Ep. 1923 Dana Peixotto | 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 Masterclass 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. To sharpen your principles, get out your notebooks, and join us each week to learn more about the US market. Hello. Welcome to Masterclass US wine market. Today, I am thrilled to welcome Dana Pashosso to the Italian wine podcast. Dana is a wine educator based in Seattle. She holds degree in winemaking as well as her diploma with W Set, and she's also an Italian wine ambassador. Welcome to the show, Janet. So great to have you here. Thank you, Julian. I'm thrilled to be here. Of course. So you hold quite a number of degrees in wine. So talk us us a little bit about how you got so involved in wine education. And what led you to pursuing so many different great degrees in the wine industry? Excellent question. Five years ago, I found myself with two children under the age of two and a very aggressive career in fintech, and I was just searching for something to make myself feel a little bit more about like myself, something to be passionate about. I decided to enroll in WSet level one locally here. Just took a little afternoon class when my husband watched the kids, fell in love with it, ended up enrolling in WSet level two. And, both of those classes took place at my local community college. And while I was there, I discovered they had a winemaking program. Ended up doing a tour and enrolling in the program. And while doing that, ended up taking level three, French wine scholar, the pandemic hit, so the degree took me quite a while to finish. And in that time, I was able to do diploma as well. And I just found myself kind of on this wagon or this this wheel, and I I couldn't stop, and I kind of have been collecting knowledge ever since. My goal really was to open a wine bar in my neighborhood, kind of a family centric wine bar, and I didn't feel like I could speak fluidly or comfortably about wine to the average consumer. And that's how I started, and I just haven't been able to stop yet. Amazing. I love that. So it kinda just caught the wine bug as a hobby initially, and it's obviously grown in into much more, which is is really exciting. And I love what you said about kind of a family centric wine space and I really wanna dive in in today's episode about the Pacific Northwest and Seattle for Italian specifically. I think it's really interesting to get hyperfocus in these podcasts about what's happening in various parts of the the US. As we know, it's such a complex market and from coast to coast. It's very different. So we're really excited to hear your expertise, and experience being based in Seattle. So some of our takeaways for today's episode are union number one, what is the market right now for Italian wine in Seattle and the larger Pacific Northwest, some of the trending varietals, regions, etcetera. What are some of the future opportunities for Italian wine in this market? And then finally, we also wanna learn about how we can make Italianuwine more approachable for education. That's something we're constantly trying to do better. So I love hearing different perspectives. So for starters, Dana, just give us an overview happening right now in Seattle and the Greater Pacific Northwest in the Italian Wine category. Yeah. I think that's a good question. The Pacific Northwest, it's not unsimilar to Italy and that it's very regional. We are so each of the cities are so isolated everywhere else, you know, it takes. Three hours to get to Vancouver. Takes three hours to get to Portland. And then your next closest thing is something like Boise eight hours away. So our areas have developed pretty localized and regionally, very similar to the way I tell our regions. Have developed over the years. And with that, we've kind of have this local push to consume consume things locally, whether that be beer, local spirits, local food, you know, attending local restaurants and grocery stores, And that that, like, kind of at a macro level has taken place across Portland, Seattle, Vancouver. But then within that larger Pacific Northwest area, we've kind of got these, you know, more mezzo. We've got Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, and then we have, like, these individual neighborhoods where things get really localized. But because of that, our wine cultures have kind of developed differently while they've developed simultaneously, you know, the Portland wine area is much different than Seattle. Or in Washington, our climates are different. The wine growing regions are different. So as over the last fifty years or so, as the wine culture has developed, we've developed different tastes in wine due to the the specificity of the grapes we're growing here. Again, unlike Italy. So in Oregon, we get a lot of grapes that are cooler climate, more temperate climate. We've got pinot noir, pinot gris, some chardonnay going on down there. And up here, we have a more cotton out climate, much more continental. So we've got some bolder, more structured, tannic wines, raws, cabs. You know, we do have some chardonnays, rieslings, and some whites going on as well. But that means our tastes have developed differently. So what people are interested in drinking up where I'm located tends to be different than Portland. And again, same for Vancouver. I haven't spent a lot of time up there since the pandemic, but, you know, similar as well. So when it comes to Italian wine, you're gonna see slight differences in the types of Italian wines that people are drinking as well. But because of that locality, the market tends to focus more on the Pacific Northwest wines and causes a little bit of a barrier to entry for Italian wines to make it into the marketplace here. Because there's so many domestic. Yeah. That's common on the West Coast and the US, right, in California as well. You know, you're you're not just up against every other imported wine in the world. You're up against the local production, and there it sounds like there's a lot of local pride in the Pacific Northwest for the wines of Washington and Oregon? Yes. There absolutely is. And, you know, I was out at a restaurant last night and, you know, I was just having influenced newer restaurants. And while the the wine list absolutely had Italian wines and some interesting wines. We're starting to see some branching out into pulling more interesting wines into the list from other Italian braddles. You know, you had an equal number. So if, let's say, you had ten wides on the list, you've got another ten Pacific Northwest whites to match that same for the reds. So that pride in the local wine drinking is definitely prevalent. Absolutely. So where do you think for Italian wine specifically is the right strategy? Is it to go with wines that might match the profiles of some of the local, we produce specific Northwest wines and try to fit those those profiles that people are already familiar with, or to go more esoteric and unique to the regions? Like, where do you think there's let's talk about arrivals regions in Italy. There's opportunities for the category in the Pacific Northwest. Yeah. I think there's a couple of different spots. I mean, absolutely matching something that someone is already familiar with is would be an easier entry point. We've also got a big push for, you know, what we'll call natural line, low intervention, more adventurous types of wines. We've seen a lot of pet knots and skin contacts and orange wines in the last few years that people are interested in trying. So I think also marketing and advertising the fact that a lot of Italian wine is just naturally low intervention and natural wine is, a big selling point for them. So leading into the low intervention, natural leanings, styles of wine, do you feel like, you know, there's there's an opportunity there for the Pacific Northwest market? Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, in my neighborhood alone, we've had two or three natural wine bottle shops pop up. You know, they're just they're popping up quite a bit, and the, wine lists and restaurants are also kind of starting to showcase some of that. Right. Talk to us about just the format of how people are drinking wine in, let's say, in Seattle specifically as the biggest metro market in the Pacific Northwest are, you know, is it wine bars, more casual, fine dining? Like, what are you seeing? Right now in your city be popular when it comes to how consumers are engaging with wine. That's a good question. We are in general, the northwest is a pretty laid back culturally. So there is a lot of casual wine drinking, wine bars, a few more like, tasting rooms popping up in the neighborhoods, happens quite a bit backyard, get togethers, especially when the weather is nice, is pretty is a pretty big place for it as well, especially since the pandemic. People are, I feel drinking less and drinking something, you know, following that natural path, we get a lot of no low alcohol. So while people are drinking less, I think there's a a more of a focus on what they're drinking and where they're drinking it. We have a few giant wine bars that you may go into. There tend to be smaller corner type situations with five to ten tables. So, you know, and just staying on that that topic around the consumer and the Pacific Northwest as an educator, Dana, what's your approach to educating around Italian? Yeah. So I think and this is something I've we focused a bit on in via as well is there is just so much to know about Italian wine. There's so many different varieties. There's so many different regions. There's so many different climates. And really helping the consumer just understand what they like and how they can make those ties to Italian wine, and make simplifying it for them. My goal is really to empower the average consumer to say, hey, I like this. I'm okay with liking this. Pino's my favorite and giving them the tools to figure out that, okay. Well, maybe I might like this this Ruke over here or this Pria rouge or some something that draws a similar line in helping them figure out how to do that. Italian wine podcast, part of the moma jumbo shrimp family. Dana, you mentioned earlier that low intervention and more natural leaning wines are a good opportunity for Italian wines in the Pacific Northwest in Seattle, but let's talk a little more specifically about specific grapes or specific regions when it comes to introducing people to new Italian wines. You mentioned, you know, people want to know what they're drinking and know they're gonna like it. So introducing Italian wines in the context of a wine they may already know, such as you know, a Washington state, Pino Green, for example. So on that front, where do you think there are some opportunities for specific Italian grapes and regions in the Pacific Northwest? So that's a good question. You know, when we talk about Oregon, we've got, you know, we've got a lot of pinot, we've got a lot of pinot gris. So I think some of the the lighter bodied styles would do well there. I think we could do some some Ruce, some at Norrosos, some longue nebbiolos for their pinot gris, you know, I think they could start drinking some things like fiano, maybe some Treviano de Ligana, some of the slightly more full bodied, but not overwhelmingly so kind of match their palettes down there. As for Washington, you know, we do like a bold red, and there's a lot of options in Italy. You know, you've got Aleonaco, the grinds, the seventeen o. I was drinking seventeen o the other day, but was like my husband would absolutely love this. He loves to be knocked over by his red wines, and there's some that really match that. There sure are definitely like you said from the south. There's some good opportunities there. Absolutely. And, you know, we do have a lot of riesling up here too. So even moving up towards Al de la de la de j, some of the other wines up in the north kind of bordering up on the north border would work well as well for both, I think, due to that climate. Okay. That makes sense. So there's definitely seems like range of variety from bolder reds to match the cabernet drinker to maybe some of the Northern Italian whites to match, like, the drinker that's more into, you know, rio riesling, so some nice opportunities across the board. So, Dana, talk to us a little bit about what you're doing specifically with education and an Italian wine in Seattle. What I'm doing is really trying to help the consumer feel comfortable and not feel overwhelmed. So when I go into a workshop or do a tasting, I really give the client a set of general guidelines to help them when they are out and about either buying wine at a grocery store or in a restaurant and helping them say, okay. I can't remember all of the rules and the pairing rules and what I should be doing, but I do know something what grows together goes together. So, okay, I'm making this dish, well, I could at least grab an Italian red to go with this pasta that I'm making or some kind of easy lines for them to draw and understand from a high level what may work for them without knowing the intricacies of Italian line. Okay. Very cool. So really, like, understanding what their knowledge base is before you dive into your presentation to really meet the consumer where they're at in terms of what what they're looking for. Absolutely. Yeah. I I don't focus a lot on the wine drinker that is heavily educated. I feel like there's quite a bit of education out there. We've got WCS, we've got the Court of Master. So, moye, we've got all these programs that Okay. Are very well established and do a great job of educating people. That are passionate. And my goal is just to get more people in and drinking wine and feeling comfortable doing that. And what formats are you utilizing? Like, where are you doing casings? Like, how are you meeting these consumers? That's a good question. It's kind of been a mix I tend to do workshops with other, local small businesses. I have a close relationship with a master gardener in the neighborhood. So we've done some, you know, herb gardener pairings with wines and what you would do those herbs and how you'd put them in the food and then that to the wine. We've done some harvest, you know, it's harvest time. What are people drinking it harvest and why? So kind of very seasonal and depending on what's happening in the community, kind of tying that back to the the locality of consumption. Okay. So working with small businesses and local communities to to do various seasonal tastings. Very cool. Anything on the horizon, you would say, for Italian wine in Seattle, the Pacific Northwest, like anything you're looking forward to terms of events coming up or tastings or just anything else that you'd like to share? I don't know of any specific events coming up, but I definitely am seeing wine lists get more adventurous. So I'm very excited for that. A lot more popping up around and options to try by the glass, different things instead of just your run of the mill San Gios that you know. So that's pretty exciting and I'm hoping that the rest of the community will will be excited about that as well. Great. Awesome. Sounds like more adventurous, less, more opportunity for Tanya online. So that's we like to hear that. Well, Dana, it's been great to have you here today. As we wind down, we do our rapid fire quiz at the end of every episode. So if you can do your best to answer these questions, in one or two sentences. That'd be great. So question one, what is your number one tip for mastering the US wine market? Understanding kind of the cultural values and the setup of each community, you know, we're different very regional each region is quite different. So understanding the outlook, what people are looking for, and how people shop and drink and consume. Okay. So really, really understanding the market. And that's what hopefully this podcast is helping with. Question number two, what is something you might have told your younger professional self about working in the wine industry. Oh, wow. That's a good question. You know, about twenty years ago, I worked in a wine bar as a hostess, and I was just blown away by the ability of the professionals to speak fluidly and comfortably about wine. And I thought it was completely unattainable. So I would have just told myself be patient. It is accessible. It is attainable, and it just takes takes work to understand it. Yeah. Have patience. And finally, you know, we're all traveling a lot in this industry. What's one of your favorite travel hack? Oh, my gosh, pack lights and just, you know, enjoy the culture. Everywhere is so different. So I try to eat, shop, drink locally. I don't need to bring a lot. I need to just embed myself in the culture, and have a good time. Great advice. Absolutely. Thank you so much, Dana. How can our listeners follow along with you and everything you're up to in, the Seattle and Pacific Northwest with Italian Line? I am on Instagram as left on the vine. So you can follow me there when I'm up to some of my cheat sheets for dissecting line and what you like, you know, how that may play to other other wines. Okay. Fantastic. Thanks again for joining us today, Dana. Perfect. Thank you so much for your time. 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.