Ep. 117 Monty Waldin interviews Stefano Quaglierini (@italian_wines) | Wine Influencers

Italian wine podcast. Chinching with Italian wine people. Hello. This is the Italian wine podcast. My name is Monte Wallin. My guest today is Stefano Cuallierini, who is, how would you describe yourself an influencer? Communicator. Right. Where are you from? I'm from Tuscany. I'm from Pisa. Okay. Exactly. And, what do about your your family? Were they involved in wine communication? No. They don't treat wine in, in any way. They, they do, other job. I am the, my father work in the, in the industry near, Santa Croache. So She's a florence. He treat the leader. He's a leather. He works with leather. Yeah. He's a very flat part of florence. It's very well known for its leather products, be them, be their shoes or wallets, bags, handbags, that kind of thing. Yeah. And my mother would So he must be quiet. He's like, is he like a millionaire then? Because it's a big No. No. No. He's a, I'm not my worker. Okay. He's employed, but, my mother work with, with the horses. She she have, a property that, had to born, new horses. Are they horses for racing or just horses for? Yeah. For racing. Alright. So that's pretty specialized. So breeding breeding race horses. So she a vet they work with a veterinarian, but my mother works, she's, the, the owner of the, of the business. Yeah. That's an interesting business. Also breeding. Do you like horses? Yeah. But, all to scare because I I see different scenes, since I I was, a child, so you're used to it. Yeah. But it's not a place that your mom breathes the horses and then they get killed and then they're used for leather bags, is it or not? No. Just in case any animal lovers out there were a little bit worried about that. So you, as an influencer, what does that mean being an influencer? And what who are you influencing and how and why in relation to wine? I start to study, analogy at Pisa University. So my, my goal is to communicate what is behind the wine, what is what are the, the people works, behind a label. So I started presenting my, my wine journey, so I'm I start to visit wineries to post the picture about, vineyards, the cellar at the end to the bottom to show what is, the work behind, a but are you still studying analogy? Are you have you did you qualify? I am graduating in July, I hope, to to finish this, this study. So you'll then become officially an anologist. Yes. And are you gonna work in Tuscany? I hope so, but, we specialize in social media because, so you're not gonna, you're not gonna work as an artist. Just all that stuff. You're poor parents. You know, breeding the horses, but to help a lot to me, to understand what is be what is the wine. So why, when I talk about the wine, I know a lot of, technical parts that are important to present the wine in a different way. What do you mean by that in a different way? Everybody says that in a different way. What are you using using? I am the language, the way your photographs, basically photograph. I give them more importance also to the description. Instead, in Easter program is important. Obviously, the the picture, the description for me is important to present the wine, maybe to less people that, that see the post, but, there are a few people that are more interested to to the bottle that, we spend, more time to read the description. But are you taking photos of, I mean, you're an analogist and you're saying that you're taking photos in a different way? What you're not doing is just taking a picture of a bottle with a label. Are you taking pictures of fermentations of yeast and bacteria. I post a lot of picture also, in the vineyards in the harvest. For example, in this year, I make, the harvest in a winery near Florence, MonteSPertory. Right. And, I post every day, maybe not every day, but, a lot of picture about the harvest and the people were interested about about this because, it's not normal, take part in harvest and, communicate with, these channels like histogram. Obviously, what you're doing is a very visual thing. You're providing a picture and then describing what was in the picture. Do you have a preference when you're in vineyards to go and look at organic or biodynamic vineyards, which tend to have more life in them. They tend to have cover crops and more colors in a conventional vineyard if it's been weed killed herb sided. It doesn't always look great. It's that are you aware of that? Do you think about that? Or do you not care? Do you just go to a conventional vineyard? There's no grass at all? And you take a photo and say this is, a great vineyard? Or do you do you actually point out that this is, slightly unusual that there's actually no biodiversity in there at all. For me, it's important to post a picture with, a lot of, colors and, graphically correct, so people that see this picture will be surprised. But also, for my technique, study. I understand what is, biodynamic biologist. And, for my opinion, it's important, also the conventional wineries because, for me, a wine has to be a good wine, but also for example, in herbicide is a good way to search to, producing, but also you don't have, to forget that, the product is import is also important. So it is, combined to these elements, to make, a perfect mix. So just go back into the winery. When you go to winery and you have your camera with you, whether your phone or just a normal camera? Do you use a phone or do you use a normal camera? I use a phone because, I'm a student, so I can permit a camera. Right. Okay. You can't pay for camera, because I mean, are these wineries happy that you're taking photos? Or or do they say, hang on. We we don't really want you to take this photo, please. What's happened in a few cases, I can post a photo because there is a specific process that I I can show to the people, but you can't show. I can't share because it's it's normal for a winemaker doesn't show every every secret. But, there are a few moments like, fermentation, like the harvest that, also the winemaker want to show before I have to explain my work to the winemaker because the social media are not so It's not well understood by some, but, when I, I show to to the one where I work that, one, my post about Xera can reach, twenty thousand people, they give more attention to this, social need to. So you're a photographer, Instagrammer. Yeah. I am a material photographer because I have also another account that is Italian escapes. I started with this, and now he's followed by one hundred and fifty thousand people. Italian escapes. Yeah. Is that do with equity tourism then? No. What is Italian in this game? It's a gallery where I post my own picture, but it's born, like, a community about a photographer that I I chose through Instagram, and they picture about, Italian places. And I want to promote the Italian places like my my passion is a community nonprofit. Right. So you're taking pictures of areas in Tuscany that you like. Yeah. And you're sharing them on Instagram. But how do you make money from that? How do you monetize that? You just take going out, you say you're driving somewhere, maybe a couple of hours in the car, you're spending a lot of money on petrol, parking time Yeah. Processing the photos. I know it's free but still time. And you're, are you advertising? How are you making any money? About selling wine, so you are talking. No. About any of anything that you do. How do you monetize it? I monitorize, show my working because I have a opportunity I also did in this month, a few sponsor post about a few wineries that, want to show their reality to my followers. So I don't post only the the picture of the bottle, but before I present the winery, I present the people that are behind the label. And then, obviously, the wine has to be good because, it's important. It's, the main thing to show and to communicate. And then, they they give I think, but also it's important for me to show my work because I have an offer about, social media, manager in a different company that doesn't work in wine. The people write to you, and so I love the photo. You took of, I don't know, whatever it's a landscaper field, a vineyard. Can I buy it? Can you print me a copy and send me a copy? Do you get people asking for that? No, not yet. Really? No. No. I'm surprised. Yeah. I mean, you could like maybe do a calendar or something. Twelve months to send it think about that, but, the universe in this year take me a lot of time. So Right. You're very busy with studying. Yeah. I prefer to finish my study and then, think about other things. Right. But, now finished, in Italy, I start with, this job that really interests me to communicate through social media, different reality about food, Italian food. Right. So you're doing wine, winemaking tourism beautiful places and food. So what do you what do you do next? Fasion? I also want to organize, especially with, Italian wines, Italian escapes to, for discovering Italy because Okay. So holiday holiday to us. Yeah. Okay. Especially for Italian wines, I want to propose, a winery tools because a lot of people see my wine, photos, my visit, about wineries. I want to discover also, also them, these wineries. Cool. Okay. Thanks very much, Stefano Guilzarini, who is, an influencer. Thank you. Using his camera and words to communicate gate about Italian wine, landscapes, and places to stay. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Follow Italian wine podcast on Facebook and Instagram.