Ep. 1453 McKenna Cassidy | The Next Generation

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 Atilio Shenza. 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 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 fam and hear about all the wild wine things we're guessing up to. From vineyard experiments to their favorite wine bars. Don't know everyone. Welcome to a new episode. Of the next generation. No matter where you're tuning in from. I don't know. Hope you have a glass in hand. And if it's morning, cheers to you. It's Sunday or whatever day you're listening to this. Now today, as you know or may not know, we got two groovy things going on. We got a fun grape to chat about from the Italian wine unplugged two point o book, and then we have a wonderful guest. The lovely Mckenna Cassidy, who is a Via student, recent Via Academy, the Van Italy International Academy, and we're gonna chat a little bit with her about her evolution in the wine world and all the fun groovy things she's up to. But before we do that, we have to do our little grape one zero one Italian grape one zero one. You ready? Let's go. So I have been recently diving more into the grape groups, you know, these great. Families, not all of them are families, because not all of them are related. But as we know, families don't always have to be related, but we're not gonna confuse you. We have Shenza to go into those details, those genetic details. So, Colourino, have you heard of it? Maybe you have. You should know what Colodino is because you will find it in one of your favorite favorite favorite wines. I can't say it's your favorite wine, but a very, very well known wine, and it is drum roll. And then a few other DOCs you'll find Colorado. So I guess you can use those context clues to figure out where Colorado is from Tuscany. So Tuscany is Colourino's home. Now there are a few group members in the Colourino group. You have well, first, I should say, they're all red. As you can, the another context clue is Colorado, you know, color It's red. It's colored. So the primary group member is Colorado Delval Arno. And that's the one you're gonna find in county blends, and other in the county county glassy or docG. And, and as well as the Montecado idiocin. And then when it comes to other group members, we have Colorino Dipisa, Colorino deluca, and Colorino Americano. And I honestly need to do some research because I have just learned about this colorino, Medigano, and I wanna know more about it. But as you can see with the two others, colorino, the pizza, and colorino deluca are these grapes of specific places with pizza and lucca, of awesome places to visit in Tuscany. And find some colorino if you can. So a little more details on colorino as a group. So right from the book, we see that it says. The colorinos form a group of distinct varieties, but all members play a similar role. Again, distinct varieties, They are added to wine to boost the color, color, you know, boom. During harvest time, they can easily be picked out in the vineyard, as their leaves turn dark red near maturation. Of the four main Colourino group members, Colorado Delardano shows the best making potential. That's why you see it in these blends more predominantly. The others are much lesser grown nowadays. I'm sure they're plentiful, you know, with farmers at one point. Like I said, Colorado, no matter the member are usually in a blend and rarely beenified alone. We gotta know about Colorino. Now it's time to bring on our guest, Mckenna. Are you ready? Hi, Mckenna. Hi. So how are you? Welcome to Verona. Thank you. It's my first time. I'm delighted to be here. Cool. So where are you coming from? I'm originally from Phoenix, Arizona, but I live in Hoboken across the Hudson River from New York. Cool. Yeah. Yeah. I'm from Edgewater. I know we chatted a bit of a competition. We did. Yes. We have mutual friends from the area. I know. It's so weird. Like, when you know the same people and then you just, all of a sudden, and then there's a little room in Verona, the other city. Yes. Every small room. I guess. It's a small room. It's just like very cozy. Like, we are in Italian personal space right now. Totally European university. Yeah. I met you, like, three seconds ago. We're already It's good. Yeah. It's really good to be here. Awesome. Well, tell us a little bit about why you came to Verona for VIA. Oh, yeah. I heard about this, a couple months ago. Obviously, we don't have a ton of turnover time between you get in and you get to come, but, I started in the wine industry two and a half years ago, through an internship in Napa Valley, and then I started to work in sales and distribution on the East Coast. And that's where I met past Via Ambassador who spoke really highly of the program. So after finishing my certified Psalm last fall. I just was still in learning mode, wine obsessed mode, and, felt really grateful to get into VF. Oh, super cool. Yeah. Amazing. This time, I am obsessed with wine. So what made you go the Italian wine route? Yeah. My distributor has a really cool portfolio called Maisro. I think the Maisro brands actually have, like you do a podcast with Allegrini with Tornotore, with Puro Pen, and I sell those brands Okay. In New Jersey. And I work for our on premise only, like, kind of division. So we specialize in that luxury portfolio, and I'm obsessed with those wines and their brand stories. I think they're really special and seeing the connection between the Maise Row wine merchants and via was super encouraging. Super. Well, it's awesome to have a literal rep from New Jersey for a lack of a better fun. Wine rep. Yeah. But, oh, so awesome. And so how did you start this love of wine? Like, where did it Yeah. I, I grew up in Arizona and had no knowledge of wine. I went to the University of Notre Dame for college called Irish, and I actually started I started engineering, actually. I loved, like, the team building, the group projects, the problem solving, but I realized that I would rather communicate to someone why they should use the bridge than how to build the bridge. I realized I didn't really want to or care about how the bridge was built. I'd rather sell it to someone. I didn't even realize that was sales at the time. So I made a hundred and eighty degree turn, and I took a liberal arts education after first semester, freshman year. It's called the program liberal studies. You read great texts from ancient Greece and Rome, although we have three present day, and talk about them. During that time, I wrote my senior thesis on Renaissance's Florentine dining culture where I got to travel, from study abroad in Scotland, back to Rome and Florence to do research. And here is where my, like, love of Italy developed. Of course, there is the story of my parents going on their fortieth anniversary coming back from Tuscany and our lives changed. They repainted our whole kitchen. We started to drink wine at every meal. Like, everything was different. And then I had my own experiences later on just traveling, solo through the different parts of the country. So they're in the Liberal Arts Education turned into an interview, with, E and J Gallowinery, actually. Okay. And I interned at Louisa Martini winery in the Napa Valley, doing wine tours in estate, tastings. And when I learned that I could be in wine hospitality for a living. I didn't wanna do anything else. That's so cool. Okay. It's crazy how many random things we have in common. First of all, I didn't go to Notre Dame, but I went to NYU and I did live all studies. Oh, amazing. But we have like I think highly of liberal arts. Yeah. You too. And but we so I I was the same. I went in and I wanted to be I wanted to be a diplomat. I don't know what the heck was in my brain, but I was like and again, I didn't veer off too much, but I did I chose to go the liberal studies route. And then we had GLS, which is like global liberal studies. Okay. And I studied abroad in Florence. Oh, amazing. Yeah. We don't need to talk about my thesis. It was it was great, but it's it it was a big topic. I feel you when you're like, the liberal studies, and I'm like, what is the most freeing and lightning path? You feel like you just study, like, goodness truth and beauty, like, every day. Like, you actually come away from class feeling like I can be a better human being based on what I learned today. Right. No. No. It's actually really true. And there's, like, this one class I always think about that I had that was really influential. It was called the soul self in the mind. The Moera professor would really put together different philosophy texts from different, like, schools of thought and, like, parallel them. I was just I would come out and I would be like, who am I? What am I doing? And that's actually It makes you a question. Totally. Enjoying our producer made fun of me because I was reading, like, Hersle the other day, just Yeah. Just her fun. Just her fun. And she was like, she was like, What are you doing? So I was just like, I was like, well, I'm not working. And she's like, yeah, but that's like That's like me reading all of its metamorphosis in my free time. I'm like, yeah. I eat this double up. Yeah. I'm like, I'm sure to drink wine. Maybe. Oh, completely. They all did, probably. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's so cool. That's so cool. Oh my gosh. So Arizona to Herboken. Yeah. People are like, hat, why are you in New Jersey? Well, There's a leadership program with Gallo. That's really well respected. I I have learned Tom in doing it. So being in Notre Dame, obviously, in the Midwest, they were like, where do you wanna go? Let's pick an area in the Northeast. So I chose New Jersey because I've never been. First of all, you don't need an excuse to why you live in New Jersey. It's crazy. So why so many people question. I know, but people love to hate on New Jersey. That's a top that's a thing for another podcast, but every person I've met there is fabulous. I have no issues. You were cool? Yeah. You are cool. You know what's going on with this? That's it. My mom. You're fine. Yeah. Do you I have a random question for you. Do you drink Arizona wine? That's a great. I was actually contemplating this yesterday because Professor Shenzo was talking about how think it was the gentleman Viola who traveled through Texas Arizona all the way to California to try to find ancient root stocks that would help compensate for the tragedy of phylloxera. And I'm looking at the map. He traveled directly through pine top Arizona, where my family has a cabin. There's an area up there called, Paige, but also a few other areas that make sparkling wine called Chupacabra, and a few just like indigenous grapes that they grow there. So some good sparkling, some good lighter bodied reds and some whites. During COVID, my family and I went to taste. So it's actually called Jerome. That's where they have a bunch of wine tasting news. Rooms. Yeah. So where is that? Cause like, I have family in Arizona, but they're like, They're not near they're like, do you know where like Gilbert is? Like Correct. Yes. Yeah. Like that area. So Phoenix is the central and like the lower valley. And these, areas for Wind grain be a little higher altitude, actually up to a couple thousand feet. Like north of the city, kind of a two hour drive, kind of just in the Sedona area. Oh, okay. There's a lot of like wine in Sedona. Yeah. Really? Yeah. So you could you could do a wine tour of Arizona. They won't be in my experience as knock your socks off as some other areas in the world, however, refreshing nicely made a really cool representation of the tewa. I mean, and also just looking at the sunset and freaking Sedona like the sky. Yeah. The sky is so you would drink anything and be like, this is the best moment of my life. Like, that is my struggle. I can't find it anywhere else in the world. The sky in Arizona is massive. 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 do you find that there's like, like, a cool, like, wine, like, drinking scene in Arizona. Like, I would say that the food and beverage industry, particularly in Phoenix is extremely, like, innovative, competitive, and, like, awesome. Right now. Like, people are really being creative with what they're doing. And I know that when I lived there for the longest time, I actually was underage, so I didn't have a ton of experience with it. But, every time I go home, I'm impressed with kind of the in ingenuity of the wine lists and how I think the Psalms and the creatives behind that are being really, really thoughtful about creating a balanced wine list that's exposing people to different, flavors, textures, and, like, wines, different bodies of wines to try to teach people through the wine list. And I think that's inherently important in creating a wine list. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. I'm keeping it diversified. Totally. It's easy to be super basic in Phoenix, but like you don't have to be basic. Oh, it's so funny. I mean Love you Phoenix. There are places that, like, it's very basic is, like, very it's very much the norm, and it's that word basic. It's easy to stay comfortable, but to keep growing, you want to keep learning. Do you find hoboken basic? No. Because the variety of humans that go to Saint Ann Catholic church are hilarious and awesome. And genius. So Yeah. Oh, I go to the stretch across the street from me. Oh, so steep. It's awesome. Like you've got everyone from from Jod and Marie to the youth, like it's awesome. So people have been there for a long time, people who are new. Churches are great. Like, they're just such a, well, like, obviously historically speaking than, like, just a social phenomenon of it all from, like, the past to now. Like, that's super cool because you, yeah, you get such a mix, especially in in the area, like, North Jersey because there's so many different kinds of people. Absolutely. Yeah. So many ethnicities, religions, languages. It's like incredibly diverse, which I find awesome. It's been cool learning and wanting to as someone who enjoys practicing my faith the history and connection between the church and wine, obviously not always positive, but the transportation of vines from place to place because we needed them in the mass and, the connection amongst, you know, kind of reviving. Wine culture in certain areas. And a lot of like historical sites in my faith are connected to wine. So I just think that's pretty powerful. Encourage me to learn more. No. Yeah. No. Same. Absolutely. I'm not a very practicing Catholic. I have my I have my sac permit. Less. Nice. Nice. I probably should go to confession. But Okay. I see. I can confess in this podcast, please. Are you guys ready? But, everyone's on the edge of their screen now. I'm like, what have than in me last name. That should be that would be such a funny podcast on what's gonna steal us. It's like the night it's like the Porting that idea out there. The night before church, or like some of the way. Yeah. Yeah. But speaking of which, not to Where do you go out and hang in Hoboken after church? Yeah. Yeah. Of course. You always know. So it's funny because I most of the restaurants in Hoboken are my accounts. So I actually often avoid hanging up my accounts. Okay. But there's a a handful of really great quality cocktail bars. I'm sure people who are familiar with HOMoken are familiar with the Madison Anthony Davis, Allegian, stingrayben fourteen, etcetera. I usually range in Uptown Hobo again because it's closer to where I live. Uptown Hobo again. Oh, town. Oh, my god. I mean, downtown, you're gonna be smashing hotels. I know. But there's a difference. No. You're right. It's true. I've seen it. Yeah. You you've seen it firsthand. Yeah. I I don't know if you're trying to migrate between the, yeah, the polls. Yeah. It also depends on the eve the night time. Totally depends on the day of the week. Yeah. It could be anything at any time. So do you, like, find yourself going more into the city with the path, or do you, like, go down to Jersey City? Oh, to hang in my third time, you mean? When I'm not studying for VIA, I am, yeah, I often go into New York City. I go to Green Point a lot. My friends are Catholic missionaries in green point. Oh, cool. Yeah. It's super cool. It's called shalom Catholic community. They're Catholic, but shalom means peace. So even though it sounds Jewish, it's not. Oh, interesting. Yeah. It's a wonderful. We're all like upper twenty like, really cool community there in Green Point. So I I pilgrimage over there every weekend, basically, and then I hang in Hoboken, my friends, we love to, like, go to brunch. I love to go in hikes in New Jersey. I think, going up north into like Connecticut, upstate New York is really beautiful. So love to be outside. Just a little harder to extract yourself from the city, than it is, maybe some other cities, but it's good. Oh, you're so adventurous in my state. I'm proud of you. Thank you. I Greenpoint's great. It's such a cozy cozy area of Brooklyn. It's, yeah, I know you have me missing because I lived in New York for some time, and it's, like, I, you, I'm, like, missing this little part. I grew up, like, literally near where you live. So it's, like, if I am, like, really nostalgic. But that's awesome. No. I love, and I'm so happy, brought up the church and everything because I recently well, I always think about it, but being, like, I always think about my, like, the, my Catholic, like, faith growing up and, like, how much, like, that kind of gave us this foundation with wine and food and, like, understanding how much, especially Italian wine, how much the church defined it, and, like, I mean, and I don't know. We just don't think about these things that, like, the church was, you know, you don't like really have the group of people who are all literate. Yeah. Literallyate for some time and we're able to record all these things. Yeah. Is there a particular memory or thing you're thinking of that makes you think? I don't know. I think because I'm Italian American and, like, you know, growing up with, like, a grandma that's in Grand Hands that are very, like, you know, in, like, Jersey. Yeah. Like, Roman Catholic. Yeah. I don't know. I have so many memories and, like, I That's it. You're asking me the questions. Yeah. It's okay. You can't think about it while we talk. I I I don't know. And this is not a specifically a Catholic memories, but in this, I mean, in in that sense, but like, I always think of, like, my dad and my grandfather dipping their bread and wine. Uh-huh. And, like, aft, especially on a Sunday, because you always go to your grandparents, like, on Sunday after church. Right? And, like, kind of, like, those little symbols of, like, the wine being, like, the blood and the bread and then like seeing it together at the table. It's like a very visual memory. It's very simple. And like, I don't know. These just little things. Yeah. It's amazing. Ali bread and wine, like, in the evenings you know, outside of the mass when it's not concentrated as the body of blood of Christ. And I'm like, yeah, this tea is so good together. But it is I mean, I've had a cup of wine in my hands weekly since second grade up until COVID when they took the blood of Christ away. For the mass, it's actually coming back this week in New Jersey. So I'm really excited about that. I clearly I'm the worst. I didn't even know that. No. It's fine. I just learned that because someone told me, like, recently. So it's just kind of interesting like that. Wine was the thing that was taken away during the pandemic disease and kind of separation. And now that we're back together, wine is being reintroduced, obviously, optional. Yeah. But I think the value of the discussion is, like, in one of the world's most popular religions, like Jesus chose wine, And, like, why is that? That drives me a lot to learn more about wine. Obviously, it's part of the culture, but it's not the American sense of, like, in America, we drink wine by itself all the time. We drink wine to get drunk. We drink wine. In excess, and we don't understand what it is. And of course, that's a broad generalization of my generation, maybe. But I'm twenty five. Okay. Yeah. So, okay. I just find a lot of I'm I'm always kind of teaching and educating a lot of my peers on what alcohol is. What wine is, how it kind of ties in. And I noticed that, and this is no shock. But a lot of other cultures, like, you order a glass of wine, you get a little bite of food. So it's that constant, like, the company ment nourishment, you know, and a drink together that I think, like, insights community anymore. Yeah. So I think that's cool. No. Absolutely. And, like, I see, especially, like, with, like, the example I was giving of the bread and the wine, it's, like, the nourishment aspect, and, like, it always comes down to. And, like, In the sense of wine has always been there. It's been a symbol of community for ages. It's been, you know, something people it was it was a I can't say it was a tool for survival, but the sense of times when they didn't have, like, clean water You know what I mean? It it was used. It it was always around. And and and I mean yeah. No. It it's it's something that, it's making me think of that book. Do you know the book the one that, like, talks about, the history through food and it's like beer, salt. Yes. Yeah. It's like you you start to realize and it's you start to realize how much of, how many different things are so aligned, basically, you know? Absolutely. But that's amazing. If I may share one cool thing, I learned, through via studies. I started to read a lot of what I was learning analogously through, like, the lens of my, like, faith and what I believe. So for example, the Lambrusco vine which I only learned through Vio, which was very cool. The Lambrusco vine was a wild vine. It only kind of rested on the floor of the forest where it was wet and disease ridden and stuff. And that kind of feels like me as a person without my faith. And then when you when you actually like trellis the vine and you bring it up towards the light and you put it on, some stakes and you let it reach out and breathe out a little bit. It becomes cleanse, brighten the fruits healthier, the fruits more delicious. Mhmm. And I think that that's a cool, like, relationship with God. So give it that way. I like how you found that. Well, yeah. Because in religion, you know, monotheistic religions. Like, it's it's, it's always been the aspect of kind of the mankind has always been, well, not mankind, but like, I hate the the, you know, the inner feminist and he hates using the man thing, but it's like, I know. I know. That's I'm also catholic. So it's like, man. I'm gonna then meet each other. It's okay. You don't know exactly. But man, like, has to lead, like, spread the message kind of thing. It's it's not something that happens, like, out of Right. Nowhere. That, like, stewardship. Exactly. Stewardship is a Correct. Yeah. Exactly. No. That's beautiful. And I and it's, you know, it also historically, you know, you think, like you said with Jesus, it's like where he was from and, like, that zone, it's like, it you know, now a lot of people going back to the origins of where wine is really from. Right. It's like, to see that journey, you know. Metamazing. Totally. And it's not a linear journey. You know what I mean? And, I mean, nothing in life is linear, of course. But, are you getting it like a lot of native grapes came from Syria? Yeah. Exactly. That whole area of the world. Absolutely. Furloughedent, those things. Correct. And those places. Oh, it it's in, no, it's interesting. So now, I mean, now you're, like, having me thinking of other thesis ideas. Right? It's like, there's so many pieces to be written But, what I'm really thinking of is we need to do a nice church tour and and it's Amen. That'd be awesome. I'd love to do it and then find all the wine motifs and be like, she's drinking in that one. What's she drinking? What do you think she's drinking? See? It's just relevant. Like, that's the moral. It's like, it's relevant. Absolutely. Yeah. Line is really the unifier. I agree. I concur. Absolutely. And it really is in downtown hogoken. Just kidding. Yes. I don't know what you think. Yeah. Downtown. Oh gosh. I am trying to keep my silence on that topic. For heart seltzer instead. I know. This is, say, the last time I was there. It was Halloween because, like, my friends wanted to go, and I was, like, I'm not going to Halloween is crazy. I shouldn't even be admitting on air that I was in hoboken on Halloween on the one year. But my friends, like, really wanted to, like, they had this thing, like, they wanted to go there. And I got there late. Yeah. And I, I literally got in a fight, like, on a real fight, but I argued with a bouncer because they had, like, this line. And I was like, listen, I am not with a group. My friends are in there. Like, just leave in. I'm gonna leave in ten minutes, and then he was just being like, he would not let me in his mind. He was like five. I was like, is this for real? Like, I was like, and everyone was just like, it was weird. Your friends come out. And just Yeah. That's tough. And, like, everyone gets crazy down there. Sorry. No shade. Sorry downtown Hoping. So much love. That's the mild version though. But yeah. Sounds like a difficult moment. Yeah. Don't know. Yeah. But, Again, thank you so much. Oh, I have to ask you this one question before you go because you're a via student. Tell it. How do you feel about the exam? I'm honestly pretty excited for the exam. I'm waiting I needed to give me, like, a benchmark of what I know. Excited? Yeah. I'm really excited. Okay. I'm like pretty jazzed to take it. Well, I that's refreshing to hear someone say, I don't have time to feel down in the dumps. I'm just really eager to take it. That was an authentic answer. That is an authentic answer. Yes. No. I see it in your face. You're just like, am I not a glow right now? How are you glowing about an exam? I they know. I understand, and I think it's something that comes with, like, doing a lot of tests and just kind of rolling with it because you know it's coming. And it's like there's kind of I get kind of a high when I take exams sometimes. Where it's like, I'm gonna do this thing. Even if I'm not that prepared, it's like you're you're put on the spot. Right. And it's like, I'm gonna pressure. It looks like it's to see what you know. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You're like going through your brain. Like, that spongebob that's a pain. I know. Have you ever seen that episode where his brains, like, on, like, everything's, like, set on fire in spongebob, and he's, like, going through the files? I wasn't allowed to watch spongebob as a child. Oh, my gosh. Oh, wow. Well, there's But I believe I think you might find on YouTube too. What I know of spongebob, I can totally Yes. And he's just like pulling all the files. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's like an exam. Oh, that's gonna be me tomorrow. Oh my gosh. I'm gonna play it cool though. Yeah. Yeah. A good thing you haven't seen this one in the public because then you'd be like, oh my gosh. But I'm very grateful, like, all the, Sara and Henry have been super instructive. All the Consortsio has been so fascinating to get the chance to try. All the wine, you know, wines from twenty sixteen, or all these prosseccos in a flight, or all these Sagatinos to really meditate on these special regions that I don't have the financial or time freedom to often be able to do that. So it's been an amazing, like, microcosm of the country as a whole. Amazing. Yeah. Thank you. Well, thank you so much, McKenna, for coming on the podcast. And we wish you the best of luck on the exam. Thank you. I can't wait. And we hope that you enjoy verona. I'm excited to to go offer a wine and see verona more. Awesome. I'll catch you with y'all and your friends tomorrow night. Oh, yes. Good luck with that. Alright. About it. Oh, no. 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 pods.