Ep. 876 Iconic Women In Italian Wine Pt. 1 | On The Road Vinitaly Edition

Welcome to the Italian wine podcast. This episode is brought to you by Vinitally international wine and spirits exhibition. The fifty fourth edition of Vinitally was held from ten to the thirteenth of April. If you missed it, don't worry. Go to Vineethly plus dot com for on demand recordings of all the sessions from the exhibition. And remember to save the date, the next edition of Vineethly will be held from the second to the fifth of April two thousand and twenty three. Welcome to iconic women in Italian wine on the Italian wine podcast. This recording was taken from a seminar that took place during Vin Italy twenty twenty two. Listen in to this unprecedented unique session that included two competing wine writers and seven renowned wine producers sharing a stage to tell their stories. This was a meeting of hearts, minds, and wines. A showcase of the communication skills of women who were able to pool their resources and put aside differences to come together for the greater good of the entire Italian wine sector. Welcome to the iconic woman in Italian wine? Let me get the first slide. Look at that while I'm skiing. I know the men cannot look and listen at the same time, but I think the woman can. Right? So let's try that. So this is the iconic woman in Italian wine, just make sure you're in the right room. My name is Stevie Kim. I have the greatest pleasure And you have no idea that, what we are we are able to gather here today for several reasons. The most important for this, absolutely unprecedented meeting of the line with, Monica Lana, that you see, and Allison Matthews, both well established veterans in the wine world. So let's give it up for Monica and Allison. So just in case you don't know who Allison is, Alice enjoyed wine spectator in two thousand, and was promoted to senior editor in two thousand twelve, and now is also the Tasting director since two thousand sixteen. She is the lead taster for wines of Spain, France, Champagne, South Africa, and luckily Muckoo also Italy. So all of Italy except, of course, Bruce takes care of Pemonte and Tuscany for now. At least. Than Monica. Monica Lana. She has written for La Rubica. She's a little bit more Italian from Rome, business week, international health tribune, And since two thousand three, she had joined wine enthusiasts as Italy based correspondent. And now her current role, which is two thousand thirteen. She is the lead reviewer for Italy, for a Robapaca wine advocate. Monica lana, for a Robapaca wine advocate, and Alison Nap juice for wine spectator. It's kind of like it takes me a little bit to say all that in one breath. Right? Of course, our natural rivals for readership and prestige have crossed all the historic boundaries between the publications in order to show the wine world, the power of woman to unite. It's always been a long standing dream for me. I I've been working on this for three years, even before the pandemic, to unite the forces of these two leading wine critics and journalists to guide a tasting together. So, yes, they will be obviously be, a bit of wine tasting. Yes. So you have the glasses in front front of you. However, what I'm really, really interested in is in what they how they can facilitate the stories of these seven iconic woman led Italian wineries. So seven iconic women, seven signature wines, coming close to the history and narrative that reveals the true soulfulness of Italian one. We have spoken to Monica, Alice, and we've spoken a lot about this on the Zoom prior to coming joining you today. Some of you have approached me and asked me, how did this happen? I think the more appropriate question, frankly is, how come this hadn't happened before? Why didn't this happen before? Right? Why not? Completing wine writers have never hosted such events before. Wine writing has a lot to do with competition, as we all know, between magazines, between the writers themselves, and certainly among leadership. Winemiting is based upon opinions and personal analysis with the most technical elegant, exacting, alluring tasting notes, carrying a lot of weight and shaping couriers in the sector. These two female line critic titans are collaborating for the first time to create a once in a lifetime event featuring seven equally iconic producers from Italy. So in the beginning, I I've got that from Webster's dictionary. I googled that because we I think we discussed what we should call this. I was really keen on, iconic women in Italian wine. And I was a little bit persistent. And so as you can see, even just the example, it mentions wine. So I said, this is destiny. We have it has to be about iconic women in Italian wine. So the lineup for the iconic woman. My name is Alegarini of Amarano Payne. I'd be at a Antinori with Queen of Supertuscan, Keanna Bowski's One moment pioneer from Francino, Elana Fucci, Janice of volcanic soils. Shila, in Chiza, the letter of Kita, as to legendary Sasekaya. And when I finished Adriana Ocipinci firebrand from Sicily. This woman will each present their signature line, telling their personal stories with the support and engagement, of course, of Monica and Allison. As with the journalist, you know, the producers, I love you, tie ins, but they're incredibly individualistic, talented. These producers have been competitors for many years, not just amongst themselves, but of course with everybody else, in some cases for many, many generations. They represent five different regions of Italy, and their ages span over forty years. Where wines reach out for market share and prominence across global markets. And yet today, they come together to share their Rines and their stories in the name and hope. Thank you, Allison, and Monica, for joining me on this journey and for having accepted this challenge. As well as, of course, these iconic women in front of you today. So let's get started, and let's have some fun. Think Monica is going to speak to us first. Monica? Thank you. Thank you, Allison. Thank you very much. I was hoping we would be seeing the end of virtual wine tastings and Zoom meetings But here I am, unfortunately, with great regret and disappointment, joining you by video link from my hotel in verona, just a few kilometers away from where you are seated today. I tested positive for COVID yesterday, but I'm extremely grateful to find out before setting foot inside the crazy and frenetic world of Italy where I surely would meet so many dear friends and colleagues that had not seen in two long years I'm very sorry that I cannot be with you in person for this historic tasting. When Stevie proposed the idea of doing a seminar on the iconic women of Italian wine, Alison and I were immediately receptive and excited by the idea. What I personally found most compelling is that I would have the opportunity to present beautiful Italian wines with a colleague who works for a magazine that shares market space with my own. I don't believe the wine spectator and Robert Parker wine advocate have ever collaborated on anything and with a certain amount of smug certainty, I suspect that our male colleague that these publications or other competing magazines would never pull resources together in this fashion. Can you imagine? This is what makes this master class different from anything that has ever been done in the past. I want to underline how groundbreaking this collaboration is. There are so many important benefits to us working together as I sit here in isolation in my hotel room, I think about all the troubles and bad news we have endured in recent times. It has been overwhelming and very scary, but no matter who I speak with, One theme always emerges. We are all burning with the desire for new beginnings, new chapters, living together, and enjoying being together. It doesn't take much to read between the lines. That's what this master class is really about. Inclusivity, camaraderie, working together, pulling resources for a common purpose, creating togetherness. The seven women seated before you immediately agreed to participate in this seminar. They instantly recognized the spirit of this exercise, and they joined our efforts with matching enthusiasm and emotion. It is amazing how seamlessly and how effortlessly this seminar came together Heaving and seeing, we asked each participant to share a wine or a vintage that is important to them on a personal level. Maybe it represents a special achievement or maybe it coincides with an important moment in the life of its creator. Hopefully, we'll have a chance to talk about some of those reasons when we explore the wines together. Officer and I believe that there is a profound soulfulness to Italian wine, and maybe just maybe that special spirit is what sets Italian wine apart while the rest. Is is it that what makes it special? The fact that makes vino, different and attractive to a growing population of young and savvy wine lovers. Let's find out together. Thank you. Great. Thank you, Stevie, and Monica, for those wonderful introductions. You know, Monica, I think you really told the heart and emotion behind this master class, and I'm very pleased to be presenting here with everybody, Monica, Stevie, and all the wonderful, one producers. Now I'd like to speak for a moment about the thoughts behind this, the cerebral part of the experience. The title is iconic women in Italian wine, but we're in twenty twenty two. The ideal, a female contribution to the wine industry. It's not new. Women are everywhere, and it takes both men and women to make the Italian line the great success that it is today. Even looking at these seven panelists, there are many other exceptional women who could also be here today. But when we began talking about this panel, some names were immediately on the tip of the tongue, and we're very pleased to have you all here. Thank you for doing that. Many studies over the last several decades have suggested that women are better communicators. They use more words and more expressive words that they have a greater ability to listen and to empathize. Our panelists are not specifically or exclusively communicators. They're winery founders, winery founders, winemakers, and in our opinion, all around trailblazers. And so I wanted to have them here to tell their stories, but also to hear how they tell their stories. We especially felt it was time for this in light of the pandemic when we all had to pivot to find new ways to connect and communicate and to continue the business of wine. Today, we're going to be focusing not only on these seven great producers and their selected wines, but also three primary themes, territory, wine ambassadors, and legacy and family. And I think we're going to hear some really interesting insights along the way. To explain very quickly about the format, after Monica and I formally introduce each of our panelists, the tasting and presentation will be in three groups or flights. We'll taste three wines blind in the first group and then two in the second and the third. And in between each, we're going to ask for the audience to participate by guessing which wine has been poured blind. But, of course, there are very great tastes and ensure it'll be educated guesses But then we will ask some questions kind of along the theme of each group and hear from the producers individually. They'll be answering not answering not only our questions, but telling us why they selected the particular line and sharing their stories. So I think we can kind of go right into our introductions, and Monica is going to introduce Elizabeth. Alright. So our first producer is the wonderful elizabeta Coradore. The massive drama of the Italian alps with its jagged peaks and snowy capped mountains meets a softer landscape with apple orchards and hillside vineyards and the region of Tarantino. It is at this crazy intersection of vertical versus horizontal, Mediterranean versus continental, Italy versus Europe that we find little pockets of creative thinking and out of the box innovation. And isabella Foradori and her family create groundbreaking wines that push the boundaries and rewrite all the rules. Her winemaking philosophy has from the very beginning, incorporated sustainability, biodiversity, biodynamics, and use of alternated vessels like amphora. These qualities came naturally and fully organically to Elizabetha. Her logo is the pomegranate fruit, and there is a tree just by the heavy wooden doors that lead to her primitive room at the winery. On a symbolic level, the pomegranate represents many little ideas. Hundreds of tiny seeds packed together neatly into one beautiful container. That's exactly what we get with Elizabeth's lines. Welcome, Elizabeth. Okay. And, Nara, I'd like to inter introduce Ariana O'ki Pinti, Marco's shirt to Sicily was about ten years ago. And at the time, Ariana's Rhines already had quite a following in the US. I was really looking forward to meeting her. But first, I visited her uncle, been to get coastlinenery the day before seeing her. She told me a story about Ariana, as a teenager, this small young woman on a boat tractor driving through her hometown wearing a cowboy hat, completely fearless. And that image has always stuck with me because I think it says a lot about Ariana and her path in the wine world. There's a little bit of kind of the wild west in there, and she's an explorer and somebody who has a lot of drive and passion. After working with her uncle and going to a knowledge school, she started out in two thousand four making just one Casco wine, putting all of her dreams, and all of her then very much shoestring budget into that first vine. Today, she makes ten different bottlings. And along the way, Ariana has become a poster child, not only for Sicily's renaissance, but also for natural minds as she explored non interventionist winemaking, and a protagonist for production from native varieties and, of course, for young vine makers to chase their dreams, especially female vine makers. Thank you, Ariana, for being here today. The next winemaker that we would like to introduce is Saraboski's. Barolo is a wine of great humanity, thanks to its legacy and long history that ties Italy to the great winemaking traditions of France and the rest of the world. It is known as the king of Italian wines, and for very good reason. At its heart, it's been the Bureau of Great. This finicky, late ripening bridle that is both robust and delicate at the same time. It is generous, but yet it holds itself back to age over the long haul. It is a wine that offers immediate personality but it was also fluid ever shifting and changing over the course of its bottle evolution. On one of my first visits to Karabowski's in the little town of Barolo, I remember finding a little patch of Daisy's growing right outside her cellar door. I went inside with her, and she gave me a tour past her old barrels in the ancient walls. I was struck by her passion. At the time she told me about her to lobby local producers to make sure that the entire can be crew in Barolo could become a fully organic vineyard. I always think of those daisies when I come back to visit Karaboski's now. I look for them that little patch of grass her wine shine bright against the profound elegance, depth of sturdy, and pedigree that is going on. She makes three expressions, one from in Barolo, one from the Moscone crew in Mooforte Alba, and she has a blended wine called the Anwarva, that's each group from Barolo, from the Terlo in these avenues, Mooforte Alba, from the Rivera and Mosconeers, and Thank you. And back to you, Allison. Thank you, Monica. And next, I'd like to introduce Natalie. And as with Ariana, I have a mental picture of Natalie's that always stays with me. It's her dashing across the lawns for a family's village and Latory city, running towards a winning helicopter that was ready to whisk her away to Tuscany. And not to make all of you think that she's a rock star, but well, yes, she is kind of a rock star, although she is just as passionate and knowledgeable about the wine production as her Waimecker brother Franco, when her father passed away suddenly in the early nineteen eighties, her path changed. Her role was to leave the winery behind and to travel the world communicating about Amarrone and Alagini. Twenty years later, Marlisa saw the opportunity to expand to explore new expressions of Italian terroir. She was the drive behind purchasing and renewing a first cordial alcocoro in Bulgaria and shortly after Dan polo in Montalchino. She is an incredible businesswoman and professional, a tireless ambassador for Italian wine, a fashionista, and a mentor for many. The next producer we'd like to introduce is Elena Fuchi. I have a soft spot for Nutania or Bagulikata as the region is more commonly known. I have danced Pipsica and Carabela under a starry night. Eaten my fair share of dried red peppers called, and little meatballs called Numarid at town fairs that celebrate local states, some Christian, some outright pagan with mind bending twists that are unique to Southern Italy. I have bought into the local superstitions, belief in spells, witches, and old traditions. Believe me for a time in my life, I was deep into I will forever love Elinofucci's wines because they are so perfectly so perfectly reflect the infinite charms and magic of her volcanic wine region. If a wine is meant to impart a sense of place, Elena's Alyanico transports me directly to the Vouture with all of its secrets and treasures waiting to be discovered. But Elena's overall contribution to Italian wine is far more important. She has energized an entire generation of winemakers in her region. Many of them young women. She has inspired them to make great wines and build a robust wine appellation. Founded on quality and understanding of international markets. She has brought Busri Gata to the world stage. Thank you. And next slide, I'd like to introduce Aldera Emtenory. I don't know exactly when I first met Aldera, but I do remember that I was relatively new to covering Italian lines. So a bit younger, and certainly impressed to be meeting Aldera Antinori. And out of the whole world of Antinori wine, and it's nearly two dozen estates, what did she want to discuss? Tamuta Montinisa, Antinori's property in French, Corta. There are a new of my love for champagne and sparkling minds, and she immediately found a way to connect with me over this passion while still communicating the antonore story. And I think it's a fine example of the way Alvarra has navigated her leadership of one of Italy's wine giants Antonori. She'll see in trouble as president in two thousand seventeen, while her father, Marquisia Pierre, Antonori, is still quite active. It is Albera and her sister is Aleklaia, for upfront today. Antonor is one of Italy's traditional pillars, but Avioa has had to modernize it in many ways, including directing the construction of Antonor's impressive new Yantic classville seller, which opened in two thousand thirteen, and the scope of her work now goes well beyond the Tuscany, Salaya, and Tignanello. The Antonoid footprint exposed to with Taylor and great varieties around the world from Chile to California to Washington State in the United States and in regions throughout Italy. And Althia seamlessly oversees it all, welcome Althia. The next presentation is where Prashira and Shiza Bershila is the first to tell you that she is part of a team. She is one component in a complicated mosaic that makes one of the greatest wines on earth. Her grandfather and her father before her, Nikolo, and she's would create a wine for friends with the first commercial vintage being nineteen sixty eight. The blend of habanese will be known with a little bit of habanese folk ushered in a new wave of wines that would completely change the dynamic and the future of Italian fine wine. All wine in Italy is born from Sasutai in some way. One producer once told me. And I believe this to be true. Saskicaa has started a new chapter for Italy that brings Italian wine to the forefront of the great collectors and great wine list of the world. Can you decide we do is located in Boledy on the coast of Tuscany in this special area that faces the Iranian Sea light is reflected off the water surface and onto the mountains where the vineyards grow? Sassicaiah is the ultimate Italian legend and icon. Thank you. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Italian wine podcast, brought to you by Vinitally international wine and spirits exhibition. The biggest drinks trade fair in the world. Save the date. The next edition of Vinitally will be held the second through the fifth of April two thousand and twenty three. Remember to subscribe to Italian wine podcast and catch us on SoundCloud, Spotify, and wherever you get your pods. You can also find us at Italian wine podcast dot com. Chinchin, Hi, guys. I'm Joy Livingston, and I am the producer of the Italian wine podcast. Thank you for listening. We are the only wine podcast that has been doing a daily show since the pandemic began. 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