Ep. 169 Monty Waldin interviews Chiara Giannotti (Vino TV) | Wine Influencers

Italian wine podcast. Chinching with Italian wine people. Hello. This is Italian one podcast. My name is Walter. My guest today is a very smiley Karra Janotti. Karra is Italian. Yes. I am. She's gonna tell us all about the exciting things she does with social media and her family background. Do you have quite a well known family background, anyone? Yes. I have. Well, I was grown up in a winery because my Which one? My family was the owner of the Faxibatalia winery in the market region, and of the Fasati in, Tuscany. Since I was a child, I have always, lived the wineries and always be in the wine business. So Faazio batali was one of the most, well, still is one of the most famous Italian brands, famous or infamous for its Vericchio de Castadiersi, which came in an amp for a bottle. And, yeah, it was one of Italian, Italian's, it's a iconic wine. Yeah. It is, you know. Okay. So, I mean, how much pressure was there on you from your family to become involved in wine? Did you not wanna do anything else? Like, become a racing driver or an astronaut? Yes. But there was no pressure at all by my family. I was the third Generation? Generation. No. I'm sorry. I was a third child. Okay. Of my family. And, there was no pressure at all in the go to the wine business. And at the beginning, I wanted to do the architect. Architect. Yes. But, after when I was doing my study and everything, I was always, listening to them, speaking about the wines, and I was going there in the wineries, and I felt in love so much that I had no ops in, which one was my future. Okay. So tell me about your own business. What actually does it do? What do you do? In the when I was in the wineries? No. Cali TV. What do you do? Now? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, since I the winery, I decided to talk about wine with my point of view and to let the producer talk about their wines and their wineries, like to be a sort of uh-uh shouting of of the the voice choices of the producers. But in it in it, this is in Italy, though, isn't it? Yes. Of course, I work very much in Italy. And, my principal, people who listen to me is mainly Italian, but, of course, with the tools that we have today with Facebook, Instagram, and all the web, the blog. So I have the the chance to reach also an international, people. An international audience. So so what do you do? Do you just interview people and write an article or do you record them? Make little videos of them? I like to split in a different figures. So in one side, I can write articles. So go into the deep of, talking about the wine or a winery or a curiosity on wine. In the other side, I like to do, small videos where the producer talk about itself because I think that the phase that is behind the wine is one of the most important things we have and one of the richness that we have in the wine business to let really to feel the passion of each producer. So I like to make them speak about themselves. And, I do that both with V. Videos and, a web radio that I manage as well. In, there is a web radio called, a radio foot, where I have my own space, you know, Tivo, where I talk, and they invite the guest, the producer, to have a chat together in the radio program as well. So how do they react to you? A, you're a woman, and and Italy can be a little bit chauvinistic. I don't wanna be rude about it, but so you're a female journalist and you have a wine background, you come from a winery that everybody in Italy knows. Do what if I'm a wine producer, am I gonna be a little bit suspicious of you, or am I gonna be a reassurance? Oh, we have an in someone who's gonna interview me, Count, and she really she has a wine background. She's worked in a wine region is what she's talking about. It's gonna into you. I'm I'm much more relaxed. How do people treat you? I'm lucky because I've worked a completely in the wine business for fifteen years. So I have lots of producers that are good friends that have a very good relationship with me. So they trust me. They are relaxed when they come to speak with me. So it's like really a chat of two friends mainly. So it's very easy and I'm I'm always trying to put the the producer or my guest, even if I don't know them personally before, to put them in the in the chance to really, put outside what they are and, make feel comfortable and be relaxed with me. I'm always smiling people as you say at the beginning, and I try to make really people feeling comfortable to talk about themself. Do they tell you things that they wouldn't. So if I turned up, you know, English wine journalist, you know, grizzled, you know, been doing it for ages, and they may not tell me things because I think maybe he's gonna turn my words around. Do they trust you, you think? Because of your background. Yes. Absolutely. Is it helping a woman as well. I mean, you are a very glamorous lady. Thank you. I'm sure when you were scrubbing buckets in the winery, you were covered in wine and all the rest of it. But but is that the sense that they they treat you as an equal? They don't see you as a journalist. Yes. They treat me often like an equal and, they they can trust me completely Often. Always. Often because not not everybody knows me before, but, they really can trust me because I will never say something against, them So I will never say something that they, for example, told me in private or something like this. So we have, very transparent, relationship. So who watches your, you know, who listen to your, web blogs, who reads your blogs, and who watches your TV stuff. What is your main audience in it today? Well, there is a lot. I can say that it's a very different, profile of my followers because I have in one side, I have a lot of producers. And, for them, also, I try to, sometimes to speak about, things that can be interesting for a producer, like, for example, tell which one are the best, tastings that are in plan. So So like a trade agency, basically, they'll say we paid x money to exhibited a wire at this particular event, and it was really worthwhile. Exactly. So that's really useful information. Isn't they gonna save money at producers thinking about going to a show? Yes. Because, when I was a producer and there is a lot of events. I was like a little bit losing. I don't know where to go. A little bit lost. Yeah. Yeah. A little lost. Sorry. And, I I can say that I leave them as a producer and I now leave them as a juror a list or as a simple guest. So I can really say if it's, an event that words are not your presence. I oh, otherwise. And in any way, I I say what I think about that. So I think it's, useful for the producer, but and, Is it difficult to do you ever taste wines on your show or shows? Is it difficult giving reviews to, like, friends? If if the wine just tastes like your dog's breakfast, and, this is one of the best wines I've ever had because he's a friend is that tricky? Yeah. What I what I do honestly is if I don't like wine, I don't talk about it. Yeah. That's a good policy. So, I don't say this, this, wine is, horrible, because I anyway think that we have to respect the producer because there is a lot of work in the wineries. It's really an a tough, tough work. Especially the climate climate change as well. Yeah. There is so many things that, really, afford the the producers, and I think it's, all of them, deserve the respect of everybody. So sometimes they work better and they have great result, and they like to talk about the great result they reach. If they reach those results. I don't talk about them. I I prefer to at least I I can talk about the story of the producer, but I will never write, this is an outstanding wine just because it's a friend. No. I will not do that. Final quest, you're on a desert island. Which wine would you take with you? You don't have one wine. One wine. Avedicchio because I have that in my blood. Okay. Nice fun. So I'll say thanks to my guests today. Kiare giannotti. It's been talking to you. You're a lot of fun, and, it's really nice to see, somebody who's from within the industry, kind of taking an objective look at the industry. Let's see what I mean. Yeah. Yes. Thank you so much. I'm doing it in an entertaining way. Nice to meet you. Bye bye. Follow Italian wine podcast on Facebook and Instagram.