Ep. 766 Russian Women In Wine Importing | wine2wine Business Forum 2021

Talian wine podcast, a wine to wine business forum twenty twenty one media partner, is proud to present a series of sessions highlighting the key themes and ideas from the two day event held on October the eighteenth and nineteenth twenty twenty one. This hybrid edition of the business forum was jam packed with the most informed speakers discussing some of the hottest topics in the wine industry today. For more information, please visit wine to wine dot net and tune in every Thursday at two pm central European time for more episodes recorded during this latest edition of wine to wine business forum. Good morning, if you are present in person, at wine to wine business forum, you may have noticed that there is a large, delegation of Russian importers now in verona. And, surprisingly, six out of eight people are ladies. So the female side is presented very, very well this time. And you would think that the questions of inclusivity of female participation in business is quite serious. However, things are not so straightforward. And even though the sign of having so many lady importers is a really nice sign, there are lots of lots of underlying issues. And today, we have a great session with Irina Fomini, who is the chairman of board and founder of MBG, Moscow Business Group, which is one of the historic importers in Russia, with the, more than twenty five years of experience, and I'm absolutely delighted to welcome Irina. Thank you very much. We are starting without any further ado, rather than going through the official resume, we'll be talking about, your company in many different questions. So, so, in this way, I don't want to do a formal interview resume first. So we'll be going through it during the interview. Okay. And let's, start with this. In Russia, Irina, somebody called you the first lady of the Russian wine import business. So running a wine business, is this something natural to you? You know, I don't quite understand the essence of this question because woman or not woman, I have been running this company for twenty five years. Even if in the beginning, if it was not so natural, now it's completely natural. Right. But how would you describe your management style? How would you actually run? I'm a tough manager. That's true. But, I'm also a people person. A woman can be very efficient, as a manager if she uses her intuition while keeping calm. All these, definitely in addition to her professional skills. Before we move on, I'd just like to mention for our audience that Erena has the company which is called, Moscow Business Group, which is not just one import companies. In fact, there are two MBG or Embuger in Russian, and the second one is Million which appeared later. And, maybe not so many people know that there is also a cosmetic company. And so before getting into detail with all your various businesses, and of course, I also need to mention that you have restaurant projects to very different restaurant projects. So it's quite a large, a really, large business holding. But before getting into detail with this, I wanted to ask how many, women do you actually have in key positions in your in not just an MBG, but generally in your in your group of companies. We have many women in MBG and millennium more than cosmetic. This may may be rather interesting, but it is the true sense historically like this. In, m MBG operations direct as a woman, commercial director is a woman, but follow director is a woman. She've accounted as a woman, and I can go on a lot a lot. Mhmm. Right. But these decisions were made purely on the professional skills, on the assessment. Purely purely. Right. Nothing else. So in this way, we can say that, you know, Russia is not really behind. It it's just a very European, model how things should be run nowadays, really. Especially now that Russia generally is, viewed, as a patriarchal society. So everybody looks for it, or, you know, a very strong male figure who will head, the society. I would ask you this question. Is it, more challenging for you to run the business in this atmosphere in in in this context that you're pro you're perhaps the only woman who is actually the the chairman of board being female if I think about wide line consulting companies that are on the phone there. Yeah. May maybe you're right. Maybe you're right. Yeah. So, would you say that is more challenging in this way to to to to be a woman? You know, first of all, I wanted to to express myself and I I don't agree that Russia is a patriarchal society. Even in former days, during a Soviet Union period, There were many, women running different industries, of the country. You may also remember, that the the, in, in, the, well, who was, the first woman in space space. And now, we have, the first actress, which, was in space for the the they were filming a movie. Very interesting too. In modern Russia, it's, also very interesting because, the, in federation Council, we have a chairwoman. We have, Indumah, a deputy chairman, a woman, We have two deputy prime, minister of Russia, women, one for social policy, and another one for other industrial complex natural resources and ecology. The chair the chairman chairwoman of a Russian state bank woman, even central, election commission of Russia woman. Right. So probably it's about time that people stop thinking about this stereotype that Yeah. And you yeah. And you know also what one one, one other interesting thing. In, Saint Petersburg, we have, the Euro generation women's forum every, every year since twenty fifteen. And this is a, a largest international platform, uniting female leaders from all, a lot of countries. Where women can discuss the role of women in the modern world and work out new approaches to solving global pro pro problems. This year, the forum was attended by four eighty two international participants from one hundred one hundred ten countries. So that's that's, a picture of Russia, more than Russia, and about challenging to run business being a woman. I think that everything depends on person, and it's not so important if you are a woman or a man. Sorry. Yeah. No. You're effectively alright. And I'm just really happy that you're underlined that, the female force is actually quite strong. Maybe it's, needs to be communicated better internationally. It's already a phenomenon, which is already well established and, well spread in Russia. So I'm really glad that, you've highlighted that, you know. And now there is maybe, an issue which I find sensitive even, regarding me and, to start with, I'd like to share my own experience. When I just moved, to Italy, it was sixteen years ago, and I wasn't, known about I didn't introduce myself at the beginning. I'm, a wine journalist. I'm the founder and publisher of Spotsovino dot com, which is, the premium premium website about Italian wines in Russian language. I've been enrolled in wine for almost, twenty years. When I moved to Italy sixteen years ago, and I wasn't quite known. I was visiting lots of wineries at the beginning, and people didn't know me. And in Tuscany, we went to see rather famous internationally famous estate. I was there with the owner. I was there on as a journalist, to prepare quite an important feature about this estate. And I was accompanied by the owner. He was a man. And at some point, his phone rang, and he was speaking to somebody in Italian, and, he was saying, you know, I'm busy. To be honest, I was not impressed with this attitude because I was there, you know, some dear ones, me. I don't say that, you know, I'm here with the with the You're first aware of, you know, cancel them. Yeah. So dealing with your foreign partners, from Italy, but all not necessarily Italy from any country. Have you ever found yourself in such situations, when your male partners would have a dismissive attitude to towards your just because you are a woman. And let's make it also. Let's play fair. Let's also, ask these questions. Did this ever play in your favor as well? Have you did did did you put it to your advantage? I've never never ever found myself in a situation where my male, male business partner had dismissive, attitudes towards me because I am a woman. N never. This is absolutely true. But sometimes there were situations when it worked to to my advantage. Right. Well, I'll be very curious to hear that. Can you give us some examples, some you know, it's the the same story when people, when they see that you are a woman, beautiful dressed, with the hairdo, etcetera, a lot of people, around us, you know, they're men. And this is absolutely natural. It could help, but, it nevertheless your professional skill skills and your brain is much more important. If it goes together, you could be a winner. If not, not. Yes. We have this really nice, Russian pro pro web. When you meet somebody for the first time, they judge you by their appearance, but if they would buy to you, they judge you by your brain. That's good. That's good. I've seen the message of this program, which which which I totally agree with. Okay. So we we have, touched upon their newly female issues. And now I'd like to spend a bit of time talking about the, wine, the import wine business, particularly about, your Italian portfolio. So first, first of all, quite a general question. And so, so you've run MBG and then later, the second company called Millinium in total for over twenty five years. So you have a really long history of running a wine import business. How did things evolve in this quarter century? Quarter century. Oh, really long period. Oh, yes. It's your opinion. This time, it it it never came to my mind that it's really quarter of a century. During this time, our company has, experienced really different, very different, moments. When we first started importing wine in Russia, It was perceived, as an exceptionally luxury and took up a small share, in consumption. Now the situation has changed. Russians love wine. And are already very versed in it, especially, when compared with what happened, fifteen or twenty years ago. On the other hand, we have experienced the as a company as a country, very, several very severe crisis. Their dates are variable known to everyone in Russia, nineteen ninety eight. Today, two zero eight. Twenty fourteen and, of course, global twenty twenty. Surely, it's, it didn't help to gain the general wealth, of the population, but, could be also a vaccine that prevents us to lose optimism in difficult situations. As for MBG, MBG continues to be, a certain premium player in the market, but every time we tried to adapt, adapt our strategy to the new reality and, and always kept working. Yes. A question about consumers, you've mentioned about, indeed, the Russian people love drinking wine, but it wasn't like this twenty five years ago. So at some point, you you had to introduce this culture because there was effectively no culture in the nineties. It was no culture at all, you know. So I I can tell you some very funny story. We had clients who wanted to to to to to drink only, burdock, Concord. Okay? And, it was, not even something very, very, very serious like Chateau Margaux, Chateau Lafite, and they would they they were, buying this winds by cases. And, me personally, I I adore, matching foods and wine, the bearing, etcetera. But when I, one one day I was invited to the dinner by these people, you cannot imagine. I almost pulled down because they were drinking this wine with hearings. You know, Well, that that that must be the most exotic and most clashing of wine in here. That's very good. Oh my goodness. But, obviously, now, you know, things have moved on so dramatically and that just these days, we were celebrating the arrival of Michelin Guide in Russia. Mhmm. I know that in Moscow now that, yes, we have two star restaurants and then a number of, one Michelin star. But in total, over sixty restaurants, which we mentioned in the Michelin Guide. So I bet none of these guys would ever think to to combine herring with the Chateau. Incredible. Right. And so, let's now touch upon, your Italian portfolio. And I know that in, nineteen ninety six, your first Italian brand in or MBG was antinorious. So, you know, I really had a weight from a Tuscany in internationally recognized, company, a celebrity company. I can even say, And how did you manage to convince them to work with you? Because, you know, back in those days, there was, I imagined that the company was, quite small and just starting to, to develop. How did that happen? Daring in mind, you know, the, the it was a smaller market at the time. Antinori, maybe they they had heard of our company. They came to see me. That that was a story. As for me, I have been in love with Italy, since the early nineties, traveling a lot there. And I was hugely interested, in Italian wine, which was maybe different, to my competitors who featured French French wise in their portfolio more. And, believe me, I haven't done anything to convince her to push and in order to have Nvidia as a partner. But, now, the the we have, twenty five, twenty six years of friendship. And I am absolutely happy because it's it's it's all almost a love story for twenty five years. I ad all these people. I respect them and parentinore for me. He's like a I can go out and that's an ancillary people company. Well, I'm so glad to hear that. Thank you. And, you know, what's also interesting. I remember your background that that when you started your company, you were more into, you go better prepared on the French side, let's say. Yes. Absolutely. Or you were working, with the French French. That's that's very, yeah, that's very true. But, you know, so my son was born in Paris, and I worked for a French company before And I was very French oriented, girl, but my soul and heart belong to Italy. Wow. And then I traveled more. It was absolutely no My choice was done. And until now, I adore and adore Paris. I like and love, French culture and but my heart and soul is Italian. Maybe I had been Italian before in my previous life. Who knows? Who knows? Who knows? But certainly, you know, that there there are certain emotions which I think not just you, but, what's of Russians have towards Italy. And I think this feeling is neutral, which is important. Yes. Because we have a lot of, things together. You know, this feeling of mama, Ospiti, pasta, manjarabene, I think that we we have a lot of good common. That's why it's like this. Yeah. And maybe that's why also it's easier for us to to make, friends, to to make new connections in Italy. Right. Well, now I know you have, quite a serious portfolio, obviously very well established with, great producers from all over the world. And there are, about a dozen of them, from Italy. Among them, I, I would like to mention just a few, for example, there are Elena Walk from Alto Adigi from Venetto, La Macquile from Bulgaria, Arjula from Sardinia, and they are all run by women. And now we were talking about Antonio, also in the last few years, Algeria and Antonori, the daughter of Bureau took over the business. And she she is a fantastic speaker. Three of girls. Three of girls. Albera, they are involved in business. Three of them. Yeah. So we have now all these ladies telling a wild marie Lee is alegrini who is also an amazing personality, Chincer Mearley, who has a really interesting story as well. And then Valentin Argios, who is actually present here the wine to to wine forum. Yeah. So, is that a coincidence that, you know, a considerable part of your portfolio is actually the female producers from Italy? Elanora, I'm happy that a situation is like this, but, this has never even even crossed my mind And this is the truth is that this is coincidence. Right. Well, it's a very happy and, really good coincidence. And I think, yeah, now in Italy, the the female force is also it's always been there, but it's kind of been, not communicated properly. So I think it's about time that these things are really at at the fall of communication. Okay. And, what about your general situation now, with MBG, with, with millennium, portfolio? Is it expanding? Are you keeping it the same? Because you're you're being very you have a very set portfolio. You work with producers for a long time. All your all your partners are long established. And it's interesting to see whether you have plans to expand how's the pricing going because we know that with the current situation, it's not very easy with the economic situation. So, and, how is it generally generally performing, compared to other countries or other brands which you have in your portfolio? Okay. So, we have, extensive and diversified portfolio in which, we have buying or almost all wine producing countries. We sell global brands, so like, for example, Antinori or champagne de tangier, but also small and vibrant wineries like, Marco Scuber, for example, from Austria and, also, like, a record on, from Champagne, Malania, altogether, have eighty, exclusive contracts with producers. And, from this, we have twenty, twenty three, twenty three contract with, with, Italy. In terms of sale, Italy is our historical core portfolio. And nowadays, the Italy takes nearly forty percent of our annual turnover. And if uh-uh the Russian market is changing and evolving alerts in such countries like Germany, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa. We are showing group performance in our Italian portfolio in in contrast to the general stability of the the whole wine market. As for pricing, by the way, also in, Italy is number one in value, number one in ranking of, of countries buying, producers, buying exporters in Russia. And as for pricing, unfortunately, the the demand is very high for the wines which price is low than two point five euro, x works. Yeah. And then there is a also a demand for more than sixteen euro. And now I am talking about the gross in in a importation. Unfortunately, it's like this. So, yeah, it's I mean, it's it's a complicated situation. On the one hand, it's quite encouraging to hear that your Italian present performance is growing despite the fact that you've had twenty five years, and lots of brands are are quite historic for you. So it it's it's it's good news that there is still room for the market. Yes. As you are saying, it is rather complicated to with the current economic situation in Russia was a That's why less than two two point five euro. That's why less not because people don't have money. That's that's an answer. That that's, that's, that's quite strong. Okay. I be before we round up, we still have a few minutes, and I'm really curious also to talk about your other businesses just just to see that you're not only the the wine lady that, you you have built, a rather successful restaurant business. You have two very different directions. On the one hand, we are talking about Cantienta Antinori, which is, present in Moscow, which is a fine dining restaurant, And on the other side, you have the chain, which is called which is bread and wine, which is a chain of more democratic eateries. So completely to different concepts And, could you tell us, a bit more about them? Consinate Antinori. This is, my, project together with my friend, close friend, Akadine Novikov, And, my way to the restaurant business was done by him because in nineteen ninety seven or six, he invited me to join him in his, project, it was like a a a restaurant with a performance, with the beautiful performance. Yeah. And it started like this. And for me, it was a priceless experience because I I could look at my profession, with a client's eyes. Then, our second project seventeen years ago, we opened container itinerary, which is also unique experience, not only for me, but for, for, for, for the, for the energy company. And, we are a very proud that the restaurant is going very well. And we have very, we we have guests the same all these years, and some of them, they they come two, three, time a week, could you imagine? It means, yeah, that they they love the ambiance wine and, and food. And so we are very, very, very proud. Arcadia says that this, Antonette is one of his favorites and one of his real, real restaurants. By the way, you know, that's, Artadi's restaurant, our test, got too star michele. You have congratulations to him and to you as, as the partner in, in, in, in this story. And I also should mention that, you know, I've been to the one in Florence, so the the formats a little bit different because, obviously, the man in Moscow is much more, fine, dining, let's say. And, again, you know, it's it's just complements to both of you that you've managed to have such a great level of reality from from your clients, from your customer. Pull off. I mean, the especially in the context of Moscow where things move very fast. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. The restaurants do not really live for a very, very long time. So I should say that this is this is a really incredible and, probably one of the unique cases when the restaurant his social has such a reputation. And what about live and do you know? Brad and fine, the idea was to to open like a white starbucks. Right. Yeah. And very democratic and easy. And now we have three. And so we own three of bread and wine, and one, we have also most confrontizing. And, obviously, you the wines are are supplied from by our companies. Yeah. Right. And what is the range of wines which is present there? Different. Different. Yeah. Yeah. We we change it, just to all all these. We we want to educate people. We want to to create interests, you know, in people for for for better new wines. We try to do different type of parent, but all these, very, very easy and democratic. Okay. Great. Great. And maybe just a few words about your cosmetics company. You know, this is obviously something quite natural for the, for the woman to come. It's totally different from the wine business, though. It's, at the same time, didn't they? Both both of these, you know, it was a just like it it was a coincidence that in nineteen ninety five, I started both these businesses. I I like cosmetics, general speaking, being the older. Yeah. And, and, it started like this. And so the the image of beauty is a very serious player player on the markets. And, there there is, there are a lot of, things in common because both companies, they are importing companies, okay, and then we do distribution. And the channels of distribution, so, are also very similar because we work in our with MBGB Beauty with big, food shops for some for some range of our products. And also with, beauty institutes, but beauticians, it's more or less similar. And for me, a wine and cosmetic both activities are my passion. Yeah. I I I I like very much the phrase of of kung fu shoes. Choose a job you love, and you'll never have to work a day in your life. That's a great saying. So I guess, you feel yourself on holiday days. Yep. Prominently. Well, I'm wishing you to continue like that. Yeah. Well, the time flies really quickly, and we've already been chatting for half an hour. So that's and I mean, we've been quite good. We've been on time. So everything goes, well. And I think now it's, the time to take some questions from our audience. So, I have a couple of, quite interesting questions, which I also, really learning issues in our society. One of them, of course, is linked to, to COVID. And the question is what impact has COVID had on Russian consumption habits? You know, COVID, this is a very interesting question, by the way. I don't know if you know, you you don't know that online, sales of wines are prohibited in Russia. That's why, so just it's it's not so easy. You cannot, you can go through the the special wine shops, but, like, wine companies we we can deal with private clients, but we cannot sell online. And in COVID situation, this is this is not not very easy. But, nevertheless, when COVID started, We, almost doubled in the first two months our our sales to private our private clients because people, they stayed home and they they wanted to drink wines, and maybe the mood wasn't not very good, and they needed some sort of like, you know, something great to warm up. And, the restaurants, the Horica channel, was in very bad situation because we had locked down for more than two months in Moscow, almost three, and in regions, even more. In some people, even more. And then it started to open with restaurants from terraces. And, then the the the only by the end of of summer quarter channel, was open. What happened? What what were also very interesting what happened, afterwards. When the situation started to to to be better, people in the restaurants, they started to to drink more expensive wine. And this was also maybe the effect of people they were so tired to to be nervous to be scared that they wanted they wanted to to have a great great celebration of, of the situation. Now the situation is not voting in Russia and, we'll, we'll, we are waiting, how it will be going on. Course we have a lot of contentious people every day. But till now, everything is open and people, they drink wine. And, so the consumption, the consumption is growing. Yeah. So I understand. Yes. That, you know, we are, unfortunately, we're still far away from, saying that, you know, it's all over us. So we are still living in this, very uneasy period, but, I totally agree that, you know, like, like in other countries this situation is that, people maybe also realize that they they'd rather drink something good now because you know what's gonna happen tomorrow to you. Yeah. So so it's and I really sincerely hope that Russia will get out of situation like Italy where things stabilizing, hopefully, Russia will follow the same path very, very quickly. Okay. Yes. Somebody just asked the questions about e commerce, but you already touched upon it that, in Russia. I forgot it. It's a it's a so just all we have is why in, online shops, but, Yeah. By law is prohibited. Absolutely. Right. Well, I also have another, quite interesting question which is, concerning our female impact, Irina, do you attribute the success of your company, to the involvement of women in the management of the company, what is more important than so called female intuition or professionalism? Both. Both. Intuition without professionalism is it's it's very good. It helps. But, as I said, as I said before, you have to have, professional skills, if not now. Okay. Be before we close, I know that you have some really interesting stories. You probably have lots of, interesting, stories, connecting you to the Italian producers or, which, general public doesn't know. And I know that you will indirectly connect it to one of the wines, which is becoming an iconic wine, in Italy. It is from, a lot of people, Antinori. I'm really, happy if you could share this story how you were involved in the birth of this wine. You know that's, okay, I can I can do it? It's very funny. Because Lodivika doesn't remember, as well, the situation. But, when the the famous, load of vehicle, buying load of vehicle, was, done was produced for the first time, and the Laudemic and scenario came to our house in Sardinia with, two bottles just to share with us the taste, to taste together. The wine was great. First first sample is perfect, but I I I I saw the name on the bottle, which was written like this by hand, and the name was very strange. It was something like alpha alpha alpha something. I was really very much surprised with such a name, and I asked a lot of people why did the wine, has so strange name. And it's really strange and he said, I don't know what to do, how to call it. And my husband and me, the same time, he said, listen, that there is a great name called the youth that's spying, Ludevika, and that's all. This is a story now. So we were a little bit like, Madrini Padrino to learn the vehicle the name. Yeah. So in fact, do you present this why? And and, I remember when I was stationed for the very first release, it it is a really really impressive impressive one. And I'm I'm really happy that, you know, this inside story that there is a Russian involvement that it actually is there. So it doesn't happen very often, but, yes, maybe it will go now down in history. Okay. Right. Well, going back a little bit to the, e commerce, there is one question just to clarify. Does the online prohibition apply to all alcohol? Everything. Everything. The only thing I don't know about the beer, because I am not a beer drinker, but everything. Okay. And, probably the last question, which which is going to be serious. It's from me. If you could clarify, we have a couple of minutes left before we need to close-up. If you could clarify, the situation with a new law, which was passed in Russia in summer, and which involved the importation. I think it was effective quite badly. So just in a couple of words, what is the essence of the law? And how is the situation now? Are you able to import normally, or do you still have problems with the with the invitation? No. For Biance is okay. It was the the the the the story with EGT, how to do it, etcetera. With Biance is okay. It's classification is okay. And so it's okay. They changed. And, because in the beginning, they wanted to just to name chateau margot, table wine chateau margot. This is absolutely not possible. So with wine is okay. It was a very short period maybe one week when the the situation was not very clear and but afterwards okay. Problem we have a shipping because, Russian law says that's on the, labels, but not front label, the the the the label which is behind it with Russian Russian letters. Now it should be written sparkling wine, sparkling wine, not champagne. Of course, French producers, they are not happy because champagne is only champagne, Montana, and all all these things, all these areas around. They were not happy, and they blocked the, the, the, the, the importation, exportation, and, the importation, the important was was also blocked and closed. We had, VMBG and Melania. We had almost thirty thousand bottles in our warehouse in, Latvia, which were blocked for one one and a half months. And, now the situation, is resolved, but, not a hundred percent because then French side said that, nevertheless, it's not possible for the big, important champagne houses to to to agree to such a discrimination. And, my, for our personal story, we we we are importing from Champagne because they will agree to to this label. But, until now, my two contracts, I don't have, champagne, and I will have it, a little bit late for the season. It will be in, you know, in two weeks. Because the the deliveries were blocked by the producers, in Champagne. Right. And I understand. I understand. And, you know, I you asked me about the essence of this law. I can't understand it. This is really the most stupid possible thing which could have happened. I don't understand it. And I I I find it, really unfair and, out of logic. Yeah. Well, and unfortunately, you know, the implications of the law and all the, I don't know, all all the expenses. They all go again on the on on the importer. So, you know, you are the one for us to deal around. It's really not a very fair play. Not fair play and you know that for us now, we are approaching the the highest season of the year. And Champin is a drink of this high season. Number one. So Yes. Well, we we need to close our session. Unfortunately, and, I thank you so much, Irina, for being always direct and for having, a really, really, good, forty five minutes. I hope that our audience got lots of, new, and valid information from us. And I thank everybody very much for being present. And, of course, again, thank you, Arena, for Thank you very much. And, well, wishing you wishing you all the best and hope to see you in Italy soon. Thank you. Good afternoon. Good. Okay. Goodbye. Goodbye. Listen to the Italian wine podcast wherever you get your podcast. 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, product and publication costs. Until next time. Hi, everybody. Italian wine podcast celebrates its fourth anniversary this year, and we all love the great content they put out every day. Chinching with Italian wine people has become a big part of our day, and the team in verona needs to feel our love. Reducing the show is not easy folks, hurting all those hosts, getting the interviews, dropping the clubhouse recordings, not to mention editing all the material. Let's give them a tangible fan hug with a contribution to all their costs. Head to Italian wine podcast dot com, and click donate to show your love.