
Ep. 1420 Giampaolo Tabarrini | On The Road With Stevie Kim
On the Road with Stevie Kim
Episode Summary
Content Analysis Key Themes and Main Ideas 1. The rebranding and evolution of the Montefalco Consortium's annual wine preview event. 2. The diverse range of wines produced in Montefalco, beyond just Sagrantino. 3. Innovation and experiential elements in wine tourism, exemplified by electric bike tours. 4. The importance of community collaboration and local gastronomy in promoting the Montefalco region. 5. Professionalism in wine tasting and evaluation for journalists and trade. Summary This segment features an interview with the President of the Montefalco Consortium, discussing their annual wine preview event, now rebranded as ""A Montefalco"" from its previous name, ""Anteprima."" The president explains that the new name reflects the region's broader ""rainbow"" of wines, including reds and various whites like Trebbiano and Spoleto, not just Sagrantino. The event hosts a significant number of international journalists (160-180 in total) for tasting the 2019 vintage. A key innovation for this year is the introduction of high-quality electric mountain bikes for winery visits, designed to provide an enjoyable and immersive experience for attendees. The president also highlights the event's commitment to authenticity, with local restaurants serving traditional, ""real"" Montefalco food at the closing party, a departure from more ""fancy"" dishes. He emphasizes the cooperative spirit within the Montefalco community and the consortium's role in supporting all producers. Tasting protocols have been made more professional, with only regularly bottled wines allowed for evaluation, and journalists can choose between guided or blind tastings. Takeaways - The Montefalco wine preview event has been strategically rebranded to ""A Montefalco,"" signifying a more comprehensive representation of the region's wines. - Journalist attendance at the event has significantly increased, with a strong international presence. - Experiential wine tourism is a growing focus, with the introduction of high-quality electric mountain bikes for winery tours to enhance visitor engagement. - The event prioritizes authenticity in local gastronomy, featuring traditional, ""grandma-style"" dishes at the closing celebration. - The Montefalco Consortium aims for increased professionalism in wine evaluation, exemplified by the new rule requiring wines to be regularly bottled for tasting. - Montefalco is portrayed as a small, charming village with a strong community spirit, where local businesses (like restaurants) are integral to regional promotion. - A new marketing campaign centered around words starting with the letter ""A"" (e.g., agriculture, authentic, artigiani, amore) is being launched to define Montefalco. Notable Quotes - ""Say, A Montefalco today is come to see the rainbow that Montefalco is able to show from his balcony."
About This Episode
The first president of Monte assessing the language in Italian wine and promoting the Monteician's message, the upcoming campaign for Montefalco is designed to encourage people to use their own language, and the quality of the vintage is a good one. The vintage is a vintage with a higher average score than the previous year, and the campaign is open to all people on trade. The vintage is a vintage with a higher average score than the previous year, and the importance of being a producer is emphasized. The use of tasting wines and the use of cocktails music for the party are discussed, and the Italian wine scene is offered as a tour.
Transcript
Hey, guys. Check out Italian wine unplugged two point o brought to you by Mama jumbo shrimp, a fully updated second edition, reviewed and revised by an expert panel of certified Italian wine ambassadors from across the globe. The book also includes an addition by professoria Atilushienza. Italy's leading vine geneticist. To pick up a copy today, just head to Amazon dot com or visit us at mama jumbo shrimp dot com. Welcome to another episode of On the Road Edition hosted by Stev Kim. Each week, she travels to incredible wine destinations, interviewing some of the Italian wine scenes most interesting personalities, talking about wines, the foods, as well as the incredible travel destinations. Okay. So we are back for the second year in a row. Anteprima Montefarco, with the president of the consortium of Monteferco. But this year, it's not called Anteprima. It's called a a montefaca. So what what is that all about? Well, he montefaca is a montefaca. In the entire language, r is two. Mhmm. So it's like move to a place. Although, I I go to MonteFanco. Mhmm. So our MonteFanco is too Montefalco, and it's a way to simplify the speech of the people. Where are you going? I'm Montefaca. That is the answer. And it's not anymore in Anteprima because, you know, in the past was Anteprima San Latino. We was talking in the message as of one product, but is MonteFA just one wine? What do you learn in the recent past TV? Much. There's now there's, Roso de MonteFA. There is all the whites. Trebiano, spolletino. There is a lot of stuff. So, say, our MonteFA today is come to see the rainbow Mhmm. That MonteFA is able to show from his balcony. And today, we are on the balcony of the municipal office. So the view from here, we are very lucky because it's not allowed to everybody to be here. So just for official speech, the view. So what is this sir with this balcony? What is it for? First of all, this is the municipal office. This is the mayor office. So Yeah. I said this is like the town hall. Exactly. This is the town hall. So with all the public service inside, and we are in front of the square. On this side, we have the theater. Over there, there is, our headquarters. So consortium headquarter. And this is the main main piazza. Yes. It's our main square. Piazza del commune. Yes. It's you know, the our town is not the town. It's a village. It's very small. How many how many inhabitants? Totally Montifanco is five thousand people, but I think that inside the CD wall, there is only seven hundred people that used to live inside. The most of them come only in summertime You see, it's it's it's it's closed. It's, while it's real, it's true. It's beautiful, however, fashion that is unbelievable. I'm mesmerizing. Oh, well. But from here, it's funny because it it's first time I come, with this entrepreneur on the balcony and read all the words that start with the a because the other things we did is let play the people with the a letter. So a like Anteprima. Right. He, like agriculture, agriculture, indigenous, authentic. Real Artigiani artisan, Artonia, hermani, Hanima, so so all letter, amore, love. So all letter that start with this. So So this is this is going to be the new campaign, like a permanent campaign. It's going to be Yeah. That's his, Montefalco. Yes. It's also give the opportunity to hold our guests, to find the word that describe Montefalco starting with the a, because a is the first letter on, to use. So it's where we start. It's the beginning of the speech, and the speech is the beginning, of the link between people. We talk each other because we have a language, and we have language because we have letters. And we'll be half of it start with the AA letter. Are these your guests? No. Different I don't think these are your guests. Well, we have also guests with fake pass. Everybody wanna be part of the party. This is not. Yeah. This is not your fake guest. No. Okay. No. No. Who knows? Let's see. No. I think they just look like terrorists. Those are theories. Yeah. Those are theories. So listen. Tell me a little bit about the program this year. Well, What what does it first of all, how many people do you invite? Well, numbers numbers of journalists rise up a lot. Last year, we improved about forty percent this year, an additional thirty percent compared to previous year. We have a between hundred and sixty hundred eighty journalists from all over the world. That is not easy to handle in two days. As you can see, all demands are running as crazy as they can to to afford to hold the delivery. One hundred and sixty. One hundred and sixty journal. It's a huge number. Yes. So and how many of them are foreigners, like international press? I believe, Stevy at least the the fifty percent or even more. Oh, chow. Or even more. So it's a huge number. In terms of news, this year, you saw, we have, the bicycle. So the electric mountain might be riding the bike. So they come over there, they pick the bike. And then they're going to the wineries. They go to the wineries. Yes. They hug. They go from winery to winery. It's quite far. Right? It seems, but it's not. Mhmm. Because when you are, biking in the beauty, you don't feel, that the time is passed. So, you spend half an hour and looks to you five minutes. You before to depart, you was thinking that, oh, it will be so hard and tough. And at the end, it's not. It's super easy. And now things happen. I had experienced yesterday of some French journalists that keep the bike They come back so enthusiasts that looks baby, and give the feeling to the friends that they get back to the emotion that they used to have when they was child. I believe is a is an award. So who how many bytes? Twenty. Okay. But we look more to the quality instead the quantity. Yeah. Because it's not I mean, it's not everyone will go on the bike. Yeah. But we look, especially to the quality of the bike. So, we got very high quality, very famous brand. We can see we got the Ferati of the bikes. Because we wanted our guests enjoy, Montefaca and the neighborhoods, with professional stuff. So this is the first time you're using electric bikes to, to the winery visits. Oh, yes. It is. Yes. It is because they're just arrived. We run, a lot to be ready for such day. Because as you know, it's not easy today. Find professional, mountain electric mountain bike. Ready to go. So but we really dream for it, and we make it happen. And the beauty is that, the dream we had to make it happen today is the dream of the people that are enjoying, such amusement because it's not It's not only writing or talking or describing, looking from your point of view, but it's also really enjoy what you are going to describe in your video, in your article, in anything else. So I'm on the fast code. How long is the program? I'm on the fast code. It's technically it's technically today is the nineteen and the twenty. Which is today and tomorrow. Today and tomorrow. Nine and twenty one is open also to also all the people on trade. So restaurants, retailers, and Otteca, there are a lot for these two. It's also true that as everybody know, and you know, our guests, our students to get coming to visit, Montefalco. They used to arrive two days earlier, and they used to depart two days later. But it's okay. So it is technically one week, but the spot is nineteen and twenty. Are you enjoying this podcast? Don't forget to visit our YouTube channel, mama jumbo shrimp. For fascinating videos covering Stevie Kim and her travels across Italy and beyond. Meeting winemakers, eating local foods, and taking in the scenery. Now back to the show. So let's talk about a little bit about the taste Okay. So the tasting is, you're doing the two twenty nineteen vintage. That's is, right. So first of all, we evaluate the two thousand nineteen vintage. How many stores this vintage is going to have. And tomorrow, we will discover it today in a spoiler. Mhmm. But let me say that it's a good vintage. Such for Better than better than eighteen? I think so. Mhmm. But This is my personal opinion. The final result is not up to me, but there's per user, that judge, that's journalist is the judge, that's consumer, that judge, and the medium of all of them give the stars. So I have, Have a good feeling. Anyway Are they going to announce that today or tomorrow? Tomorrow. Tomorrow. Final day, we'll say today, this year, let's say nineteen is x stars. Right. Last vintage, how many stars? It was four. Okay. It was four. Mhmm. But also we put close by the stars also numbers in hundred points. So it's nine hundred points, ninety one nine hundred points, because five stars have every meaning. Four stars have a meaning, but it's much more meaningful, say, ninety one, ninety two, ninety three. So close by to the stars, there's also numbers that score how good or bad it is of vintage. But there is also an additional difference compared to previous year. Since last year, been allowed all the wines, two thousand nineteen, to be presented, I mean, I think, all the producers. But this year, about forty fifty, producers. So we may have more wines per producer. From this year, only the wine that been bottled. Uh-huh. Before entrepreneurs, so they are regularly bottled. Mhmm. Can be part of the Anteprima two thousand nineteen. Because last year, there were also power panels. Exactly. So this is the huge change we applied this year and really did the difference. So we tried to prove that we can be even more professional than ever we ever been with us. Okay. Alright. So today's the program. Today and tomorrow, the the press, the journalists, they get to taste the wines, many as I saw that, actually in the back. See. They can taste, by choice. They can order the wines, but there's also blind tasting. Yes. Why why are you doing It's because any single journalist have a different approach to the wine and to a territory. And there's people that want to know what they're drinking and they want to drink the wine in a specific order that they have in their mind. Other people, they they they don't want to know what they're drinking. They just want to have, a general opinion and discover what they got only at the end of their tasting. Uh-huh. So we have a huge as you saw, we have a huge bunch of sommelier, that are ready as soldiers, to supply to hold such kind of questions. So what do you wanna drink? How do you wanna drink? How do you want to develop your job? We are not here to doing our job. We are here to support your job. So how do you wanna handle your tasting, your situation? So when you do these tastings and you have your guests, whether they're press or trade, you know, experts, wine critics, they rate the wines, then do you give each producers the, feedback? How does it work? Of course, every single producer is well informed about the press folder, let's say, in such way. So our press office work, to collect all the information, all the articles that are going to be released And of course, all such information are shared as anything else between all the partners of the territory. That is not only consortium member, but we're talking about all the producers. Mhmm. So all of them deserve it. Independently if they are a consortium members or not because they're a producer. And anyway, in a way or in another, they support the consortium and they support the Beverly. Okay. Alright. So then tomorrow, you do the you make the announcements of the results. See. Right? Of of the scores from this vintage nineteen. See. And then you also have like a party. Oh, yes. That's just a difference. We introduced since last year. Yeah. A lot so is it going to be similar to last year? Exactly. More or less the same. We changed the menu. Which What what's the menu this year? Oh, wow. Because, you know, this year, we want to give a little bit more flavor of what MonteFA represents in terms of also gastronomy. So tell to give me the menu for tomorrow. Well, I don't tell you the menu, but I tell you the change. Okay. What what I did last year is ask to hold the restaurant's owner in town because we have more than thirteen restaurants in the city wall. Mhmm. That is a huge number. I say, guys, that is also your moment. You are a co actor. So we we we are all of us as members of the movie, and you have to be part of of of such event. So I involve them. Last year, all of them, they tried to make a dish, but they tried to be creative. So Fancy. Fancy. You know, I say, I wanna show myself. And and thanks to last year, they where they saw that it was a party, where it was a feast, there there there wasn't the official situation where you have a standing in a place, sitting in another. People had freedom. So they this year, they grabbed the idea, and so we are going back to real food. Not not because last year was fake, but when I say real food, traditional, easy, with no evolution. Just I like sniffer. Exactly. The same dish that the grandma used to cook. I know that is but it's what I used to have since I when I was young. Who cares? Mhmm. It's for us it's something we have always had. But for everybody else that is not from this area. It's in use and it's gorgeous. It's beautiful. It's true. It's real. It's historical. It's everything. So the menu will be a with We'll be real. Yeah. It will be slightly different. Right? Maybe Much easier. Very tasty. Very real. Very difficult. Very tasty. Okay. Great. This is the right morrissey. Very, very difficult. So looking forward to that. Okay. The music cocktails because at certain point, we have to stop with the wine. Yeah. There's a moment. But there will be wine. Of course. Yes. But you you're also We cannot read without the wine. You're also offering cocktails. Cocktails music, we play each other. What kind of music? The guys, he's, live music. So we have a group that's seeing, well, we can ask if you have favorite song, we may ask. And I'm sure that the guys, they are Italian. So they can sing everything. And then we play, you know, before we was playing football at we call Cacho Balila, Foolsball. So it's funny last year. I remember there was, Alessandro Neli. You know, it's always serious precise with the jacket. But then he was, like, he was very serious about so well. Yeah. So he was playing with us. So all told the old producer that are always with the check. It, they feel themselves comfortable in such situations. So it's funny. It's different. Okay. It's enjoyable. So listen. You're going to give us a little tour, right, of the city. Okay. Why not? Alright. Let's go. Let's go. Okay. Thank you for joining us on another installment of On The Road Edition, hosted by Stev Kim. Join her again next week. For more interesting content in the Italian wine scene. You can also find us at Italian wine podcast dot com or wherever you get your pods. You can also check out our YouTube channel. Mama jumbo shrimp to watch these interviews and the footage captured of each location.
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