Ep. 646 Slawomir Kominski | Voices

Welcome to the Italian wine podcast. I'm Rebecca Lawrence, and this is voices. In this set of interviews, I will be focusing on issues of inclusion diversity, and allyship through intimate conversations with wine industry professionals from all over the globe. If you enjoy listening, please consider donating to Italian wine podcast dot com. Any amount helps us cover equipment, production and publication costs, and remember to subscribe and rate our show wherever you tune in. Hi, guys. I'm Joy Livingston, and I am the producer of the Italian wine podcast. Thank you for listening. We are the only wine podcast that has been doing a daily show since the pandemic began. This is a labor of love and we are committed to bringing you free content every day. Of course, this takes time and effort not to mention the cost of equipment, production, and editing, we would be grateful for your donations, suggestions, requests, and ideas. For more information on how to get in touch, go to Italian wine podcast dot com. Now back to the show. Welcome to the Italian White Podcast. This is the voices series with me Rebecca Lawrence. This week, I'm honored to be able to introduce you to our number one listener. Like, literally this guy is our biggest fan, and we are his biggest fan, so at Kaminski. Welcome to the podcast, sir. Thank you for having me here. Honestly, my dream to be one of the guests in the Italian wine podcast is coming through right now, Rebecca. So I I'm I'm really happy. I'm so glad we could make this happen. It's it's about time. So I like to start these conversations by asking my guests to introduce themselves to our listeners. So please tell us a little bit about who you are and what you're currently working on. Oh, about me. Well, first of all, I'm a husband and father of Tucson. One of them just recently became an adult, but being a happy head of the family is is my priority, and I'm really happy with with my with my family. In the wine business, I'm for, more than twelve years, I'm, the founder and general manager of my own company, which is called Mind Wine. I know Rebecca, it's not grammatically correct in English, but the our logotypes looks fabulous. So unfortunately, naturally, we can't see it in in the podcast, but it's easy to find it off on Facebook on our own an Instagram. It's MindYPL. So I am really happy about the our logotype. We are small importer And, we've got three specialist wine stores in the agglomeration of Bosnia on the western part of our country. And, I am at the end of the negotiation process with, another Fort Place, and I hope the next week contract will be signed, and I'd be able to announce it officially. One of our, of our wine stores is with the wine bar and the tasting room. So it's a great place to organize some, wine events and tasting, and, and, etcetera. As I mentioned, we are we are a importer, and we've got, wines from all over the world in our selection, but the main part, our, our Italian wines, it's, thirty, thirty five percent. And our main strategy is, to cooperate with, small familiar producers. Of course, we work also with, some bigger, some cooperatives or something like that, but the quality of wines is the most important thing. And I I always try to find a business partner, who are on the same level as we are cool, friendly people with great wines reasonable prices. And I think that our clients appreciated the the most. And But, of course, you have to know Rebecca that running a wine business is Poland. It's extremely difficult. And I would not have be able to to do, to do it without my great team. And thanks, God. I meet a wonderful people of, really, they create such an atmosphere that our customers, wants to to come back to us. So I'm I'm really happy about my wine business because also it's a mix of business and and the passion. I can say that I'm also a managing director of digital commerce in one of the biggest companies selling consumer electronics in Poland, and I'm the president of the board of the company, which is a publisher of the internet portal about the new technologies. So lots of things to do. How how do you ever find time to enjoy wine when you're doing all of this? Oh, it's it's not easy. It's not easy, but I always find the time to to drink a good wine with with my friends and with my family. So I'm gonna come back to the Polish market in a little bit because I wanna I wanna tap your experience and your expertise, and guide our listeners through a little bit about the market. But first of all, I wanna congratulate you because you are officially a Ministry International Academy Ambassador having passed in verona. So how does it feel? And and what has this community brought you? Wow. Honestly, I still can't believe it. It really happened, and I can say that I I'm Italian wine ambassador, and I've got this beautiful shirt with the, with this sentence, you know, it's fantastic to know that, you are in a in a group of people with, an extremely high level of knowledge. But on the other hand, it's good to know that, you are not alone with your craziness about Italian wines. And but, there are other people in the world who share this craziness, so it's great. Of course, I'm I'm joking, but but you you have to admit Rebecca that it's a bit crazy to spend so much time preparing for the exam. It's, there is so much information to learn and so many details and so many nuances in the Italian wine world. And, and, of course, each of us works, runs a business as families and dates. And, you know, I remember when I was going to Virolla, my wife took me to the airport and said, go to this exam. And it doesn't matter if you pass it or not because I want to return to normal life, meet friends, watch a series of Netflix with you and finally have a drink of wine with you and not that you always split it because when you're just drinking a wine, I was laughing that, in the last two months before the exam, I spent more time with Sarah Heller watching her all my lecture than with my wife. You know, it's crazy. And but, of course, to be a part of the Via community, something extraordinary. And, this is amazing organization. And I it's absolutely fantastic group of people. And I I'm very proud to be a part of it. I feel like your wife needs to commiserate over a glass of wine with my husband because he said exactly the same thing when I came to Verona. He just he had lost me. He lost me for the two months before the exam. He's like, I always with a head in your books, just tasting wine, not enjoying wine, constantly talking about these strange grapes with crazy names that no one's ever heard of about soil types some bio types. And he's like, I just I just want you back. Yes. Exactly. You know, this is this is a huge austerity for the people who who who who lose the most from it. Are are are our loved ones. Yeah. Because we can't not quit our job, a business must go on. So the time that we normally spend with families or or the friends, we must spend on learning. So it's, yeah, this is the consequences, but we are crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Completely. So So why are you crazy about Italian wine? What is it about Italian wine in particular that excites and inspires you? If I were to capture in in the one word, which is not an which is not easy, I would say it's diversity almost every region, in Italy, it's like a separate country, which, of course, it's due to many factors, the history, geography, the climate of the landscape, etcetera. But this diversity is so huge that Although I can say that I already know something about Italian wines. I am the Italian wine ambassador. I passed the exam of Italian wine scholar with, highest honor, but I I really have the impression that I'm still at the beginning of the road. It's so many things to to discover in, in Italy. And it's, you know, for me, wine is not just a drink. It's not just a beverage. It's, for me, wine is always a piece of, history. The man who created, and the place, where it was born. So when I take it in bottle, I try to look deeper where it was created, why is the way that it is, and what is the context, and what is the story. And Italy is so fascinating that it has a thousand of such a micro places to discover. And this journey is endless. So I I'm looking forward to my next trip to Italy. Discover some more places, meetings more wonderful people and and taste more wine. There's there's always a new grape to taste always. Yeah. Always. Exactly. It's, you know, but apart from from everything else, for me, Italy is also the most beautiful place in Italian food. The best in the world. I I couldn't agree more. I I I moved here for exactly that reason. Yes. I I can't imagine. So one of the things that you did last year was a fantastic session at wine to wine, the business forum, giving insight into the market in Poland, which I think many of our audience hadn't really thought about before. Now for those of our listeners who might have missed that session, I wondered if you could talk a little bit about the wine scene in Poland, and particularly about the Italian wine market and and whether it's popular in Poland and and how you perceive its future. You know, Rebecca, we've got very strong relations between Italy and Poland, and Italy is the most popular destination for travel and for holidays, for city breaks, and, also Italian cuisine, it's the most popular in our country. And I can say that Polish people of, Italians and everything in Italian. All these aspects means that Italian wines in in terms of popularity and the sales volumes are, for example, ahead of wines from Spain or or or from France. Of course, we we must be aware that the average model of the wine consumption in Poland is significantly different from that. It's, in Italy or the the Mediterranean countries. People in Poland drink wines very often without eating. You know, just to enjoy, just to relax after the hard day's work, during meeting with friends, and not necessary during a a big five course dinner, like, like in Italy. So it's quite natural that for them to look and and and to choose wines, that are not too tonic with, less acidity. So for example, the style of wines from Pulia or from Sicily or Prosecco extra dry, It's, very good for the average Polish taste. But on the, on the other hand, we also, see a trend in, which, slightly more, demanding wines, such as the biolo or Aleianiko, are also becoming more and more popular because the taste of the Polish customers, evolve, this is another benefit of, such a great diversity of Italian wines because we can offer a primitivo to a client who is just the beginning of, to discover the world of wines, and then step by step, leave him through the wines in the style like Apacimento or Repaso. And as he wants to continues to look, something stronger, some more experiences, give him the biolo or Alianico, And this is a great opportunity to have so many different wines to offer to a different group of people, people who love Italy and Italian products. So for us with, our portfolio, we we've got something to offer the beginners the people who are in the middle, of the way and also some, advanced, customers. So other countries don't have this, opportunity. That was great. I think as well, like you say, this connection with the interest in tourism is vital because like you say, it is such a it is such a popular destination for people going on a break from Poland that you automatically have that market when people return. So you are ready with the wines that maybe they've tasted whilst they've been traveling in your shops, in your in your biotech, in your bar? Yes. Exactly. It's, you know, now it's so many flight connections between the cities in Poland and the in the cities in in Italy. It's it's not only only Rome, but it's it's also bologna. It's also bari. It's also Treviso. It's, now we are in the reality that, we are closer. Yeah. So before COVID, it's all that one million of Polish people traveled to to Italy. So it's Wow. Yeah. That's huge numbers. It's a huge number. Yes. Three. So I know you're also very interested in wine education, not just taking courses, but leading courses, and you want to bring more of it into your home market. What kind of courses do you think would be useful? What are your clients looking for in terms of their wine education? Is it formal courses or is it more kind of informal just tasting, like you say, running it out of the bars? Tell you honest to Rebecca that I love teaching about wines. And, this is my calling and and my destiny. And this is what I want to do at the end of my business career. I think that wine education in our country, has a great future. As we already talked, many people wants to consume more consistently as the quality of life increases in in in in Poland. And wine has become a part of, of the lifestyle, especially for the middle class people. And they have the opportunity to develop. They, want to explore new places. They travel a lot as we, as we agreed. They want to buy high quality products and they won't want to know as much as possible about them. And this is a market trend, and that we also, used, and and we want to use more and more to develop our wine business by the educational part. So and in every in every aspect of courses, it's some, and true level in intermediate learning about the mines, something deeper focused only on one country or only one on one appalachia or one region. It's a huge potential. I I I think that at wine education, will be increased year by year in in our country. And I happen to know that you are probably gonna be a very significant part of that because I know you're already working on ideas, so I'm very excited to see what what happens in the next year or so for your wine education journey? Yeah. No. I have to tell you that tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, I'll be the host of the master class about the burritina, Italian, and I'm doing the preparing the presentation for this, and we will discover with my customers ten different sparkling wines of from Italy from different part. It will be, of course, Francacorta will be prosseco. It will be Alta Langa. We'll be Dorello Resini. We'll be all pre populated, wines which are completely unknown in our country, and and this is my mission to, to introduce it, to, to, to my customers. I I wanna come. That sounds like the perfect way to send, spend a Friday. Yeah. Yeah, Rebecca. You're more than welcome. Yeah. I'm I'm gonna be booking my ticket. Yes. Let's check the flight connections. So before I go and check my flight connections, I still have questions. You're obviously a specialist in online and digital marketing as well. And last year, there's been a huge shift of the wine world online. Is there anything in particular that you've seen that's been very effective? Or are there things maybe that you've seen that haven't worked What's your experience been watching this happen in the last year? This is not an easy question. Of course, thanks to the transfer of almost all our activities to online. We survived the lockdowns. We we we manage But with all the benefits and advantages of the digital world, I think that we, also started to notice its disadvantages. Now I will be more like someone with sociological academic backgrounds But, you know, men will send will be always a social being. We need the contact, and we need the interaction with another person, physical contact. And even the highest quality solutions and tools for distance communications will not replace it. As a as a human being, we need essential experiences. You know, especially, especially in our wine, industry. You can't do everything with a small size sample sample bottles. You know, in in in my opinion, there is no return to pre COVID reality anymore because many companies have noticed the large financial savings, for example, due to the cancellation of events, the business trip, the tickets, the hotels, etcetera. But on the other hand, we can observe a progressive disintegration of teams, problems with the teamwork, especially where interpersonal relations are of, key importance So I can tell you that I really appreciate all these online solutions and tools. I'm laughing that I use probably all the communications platform, which are available on the market. But I'm already looking forward to the return to the to the vine spurs, the direct meetings with producers, the wine trips, because this is the essence of our business. You know, Rebecca, what fragrance is is my favorite? The the smell when you are in the wine cellar, and you enter a room that in Italy is called Barrikaya. It it's the mix of, roots of wine, which is sleeping in the barrels, and the humidity in the cellar aromas. This is I love it. And and this is the unique experience, and it's impossible to experience online. So I can't wait for when the when the world will be open and we will be able to travel and to to visit the the all these, great places. You just completely transported me back to a wine cellar describing that mix of smells, and I I think you're completely right. I've I've appreciated so much the efforts people have made to move things online, particularly education. It's kept me teaching, in a year that I, you know, I was incredibly worried that I wouldn't have contact with students, but It just cannot substitute that in person experience in the classroom, in the winery. And I love that I've been able to be connected with producers all over the world in ways that maybe I wouldn't have been able to without going there. But it just makes me want to go there even more and have those experiences again. Yes. Exactly. You know, I can tell you that we survived the the COVID period. Thanks to the the online activities, and my customers really appreciate it. And and it it was not the the activities that increase our setting, but my many of my customers told me that, thanks for the job that you do for us because it helps us to survive to it's a piece of the normality in this in normal situation. So it was it was great, but I think that all of us can't wait to to back to the normal life and and to direct contact. And speaking of that direct contact, I happen to know that you did take a little bit of time after your trip to Verona to explore some wineries. I was wondering if there were any in particular that you visited that really stood out to you any experience that you'd like to share with us from your recent travels in Italy. You know, my last trip to to Italy was not focused on, on the wines because I was with my friends and with my family, and I for who's to spend the time with them after my two months with Sarah and Henry. So, but, you know, it was it was one great experience because during our our stay in San Villa, in in Bulgaria, three of my suppliers visited us, and we spent a great evening together, played on the guitar, drink lots of wines, and singing a song in in Italian and in in Polish, and had a absolutely fantastic, time. And I really appreciated that three of my suppliers, one is from Veneto, one is from Tuscany, and the third one is Mikaela Sienza from from Bulgaria. He visited us with his wife. And And and it was great. So it was not the experience we're in the cellar on in the winery, but it was experience with my with my partners, and I can say also with my Italian friends because my business partner had not only a business partner, but also our friends. So it's it was great. That really sums up for me. One of the great things, not only about wine, but particularly about the Italian approach to wine that it isn't just something you you geek out about and you consume its family, its friends, it's spending an evening together. And I love how you managed to bring your family, your friends, your your clients, altogether, in one space for just a convivial evening of sharing together? Yes. Exactly. And I I really appreciated that they decided to visit at us because I only sent them the information that I'll be I'll be there. But, after two days, they gave me the information. Okay. I I'll be there with you. So So I have to ask you a podcast question before we wrap up. Given you are our number one listener, I wanna know how you found the Italian wine podcast, and of course I have to ask if you have a favorite episode. You know, my favorite podcasts are the ones from the Italian wine essential series. So, I can say that my favorites are both the Monties because he interviewed Professor Shenza and Yorabekah because it's your voice with your lovely British accent I listened to. So these podcasts of the Italian wine grapes, the interviews with Professor Chienza are are my favorite. And I discovered the Italian wine podcast where while preparing for the ambassador exam two years ago. I realized, how helpful it could be. You know, podcasts kept the great advantage of being a great complimentary tool, in the learning process. When I was preparing for the exam, I work in such a way that I was learning, region by region. And I read about the history, the grape varieties, all the Deshiplinata of DOC and DOCG tasted wines from this region. And at the same time, during the day, while driving a car or in the evening before, falling asleep, I listened to all the interviews with the producers from this particular region on which I was concentrating at that moment. And and and it was great. I think also the the listening to podcasts is very important and useful for us. People who are not native English speakers because it has positive effects of our language competencies, and and this is some added value of of the podcast. I am I completely agree. It was exactly how I studied for Via the same way, listening, listening to the podcasts, whilst you're doing something else in time where maybe you can't be at your books, like walking to work, doing a stock take, all of that kind of stuff, you can constantly have this information with you and for me, listening to Shenza in Italian, as well as doing the transcripts has really helped me with my Italian. So I completely agree there. A fantastic tool, and as you know, I'm a huge podcast fan. I have to be. Yes. Yes. I I know. And and I shared your your craziness about it. So to wrap up our interview, I have to ask what's next for you in your Italian wine journey. Oh, at the beginning of September, I am returning to Italy for a few days. For such a short trip with my wife. We'll be alone without the kids. So I hope that we will visit more wineries. We will start in Campania, which I have, never seen before. So I I can't wait for, for this trip. I've got some, new producers to introduce to our portfolio. We will start with the new Aetna wines. Probably the second part of September. Also some, producer from Black Cio and Trentino are on our shortlist, and I hope that it will happen in October. I'm thinking of, doing, something like, toscan Mindwein Festival for my clients in November after the harvest, of course. I would like to invite all my Tusconn suppliers. The idea, was born during my trip to Bulgaria. But I I hope the COVID situation will will make it possible for us, and and we will see, but I hope it will it will be possible to to organize And for sure after the holidays, and we were starting strongly our, our educational project. So this is this is the plan for then I hope, of course, the new new wine store with the wine bar will happen also this autumn. Lots of things. Keep you busy over the summer. Oh, yeah. Well, you know, I love it. I love when everything is on fire. You have exactly my same level of crazy. I think that's why we connect so well. Yeah. So I thank you so much for joining me. Finally on the Italian Wine cars today. It's it's just such an honor to have you on. Where can our listeners find you online or on social media? First of all, thank you Rebecca. As I told you at the beginning of our conversation, we made my dream come true today. So it's fantastic experience for me. And and you are a really good interviewer. It's an honor also for me. So thank you so much for the invitation. And it's absolutely no problem to find me on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. I'm present on all these platforms, personally. And, of course, our listeners can also find me by my company, Brent, which is Mind Wine. P. L. So, hopefully, all of our listeners are about to do what I'm gonna do, which is check the regulations, check the flights, and see if I can get to Poland to come and drink a glass of wine with you. Yes. You are more than welcome, Rebecca. And also all our listeners are more than welcome. Our country is really beautiful. And my suppliers who visited us first time in always to state me that, even not expected Poland is so beautiful, and it's so great place to visit. So you are more than welcome. I'm I'm getting online. I'm looking at tickets. I've I've got a visit. Yes. Please do it. Thank you to everyone for listening. Don't forget to follow us on social media, subscribe. And of course, you can donate on the website to make sure we can keep these great conversations flowing. Slauer, thank you so much. Thank you, Rebecca, and, have a nice day. Listen to the Italian wine podcast wherever you get your podcasts. We're on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, email ifm, and more. Don't forget to subscribe and rate the show. If you enjoy listening, please consider donating through Italian wine podcast dot com. Any amount helps cover equipment, production, and publication costs. Until next time.