Ep. 1772 Livin' The Dolce Vita With Jeff Porter: Welcome to Italy! | On The Road With Stevie Kim

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 pods. Welcome to another episode of On the Road Edition hosted by Stevie Kim. Each week, she travels to incredible wine destinations interviewing some of the Italian wine scene's most interesting personalities, talking about wines, the foods, as well as the incredible travel destinations. Hello. Good morning, everybody. It's actually help us once, so good afternoon. My name is Stevie Kim, and this is actually a new series for the Italian Wine podcast. And it is with Jeff Porter. Because he's just moved. Hello, everybody. I'm seeing a lot of people here. This is a special series. Hey, Jeff. How are you? Cha. Are you outside? See, on my, Tarat. Oh, excellent. You have a Taratso. That's the real Dolcevita here. So I was just introducing you because This is a new series. It's only in still live series, but, of course, we'll replay it on the Italian wine podcast where we have a much wider audience, and it's called the Living the Dolcevita with Jeff Porter. Because you've just moved here. See. It's been one week in a day. Where are you? We are living in Toronto in Pimonte. Okay. So in in the city? In the city, right right outside the center on along the pole on the, I guess, the eastern side of the city. Okay. For those of you who are less familiar, I I think he's very famous, of course, in the Italian wine world, He's in what you would call an American, very American, a Texan beverage professional, wine professional. I think you've been working in the field for how many how many is now already. Twenty three. Twenty three years. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm very excited because he's he's so much fun. He is, of course, our Italian wine ambassador. He writes for wine enthusiasts. He tastes wine for wine enthusiasts. He also had a series of his own called SIP trip Italy, and you can still find that on his YouTube channel, and maybe it's still streaming somewhere. Right? It's on some TV, YouTube, And then I'm gonna, you know, hopefully do some mini versions of SIP trip now that we're in Italy. Fantastic. We're looking forward to that. So what we thought of doing, I just I really literally pinged him three days ago. And I said while you're here, Why don't we do an Insta Life series? Just a few minutes every week just to touch base with you and try to understand his capability to adapt to a tie in lifestyle and life. In general. So tell us why you are in Torino at the moment. When made you come to Torino? So I'll back up a little bit. I was one of those college kids who who always wanted to do a, a study abroad But I made the fatal mistake of listening to my girlfriend at the time. And she was like, oh, we'll break up. And I was like, I didn't wanna break up, so I didn't go. But who's your wife at the moment or another girlfriend? That this was this was a long time. Oh, okay. Okay. Before before my amazing wife, who who has joined me and our daughter. I don't have many regrets. I'm lucky to say in my life. And there was the one regret I've really had as I've gotten deeper and deeper into Italian wine, and I'd hit a ceiling in my Italian language abilities that I think if without studying and and being immersed in the culture and the language that I wouldn't be able to, like, kind of turn the corner in my Italian to be able to, like, really connect on a a hard to hard basis with producers who may not speak English as well or also just so they could understand me. And so I could meet them more than halfway. What is your current level of Italian right now? The functory. Like, I can I can get around? You can order food. I can order food. I can find the bathroom. I can I understand more than I can speak? We're taking intensive Italian. I started Monday. I go three hours every morning. Every day, Monday through Friday. Monday through Friday. I just got done with class right before this. I was running home because it's, like, a thirty minute walk. Right. And Italy means so much to me for so many different reasons. I wanna be deeper into the culture, and this is I kinda wanna hopefully establish a foot in both places more. So, I mean, I've always kind of been hopping back and forth, but, you know, having deeper roots here, I think, is just gonna allow me to have a better ability to convey the message and ideas of producers to the audience back in the states. And you've chosen Torino because you're near Barolo and Piamonte in general. When my wife and I were looking at cities, since we live in New York City, we didn't wanna live in a big city. So Rome and Milan were kind of like, we don't wanna be apart. I know. Yeah. Right? But we also wanted some city life. And so there were three cities that were kind of in our rank Okay. What were the top threes? Let's hear it. So bologna? Mhmm. Good choice. Terrino. Okay. Boltsano, where they kinda kind of the three. And Boltsano got Nick Yeah. But it's not really I I wouldn't call it a real city. And it's no disparaging to Altologic. It's just like it didn't fit into what our family needed. Yeah. You know, we needed a place that had international schools. So schools that would would educate in English, but also teach her daughter Italian. So she's going to Tarino has a few of those. And then just for family reasons, I wanted to be close enough to an airport where I could immediately get back to the States if something happened, both of our parents are older. Right. So Mopenza is only forty five minutes away. So if there's something some issue, we could hop on a plane and get home. Plus, they're the Fecharosa runs through Terino that goes into France, and then also right now that the tunnel's closed. But It also can get us to anywhere. I can be in in verona in three hours. I can be in Rome in four. I can be in Florence in two hours. So that was another reason. And then Coming back to America, Vine International Academy, the ultimate Italian wine qualification will be held in New York City from four to six March twenty twenty four. Have you got what it takes to become the next Italian wine ambassador? Find out at the Italy dot com. You know, in in looking at all. Hold on one second. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. So it's it's of course lunchtime here, which means when the courier arrives, no one is around. And I'm the closest to the door, you know. You're the you're the door person. Yeah. I am the multitasking staff at the moment. Okay. Yeah. And Tarino kind of fit all the bells that we needed as a family. Mhmm. And then, you know, When I look at the places in in Italy where I have deep connections from fringe standpoint and also just in case we needed help Right. This was kind of a place where I I know some people in Tarino who are who are tornenese. I know people obviously in the long that if our family was in trouble, then people could help us. Right. How old is your daughter? Today, she turned ten. Oh my god. So she's still small. So what is she going to school? Like an international school? She's going to an international school here. Right. She takes the bus every morning. I drop her off. It's right. The the pickup's right down the street. And she came back. We my wife and I were very concerned about her. You know, she's been at the same school in New York since she was three. Mhmm. And so we were kind of concerned about you know, which you like it. You know, a lot of the international schools, Italy are like fifty percent Italians and the fifty percent other kids from all around the world. And, you know, Italian kids are are not necessarily I mean, that that's a different culture. So we weren't sure how they were gonna except her, and she came back the first day. She was like, I love it. Oh, great. Fantastic. So far so good. Amy says, hello, happy birthday, Beya. Thank you. Thank you very much. But so far, a week and a day in, it's been great. You know, it's there's been hiccups Like, you know, everybody was warning us. It's Italy. And, like, you know, the biggest hiccup, and today, we were able to do this because I got wifi yesterday. Welcome to my life. So when we rented the apartment, the other things that we're challenging is, like, we needed an apartment for we're staying for eight months. So it's a shelter Oh, eight months. Right. Sabbatical. We needed a fully furnished apartment. We needed a garage. We needed all these How did you find the apartment in the end? Like an agency or online? We went through an agency, a a friend of a friend connected. And it was interesting that the agent didn't speak any English. So, in order as my landlord, but we're we find a way to communicate. Right. It's it's fast practice for me. Yes. Intensive learning. And and the first day we walk in on January second. He's like, oh, And I'm, like, oh, no. And I had to, like, turn in a lot of work for the magazine that week. And I was, like, freaking out. And he was, like, you know, it's still a holiday here. I don't know. Next week, it could be the When did you move? What was when did you get to it, Clint? The second of January. Oh, yes. So just now, actually. Yeah. Oh, I thought you were here over the holidays. Okay. I mean, we were in Valdosta Okay. Two days before, but that sounded so bougie. But everybody out there skiing is a lot more affordable here in Europe. Absolutely. Yeah. We were in Konya, not known for skiing very easy, but to rent skis and a ski pass for me for one day was forty five euros. Alright. Very. It was nothing. That is kinda cheap, though, actually. Yeah. I mean, I'm a beginner, so I just spent a lot of money. Oh, okay. On the money slow. How did it go? Good. Good. I only fell once. Okay. Excellent. It was spectacular, though. It was a good fall. So how was your move in? Like, how what once your experience, like, I mean, today, I wanna keep it short, and and then we'll talk about what we want to do with this, the series. But so give me your first week into the Dolce Vica. Besides the WiFi problem. You know, it's interesting. It's just like, I guess another interesting thing that I think we take for granted in the States is how we can use our larger home appliances in together at the same time without the energy turning off? Blowing up the fuse. I didn't I didn't know that the normal kilowatt is three kilowatts. And if you wanna pay more, you can get six kilowatts like that. I We learned this the hard way as we we were running the dishwasher, the oven, and the washing machine all at the same time. And then So I you know, luckily, I knew where the fuse box was. I turned it back on, and I called the landlord, and he was like, oh, no, no, Jeff, to a Medigani. Yeah. And italia, no, no, no, and CMA. So you can't do it all together. But did you also note that the appliances, like, you know, even the washing machines and the dishwasher, they run for a very, very, very long time here. So long. I It's all the little like, the beauty of this, one reason You know, when my wife and I were going back and forth about, you know, can we do this? Should we do this? Part of it was, like, the challenge to add a challenge to our life, you know, we've lived in New York for over a decade. We're used to everything, and I love it. I love our apartment. I love our neighborhood. I love community there. But it's beautiful to be challenged in this way. Like, the simple things that you take for granted, like, where does the soap go in the machine? You know, what is this thing that says number of spins? Right. You know, we've learned that to get our clothes somewhat dry before we hang them up, we need five hundred spins. Alright. You know, the oven is so small. Like, I don't think that Thanksgiving turkey could fit in the oven. No. No. I mean, I have one, but it's it's a professional oven, you know. Right. This this oven is pretty small. Small. I actually got a Drya? No. We just have a lot. You just yeah. So where do you hang you close? Like, outside in the We have. It's an ingenious setup. So our building was built, was built in nineteen thirty six. Okay. The ceilings are, like, twelve. They're I don't know how tall they are. They're really, really they're tall in the apartment in New York. And so they created this pulley system, and we have a little hook, and you pull the pulley down, and there's a big long bar that could be at a whole sheet on, like, a king-size bed, and then you just pull up the pulley and it dries all above in the laundry room. The whole laundry room looks like they look like flags, basically, hanging from the ceiling, but the it might be instead of flags, it's like underwear, you know, sheets, towels. So you are now having the Italian class every day. Right? So you're not doing any winery visits. I mean, or or you have a half a day. Right now, since we're so fresh, we're trying to really stay as a unit to be with the family and understand, like, I wanna learn about Tarino. So we bought of the many things that are beautiful in Italy. There's a huge pride for the museums and the cultural artifacts of the country. And there's this museum pass that's good for valdeosta, Lumberbia, and Piamante. I didn't even know that. That's fantastic. And and so we all bought one from each of the family. It has over four hundred CMs that we just show the card, and we get to walk in for free. Mhmm. And we went to the Palazzo Riale here, which is the the Palace that were Emmanuel A to the second Mhmm. And all the other family of the savoy lived, and that was really beautiful. And we're gonna go to the mowle, which is the the museum of film here in Tarino this weekend. So right now, we're kind of, like, we're trying to be, trying to, like, I don't even have this is a saddest part. I don't even have any wine in my house. I just go by. There's a inoteca. Isn't that fantastic? Yeah. It's crazy. Normally, I have hundreds of bottles of wine in my house, and now I just we buy as we need. We go to the enotecha around the corner. I've already made a relationship with the owner, and she's super cool. And she's like, oh, try this I taste that. And what have you been drinking this week so far? The other day, we had, the Rengale Norello Moskaleza Rosato. Okay. One of my favorite things on the planet is roast chicken. So giro rosco. Right? And there's this company called Santarita Gero. I don't I don't know if it's just in Piedmont. I don't know if it's all of it, Italy, but I've seen two stores here in Piedmont or in in Toronto. And you go there, you buy the whole chicken, and they have wine. They had, like, seven bottles of wine, and it was, like, it was charetto. It was, like, good, really Yeah. Good. Good quality wine. Not Bazi. Yeah. Eight euro, a chicken, some Salcicha, some patate. Oh my god. Everyone's going to be moving to Torino now. It was the best. It was the best. I was like, this is great. Yeah. You are living the dream now with all the highs and downs, right, ups and downs? Luckily, there's, you know, the hardest part was getting the visa. Right. And, you know, it's a waiting game. Right? Like, we we could have been here sooner. Had the visa come here sooner, but it didn't come until August. And that just kind of screwed everything up for school. And but otherwise, you know, the beauty is these challenges and the little things, like, you know, like the the laundry, the the oven, the the dishwasher is different. But even going to the store, like, you know, you you don't touch the fruit. When you go to the Frutarilla, right, or the the produce shop? Yes. What are they called? Frutarvindala. Frutarvindala. Alright? The fruit, like, I Don't don't quote, you know, my Italian sucks after having been here as squeeze of years, but Yeah. Fricky Angela. The owner of the shop was like, did this to me. I was like, oh, it's just, and and so that's it's just learning those kind of things, which is fun. And it's it's a it's a challenge. And You know, the other hard challenges, the garages here, so we had to get a car. Right. And the garages are extremely small. So it takes me, like, what kind of car did you get? I have a small, like, it's a citron c four. So it's like a baby Toyota rav or Right. Right. Right. And it's I I just am not used to the size of it, so I don't really understand, you know, we have to take a specific turn to get it Oh, yeah. It just takes it just takes practice. But you can see, like, on the side of the wall, hundreds of cars, ramming into the garage, like All the paints. Right? Yeah. With no care. You could, like, years of layers Yeah. Hard. Just like scraping the side. No. It's it's fantastic. So I think I'm gonna wrap it for today. It was just a hello, and it, you know, you're so such a good sport. And I think we'll just have just fun talking about your Italian life, la Dolcevita. And we'll talk about, of course, some wines and you know, Italian lifestyle and the winery business, and the food, of course, is amazing. So I think there's a lot to talk about, and I love getting your perspective as the fresh tech and in Corino. So I hope our audience can join us every Thursday whenever we can get WiFi. Like, next meeting two Thursdays from now, I'll be traveling to Austria, for example, but hopefully there's some WiFi. So actually, I'm driving because it's easy to drive. And there are some areas. There's no connectivity whatsoever because I've done that trip before. So we'll see. Yeah. It'll be fun. That's another thing before you go, like, the one thing we're super excited about, we've mapped it out each each month, we were picking a different city within Europe to go visit for just, like, thirty six hours. Oh, you're kidding. To Vienna, or it's a Barcelona or Barcelona or wherever because it's so close in, like, the the airline cost or the train cost is is relatively inexpensive as it compared to, like, leaving New York. You know, there's nothing that's, like, forty euro to take a flight to Amsterdam. Right. Right. Right. Okay. Just make sure those, like, those low cost flights go out to, like, a a completely different airport. So just be careful with that. Exact well, that's, like, Tarino basically is based around these low cost Right. I agree. At the airport here. So it is gonna be cool. Well, I thank you very, very much, D. V. For the So they said, Ben, Venula and that is out. We're signing up, but we will be back next Thursday same time, Hamas Juan. So join us and we can maybe we can have guests sometimes. You know, we can have guests, and can, you know, they can ask you questions too. Okay? Listen to the Italian wine podcast. Wherever you get your podcast. We're on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, EmailIFM, and more. Don't forget to subscribe and rate the show. If you enjoy listening, please consider donating through Italian Wine Podcast dot com. Any amount helps cover equipment, and publication costs. Until next time. Chichi.