Ep. 1889 McKenna Cassidy interviews Alojz Felix Jermann | The Next Generation

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 pots. Welcome to the Italian wine podcast. This is the next generation with me, your host, Mckenna Cassidy. For the next thirty minutes, I invite you to explore with me what young adults are up to in the Italian weinstein. Today, let's feast on our discussion of Italian wine, travel, food, and culture. Thank you for being here. Grab a glass with us. Chinching. Hello, everyone. I'm Mckenna Cassidy. Italian wine Ambassador and podcaster for the next generation. And I'm joined by Alice Felix Yervont today. Hello, Felix. Hello, guys. Hello, Mackana. Nice to hear you. Ditto. I know that you have many fans in the Italian Weinstein and from this podcast in particular, but Felix, you've been doing this for quite a number of years. Would you please introduce yourself for us and tell us what you're up to for work these days. Yes. Thank you, Makenna, for the short introduction. I'm, Elizabeth Cierman, from Feulive, Vanessa, Italy, right in the border with Slovakia, and just below Austria, quite in, say, a wild as to say region from Italy, you know, you really have to come here because you want to come here. If not, you don't really kind of have to say spot yourself in here, which is, you know, a unique part quality, but also maybe a challenger barrier sometimes for tourists to come and visit us all the way here in forty minutes, Julia. I come from, our making family. You know, my last name says it all, but, over the last Now four years, I have been dedicated to develop my own projects, in the communication world, in the wine world, united with wine tastings and wine experience, on the Italian market and, in Europe. So this is, say, three sixty around wine communication in fine wines in Italy at the moment. This is very cool because for a while, you are exclusively in my understanding, representing your family's winery. Exactly. But then, over a period of time, you kind of evolved to become a consultant for other wineries because you found a passion in media and in exposing your area in all these different aspects on video, audio, like any interviews or images, you're very skilled with your camera. So you really just started to make the whole region accessible in a new way to people who had never visited it, chose not to take the hour and a half train ride outside of Venice to come. And I think that's so cool. What kind of led you in that direction? Growing out in the wine world, and, representing my family winery at the beginning of my, say, wine career, I've always seen that, the current casekeepers, so the winemakers, the winery owners, which, you know, have created the wine world that we know today present themselves, almost like a pedestal. And it's not always inclusive. It's often scary for a person that is not so knowledgeable in the wine world or is just approaching the wine world. And my goal since the beginning has always been to make wine understandable, wine approachable, and to bring closer the younger consumer, the new generation to get to know wine with first steps, whatever that means. This led me to really believe in, in my style of communication, and being very passionate about, you know, creating experiences tailored for the fine wine industry, but, with a more fresh approach, an approach that is easily understandable and, it can, you know, communicate the essence, the quality, the uniqueness of the wines that we're tasting, but in a much more, say, vibrant and incomprehensible manner, which often in the wine where we use ten so many to say technical terms that can put off some, windovers and wind enthusiasts at the beginning of the journey. And so just step by step, you know, by adventuring, by, you know, in the wine world for my own say experiences, you know, traveling around Italy and other parts of the old world in Europe to, you know, have my own personal background and knowledge and continue my education in the wine world. I started to say sharing the stories of my favorite winemakers, and, sharing the stories behind the wines that I fell in love with. And, this so to say passion transformed itself into, a purpose to say lifestyle and work because now a lot of see on my social is work as well because, we communicate realities from, around Italy mostly at the moment to, basically, you know, expose them in a positive manner, I would say, and bring out true characteristics that really allowed them to shine. And, so, yeah, it's been, you know, a very natural self development in the wine journey. I've been very lucky to have been growing up in a family that, you know, makes wine for five generations now and seeing what they liked, and so to say changing what I didn't. This is kind of my style of communication and my work. On the other hand, I'm also very lucky because, from the other side of the family, I come from the restaurant business as well, say my from my mother's side, we own a traditional restaurant here in gorizia. Called Toyota Luna. I've always been dedicated to serving tables and, you know, serving wine. This is actually one of my first passions, you know, serving and sharing, let's say wine vibes and say the mixture of the two, you know, allowed me to have the experience, the knowledge, of course, with education and other experiences to then kind of say, trot along my own journey, and, this is kind of what we're doing at the moment. This is great. This is so important. It what you've kind of evolved to doing for your work, but also your passion and your gifts is what I get the most questions about. I get so many questions about, like, what's gonna happen to the wine industry for the next generation. Many producers who have been doing making wine for quite some time are looking to innovate and make their storytelling accessible to the youngest wine drinking generation. And I think you're exhibiting that. So, like, just for context, Alex, how old are you? I'm twenty seven years old right now. You were obviously in the winery the whole time, but when you were about, like, sixteen to eighteen, you started speaking on behalf of the winery, would you say? Yeah. Could say that, definitely, not officially, though. Officially, being a little bit later, you know, during those days, I was probably working mostly behind the scenes, you know, in the vineyards in the in the wine of itself. And then, yes, of course, occasionally, in some wine tastings or occasion. I, presented the winery, but, at the time, I was in this office of, say, learning the details of winemaking and of, say, whatever made the, you know, the uniqueness and the quality of, of the wines we are so known for. You know, my first experience really with the US market, for example, is, the New York wine experience in two thousand fourteen. That was great to say because, you know, everything that I've learned, I ain't stay at home. I was able to say share it with songs and restaurant tours from New York, and that was really, really exciting. But, you know, to start this journey, and we do this a lot in house in our communication, is really, you know, you have to start from the basics. I've been very lucky to have a family that taught me how to start from the basics and, you know, know the intricate details that, make wine what it is. And I think it's really important in today's world to be able to read the wine with your own key in terms, but understanding a wine and, making, say, a comprehensive judgment from it, which you may like it or not. It's fine, but, you need to understand if it plays record or exactly to say some technological technical terms that, are important to make use to say understand and have a clear vision of why then you can make it your own, but starting from the basics, who's definitely something important. So in those days, yes, I was, more behind the scenes. And then when I say, when I've shown that, I understood what I was talking about and, that they had enough experience then to say the family brought me out and, allowed me to share storytelling and sales, of course. And it's fascinating too because that's, I mean, your consulting now is really connected to your original passion of serving wine table side for others and storytelling for them in a restaurant, you're doing that just in a different way through different channels metaphorically, metaphysically as it were. It's awesome because the storytelling changes of course, for each guest table side, your story will shift slightly based on what you can tell they're interested in. Like you mentioned, maybe they're most interested in what vineyard this came in. Maybe they don't understand what great it is. So they must understand where the grape is from. Maybe they are afraid of the wine because they think they might not like it. So the storytelling kind of varies. And then maybe you're really good at this on your media and just in your personality when speaking in front of a group, you do incorporate a level of humor that helps people relax. And I think that can't be underestimated when telling wine stories, especially in, like, modern drinking culture when cocktails are obviously wildly popular and growing in popularity. Like, there's a level of humor about cocktails that I think makes them attractive to new drinkers. Similarly, with wine, it's always fruitful to incorporate good humor with that. 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. For sure. For sure. No. No. The story always changes and it has to change. It cannot be a monotonous, to say copy and paste speech, but definitely doesn't work because we all have filters, and we all understand if, what you're saying is true for you, if it's a camouflage or if it's, like, something that, they told you to say, or if it's a lie, you know, we can kind of sense that. And, just to say, authenticity is, very much converting also into sales because you have to be authentic in front of the customer. You have to be authentic in front of the some of the restaurant tours when you present the wines. And, that really turns into into then positive different growth sales as well for the wineries. So it's, like, everything is very much interlinked, you know, but it's part of a matrix and, I think what the young generation is noticing definitely now is that, how can we communicate better, you know, our reality? How can we get people to know about our indigenous queer variety that, we only know here in the region, you know, how can we get people excited about, a certain wine label or tasting event. So if it's, like, either on media on social or through say tailor made experiences, communication, you know, with slightly fixed about authenticity, clarity, and open minded are always, key factors that make it a successful communication and experience. So what does wine vibes mean? So I I I studied in some it's everywhere, and I love it, and I don't know what it means. I went a little bit less now, actually, honestly, but, you used it so much more in the past. You had a season for vibes. Mives was a thing. That was a thing for sure. No. I've been lucky enough to study some Cisco. I started international business at the USF University in Francisco. And, while I was there, I did a few interns in, Napa, Modesto. We know the one we were talking about. And during those time, you know, I was studying also San is called the same people. And, like, vibes was the term they're supposed to say to use, you know, when something was cool and nice, and it felt good. I didn't sing. Yeah. It's awesome good vibes, you know. Like, wines is I feel wine's emotions. Wine is, connect activities, bringing people together, you know, imagining having a party without wine or without any, say, delicious juice that we enjoy, it wouldn't be the same with water, definitely. And so, this sort of, say, idea of vibes is just like these emotions that the wine emanates and that the wine brings out to every consumer. We may not enjoy the same type of wine, but, there is definitely a type of wine for every person. Many people might struggle to believe that but I think we have to believe that. I'm always, like, intrigued sometimes when I travel, like, overseas also to Asia, for example, and I was able to, you know, maybe serve or present, a specific type of wine that even for people that would not drink wine because, they're not really used to drinking wine, or then they don't come from a wine drinking culture, but, how, you know, I'd say specifically tailored wine or, you know, thought after, say, taste can actually still be appealing to even the non drinker because there is such a wide variety of wines around the world. It is exciting and allows to say the consumer to approach this wine world. Right. Okay. So let's get into your family's restaurant. Do you prefer, Alaluna, gorizia, or Alaluna? Alaluna is, the name, Gaurizia is the town of Gaurizia would be in say the name plus the location. So for our listeners who can't picture gorizia in their head, gorizia is in Frioli, Vanessa, but it's right in between it's technically in the Frioli Isonzo, in its north of Carso and south of Colio goriziano. So these are just very different areas. They're all delineated by different hills. And so gorizia is a place. And Alaluna is your family's restaurant. Walk us through what it's like to enter Alaluna and be seated. Wow. So it's there's a lot happening here, guys, because, there's all of these to say small pieces of memories that my grandmother, my mother, my aunt collected over the the many years of the restaurant, and it's just basically there's so many little details that make it unique. In terms of, you know, how we dress, and, the type of, to say, mise en plaster we use, which is always different and unique for every table, very colorful, all of this historic pieces that are in different place so many open bottles with memories, in them and, signed on them. It's very, very welcoming, very warm. There's only ladies working in there at the moment apart from me as, Samuel, and the the one curating the wine list, from behind the scenes and now actually a chef, but the show is run by ladies in this place. So we definitely feel welcome then. It's beautiful. Who are the ladies who run-in? The boss is my, of course, my grandmother, Christina. Then, we have, you know, my idea, my aunt, we is Elena. You have my mother, which is Roberta, and then you have some great collaborators, Vivian and Malaysia, which work, on on the floor. Then we have, you know, another four people in the kitchen. That are essential, of course. So this is so cool. So for those who can't picture the restaurant, I am excited to go here one day, but I love the pictures of it. Basically, it's a good thing. Everything is mismatched. The table cloth, you like mentioned the mise en place, which means the silverware, the plates, the glasses, the cuffs, it's all providing this sense of color and joy. And it's, like, organized and seemingly disorganized. This is just my interpretation. I think it's like, awesome. The menu is also really extensive. So talk to me about, like, earlier you and I were talking about making luxury wine accessible to new friends of wine in consumers. And I think your menu is actually doing that for food as well. So for example, you offer salami pinned with wooden clothespins on the line. But then you all and then you have something very simple, like, lard with Rakata, but then there's lemon scented orange powder on it. This is so, we'd call this post modern. This is very radical in a positive way. How do you interpret that? So, basically, it's all, like, the recipes from my grandmother and my grandfather from, the years, of course, tradition is with European. So it's a crossing between, you know, Slavic cultures and Italian cultures, well, in terms of food. Meet European would be the specific to say, a style of food. But that, of course, is then to save by stuff and, rendered a little bit more creative by the intuitions of my aunt, Elena, and my grandmother, of course, So it's the creativity that you see in the restaurant is also then found in the plates. We use, you know, of course, traditional recipes from my grandfather, from my grandmother. They're prepared in a slightly more innovative, or to say fun and exciting manner to be appealing not only to the taste, but also to the eye, which is, another important aspect. So Miami European cuisine to the fullest, very rich, uh, isine for sure, but all tweaked with the fun creative aspect that brings it to say to two thousand twenty four that we are today. That's awesome. Tell me about the upcoming wine dinner with Colio and, Boragon. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Nice one. Yeah. Well, you know, as part of my project was being to develop, you know, the wine list in the restaurant, already might yet did a great job in putting together a beautiful wine list, but, we felt that the consumer would come to a luna and mostly drink the house wine, which is exceptional. We've been working, you know, with, with local growers for a house wine for, since, you know, the restaurant has been open. But, I wanted to develop the wine list and the wine experiences. And, so to say showcase the wine varieties and wine labels that we have at the restaurant, which, you know, for the town that we are at, we are probably one of the most well nourished wine lists in town. Since after COVID, actually, I started creating, or say, organizing wine experiences with local producers and also, international producers, depending on the type of format that we used to do. Always to promote the culinary experience, the endogastronomical experience in the restaurant, but with the in these say selective experiences with a bigger attention to the wine as well. We did one, very beautiful one with the Antinori family in February. We did another one before for with, a small producer from call your area. And, right now, because, one of ours to say local partners, which is called primozich, has won this year at this very important price, which doesn't happen twice normally, which is the, white line of the year, Bianco Delano from Gambrarosa, as to say the most prestigious Italian wine we take for wines. I thought, because there's also a various to say vibrant and thriving, new generation, young generation in the wine area. So why don't we do a tasting together, choose to say exhibit the quality of your chardonnay. Chardonnay was one that we need, this price. But we also compare it to, you know, the standard, the benchmark for, international chardonnayes or chardonnayes in the world, you know, everyone making well make chardonnay looks at burgundy, looks at French to say, inspire the, of course, it's never it's never reprocable because of the terroir and the Waime maker experience that they have there. But it's interesting how Charlotte can always be so well, not manipulated, but can also well adapt the difference to say microclimate center wires around the world. That's why it's, if not mistaken, one of the most planted varieties from the world. And therefore, I decided to say compare there are two chardonnayes of theirs against two burgundy chardonnayes. We are presenting to say the new vintage two thousand nineteen that, is soon gonna be released by the winery and award winning, two thousand eighteen in comparison two nice burgundy wines from, established producers. They are a little bit younger, so, they will be a little bit fresher in size. Pretty much for shows. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. I think it's gonna be a fun tasting. It's gonna be definitely exciting. It will be a nice comparison. We together with us, we also have a a burgundy expert because, hands down, I still need to learn a lot about burgundy. That will be presenting the two wines, of course, I'll be in charge of the service, parts of the storytelling as well, but you know, in this case, I will let most of the talking and the presentation to the winemaker and to, in this case, this, burgundy expert that will be able to articulate exactly the the details of the wine. This is gonna be a very technical dinner. Do you think it will attract both younger drinkers and more experienced drinkers, or is this gonna be booked with mostly people who have having wine for a long time or is this meant to make new friends of chardonnay in this way? Because it's a fairly useful thing in your young person producing it. Yeah. I mean, at the moment, the bookings are mostly, I'll say gen x millennials, so to say our older millennials, but we have some, genzys as well coming. Some very young genzys, obviously, I don't think with legal age. Yes. But, no, Alaluna is able to to bring together also some younger people. For sure. We have, of course, the aficionados, the traditional clients would be, you know, also baby boomers and everything, but, I'll have to say that we, we're bringing close to the younger generation. And definitely, there's a lot of attention from the younger generation. It is a kind of a pricier dinner this time, because of why that we've selected because of the menu. So, you know, maybe you need to have a certain spending power as well to be able to to afford it because you know, French burgundy. They don't give it to you. Actually, it's, so overpriced at the moment, but, what can we do? It's gonna be fun, exciting. So we still have a few spots available now, but, looking forward to having a good event. Well, We are out of time. I wanna thank you so much for your expertise. And thank you for tell the story of wine to many people around the world. I think people frequently remember their interactions with you, and that partly is because of your presence with them. Your sensibility to where they're at in wine and your ability to connect with what part of the story will matter most to them. So, abundant cheers and happy new year to you, and I I know we'll talk again soon. Mckenna, thank you so much. I appreciate the conversation. Tante grazier for joining me today. Remember to catch our episodes weekly on the Italian wine podcast, available everywhere you get your pods. Salute.