Ep. 713 Cynthia Chaplin | Voices

Welcome to the Italian wine podcast. I'm Cynthia Chaaplin, and this is voices. Every Wednesday, I will be sharing conversations with international wine industry professionals discussing issues in diversity, equity, and inclusion through their personal experiences, working in the field of wine. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and rate our show wherever you get your pods. This episode is proudly sponsored by Vivino, the world's largest online wine marketplace. The Vivino app makes it easy to choose wine. Enjoy expert team support door to door to and honest wine reviews to help you choose the perfect wine for every occasion. Vivino download the app on Apple or Android and discover an easier way to choose wine. Hi there. This is Joy livingston here for the voices series. I'm actually introducing a brand new host, Cynthia Chaplin, who is going to be taking over from Rebecca Lawrence Rebecca has moved on to bigger and better things, and we wish her all the best. She did an amazing job on this series. And, it's been wonderful having her BBC style voice. So, yeah, now I'm gonna spend a minutes introducing Cynthia who is is gonna be the new voice of voices. Sorry. That was a really bad one. Okay. So, Cynthia, how's it going? How are you today? I'm great. Before we get going, I just wanted to say thank you. To Rebecca for inspiring me and handing over her baby for me. And I'm excited about getting to go and, putting my own mark on on the interviews. Awesome. Okay. Well, that you're you're not completely new to interviewing as well. I think we you just did one with Sarah Hill, a new tasting panel. So that that gave you sort of a nice, intro into the world of of hosting. Okay. So I guess my first question would be could you give me a bit of backstory on your life? Sure. No problem. I'm American by birth and moved away to Europe just over thirty years ago. So I've spent more of my life in Europe than I did in the States. I have a foot in both camps, but my focus and and my family life has been in Europe for the past thirty years. I've lived in six different countries across Europe, and I speak three languages as well as English. And I've been in Italy now for ten years. Awesome. I just, as a side note, you you said you were from the States originally. Where where? I'm from Ohio. Ohio. As we say, right in the in the center of nowhere and not far from you native Canada. Well, actually, you know, I just, Ohio. You know how as a Canadian, okay? Now I'm not just Canadian, but as part Canadian, I always wonder about the States because you know how every single state has, you know, something famous about it. What what is it about Ohio that makes it special? Oh god. That's a really good question. I guess off the top of my head, the rock and roll hall of fame is in Cleveland, so we can start with that. Oh, I did not know that you see something new everyday because I was thinking I am glad to be able to tell you Ohio trivia. Awesome. I don't know why they put it there, to be honest, but that's where it is. Awesome. No. Cool. I will keep that one in my brain. So next, I guess, how did you fall in love with wine? Well, I went to university in Connecticut, and when I was nineteen, had the chance to join an eating club. And once a month, we would have a formal dinner, so we'd all get dressed up and and feel very grown up, and we'd have wine with our dinner. So I had never been exposed to wine back in the day, and I won't tell you how long ago this was, but, suffice it to say a while back. People in Ohio didn't drink wine. My parents didn't drink wine. I'd never really been exposed to wine. So this was something new and interesting, and I was just very curious about how the wine was paired with the food. So I asked the chef, how did he choose the wine? And he said, well, to be honest with you, the distributor brings it, and I just pick white and red. So the two of us decided we would take some wine classes, in Connecticut. I think my friends thought I was dating the chef, which wasn't true, but We were curious, and my curiosity lasted longer than it is. And I carried on taking wine courses, it expanded from there. I moved to New York, and I moved to Boston for work, and I had the opportunity to taste all sorts of different kinds of wines and get more involved, more educated, and, doing a lot of traveling back in those days. When people traveled a lot and had expense accounts for work, I got to go, all over the states and but to Canada, actually. And my interest grew and grew. So when I finally moved to London, all of a sudden Europe was open to me. And that really was the moment when my wine interest sort of took over. Oh, okay. Well, that's awesome. Perhaps, what what wine was it that that I can tell you what it was. Were you in that made you made you into the the lover that you are today? Go ahead. What was it? So I had the chance to live in Barcelona for a couple of years. God. And, the the wine that really sort of seduced me and lured me into making this something that was really gonna be of a central focus in my life was Rioja from a producer called Marquesa Riscal, and my very kind father-in-law who enjoyed wine a lot and enjoyed teaching young me about wine introduced me to this producer. He he knew the family. And this wine was one of those wonderful bottles that had the wire wrapping around it, and is aged in oak, and I had the opportunity to go with him to the winery. And that was the wine that sort of made me understand that wine was gonna be something that I would be involved with. Okay. That did it for you. Alright. I've gotta, you know, brush up on my rioja. That's the best one. It's still my favorite. Okay. Well, I I'm biased, you know, Italian wine podcast and all, but But yeah. Well, I'm biased too now. It's I was only in Barcelona for a couple of years. I've been here now for ten, and I was here, in the nineties before. So Italian wine all the way, no doubt. It's it's all good. I'm just I'm just, you know, trying to push buttons. So on a on a totally is a bit of a side note, but I I I have met your husband who is absolutely fantastic. However, I was shocked when I learned that he does not drink wine. I was like, oh, wow. Okay. So guess my question is, is that a plus or a minus? How does that work on a Saturday evening? Oh, it depends on the Saturday. I have a lot of friends who say that I married him specifically because he doesn't drink. So he drives me everywhere, which is great for me. But it it can be it can be a little bit of a sadness, especially if I have a really special bottle, and I will pour it and say to him, or just have a smell, and he will invariably say, oh, smells like wine. So I I had to recruit all of my kids as they were growing up to be wine tasters and wine curious. And so I do have a small army of people who will dream with me when they are home. But normally, a Saturday night in our house is me drinking wine and my husband with his trusty cup of earl gray. Oh, wow. I won't a small tragedy. I I know, but I wanna hold it against him. He's pretty awesome. He is awesome. And and at the end of the day, it's more for me. So I'll join with you. Perfect. Okay. So you've been in wine for over fifteen years. And, I guess what path did you take? I mean, I know you've already touched on it. Yeah. Well, coming up coming up to eighteen now. Before I moved back to Italy for this time, I had the chance to sort of in between various stages of my life. I was running an events company. And so I used my wine knowledge to do a lot of pairings and and do a lot of private events. And at that point, I decided it was something I really wanted to pursue. So about, yeah, seventeen, eighteen years ago, I started doing my w set classes and doing a lot more reading, and it was at that point also that I realized I really wanted to come back to Italy. And the the five hundred plus native grapes, the variety the the sort of endless possibilities in Italian wine really appealed. And I love the country, and I love the food. So it took a little while, but my husband and I sort of gathered our forces and and moved back to Italy ten years ago. Oh, wow. Okay. So you what brought you here specifically to voices? To Sure. Barona. You know? Sure. I I had to qualify again as a sommelier when I moved back to Italy. They weren't too happy with qualifications and certifications I had. So I was in Rome and did my ice qualifications. Really enjoyed the challenge of doing that all in very formal, very fast paced Italian, but having lived in room for several years now and sort of creating a business there doing wine tourism, wine writing, private events, working with embassies. It's difficult to satisfy your own private passion in Rome because It's a bit of a wine desert. The vineyards nearby Rome are not what they are up here in in Veneto. So as I got more and more involved with Vineetalee, doing private collections for my clients, things like that. It became clear that I needed to be in a more wine rich area. So Verona became a place that I fell in love with coming up here for the Italy every year. Started spending some time in various Cantinas. I was judging a couple of com competitions and met some producers from the area, over near Lake Garda and and up towards for Julie. Decided this was really where we wanted to be. So then I managed to convince Stevie Kim that, she needed she needed to, give her brand new Italian wine, Ambassador, some sort of something to occupy herself and contribute. And I think that's really it. I I fell in love with the the community when I was here taking my exams. And judging for five star, and I just felt like I wanted to give back. So voices is something really appealed because I've been a wine educator for a long time. I'm a professor of wine and culture, and my students tend to be expats and young people and people with a lot of various backgrounds and points of view and lifestyles. So I've always felt that there's something inherently valuable about listening to what these people have to say. I I fight against the snobbiness of wine And so the voices podcast seemed like this incredible opportunity to speak to all kinds of people who fascinate me and who have a lot to say that doesn't get said in the wine world. Right. No. No. And that made that makes sense. I really like that. Yeah. That makes sense. That's cool. So my last question, where do you see yourself in ten years? That's a really loaded question. Wow. In ten years, well, I hope I'm still working with Stevie. Enjoying that a lot. I hope I will have finally finished my book on Italian Rosay. I would like to have a small wine school. My children have variously come up over the years with names like bitter twisted or, Chien Chiencia, things like that. So I would like to have a small wine school. It would always be great to have a few rows of vines. I have my one vine in Rome in my garden that I'm leaving behind in my move, but, my I will still be in wine. I will still be in Italian wine. I'd like to, have my ashes scattered in a biodynamic vineyard because I feel like that would be the ultimate giving back. Oh, we have to have a conversation about that. Total side note. Okay. Yeah. It's so morbid. Anyway, it's like my last little bit of value I can get. No. Okay. Honestly, well, I guess we'll put it on the podcast. That was watching this bizarre show the other day about this, this scientist who has developed a way to compost human remains. And then it becomes, like, perfectly composted. It's not more special or less special than any other compost. But then, you know, people can then, like, take this compost and, like, spread it on, you know, vines. Exactly. Exactly. Now, I'm not saying they got all the permits for this yet, but I would, I was, like, as long as it's not Monty Baldwin who takes my remains. It's because he's in life. Oh, my oh, dear. It sticks my remains inside a cow horn and berries with me. Okay. Wow. That yeah. That we're getting dark now. So Alrighty. Okay. So, Cynthia, I can't wait to hear all of the conversations that you are going to have with, I know you have a long list of people already that, you know, some really interesting people. So I I just can't wait, and I wish you a ton of and, all the best. And I mean, I work with you every day, so it sounds like I'm never gonna see you again. But thank you for taking the time to introduce yourself to the listeners of the Italian wine podcast. Okay. I'm done now. Thank you for listening. Bye now, everybody. 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. 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. 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