Ep. 1272 Ciro Pirone | Voices Meet the Vinitaly International Academy Ambassador

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. The 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 today's episode, part of another new mini series on voices. About Davina to the International Academy, Italian wine ambassadors who contributed to the new addition of Italian wine unplugged two point zero. This new Mamma jumbo shrimp publication was released in January twenty twenty three, and it provides a foundation for the Ven Italy International Academy, Italian wine, Ambassador course. Listen in as Cynthia chats with the personalities who made this edition possible. And remember, you can also tune in each Saturday afternoon to hear narrated installments of this new book or head to Amazon dot com to pick up your copy today. Hello. This is Cynthia Chaplin. And today, I am very happy to be presenting, mini series about the Vineetili International Academy Italian wine ambassadors who contributed to the new addition of Italian wine unplugged two point o. It was my huge pleasure to be one of the editors and and a contributor. And this book has just been published in January of twenty twenty three, and it forms the keystone of the Venus to the International Academy Italian ambassador course. So today, I'm really happy to welcome my good friend and fellow via ambassador, Chiro Pironi. Chiro is Campania DOC, and he graduated from Institute of Alberto de Salerno in nineteen ninety four. And since then, he's been unbelievably busy traveling and working in Italy, England, the US, and he is now the director of Italian wines at Verizon beverage company, and he's responsible for representing the whole Italian portfolio across several market activities. So I don't know how he had time to help us out with this book when he did. So thank you for coming on the show today. Thank you for having me, Cynthia, and, always happy to be here and in support of the Via community. Well, you've been a really long time friend of Via and VINitli for many, many years, and a huge supporter of everything we do at VINitli International Academy. So when did you first hear about VIA? And how did you get involved originally? I think it was, probably around two thousand sixteen, around then, pretty much, where I think, actually, interestingly enough, I was in in Houston for a wine trade fair organized by the Italian trade commission locally. And I actually met, or so in in person, Stevie Kim, and, we're talking about it. And, obviously, the the the first, tried already happened. And, then, you know, I continue to follow her and follow, you know, the activities that were taking place. And then, two thousand seventeen was actually the first time I ever took to Via the VA International Academy course. And, and then I've been part of it since, which has been a great trip. And you've been a fantastic ambassador for us, including contributing to the new edition of the book by rewriting five of the grapes in the must know grapes section of the book. So aside from the fact that I sort of bullied you into it, what motivated you to take part in the revamp of of our main textbook? Well, I have to say, well, first of all, was a matter of pride. And I, obviously, I appreciated the being part of it, and it definitely didn't bully me, but, I was truly excited about it because I think, even from its previous version, I thought, you know, the book although probably improved now, obviously, with the second version, but it was a very important piece of a a foundation for anybody. You know, the ones who learn about Italian wines, obviously Italian wines can be daunting with the many grapes and places. And, variety of things that come into play. And having such a book where you can have everything in your pocket, I think it's huge. And, obviously, for me, personally, being so involved daily because of work, but also because of my ultimate passion for Italian wines, was great to be part of it and actually collaborate and very grateful for that. Well, it was a huge help, to me and definitely contributed to the success of of the book, which we're really proud of. It's available on Amazon now for anybody out there who wants to take a look. But I I wanna sort of delve into your your views about how you see your role as being a Via Italian wine ambassador. Obviously, you can you contributed to the book. You've participated in the class. You're certified. You've got the title. We all know what your day job is at horizon, and of course your Italian heritage is very dear to you. But what else are you doing sort of as an ambassador for Italian wines now? Well, I try, obviously, as as you as you mentioned, other than, my daily activities, through work, which basically all the, you know, revolve around Italian wines, might as well be wine dinners, events, or, you know, I do periodically seminars for the Boston Soviet society when they asked me locally, private events, obviously, and Italian wines. I collaborate with the twice a year with the university of New Hampshire. Also to do some classes on Italian wines for people that are part of the post vitality course there. And then also I try to create as much as I can social media content on Italian wines because I think it's again, it's all about spreading the gospel and, keep, you know, trying to create material that people will be interested in reading and will allow them to get more engaged with Italian wines might as well be probably some of the more you know, famous wines and appalachians and territories, but still is true also for the lesser known ones, which there seem to be a lot of interest. So, obviously, the activities in my case are about three hundred sixty degrees. I try to make sure that more and more people get excited about Italian wines and, obviously, hopefully, that helps, you know, Italy in general, but all the producers, which are small or big that are trying to sell their wines here in the United States, specifically here in the Northeast I think that is pretty much the definition of of the perfect Italian wine ambassador outside of Italy. You're doing so much. I I just wonder, you know, kind of even delving deeper into this. What made you into such a devoted via supporter? What is it about he needs the international academy and the Via community that has engaged you to such an extent. We know you love Italian wine and you're devoted, but but what kind of really drew you to Via? 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. I think that I'm you know, throughout my career in the wine business and obviously with wine directly, I've always looked for more ways to learn, obviously, educate myself first and foremost, because as I feel that it's a continuous thing and there's never an end to it, And, and, obviously, wine was also a a a Italian, specifically a huge connection for me to my, in a homeland, which I, obviously, I don't live there anymore. But also the fact that VIA probably was the first course to really go a lot more in-depth. Beyond just the basics. And obviously, the people behind, I've met, since two thousand seventeen, my first engagement until, you know, obviously today. Met a lot of great people. Some are still there. Some are not. And that that's really created a family connection beyond just the fact that you're seeing each other maybe once a year, maybe once every two years, and that's really created the, you know, like I said, a fantastic community as you refer to, and, and I think it's, it's important. It's important because, also, like I said, the, you know, education is, it continues. The program keeps changing. This new meet this new material. I'm always personally looking for more, and I'm hoping that through my daily activities, I'm always giving more in return to the people that I see. Might as well be a customer. Must will be somebody just, passionate about Italian wine. And I think that's we can keep, you know, making sure that it continues to grow as a community, but also Italian continues to grow in the in the market as a representation. Those are such good points. Out of sort of that that base of people that you're dealing with on a daily basis, who do you think the best candidates are to become via students in the future. How would you recommend people who wanna do via should prepare? I mean, obviously, read the book. But besides that, what do you think is important and and who do you see as being future via students? I think really, I think anybody that really loves Italian wines or wants to learn about Italian wines, it's a great candidate for it. That being said, I would suggest because of my experience taking the exam really taking the course three times and doing the exam also four times, you definitely wanna have a good foundation of Italian wines because it is fairly comprehensive. There is a lot of studying that is needs to take place, so don't take it lightly. That being said, you know, as long as you prepare properly, meaning, yes, obviously, reading, you know, the new book for sure. But with that, you gotta complete that with a variety of other books just like I do. I continue to buy new books that come available might as well be about specific subjects more than just, you know, the varieties. I think that's critical to the success ultimately of taking the course and, you know, at the end of the day, the most important thing is take the course, maybe you don't pass the first time, don't get discouraged, but continue on studying, continue on believing in it, because it's also part of being part of a community, beyond just having the title of an ambassador expert and were not. So, I think and also the other thing that I find very critical, especially knowing what the exam and the course entails today, keep on tasting because, obviously, Italian wine is a lot more than just reading about specific characteristics of a certain variety of certain wine that come from a certain territory, but the fact that you have to taste because there's so many new producers, so many new things happening daily. So it's a very fluid thing. You can't just get stuck on the idea at certain grapes or certain wines supposed to taste, in a certain way. That's so true. And in fact, this edition of the book, we added, what we're calling the benchmark producer sections to the much to the must know grapes. And, we realized that we can't include every top notch producer, but what we were aiming to do was to include a list of producers who are doing really truly exemplary wines for each each of these grapes that we know can be found outside of Italy. There are some wonderful producers in Italy that are just too small or aren't exporting, but we have students all around the globe now for Via, and we wanted to give a list of benchmark producers who are pretty easily found outside of of Italy so that our students could do exactly that taste, taste, taste, taste, taste, first of all, for the love of it, as you said, for for the passion, but also to to really get their palate calibrated to the specific textures and and acidity and different tastes that come with Italian wine. So, you you've mentioned, you know, you're a wine educator yourself, and you do our our Via Maestro program too from time to time. For people who are just taking their first steps in the world of Italian wine. So I'm an educator as well, and I just wanted to get your opinion. How do you think wine education is keeping up with the changes in the global wine sector? You know, what would you change? What how would you like to see our book change in the future, our and wine education change in the future. What are you looking at as an educator instead of as, a person on the business trade end of the sector? I think, obviously, education is, just like the world of wine is a fluid thing. It's always, you know, in motion. And, it should not be something static, just like, specifically the world of Italian wines per se. I think more than change, probably I would add as far as you know, very importantly, especially for Italian wines, the element of, like, storytelling, because I see it and I leave it daily, and I think also because a lot of people, they do end up taking educational courses, are part of the industry one way or the other. Obviously, there are some people that might be just passionate about China wines, decide to take the course, but a lot of them are maybe importers, maybe distributors, maybe people that work in retail stores, sell wine, or maybe they work in restaurants, a lot of them, that they wanna know more. So maybe also, maybe also having the element of how to sell Italian wines, maybe coming from the experience of, you know, some, some of the great, importers or people that really have created market for Italian wine in in the United States, specifically as we hear, that can share their experience and, not only become you know, like a motivational speaker for the group, but also, you know, helping people understand how to actually sell Italian wine besides the merit of the wine that could be a great product. So I think those are those are my ideas, you know, obviously, besides having, you know, current information on, changing of, you know, appalachians or, you know, technicalities, if you will. I think sometimes having more people sharing their stories and how they did it. I think would be greatly beneficial to many. I think that is an incredibly outstanding point. And I think you just opened the door for me to ask you to help on the next edition, so we can include some things about how to sell Italian wine. This book talks a bit about how to how to speak about Italian wine, but how to sell Italian wine is definitely something we could look into, and I'm gonna want your help on that. So, you're never gonna Yeah. And as a matter of fact, I if I can mention also, just like you were saying earlier, just about even how to see the the via program grow in the future, also there because there's some fantastic people involved as Obviously, the educators that teach the course, that have a a phenomenal experience of background. Sometimes also having, you know, people like white makers, technologists, the ground are missed, you know, maybe giving some lectures as part of it because obviously it comes from a a deeper experience and knowledge in the specifics of what makes wine great and especially Italian wines. So, you know, just adding parts to something that is already great structure, and maybe just round it up a bit over time. Well, I can't thank you enough for all of your insight and sharing your thoughts about this with us. And once again, from the bottom of my heart, and thank you from the whole team here in verona. For contributing to Italian wine Unplugged two point o. And I'm very much looking forward personally to seeing you back in Verona again soon. Yes. Thank you so much. I'm, really looking forward to be there. To see you guys all share a glass of wine. And, again, thank you for the opportunity and, Chiao Touti of the Via family. Chiao Chiro. Thank you so much. Thank you for listening. And remember to tune in next Wednesday when I'll be chatting with another fascinating guest. Italian wine podcast is among the leading wine podcast in the world, and the only one with a daily show. Tune in every day and discover all our different shows. You can find us at Italian wine podcast dot com, SoundCloud, Spotify, Himalaya, or wherever you get your pods.