Ep. 1341 Aleksandra Arzhakova | The Next Generation

By now, you've all heard of Italian wine Unplugged two point o. The latest book published by Mamma jumbo shrimp. It's more than just another wine book. Fully updated second edition was inspired by students of the Vin Italy International Academy and painstakingly reviewed and revised by an expert panel of certified Italian wine ambassadors from across the globe. The book also includes an addition by professor Atilio Shenza. Italy's leading vine geneticist. The benchmark producers feature is a particularly important aspect of this revised edition. The selection makes it easier for our readers to get their hands on a bottle of wine that truly represents a particular grape or region to pick up a copy, just head to Amazon dot com, or visit us at mama jumbo shrimp dot com. Welcome to the next generation. I'm Victoria Chacha, join me as we chat with young Italian wine people shaking up the wine scene. We're going to geek out on a grape or grape fan and hear about all the wild wine things are destined up to. From vineyard experiments to their favorite wine bars. Hello there. Welcome. It's another round of the next generation. And today, we are gonna talk about well, first, we're gonna talk about A fun grape bridal that I don't know a tremendous amount about, and I've actually never had a wine made with this grape, which only makes me more excited to talk about it because I'm even more excited to drink it soon. I'm gonna go on a little hunt shortly after this podcast interview. Have you heard of it before? Well, if you haven't, welcome to the club. But it is a most, a most, a must. Get it a must because grace is a must know grape from the Italian wine, unplugged two point zero book. So You must know it. Anyways, Coca Cola comes from Abruzzo, the region of Abruzzo, and it actually has a few different synonyms. Let's see what we have here. Cacciola, Cachumella. Yeah. My pronunciation is a little weird today. Many, anyways, Coca Cola has a bit of a limited history. It was rediscovered in the late twentieth century, the nineteen nineties, late twentieth century makes it sounds like it was millions of years ago, even though it was already twenty twenty three, which is just bonkers. But regardless, late nineties, Coca Cola's rediscovered. A lot of studies still, you know, happening around it. So we really only have a more recent history of this fun, great varietal. So the Greek itself has a very unique look. It's not like a classic, you know, white wine grape where it has that, like, clear, yellow, maybe with a greenish tinge kind of skin. It actually it's a has a yellow greenish skin, but it often has brownish marks or brown spots. So it looks darker. And it's a late ripening varietal, and it it typically is harvested in early October, which is quite, you know, on the later side for a white wine producing great. So moving on back to ABruzzo, where is this grape grown predominantly in the province of Kieti? And it's now used as a mono varietal line in the Abruzzo doc, where it has to be a hundred percent Cocochola, but it is also blended as well, and other other wines. Now going back to the type of wines that Coca Cola produces, we have, that it's mostly still in dry wines, but and you will find sparkling versions of this. And that's actually one of the reasons I chose talk about this grape because I love sparkling wines, and I'm really curious. Never had a spark. No. That's not true. Had a sparkling wines from a group so before. But, not with Coca Cola. So again, back to that a hundred percent varietal specific, trend for Coca Cola. Let's say in Coca Cola. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You're gonna have it stuck in your head. Can you say Coca Cola five times? Try it. But, yes, back to a hundred percent varietals, specific wines as it trends. But blending is allowed often with Treviano De Bercorino, Vasarina, and Malosia. And I love that the pairing is with clamps. That's probably why I picked this because me and a plate a spigata de la Vongle. There's nothing I love more. So that is my future this summer. I'm going to approve so I'm going to have some spigency with claims with Coca Cola, and we're gonna have a fun time now. Are you ready for our interview? We have the wonderful from, wonderful student of Via coming on to chat with us about her love of the telling line. And welcome, Alexandra. Hi. Hi, Victoria. How's it going? All good. All good. Preparing for exam and excited to visit Verona in a very few days. I know it's so close. And tell us where are you calling in from? I'm calling from Singapore. I live in Singapore past two three years. I used to live in Dubai for six years. And, before that, I was in Russia, in my home country. Wow. And so how long is the trip from Singapore to, Veronica. So I will be flying through the Frank Ford. So I have connection flight in Frankfort, and, it's around twelve, thirteen hours. Wow. Wow. That is a journey. And are you coming, I know you're coming, for VIN Italy and the Via, but do you do you have more plans in Italy while you're here? Yes. My biggest plans, of course, is to go to VIA academy and, will, I want to try to pass my exam. This is all well, all on what I'm doing since January, and even they'll started from last week of December. And, I will be convene Italy as well. From the second and third of so from the second and fifth April, and then a couple of wineries. Fun. Fun. Yeah. Are all the wineries in the venator or are you traveling outside? I will be traveling to Florence, my friend is coming to Florence, and we will go together in Vienna, Montalcino, maybe, around, San Jamignano. Yeah. Some mostly in Sienna and Montalcino, I think. I've never been there. Oh, wow. Oh, you're going to love it. Yeah. As after, especially after twelve to thirteen hours of traveling, you have to see as much as you can. Definitely. Definitely. I'm very, very excited. I wanted to go around the verona as well. But then we have a few days only, and we just, come to decision. We will use everything in, touscany since we haven't been there. No one of us. And, verona, I will come back, around Babolicello. Again, maybe next year, or maybe in two years again. And so how did you how did you fall in love with Italian wine? In general, I mean, I like the wine, of course, and, my introduction to Italian wines started from Sicily, which is very very unusual as well. Of course, in Russia, we have a lot of varieties. Like, in that time, it was, two thousand fourteen. I think I was studying the wine school in Russia, we used we try, like, grill or we try Verintino. Like, Neda de Avola. So it's in that time, I don't think we knew much about, but I went around in Saint Peter's work in the wine bars and then and they used to have a lot of varietals of vermantino. So it's quite popular, especially vermantino at that time. And, I loved Nerella Mascaleza. Nerella Mascaleza. Nerella. Yeah. And then I started, in Dubai, after I come back in Dubai, yes, Italian was, one of the is very accessible wines as well, in the price point if you're comparing with, bordeaux in burgundy. And, a lot of variety variety style can find light, can find, red, white, you know, even rosette, sparkling, and, started a long time ago. I know. I mean, it's it's so it's it's that's the beauty of of Italian wine. It's just endless and there's so much to learn, and you you can go on and on. And I see that you you have an affinity for sicilian wines, which it I don't blame you. I mean, sicily is beautiful, and and the wines are so versatile and and and delicious. I actually have a funny question for you and see if you can answer. If you were a grape, which grape would you be and why? Like an Italian wine grape? Yes. I was thinking about that question. And, I think I can say, just because, just because of my name, I can say, Amuscard de La Sandria is my name. But it's the offspring of Muscado Vianco, and maybe origin of the grid, which has come from the eastern side of Mediterranean. I'm also from Eastern part of Russia, which doesn't, is very, very far area from western side of most, Moscow and Petersburg. Originally, I'm from Eastern side, but I study wine in Saint Petersburg. So it's, like, something the name and then the Eastern side of origine, but the origines can be Italian as well. Right? But it's just a possibility that can be Greek origin. Of course. Of course. Like, what if and and do you think that your personality aligns with the character of Moscato de alessandria? Yeah. Definitely. I really love the, Benrae, the Muscat in Sandria from Pantaleria, and, is so concentrated. So, intense, complex, sweet wine, a lot of characteristics can be easy, but it's a dry wine. I really love to try ZB as well. It's so aromatic. No. It's so perfume. It's so so elegant, delicate. And, you can just, just enjoy just by smelling your glass and I mean, is is a lot of personality. I think I I I don't I I maybe I have a lot of personality, but I mean I mean is is is is delicate. Nice. It can be dry. It can be sweet. So sometimes you need to adapt yourself to be sweet. You have to be sometimes quite, yeah. So you need to be at work. You have to be more professional. And, You don't have to be sweet at home, like, with your parents or with your families. Yeah. Maybe it's kind of I love that. It's like, I I'm have a big I'm very aromatic in my personality. But I go with everything, just, like, if you try. I adore that. So with the Van Italy International Academy, ambassadors program via coming up, No. You've been studying hard. What are your hopes and expectations for the course and even after the course? Of course, it's my professional, career, and I would like to know more professional information, through the Vine Italy courses, master classes with the MWs and to know more about the different, the new upcoming styles of wines or some, learning tools and, to be, like, more forward in my profession. Because as well, I am in charge of Italian wine, bar in Singapore. It's called Danuta is recently open. It's November ten was the first day, last week. Oh, sorry, last year. And, is quite extensive, and maybe is the most extended, extensive wine Italian wine list in Singapore. I'm not sure how about Japan and Hong Kong. We have a thirty six pages of twenty regions from Italy or the wines. And, it's, is very responsible to be in the head of this wine bar because all the Asia Singapore wine professionals, they come here. And just to try, like, grignolene or the grape varieties, like, grignolene or maybe even CB. But, yeah, so different winemakers, like Terol Diego, not every restaurant that would have this kind of wine. And, just, I I believe I can learn more and be in the middle of the wine, Italian wine market, I think. In Asia. Yeah. Yeah. That's incredible. That is that is quite the wine list. And is the food at, there is it is it also Italian or is it kind of international. It's a so we have a it's a kind of the multi restaurant. It's a wine bottle located in the lobby lounge of the hotel, and we have access to order from Italian restaurant, which is called the Luche, as chef David de Chacamole. He's from near Garda, his, his vision. And, we have Chinese restaurant. Also, one more that we can have access to those, food items and the local food, of course, like Singapore and for Keanmi, the fried rice, people people love, love the Singapore food with Italian wines, and still is quite popular. More popular than Italian food. I mean, honestly, I I mean, yeah, Singapore is is known, especially, like, the the, like, the food stalls and, what do you what is it called? The Cold style of a Yeah. Yeah. We have a good different type of noodles and, like, a soup kind of style of food. It's very variable. There is a spicy food. There is a non spicy food. There's some kind of dumpling kind of Yeah. A lot of, very, very spoiled of different type of the cuisine here, like, Indian, Malaysia, Indonesian, Thai, Korean, Japanese as well, quite big community, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Indonesian, Malaysian. Yeah. Yes. CCC is very multinational. So I have a rather difficult question for you. So you could you can sit on this for a minute if you want. Do you think you could give us a wine pairing, like an Italian wine pairing with one of your favorite foods in Singapore. 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 food, and taking in the scenery. Now, back to the show. So I love the dumplings. The Chinese, style of dumplings, companies. They call it Sierraambao. It's a thin rice dough, made inside the mixture of the chicken and the pork. Comes with a kind of the soup inside. So it's quite juicy dumplings. That one is really, I I think, it's it's not spicy at all. You just need to dip in the sauce, which is called the vinegar sauce. It's a Chinese vinegar sauce, quite gives a c d t and refreshing to them dumplings. I'd love to I'd love this, food pairing with a Karicante from Aetna Again, it's not. Yeah. It's a Karicanda refreshing acidity. Sometimes, of course, it depends on the winemaking, the creaminess, easter, characteristic, fruitiness, of course, the refreshing acidity is work works very well with a dumpling. Yeah. Val is, is really delicious. And, like, it's so funny. You made me think of how there's a place here, but I don't know where they make, like, a version of a bow. It's not very authentic. But it's good. And, like, everyone's, like, obsessed with it. They're, like, you have to have the bow. So I'm gonna tell them that they have to serve katikante with it because I've never had that pairing before. Yeah. That's I think that for the bow, there is a different the inside, they can mix. Like, maybe sometimes can be with a shrimp or can be with a meat. Yeah. Depending on the I like the bough, like, a, a stewed beef. It's a slow cooked beef with a rich, soy sauce, and, with a red wine, glass of red wine. I don't know, maybe Barbera, granulino, yeah, some sangiovese. Yeah. Yeah. It's a lovely pairing. So Yeah. I love the bow with the pork belly that used to be my family living in New York, there was really excellent place. And, oh, it was just so good, and the sauce is, like, like, sweet and sticky a little bit. I I love food. Well, so in Singapore, I mean, not that obviously, I would love to come to Singapore one day. But if I were coming to your area in Singapore, what would you what like, what do you do for fun? Like, what wine bars or anything, like, spots that you wanna throw out there? So I could put on my our map on Google Maps. In Singapore, a lot of things to do. Yeah. It's a very small place, very small city. Of course, it's the best, entertainment is food. You go around and you you eat the street food. It's already very, very fun. And there's so many to try. Then you have activities like, outdoor activities. You can do cycling. There's a very long cycling roads. Like, you go around the island, then you can running and around the east, the East Coast. East Coast is, like, kind of beach area. Then, Yeah. Then, like gardens, the, hiking roads, quite interesting. It's like, I mean, I did some hiking roads a few times. They were very, very safe and very interesting. So it's very instagramable and very picturesque areas, whereas, like, outside of the very noisy city, you just go inside the trees and you just, relax and refresh your your mind. Is very amazing. And then after ten minutes, you go outside of the track, and you are in the very noisy big city. It's, I mean, it's a lot of things to do. Each, houses, they have a pool. Can enjoy in the pool. And, ways are, yeah, nice. Well, that sounds really lovely. But, so working in wine there, I mean, well, how do you see, the future, you know, of Italian wine and, especially with the, the younger generations, how do you think you're gonna go about making it more exciting for younger wine drinkers? Yes. Because I'm working as a sommelier, so wine is my profession. Is my profession is sell the wine as well. And, I think, we need to talk about, more about the wine. We need to write about the wine and maybe, some kind of the master classes, it's very helpful. Have a lot of people who are interested in wine from the young generation and also from, from every everyone. They when we do any master class, they're all very sign up very quickly. We do, regional. We can do the comparisons. Sometimes we did a comparison French versus Italian grapes. So it gives a quite more, understanding and of course, wine is a completely different beverage than other alcoholic beverages. Wine is you have a taste, you have aromas, you have a nose, history, experience of the people and the culture. We just need to, I think, speak a lot, and I think, yeah, it's right about that. Just the is our IT is our profession? Absolutely. It's it's at the end of the day, there's as much storytelling and and, you know, sharing as possible. And, yeah, just showing everyone why Italian wine is is is the best. Yes. Yeah. Cool. Well, thank you so much, Alex. I'm not for taking the time, and calling us in Singapore. And I don't what time is it there? So it's a six step ten minutes past six PM here. Oh, wow. It's only eleven here. I'm just in I need to have my second morning coffee. And you're having a glass of wine, I assume. Very soon at seven PM. Wonderful. Well, I can't wait to see you in Verona, and I'm excited best of luck with Via, and I look forward to meeting you in person when during the academy. Thank you very much, Victoria. It was lovely to I listen to you and speak about you. Thank you very much for calling. Wonderful. Have a lovely evening, and I'm gonna have my coffee. A lovely day. Thank you very much. Bye bye. As always, a big good option for hanging out with me today, remember you can catch me every Sunday on the Italian wine podcast. Available anywhere, you can get your pops.