Ep. 2075 Karla Ravagnolo interviews Mihai Popescu | The Next Generation

Who wants to be the next Italian wine Ambassador? Join an exclusive network of four hundred Italian wine ambassadors across forty eight countries. Vineetly International Academy is coming to Chicago on October nineteenth is twenty first. And Walmatikazakhstan from November sixteenth to eighteenth. Don't miss out. Register now at Vineeti dot com. Welcome to another episode of the Italian wine podcast, the next generation series, where we aim to answer one simple question. What are the new generations up to when it comes to wine and food? My name is Kataravagnolo. Join me as we dive in the latest trends in Italian wine. Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Italian wine podcast. My name is Karla. I'll be your host for this episode of the next generation series. Today, I'm very, very much excited to welcome Mihai Popezco. He's a seasoned, dynamic, one professional, whose projects swing between Canada and Romania. He's an all around one professional with experience in B2B sales, marketing, business development, and wine judging. What I'm looking forward to talk about is his mission. He's a man with a precise vision that I can't wait to share with you. Welcome me. Hi. Thank you so much for having me and thinking of, inviting me to this amazing show. It's an honor to be part of it. We're very much thrilled to have you with us today. So if you agree, I would like you to start by telling us a little bit more about your background and what led you to pursue a career in the wine industry. When I finished university, I studied business commerce, management, and that in Canada, I started working with the company that does food and wine import. So right away after a few months, I started doing some classes because when you wanna sell wines, you need to know the basics so you can tell the customers. So then I fell in love right away with the wide studies, everything works about, like, the first so many school. I really loved it, so I start pursuing this very professionally. And since now it's gonna be eleven years. So as soon as I finished university, I I start specializing into wines to say it like that. Last year, I graduated. I had the level four diploma from WSet, which is a big achievement for me. And it's not many people. In Canada, there's more, but in Romania, we're maybe like ten to fifteen people that have this diploma at this moment. Congrats. So, yeah, I did that. And part of what I was doing during this journey, I work with brands in, in Canada to do events and I even worked with a lot of Italian brands and French brands, but also Eastern European. I tried to help them. I, even made some events with, wine tasting events a lot. And I teach, like, the presentation of very often to familiar schools or to private customers. That's something I'd really love to do is to share my passion about wine with the consumer, especially with the consumer. That is amazing kudos to you. So your story was born in Romania, if I'm not mistaken. Right? And your family used to make wine in Romania. So do you think these played a role in your, like, wine life, your interest in Eastern European wines, or like wine in general? I think it helped a lot when we moved I moved to Canada. So part of my childhood, all I remember is all the harvests with both of my grandfathers, they made wine. So all I remember is the harvest going to press the grapes and then fermenting, and I was always involved because I was so curious as a child how they make wine out of it. So That was part of my childhood for many years, especially my September before school started. I was always there with either with one grandpa or the other one helping them with the wine. And I mean, once I started studying the wine and all this came back to my head, like, You want to study how to make wine, how to press, the regions of France, the Italy. And then all I could remember is like my childhood when I was making wine with my grandparents. I wasn't old enough to drink it back then, but I was always curious and looking forward to grow up to do it with them, but I didn't have the chance. I we moved to Canada, so then I never had the chance to to do that with them when I was older, unfortunately. I'm not gonna lie. I'm very jealous of your childhood. That sounds pretty amazing and fun. So you were mentioning you moved to Canada. Did you notice any differences between Canada and Europe as per people's relation to food and wine? I I can definitely say between when I moved from Romania, like, back then, especially in the region when I come from, one, yes, it's important and everybody makes. But, I mean, I moved to Canada and I was surrounded by the French, especially in Montreal where I live, the French and Italian culture is very present there. So I make Italian friends and French friends, and that's where I really got into this food and wine passion because in Montreal, it's very it's a city that lives on food and wine. It's very, very a gastronomical city. And I mean, in especially in Montreal, yes, we it's a bit similar to Europe where, like, food and wine go together. When you move to more the English side in Toronto or other cities, it's less pronounced, but I find that in the past few years, it's getting there, especially that people like in the English parts of Canada were drinking more hard liquor. Now they're switching down to more approachable, like, lower alcohol products. And first thing they're gonna do is try more wines. So I find, yeah, there's there's a big difference. And what I see now when I come back to Romania, because I come often, and I see in more and more, the millennials traveling around the world, And especially to Italy, we love Italy as romanians. And they come back and they bring back a lot of wine culture. So there's a demand for Italian products, especially here in Romania. It's a very big business at this moment. That sounds great. Following up on this one, do you think that people want to be educated about wine, like Italian wine? You were telling that they're getting a little more curious about it. How are you feeling about it? Definitely. I think that's the key to success. I mean, trying to sell alcohol nowadays. It's hard, especially with our generation because we're more educated. We know more about what happens if you drink too much and the problems caused by that. But if you educate, people who travel, they travel because they want to live an experience. And let's say I come back to Romania, and I share an experience with consumers, and then you tell them the story and the history of the from, let's say, a region, a grape, the food that comes with it, they would like that to get that information, and would be easier for them to appreciate the wine. It's not just, getting drunk product. It's a cultural product, I find. And it opens conversations, and, I mean, it's fun. You don't have to abuse it, but I mean, people are curious to learn. That's what I find. And now we have all these technologies, the pictures, the videos, we can travel easily. And I think that's the best way to get people to try products is by traveling. And then if they cannot travel, it's to bring this type of experience back to them. This is amazing. So I was just wondering, we were talking about all the opportunities that you're saying. So, like, you're pretty positive about the wine industry at the moment. Like, you see a lot of opportunities out there. So I think, yeah, there's a lot of maybe, like, the economy wasn't doing so great, especially the during the COVID time, especially lockdowns, restaurants were closed. But, I mean, it was a great opportunity. Like, a lot of, companies adapted to online, tools and do online marketing, which I think that's the biggest opportunity of these times is to adapt. Like, you cannot just manage your Weiner, like, back in the days and expect to get customers. No. You need to be present on social media. You need to be present to virtual wine tastings, get involved with influencers with, programs like we did with even Italy. It's very important to be part of these because our generation, the millennials, yes, we know we're gonna drink a bit less, but we're more educated and we're gonna drink better. So, I mean, maybe it's gonna affect a bit the low end of the wines, but I mean, if you make good wine and you know how to promote it, we will appreciate it, especially with food. So I mean, it's gonna be, like, the AI is gonna be a good opportunity. It's gonna help producers make better wines in the production part, but also in the marketing and communication of the wine, If we embrace it and we know how to use it, I think it's one of the greatest opportunities we're gonna have in the next years. This this is amazing. Another question I have for you is because of this reasoning you just did, And because of your experience in marketing, sales, import consulting, do you think that your perspective has been influenced? Because you are, I mean, Daniel, like, do you think this offers you a different point of view on the topic? I think it made me more open minded. When I started eleven years ago, when I was new in the wine, I was still in contact a lot with the older generation, and they were just not too open minded about the diversity of the wine world. And now as millennials, as we like diversity, we want to give every region a chance, not just the classic bordeaux or the chianti. Like, just let's take a look at Italy There's so many regions that so many diversity and grades, which as I think as a millennial, we love to embrace it. And I think that's the best opportunities right now is to chase the diversity, authenticity, and to stick with what you have original in your region, the food and the wine combined together, it's gonna create opportunities not just for sales, but also for young millennials to travel to the region and discover them. I find, yes, we're more open to try new things. This being said, you mentioned, I'm gonna follow-up on this because this is a very important topic. The diversity of Italian wine and, like, the approachability, right, like education, and you're an Italian wine ambassador, first of all, So you kinda decided to embark on this adventure. I know it's a very rich legacy in terms of, like, wine history, geography. How would you recommend approaching Italian wine? In my experience, I started to be honest doing my first so many courses. I was more about French wines, but I'm really passionate about and I really enjoy a lot of the Italian food. So, I mean, the best way to go around it is to try the classics and learn a bit about the classic, the main regions of Italy and the main grades, the most popular, and then just build on it. So let's say, okay, after I discovered the anti or Valpolicella or Barolo or some nice Edna Bianco. You can start going in the little regions and discover something like Lambrusco or Albana in Amelia Romana. And by discovering that, you try to find some food that comes from that region, some cheese, or some prosci. Or I find that if you look at regions not as just grapes or you try to learn a bit what's diverse, what's different about each region, it's gonna be much easier to learn and to appreciate the diversity instead of trying to learn everything at once because it's a lot. And, I mean, I suggest to everybody, even when I teach to my consumers or my disseminate school, I started with the basics to do with learn the classics and then build on because there's always so much to learn, but once you know your classics well, it's gonna be much easier to build on that. And why when you study the classic, especially the regions, you're gonna understand a lot. And then just the different graves or regions is just add ons to that. So it's gonna be easier after a while. It just gets easier. The first big step is to start to getting involved and to study a bit or to learn or to participate in tastings. Once you start into it, it's gonna be more for me. It's more and more interesting. And I I never when I studied wine and I studied for many years, especially the diploma and even for Italian wine about their program. It's a very rich program. I never felt it was too much. I was always curious to read some more information because I think it's fascinating. When you started reading how each region is diverse, like the geography, the mountains, the rivers, the influences, the history. Sometimes some wine is made because of some historical events. I think as millennials, we can learn a lot about the history of a country by studying wine. I totally agree with you. You mentioned that you also, like, try to to teach to someone who he is, how to approach, like, Italian wine and everything. So my question for you now would be the next step, meaning, how would you recommend to one professionals both on the on and off trade to successfully communicate and sell the wines to local B2B or B2C clients? Like, is there any specific way to better translate in a way maybe Italian wine to a Canadian community or to the Romanian? Let's say to B2B. I think it's very important to once you get let's say to Canada, obviously there's the monopoly that, especially in our province. It's, the government controls the wine sales and imports. So I find once you get your wine there, it's important B2B. I think it's very important the human contact like the relationship with you have, go visit the restaurants that you have your wines listed because it's gonna empower the manager, the most familiar of the restaurant, the employees, the staff, it's gonna you know, when you say, the person from the winery travel all the way from Italy, and we met with him. We stayed down. He explained his vision of the wine. He explained why he makes these types of wine after it's gonna be much easier to sell to the customer to even because it's not just about sales, it's being confident to talk to your consumer about a product once you spoke with the person that actually makes the wine. I think that's a very important step. And with the consumer, I find if the producer cannot be because obviously I have a lot of tastings directly with the consumers, I find what's interesting now I try to do like everybody, like probably a lot, but it's important to do like a food and wine bearing, not just wines because You can lose them easily especially if the consumer is just at the beginning, and they won't remember what they tasted or they don't pay attention. But you when you pair it with food, sometimes it's gonna make them remember easier, like, with the type of pasta with that certain type of wine or it would cheese. I think it has to be interactive nowadays. Everything you'd need to do, get out of the classic boring. Oh, this is a wine. This is the grape. Okay. No. I think it has to evolve into something more. And where you have to make the consumer feel welcomed and not snob, you know, because they're afraid sometimes even at the restaurants, they're afraid to ask questions to the souvenir because they want don't wanna look bad. So but give the consumer some time and try to to embark him in your, like, to to make it interactive as a tasting, ask questions, let them ask questions, make them feel comfortable. Don't be a snob. Like, I know everything about wine. I think nowadays with millennium, that will never work. I totally agree. I feel like wine should be an exchange of ideas, you know. It's always funny to me when there's a typical, like, question when you're sitting at a table and it's like, what are you tasting in this wine? What are you smelling in this wine? And I can kinda listen to the music goes, like, the tension rises. Right? And everybody's locate judging. Because there's always this need for the right answer for knowing what to say and everything. And I feel like this is kinda limiting. I mean, the opportunities to learn about one because nobody wants to be exposed and being like, oh, no. You're wrong. You know what I mean? Like, I totally agree with you. I feel like there should be more space to interact and to exchange idea freely without judging each other. Yeah. But I I started to ask them I don't even try to impose what I'm like, it should be this aroma or that aroma at this point. It's like, I asked them, what does this white make you feel like? Do we enjoy it? Would you like to drink a glass? Would you pay for a bottle of this wine? Does this wine give you some satisfaction? Not just, oh, it has this aroma because then they're just gonna think about, oh, I'm not smelling this aroma. Maybe I'm not good. Maybe they're gonna feel discouraged. Then that's not a wine supposed to make you feel something and to start a very good conversation with the people at the table. I mean, that's very important. And yes, it has structure. It has tannins or acidity and sugars. But at the beginning, it's I don't think it's the most important step for the consumers. I think it just make them enjoy the wine, and then get them into more of the details of the how the wine is made. And, okay. As nerds, we talk about a lot of stuff in the background, but I don't think that's how you impress the consumer. It's better to make them feel comfortable before you get to that with them. I really like that word. Comfortable. I totally agree with you as I mentioned. Like, we should just welcome more people, make them feel comfortable, at ease, and one is just fun. I really, I liked also another point you told earlier. One of the key questions I feel in my personal opinion should be do you like the wine as easy as that? And then maybe you can start talking about it. You know what I mean? But, like, it should just be a matter of liking and enjoying and sharing. Yeah. And for so many years, wine was regarded, especially in high end restaurants or wine bars or something very reserved for a specific category of consumer. Which I think is completely wrong. Now, Millennials, you cannot approach them that way. And, obviously, as you said, it's supposed to be fun. And then if you see that they enjoy it, then you can go into details because they're curious. And I'm sure, like, where it's smart enough to understand a lot of the concepts of the geography, the winemaking, with all the information we have online, and it's gonna make their life very easy compared to twenty years ago when you only had mostly books to study and not many videos or not like all the information we have nowadays? I have another question for you. So going back to comparing in a way Canada and Romania, earlier in the interview, you mentioned that Canada is lowering the alco strength in a way. The alco percentage in their beverages, meaning like they're going later switching from spirits to wine to low alcohol beverages and stuff. How do you see Romania? Evolving right now. Like, the wine market, the younger generations, how do you see that market evolving? I find it's a completely different story here. It's like even the average consumption of alcohol, it's much higher in Romania. I find before they used to not drink the younger generation as as much wine, and they would probably drink a lot sweeter wise maybe ten, fifteen years ago. Now they travel a lot to Italy to France to Spain, or across the Europe since we're part of the European Union. Been more than ten years now. And it opens them to drink dry wines to try sparkling to try rosette. So it makes them more open minded. I don't hear as much conversation here about no alcohol or low alcohol wines. I think that the market is not there. The wine market is still young for many years because we had the communism. We only had access to remaining wines. And now that it's opening up, I think there's still so much evolution in the wine market left that they're not thinking about the no alcohol or low alcohol. They just wanna explore it. Which sounds pretty exciting. And again, a lot of opportunities over there too. I mean, yeah, and, like, not we we always were focused on the Western world or Canada and North America, but we forget a lot of parts of the world that are getting industrialized. They're evolving, and they're curious about why. Once you start being at this certain level, of culture and everything you wanna discover wines. And yes, maybe in the North America slowing down a bit, but I think it's just a phase. I mean, when we're younger, we didn't have that many studies on options of low alcohol, lower percentages with wasn't there. So we didn't talk about it. Now there's much data on marketing data on that. But once they get a bit older, I think they're gonna switch to line because it's more especially with food, it makes it much more enjoyable, I find. I totally I totally agree with you. So on this topic, I actually wanna ask you a question and play a fun game in a way. So let's say I'm having dinner at restaurant in Bookers. Right? And I know nothing about wine. I'm a beginner. I know nothing, but you really, really want me to try some Italian wine to confine a traditional romanian dish, let's say, mitch, What would you recommend for me as a first approach to Italian wine and how would you explain it to me? So I because the meat is like a little sausages with garlic and thyme and spices, can be even a bit sometimes a bit spicy. I'll and also keep in mind that now the sparkling is very trendy even in Romania. Definitely recommend the, Lamrusco dry, a bit off dry because I think it would the richness and the versatility of Lambrusco, which is a sparkling red wine from Amelia Romana region in Italy, I think would pair very well with the garlicky side and the spices in the the little sausages. And I think it's very trendy and it's very hot here in the summer also, like, in Italy, and it would make a very good, like, a cold sparkling red wine with the meat which is the practically the first dish that everyone is having when they visit Romania. I think it would make very interesting, and I I'll probably try it since I'm in Romania. I think I will do a pairing and send you some pictures. Please do. Please do. That actually sounds pretty amazing. So let's say we're imagining the same scenario in Canada though. How do you think the the pairing maybe would change or the explanation or the scenario? Do you think there would be an adaptation because the conflict is different. I would go. I would go very differently in Canada. That says, okay, it's obviously the weather is different. The food is different. We have more access to especially Montreal to fresh seafood. And the consumers, it's more at a different level right now of knowledge and the market is more mature. I would definitely go with to suggest with some, like, we have a lot of lobster or seafood in Montreal. So I would go definitely with Anetna Bianco, which is super cool at this moment. And I think the consumer would be ready to enjoy a wine like that. And because there are probably already got contact with a chianti or a barolo or a Punello, but Aetna Bianco would be something new for them to try and it would be pairing very well with the seafood and lobsters and all the nice fish dishes we have in Montreal. You made a very important point when you talked about, like, the market is already mature. They already know about county. They already may know about this. They already may know about that. So I feel like it is really important to stress this that people need to to be more aware and mindful of that too, maybe when suggesting a wine pairing or a wine recommendation. So one last question to wrap it up. What is your vision or goal for the coming years, maybe, let's say, in the wind industry. What's coming up next? Where at the moment, like, I finished with the doubly set program. I did a Italian ambassador program, and I think I would like to spend more time between Romania and Canada, especially in Romania, I find it's a there's a lot of opportunities here and, to do staff training, to do restaurant. There's a lot of restaurant offering Italian food. Which is very popular even here or in Canada that this works for both. And I think I would like to spend a lot of my time educating the staff or even doing private events with consumers or with their the nice brands to enrich their culture, but since COVID, a lot of, people in the restaurant industry, they left. And now there's only a lot of newcomers and they don't have the wine experience, but they would like to learn. Like, I go to restaurants and I ask them Would you like to learn more about wine so you can present it to your consumer? So I would really like to focus on doing a lot of staff training around the best restaurants, and especially with Italian wine. Since this is my passion, when I was studying w set, I really fell in love with Italian wine, like, specifically. And since then, I think because I like the diversity it has to offer, I think I would love to spread all this knowledge. And hopefully, I'll get more knowledge because we never stop studying. I would like to Like, just last week, I was in Rome, and I got immersed a bit in the Roman food and wine culture, and I really loved my experience there. And I think this is the next step is more towards sharing my experience educating, but doing it interactively. I like to use a lot of videos, pictures. Social media is very important. Trying to figure out the AI because it's gonna help a lot with media content and obviously it's not gonna take over. It's just to know how to use it and to use it to make effective posts if getting the right way to communicate the information And, yeah, get in touch. I mean, yes, we were, we like all this technology, but it's also important that, connection with the consumers and the people that are in contact with the consumer, like, the people that work in the wine industry and to give them some knowledge and encourage them. And once you have all this package done, I think it would empower them to be more comfortable with the consumers. Both Canada and Romania, because when you go, especially in a restaurant and you talk to a knowledgeable person, and you see they talk with confidence and they're not snobby about wine, you're gonna have a great time, and you're gonna be able to discover more wines when you go not just drink the same wine every time you go out. For real. So to more discoveries, to more fun conversations, to less judgment too, and I really wish you the best with your journey, with your, like, learning journey, your discovery, your projects. I really wish you the best of luck. It's been so nice talking to you. Hopefully, I'm gonna receive that picture with the Namburzko bottle. I think I'll find the bottle because I think they have. If not, I have Mitch in Canada. We also make it there. So for sure I'll send you a picture once I get home. Perfect. Thank you so much, and thank you for being with us today, Mihai. Thank you for taking your time, and we'll keep in touch. I'll keep you posted with, my evolution on my goals, and we might have another conversation at some point. Perfect. Please do. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for joining us today. Let us know your thoughts on our social media at Italian One podcast and follow us to keep up with the next generation of Italian wine people, tears.