine. I think that story needs to be told. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, for you, just, you know, based on your own experience, you mentioned the Bellagio, So, obviously, you were in a a very Italian centric restaurant, I imagine. But what for you really connected you to Italian wine specifically? Like, what really resonated with you when you were learning about wine about Italy specifically. Yes. So so I, was Liza Malier from Lyric in Chirico, and my Chevy Family wines, restaurants. And we were very strong, deep in France who they spend in California. And what I really loved about Italian wines is that I, to me, at least my experience was wines that were older than five, and then it's eighth year. Really changed so much. Yeah. Esoterically, you know, in terms of the tertiary flavors coming in with the fruits, and they're super evocative and and and sexy really. Yeah. I just felt like, wow. What else is there that that tastes like x y z? And there was a gentleman who was a player, poker player there. Right. And he a lot of dalfourneau. Nice. And he was very generous, and we need half a bottle for us to taste some of this. Very generous. So when you start breaking, you, you know, your teeth sort of speak on on on dalfourneau, it's it's hard to it. It's hard to just stay away. It's a top dog. So the more was able to come to Italy or just taste through different vendors or trade, programs. Mhmm. The more I get fascinated. I mean, you know, there's six hundred grapes and and, endless discovery. In Italy, you know, how many did we really see in the US. So Exactly. There's a lot of work to be done. And that I think is what's exciting about learning about Italian wines. Right. I love how diverse they are in one region to the next. Yeah. I love how they pair with food. Was sparkly wines, of course. Yeah. Absolutely. You're gonna be able to do my favorites. Okay. But then you go to sissy. Like, oh, yeah. My man. It's it's it's an up and coming region. Right? You're gonna mount it and then it's like, wow. This is exciting. You're on a volcano. Literally, I know. It's pretty fascinating. Yeah. And obviously, holding a restaurant for me. It's about the tactile. Right. And the city to experience. And we we have a monthly winemaker dinners. Very cool. Yeah. I was gonna ask you. How do you know, you're obviously a wine geek and you love studying wine. But let's think about, you know, maybe one of your consumers, your customers at the restaurant who's more of an average just drinker who likes to enjoy wine, but isn't so geeky about it. How do we reach that consumer when it comes to Italian one. Yeah. Okay. So that's a great question. So I've I've had a lot of guests that, when we started five years ago, they really didn't even know where or what one I ordered was for example. Right. Little by little, you know, introduced maybe they'll check them with pizza that it's fruity and fun and lively and not very expensive. In case they don't like it, they don't think like, oh my gosh, this guy. They wasted out a couple of your bags in a lot of honesty. It wasn't so good. But then the next time they come in, you say, okay, and what is usually what I like to do with with our guests is like, okay. So we started in North Italy. So we go to central and then we go to central and then we maybe change the the the scheme, you know, the food flavors from maybe we do a submucah with a bottle or or or or or Sanjay Bruno. And then Okay. We do something seafood from sicily with those wines. And so that's one way that we've been able to educate our consumer. And then we have a monthly wine club we feature two wines and white and a red every month. Awesome. And then we do wine classes. And most of it is is centered on Italian wines. We did purify a little bit, but we've had like, Felicica said that she was good to do a wine bigger dinner. Awesome. Last January. And then from Sicily, we stayed in Vago. So we did the brand launch at our restaurant. And again, it's awareness. Awesome. And and I'd say awareness and application. Education application application as soon as we do the tastings on the first part of the month, it's really about education for cases six wines. And then in the back half of them, if you look for applications, so there's food and wine, because as you know, it changes the dynamics. And I think that's when the time wise really take off is like seeing With food. Seeing how it changes. Yeah. No. I love your example of maybe starting someone off with dulcetto and pizza. A food that is very familiar, comfortable in that they know, and a wine style that is maybe more approachable, both in flavor profile, but also price. I think that's important to think about too. Before maybe introducing to to other varietals as well. So I think, you know, those are some great points for our listeners in terms of how to introduce your wines to new consumers in the US market. Yeah. And you have to gain the consumer's trust. Yeah. So over five years, that's what we've been able to do. And it's nice to see when they get a little discovery or something of what it is. Right. You know? And I'm not trying to get a taste the other day at the tasting down in Miami. Right. So when Taltons, they'll bring it in their wines because Yeah. Focus some, importing wines. Oh, exciting. Congratulations. Not from next venture. Very cool. From, wonderful. Julie, and then, this morning from, Massona. How many folks know where the Sonas is. Right? Yep. Yep. Probably not very many. Yeah. Yeah. But yet many no bow and they don't nebbiolo. Right. But they didn't always know borola nebbiolo in the US market either. I think it's important to remember some of the categories that we consider mainstays in the US weren't always. Right? We know who was drinking Perseco thirty years ago. Right now. Now it's the, only wine category that has shown some growth. In the US market at all. It's for the second one in the last twelve months. So, you know, we have to look to what what categories can become with investment and education. And I think what I'm also taking away from what you're saying, Luis, is you really created within your restaurant this whole platform of education, from your your own experience, having come to Italy and explored the regions and tasted the wines and and worked at some great restaurants in Las Vegas. So I think it's also really important for our listeners to understand you know, the first line of defense is is the trade. Right? You have to get ambassadors like yourself is really to fall in love with Italy, which isn't hard to do, but then give them more and more information knowledge and nurture those relationships so that you can then take what you know and pass along to to the consumers in your market. Absolutely. Absolutely. It's it's a long journey. I always say that we're the conductor of this experience, and we start at some point. And then we evolve depending on what the guest or consumer wants to do, you know, go north or different food or different price points or collection. Yeah. I had a gentleman the other day who came in, was asking for my santa, which Oh, wow. Drove in Tuesday through, Saturday, five to nine. And so for someone who's coming to our little town, say Alexis Maseta, well. That's exciting. I was like, okay, that's that's really exciting. Yes. Yeah. But our town is growing, and this is the consumer that we're getting. So we get the dolcieta. Yeah. Right. And Florida, we did an episode about six months ago about Florida just in general and the consumption growth there, but also the population growth in the last few years, especially since COVID. I mean, can you talk to us a little but at what you've seen in your experience. You know, living in Florida? Absolutely. Yes. Absolutely. I mean, I I'm a I grew up as a kid in Florida. It's a seventy six. And I saw Miami Beach go to the whole art deco decade. Oh. And then Fort Lauderdale with the spring break, and things have changed in those try count the Tri County which is Miami for a lot of them in Palm Beach. So now we have this growth in my county, Mark County. I have the largest one that's over three fifty wines Wow. In my county and probably two hundred Italian wines because of my dedication, the mission to getting the town wines. And actually, so graphics, you know, had a cover out for Mark Walber in December. Mhmm. At the top right, the captured red, Hope Sound mixed golf makeup. Oh. Oh. So I can give some credence there to the fact that Artana's growing and there's, you know, land and inventory where there's a lot of investment right now. Right. You know, the locals might tell you. Too much traffic and I can't get to the store. But as a business owner, you know, I'm excited about that. There's a lot of golf communities that are kind of down there too. Golf communities. Okay. So we see that coming in and, yeah, propylase is probably gonna grow. It's probably gonna double again. Five years. Do you think there's an opportunity, like, just thinking about lifestyle, right, within the golf community to eat a great Italian wine? Italian wine podcast, part of the Mammo Jumbo shrimp family. Most definitely. I have a lot of friends that run clubs and I've I've sold one professionally for fifteen years before, coming to the ownership at a restaurant site. Okay. And I did a lot of work with the clubs. And even within that sector, there's a lot of changeovers. So if you folks that are who are, let's just say a traditional palette, I I, you know, certain background Right. Life experience, and this is what I used to drink from let's say. California. Yep. And that's their mindset. But then the the next generation, their kids, and even their children's children are a little bit more adventurous. And that's where I think the window of opportunity comes in that us as two members and sales folks and educators can come in and have these seminars. Mean, the clubs are a beautiful venue to have a wine dinner or wine tasting. And we have plenty of them in Florida. So that's another opportunity I would, suggest to our Italian friends out there, listen. When you do come to Florida, ask your wholesales to set you up with tases or dinners at these, wine coaches, private clubs, golf clubs. Yeah. Absolutely. And you know what? That community wants us information. They want to face each other. Yeah. So I think something you said there, come to the market if you're not already. Right? Spend time investing in the market. Focus key opportunities where your distributor might be strong or there might be with places like clubs where you can have more of that one on one experience with a consumer and leave them with the lasting impression of your wines. I might also say one thing that I thought about it when I was selling wine. I was looking at this all some very nice prestigious wines is sometimes the smaller markets get overlooked because when when we go to markets, so to speak, and we wanna go to the high dense communities, about the buyer, etcetera. That's where a lot of the focus comes. But my experience was also equally rewarding when you went to those secondary and tertiary markets where they don't see a lot of these wines. Yeah. And the outcome is usually these are forged with timelines. Fantastic. Yeah. It's a prosecco by the glass or something for the wireless or wine dinner. I I think that would be another goal that I would encourage or time friends out to to seek those markets. Don't see a lot of a lot of time. It's some less competition too. I mean, if you think about New York, they're getting everything from grand cru, you know, premier cru, French wines, and paint, you know, into the best Italian wines, but not just that. Also, the best wines in California and all the other regions of the world. So like you said, Luis, like, going to some of the smaller markets and in creating some ambassadors, some local ambassadors, it sounds like you're really creating a whole community and hub and and hope sound. And, you know, there's opportunities just like that in other markets too. Absolutely. Absolutely. And, would just say out there that if anybody's coming to Florida, we'd like to do wine dinner with us. Yeah. The Grinchino wine. Great. Please give us a call. You can find me on on the internet of course Okay. To Julian. And we'd love to help you expose what you do and and tell the story of this. So, you know, the lines that haven't been seen out there personally and professing for a while. So you only help me do my job better as a research journey student of a subject matter. Yeah. If these come in do a wine dinner with us or at least a tasting. I I have a thing that first time it came to Italy in in a way. Okay. If you haven't done this yet as a non Italian traveler, you come to Italy in August. You hear one thing. Oh, yes. And then all of a sudden, it's like, why is everybody close? So I'm on a campaign to have a friend of the most students in in in our community. I am for that. That sounds great. We all need a little vacation and everyone shut down at once sounds great. Yes. I see us in Florida. It's right before the season. At least for Florida our market, you know, it's seasonal so to speak on the southeast and West Coast, and there's some buyers tend to start to ride their wireless. And, if you're for doing a little black party, I don't know you're a vulnerable style. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Why not because sounds great. We try to make wine fun. Right. I think that's important. Make it fun. So, Luis, it's been so much fun talking to you here today. And as we wind down, we'll do our rapid fire three question quiz of sorts. So number one, what is your number one tip for mastering the US wine market? Be open to speak to anyone who has an interest learning about Italian wines. Nobody knows everything, and so just be genuine to present to your wines because Italy not only wine, and general. Italy can be intimidating. Yeah. That's really great advice. Italy can be intimidating. So don't assume the knowledge of your consumer, of your customer, make sure that you're being generous with your information. I think that's great. Absolutely. What's something you might have told your younger professional self about selling wine in the US? Well, always make sure you check all the wines. You know, I was at a wine dinner once where I I relied on the summer day at a at a yacht club. Okay. It said everything was great. I was there with ownership, and it happened to be, you know, and it was not good. Not okay. Uh-uh. I I test everyone. Test every wine. Yeah. You know, every event, just do it yourself. D detailed oriented. Yep. Absolutely. And then finally, we all travel a lot. Sounds like you traveled quite a bit. Now we're here traveling up in Italy. What's your number one, one of your favorite travel hacks? Well, I'm kind of particular about the bathroom. I just get in there. And I said everything real neat and everything. So if I happen to stay out late, which I don't. Yeah. In the morning, everything's nice and tight. So you don't miss the bus whenever you Everything's organized. It's drastically here. Yeah. So I just have my little travel habits. Awesome. Very cool. Luis, how can our listeners connect with you and maybe set up one of those potential wine dinners. Thank you so much for asking. Well, my email address is l r e y n e r I at icloud dot com. Great. And, that's the best way. You can also visit us at w w w dot the Grove obe sound dot com, t h e g r o v e. And if you're in the neighborhood, give us a call. We'd love to get to know you and teach you once. Thanks, Luis. Thanks for being here today. Of course. Thank you for joining me today. Stay tuned each week for new episodes of Master Class US wine market with me, Juliana Colangelo. I remember if you enjoyed today's show, hit the like and follow buttons wherever you get your podcasts.