Ep. 929 Travel In A Bottle | wine2wine Business Forum 2021

Welcome to the Italian wine podcast. This episode is brought to you by Vinitally International Academy, announcing the twenty fourth of our Italian wine Ambassador courses to be held in London, Austria, and Hong Kong. From the twenty seventh to the twenty ninth of July. Are you up for the challenge of this demanding course? Do you want to be the next Italian wine Ambassador? Learn more and apply now at viniti international dot com. Italian 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. Hello. And, welcome to everyone. It's quite exciting to be back again and, see each other, face to face. I'm happy to introduce you to, Mark Miller today. One of our, the Italy, Italian wine ambassadors. So one of the racist person to talk about Italian wines, and especially as his great experience, in testifying how communication has changed, and, how traveling has changed, how wine tasting has changed in this last period. Mark has been rising and living the, the wine business for quite a bit now. His first book dates back to eighteen sorry, to nineteen eighty two. And together with his wife, Kim, was really able to testimony what happened in this a long time and how things are still changing. So without further ado, I will leave the word tomorrow to introduce us to this beautiful session today. Thank you very much, Valentin. I'm really delighted to be sharing this platform with you. It's a great pleasure. It's I'm so happy to be here in Rome. I can't tell you how happy I am to be able to travel again after this terribly terribly difficult period. And, just to be back in Italy is a joy. But also to be here line to line, where we're we're not just in a room, but we're also communicating beyond two people wherever they are. And and this is one of the things that really, I think, has come from the pandemic. As Valentino said, I'm a wine, food, and travel writer, and it's something I've been doing for a very long time. My first book was called the wine and food of Europe. It was published in nineteen eighty two, followed by the wine roads of Europe in nineteen eighty three. And just to put this in context in this digital world, my books, my first books, I wrote on a typewriter. There'll be people here who've never seen a typewriter or ever used a typewriter, but, that's the way it was done then. My wife as a photographer was a took photos on a film camera, which meant that although we're so used to being able to look at our photos instantly and publish them instantly, the the film would have to be sent away to be processed as transparencies because that's what publishers use to have high quality illustrations in books. And when we were organizing our trips, we would have to write letters to wine producers. Letters, and we would have to wait for to receive letters back from wine producers. And when we were we try to, make telephone con calls in Italy, we would use the public telephone with Jettone. And, does anybody remember Jettone? The little coins with a slot in them, and you would need a suitcase full to make, to make him a, you know, a ten minute call. So it was a very, very different time. And over this period, of course, wine in Italy has changed immensely. New generations are now in their family wineries. The evolution, the, and the quality of Italian wine is has improved immensely. And the way we communicate about wine is also, evolved immensely. And today is an example of that. Of course, it's been a wretched time for everybody, not being able to travel and being locked within our own our own homes. I mean, in in the UK and England, we were not allowed to leave the house except for buying essential foods and buying, and and an and an hour of exercise if we were lucky. So it's it's really restricted those of us who have spent our lives traveling. But fortunately, wine is unique in its power to transport us. It's power to take us places. Within a bottle of wine, we have a place, the place where those grapes were grown. And we have a time. We have the year when the grapes are grown. So it's a unique product, and wine has really been one way during the pandemic that we've been able to travel. Travel to some beautiful places. I've been spending time in the classic heartland of Prosecco Superior. These beautiful wine hills between Valdo Briadane and Konignano on a magnificent press trip that I enjoyed recently, and I'll speak a little more about this later. One of the earliest trips that I did, virtual trips that I did, was to a wine country I have longed to visit for many years, Georgia, where the where the source of wine began eight thousand years ago, and I was able to visit Georgia during this time when I was in my home. I've been to many places. And when I went into the Ramirez de Gamuto Bodega in Rioja. I really felt that I was there. I could smell the oak barrels, French oak, in this case. That, were in that bodega when I was tasting in a vertical tasting with the wine producer and indeed with, Sarah Jane Evans, master wine. I've been many other places, in Italy, across Spain, discovering wines and food, and I'm sure you have too, all without leaving my home in Southwest England. Is there anybody here who has not taken part in a virtual wine tasting since lockdown? Well, I think that shows how what we've all been doing. Is there anybody who had taken part in a virtual wine tasting, perhaps a zoom tasting before lockdown? Well, that's incredible because in eighteen months, that demonstrates how we've all changed our behavior, and we've all been to some wonderful places. And I hope afterwards when we had some time, for a discussion, we can hear some of your experiences, the good, the bad, the ugly of, of how how you have found your experiences. I surveyed, about fifty wine professionals. People who, work in all sectors of wine, wine communicators, wine producers, wine educators, masters of wine, sommeliers, brand ambassadors, people in all sectors of wine. Like, we have here in this room or wherever you are, watching this from. And every person who responded to my survey found that virtual wine tastings are very positive. And sixty percent said they're an efficient use of time. And sixty percent found them an important way to keep in touch with professional colleagues, fifty six percent like the ease of not having to travel to a wine tasting event. And ninety three percent of those involved in selling wine found virtual tastings a vital way to keep directly in touch with customers. But it's it's not all rosy and all perfect. I mean, there there are many things we miss about face to face encounters. The most, the the the largest, moment, really, was at seventy percent miss being able to meet up with professional colleagues, with wine producers, with importers, and buyers in person. Wine is a convivial. Mine is something that brings us together. And, yes, we can connect electronically. But it's not the same. Sixty percent so that no matter how good the content, an online tasting can never be like a live wine tasting. And I think we would all agree with that. However, however good the the the presentations are. Fifty six percent had issues with the quality of wines when sent in small sampling bottles or other containers. And there have been other issues, technical glitches, poor internet, sound, poor, or less polished delivery of content. You know, this is a new thing. We're all learning how to do it. And I think that things have improved greatly over these months, but, you know, we we're not all professional presenters, and it can be difficult. And again, back to the samples, getting samples to intended recipients, getting the samples to arrive, you know, if they arrive in less than ideal condition, it really defeats the purpose of of a tasting. So I'd like to look at at some examples of virtual wine tastings that were focused at consumers. And as well, we'll look at, wine tastings focused at, wine professionals in different sectors. I'm choosing as an example here, the wine society. The wine society is a really interesting wine retailer in the UK founded in eighteen seventy four as a member's cooperative, a way for people to pool their money together to buy wines at good prices, and also to pay wine producers fair price. So the wine society's been, around a long time. I've actually, again, I'm dating myself. I've been a member for nearly forty years. Because the wine society is the sort of thing that when we were married, my father-in-law gifted me a membership. It was where he bought his wines. It's where he bought his Claret, his hulk, and his vintage port. But the wine society has really, really changed with times and is now it has a fantastic list of wines from around the world with strong relationships with producers that it's nurtured and built. And, this is its strength. There are a hundred and seventy member seventy thousand members in the UK. So when lockdown hit, actually, online wine is a business that did well. We didn't have anything else to do. We were all drinking lots of wine. But, the wine society's always, really valued its live events. Although, the the sales are now online, they used to be mail order, where you actually filled in a piece of paper and put it in the post and sent it back. It's now all, online. But they've always valued live events, whether events at Stevenage, their headquarters, tastings, or indeed their road trips where they'll go around the UK, meeting members, taking the wines to members, perhaps wine dinners, ways to connect people directly to to wine. And these, These events needed to transition to virtual, and they did so very quickly. And the wine societies now put on a hundred and twenty virtual wine tasting events. Consumer focused. Events free to members and no obligation to purchase. This isn't a way of just trying to increase sales. It's a way to give added value to the members, to help members to understand the wines better. So some of the some of the events the wine wine society has done, winemaker events, winemaker events are so important. The first the first event the wine society put on was a winemaker event with Chateaux Muzar, this iconic winery in the Becca Valley in Lebanon, and it was so popular that one thousand five hundred, fifteen hundred people members registered to take part in this wine tasting. And I think that was a real eye opener. It really impressed on, the the people at the wine society, the interest and the need and the desire for people Yes. During lockdown, when we when we were looking for things, activities we could do in our homes, but just had interest in in meeting winemakers. That of a variety of other consumer focused events, ongoing events, Friday night takeaway, matching society's wines to takeaway meals. In the UK, we, we might get a takeaway meal on a Friday, a Chinese takeaway, an Indian takeaway, an Italian takeaway, And now during lockdown, the proliferation of really interesting foods available for takeaway as restaurants were shut and had to, transition to find a way to get some revenue. Has really been, another feature of lockdown. But this is an evening where you can try different wines to go with different takeaways. Desert Island wines. This would be wine people talking about their desert island wines, wines that are important have been important in their lives. And, that's an interesting concept as well. A lot of cheese and wine evenings, restaurant meal kits. With matched wines working with some of some of the top chefs in the UK. Again, way to help the restaurants that have suffered so badly in this period. SIP size sessions. These are great forty five minute sessions. This is Anna Spooner giving one recently on the riesling grade. Three lines, they suggest one from from, the Rhindau in Germany, another from Austria, and, an Australian riesling. And so she gave a forty five minute really concise, very well informed, talk about this great, great reasoning. And members could purchase those wines, which but it was not obligatory. Now the wine society is a big a big organization, but we're virtual warranty, things can work really well for small specialist retailers too. But they need to enlist whatever resources are available. I mentioned that Georgian wine tasting. It was so fascinating. Well, it's actually a very small company called Givino, started by two friends, Anzor, a Georgian, and Danilo, and Italian. And they just love the wines of Ansoar's country. And so they began to import on a small scale, George and wines to sell retail. Didn't have a lot of resources, didn't have a lot of budget. But they found that virtual wine tastings were really a way to to spread what they were doing, and they couldn't enlist the help of the, wines from Georgia office in London who could supply them with, lots of information with, and as well as with a master wine, a wonderful master wine Sarah Abbott who has also worked, with the prosecco. And, these events This actually event really demonstrated to me the power of virtual wine tastings for the winemaker from Georgia was coming into my home from his living room in Tbilisi, talking about the wines, talking about why it's important in Georgia to ferment in quebri, these giant terracotta receptacles, which were finding more and more in Italy and elsewhere. And so we had the winemaker giving a presentation We had the wines as well, and we had Sarah Abbott, the brilliant Sarah Abbott talking us through the nuances of the wines. And I'm really impressed upon me how these virtual wine tastings can do something that a real wine tasting would struggle to do. It would be very hard for Givino to organizing that, bringing Mado over from Georgia and also bringing people in to London. And this is something that could be done by a small importer. Now master classes with wine makers, I think what we what I found, most of all, is a common theme throughout the virtual wine tastings I've been involved in. Is that we want to meet the wine producers. This is the most important and the most valuable thing that a virtual wine tasting can give us. It takes us into the cantina into the bodega, into the cave, It takes us directly to where the wine's made, and we hear directly from the people that make the wine. And I think that that is so valuable. And I think the power of wine producers to be able to tell to tell your message in this way in a way that really wasn't possible before. We weren't doing this is absolutely fascinating. And Valentin, I'd like to bring you in now to talk about What you have been doing at Marquese Diiborolo and, you know, how how it's been for you during these tough months. Are you enjoying this podcast? Don't forget to visit our YouTube channel. Mama jumbo shrimp for fascinating videos covering Stevie Kim and her travels across Italy and beyond, meeting winemakers, eating local food, and taking in the scenery. Now, back to the show. For me, it was a beautiful experience to get in touch with more people interested about our wines, about our, our territory, and somehow shoots in distances that even when we were able to travel was still so very long. Thank you, Valentina. It's really great to hear your experience. And I think that is so important that you found this valuable and enjoyable as well. And that's, you know, it it is so important over this period that we use the time we had, you know, we don't usually have time in our lives, but we use time wisely to enrich what we can do and also to learn new things about new ways of doing things. Now wine is, is about learning, but it's also about entertainment, and it's about fun, it's about infotainment. And I just wanna bring in one example of virtual wine today's things with three, the three wine men who are really the UK's wine royalty, Oz Clark, Tim Atkins, m w, and Only Smith, joined here in this picture by the lovely Susie Atkins, who actually is a neighbor of mine lives in Devon as well. These are great wine communicators, communicators that are known through television, through their work in television, through their books, really, through the newspaper articles, And actually, they've, they've been able to, prior to lockdown. The three winemen events were big extravagant events that would take, the three winemen and sometimes Susie as well, to different places around the country. To, ready to make wine accessible and fun. Olls is a great wine communicator. He's on fabulous palette, and but also completely makes wine understandable and unstuffy, and though their their events are brilliant. But during lockdown, they had to transition to virtual. And Claire Malek, who is the producer of the three line events, told me that this was even for seasoned professional presenters. This was not an easy transition, trying to find out what, what platform to use best trying to figure out the best ways to send wines and making contacts with the producers and finding that if their zone coming in from zooming in from their own vineyards that it's all working seamlessly. And it took a while. Claire said it took it took a while, but they they worked things out. And now these virtual events are are really, really successful, attracting large numbers. And as Claire says here, one of the good things, and there are good things that have come out of COVID nineteen is virtual wine tastings. And it's interesting because it's been a learning process for all. And even even, Olls and Tim and all they were learning from that, finding that if you bring food into a virtual wine tasting, the audience expands greatly. Wine tastings themselves interest wine people, people who love wine, but when a food element comes in, then other other the audience can grow. For example, this great steak night in with the Argentinian producer of Malbec joining from his vineyard with a giant barbecue set up in the vineyard, all is talking about the wines from his home in London, and a butcher from Somerset, who had sent out two steaks to the people that bought into this, co talking from his farmhouse kitchen on how to cook the perfect steak. So I think an event like that is really, really exciting, and it's something that wouldn't have happened prior to this, you know, the virtual tastings coming up. Now we've also been doing virtual tastings for, professionals, for wine communicators, for example, a circle of wine writers is an organization I've been involved in a member of for a very long time, and the circle of wine writers quickly began to transition It's monthly wine tastings that previously took place in London into virtual tastings that have been very successful along with forty Zoom webinars and virtual press trips. And there's already been a way to actually connect members more directly wherever they are located on three hours from London, but I felt more connected in a way by because of the virtual tastings that we've been I've been able to go to. This virtual press trip to Conignano, which, which I mentioned, organized by Michelle Shaw, who is here and will hear from in just a minute, was such a wonderful experience. Two days, an immersive experience professionally organized and delivered with a panel of experts led and hosted by Michelle, where we, you know, were learning from vital interests with an analogous with the authors of a wonderful book on the terroir of the Rivay, the single vineyards of Presecco, and then tasting the wines with Sarah Abbot again, and also tastings with the producers themselves. And it was a a virtual press trip that was delivered to journalists and writers around the world. Business to business virtual tastings, connecting wine producers to importers, virtual wine tastings with buyers, webinars, digital wine fairs. All of these things have been going on. All of these things have been ways that have people been, able to carry on with their activities. So at this point, I'd like to ask Michelle to tell us a little bit about about speed testing, which is something you've been doing this, in real life for a long time, but speed testing had to develop. Well, thank you, Mark. Yes, I must say that, the digital world in the last two years has really helped to develop so many different, opportunities for everybody. You've heard so many now. I don't think you can compare the two. They're not comparable, but they do complement each other. I think very much that, once, hopefully things go back to normal, I think we need to have both things. And I think, the the virtual ones obviously offer tremendous opportunity, without having to travel. They are maybe less expensive, better for the environment. But what you don't may maybe what you don't know is that behind any virtual, organized event or or trip. There's an enormous amount of work to do. There's actually far more work. I've done hundreds of b to bs, in presence. I've I've worked for Verona Fierra for fifteen years in the past, bringing loads of importers to, Verona Fierra. I've worked for conservators for the last twenty years, organizing press trips, organizing importer events, b to b events in the regions. And now, with this new, what can I say? Opportunity, because it has been an opportunity. I've learned to take my skills from organizing maybe an event in presence to an event online, where I think there is a big problem and where maybe online events have gained not the reputation that they should have is because people have improvised. You need whatever you do, you need to do it professionally, and the event has to be seamless. If you see what I mean. You know, you can be faffing behind the scenes. You know, you can be, you know, somebody's not on time, but you you need to you need to really structure it professionally. And in order to do that, as I said before, there is a tremendous amount of work. I'm just gonna read you a few points of what I do before I do an event. In, you know, in the sense of whether it's, press trip, or whether it's, a b to b speed testing. Speed testing is my brand. And at the moment, I've done about forty speed tastings in the last, two years. I've been working with, an Italian website, which probably if there's anybody here from Italy, I'm not sure who if who the audience is if it's international Italian, but they are wine Meridian. And wine meridian have, their input is to find the producers, and mine is to set the event up with the importers. So, we both have different, a different sort of, duties or different different aspects of the of the organization. So mine is actually, setting up the event on a platform and and carrying it out. And you have to be extremely careful with the importers that you that you invite. For example, as I said, I've been working twenty years with importers. I have a large roster. I know who's reliable and who's less reliable, who's more punctual, who's less punctual, this this can be cultural. It can be a question of of knowing who you're actually dealing with. Therefore, what you need to do if you're if you're having an event with somebody that you haven't yet, interacted with, you need to have a Zoom interview with that person. You need to actually understand if that person is gonna be punctual or not punctual because what you don't wanna have is a no show. So you need to vet all very carefully all your, in my case, my importers. And in this sense, I also have, a pre event briefing, which means that I bring the importers and the producers online for a short introduction to each other. It, at the same time, maybe, you take, the advantage of doing a presentation of the region so that the importers get something out of the pre event briefing they get to know the region. If it's if it's with a single region, if it's if it's with all Italy, that cannot be done. But you can brief them on how the event is going to take place so that each and every one of them understands and understands the importance of being there on time. You talk to the producers. You can do maybe a course on how to present on Zoom. And, you know, in that case, therefore, they have something then you do the event, The event is a presentation. Each one has his slot of time, fifteen minutes to produce two wines. Before that, of course, you send the wines over. They get, you know, through an through a, a shipping agent. They get their in time, they get the, you know, in one shipment only, you don't wanna send it in in several shipments. You exchange information. You do the event all in one morning or one afternoon depending on what, time frame you're on. And then you do your, then the the importers do their selection. They have a they can select two, three, four, five meetings. Again, this is all set up on Zoom. Zoom, the next day So, you know, everything is done with great precision. The, individual meetings are carried out between the importance and the producers in the days that follow the speed testing, and then I get a feedback from the importers. And then, after the initial feedback, there's another feedback after six months. So all all of these stages need to be arranged. You need to have people who come on punctually you need, you know, that everybody needs to know that they're on the same boat. So that is actually an opportunity. I would say it's an opportunity for, producers to show their show their, products to, ten different markets. You have ten different importers, and it all functions very seamlessly in one morning, plus their, you know, full art meetings. So, therefore, you know, it it's actually very effective. You may go to a to a trade fair. You may be there for two days. You don't know if you're gonna have ten you know, ten meetings or not. Here, you you, you know, they have ten meetings. It may not be in country. They may not be, you know, able to go and then visit the region, but they've had this interaction. They've had this follow-up and then they can take it from there. So it's it's a good stepping stone, and it's been extremely, extremely effective, and I think it's extremely appreciated by both the importers and both the, the producers. And I think it has the possibility of continuing. I'm not gonna say any more because, I'd like to leave the microphone to, to the speakers here who here, and I thank thank you for allowing me to go back. Well, thank you. And I think, Michelle, you've really demonstrated there. I know you, I know the efforts you take to to the detail you go into to ensure these events are seamless, and that's why I wanted people to hear from directly from you because a successful virtual tasting doesn't just happen. And this is some of the takeaways that we can get. I think we really can conclude, now I was going to talk about the wine samples and the logistics of sending wines in small containers. These are things that need to be looked at because they can be problematical. But I I hope that the takeaway from this is that virtual wine tastings are a positive thing. They're here to stay even as part of the new normal. They are an incredibly powerful tool. They're fun. And I think that Michelle's touched on some of the things that need to be done to make a successful tasting, but I think above all, and Valentina, I hope you'll agree, above all, say, successful tasting is one that is enjoyable because wine is something that brings joy into our lives. We want to share that joy and virtual tastings are one way that we can do so. For sure. I think that we all learned a lot from that. We were able to travel to dream, in my opinion, too, by, having a wine in our glass and speaking with someone that either makes the wine or believes in it and speaks about it through a screen. I do now add her some questions, mama. Hi there. I'm Carrie Coiser. Nice to meet you, and thank you for the presentation. This may be far too specific. So please tell me if it is. It's I'm very interested in the prospect of sending small bottles because I know that sometimes it can't always be regulated. I'm wondering if there are special deals that are made with different, wineries internationally that make something like that possible or legal. And if this is common in an international concept, like, would you send wine from one country in small, like, say you had a import company or a distribution company, and you were using small bottles of wine to demonstrate to a totally different market. Like, this is what is offered from these vineyards that we represent. Is that something currently happening? Is that something that there's that varies between regions. I I think it I think it is something that's going to be varying, very, very much between country, between markets. Yeah. And I and and these things are not easy to do. For example, Brexit now is complicated. In the UK, even getting, whether it's small samples or or full bottles, it's it's it's frankly it's a nightmare at the moment. And there are problems in other places. I think the the small bottle issue as well is is making sure the quality of the wine in the small bottles is, you know, if you don't send a sample that is really top quality, you're defeating the purpose of the tasting. So it is something that needs to be explored. I think it will develop and evolve in in the coming years. Wonderful. Thank you so much. What is the difference between a good virtual tasting and a bad virtual tasting in terms of production values and content? I mean, that's, what makes a good tasting. I hope we've covered some of that in this. But in terms of, the the production of actually doing it, you mean putting it together, Michelle was talking about the difficulties in creating events that are effective and it really get that message over. But I don't think that we can expect wine producers to always be as professional as the three wine men that have a production team behind them. I think as well, the production values are important, but I think as well, what's more important from my experience, from my, belief is to really hear directly from wine producers, from the heart, to hear, to hear people that really love what they're doing talking about their wines. And then we will put up with the odd technical glitches, the things that maybe aren't so good. But if the wine is bad in those little bottles, then I think that's a problem. And so that's one thing that I would say needs to be looked at. Thanks. I have a question for both of you, especially, Valentina. I do agree with you, Sarah, too. But I got so many oxidized bottles that were sent in small bottles. I enjoyed I thanks for the presentation. I did enjoy over the last eighteen months when I wasn't traveling, to do a lot of virtual tastings, especially for media, during respirators, whatever. But I'd love to hear from both you especially Valentin. Do you you feel like it was actually effective, holding virtual tastings for consumers? People that work in the wine media space. Next? I think it was extremely effective because of this, ability of shortening distances We were really able to do some better communication because we were, I can speak for myself, but we were home in our comfort zone. We were able to pull out because of the, richness of the area. Maps, therefore, be even more precise in our presentations. Usually, when you're speaking to consumers, you are in, in public, and you don't have the avail availability of these tools while through a screen, everything was more easy. And, we did see some return in that. Some return in, question made that that question made that we're always more professional, even by people that went off in the business, but just one lover's and passionate. We saw some return now with people that are traveling to the region or who are contacting us to have more information. So I think that, from a just communication point of view, this moment has been crucial as we said many times today, it's been a great opportunity for all of us to become also from a producer point of view even more professional in the way we explain, what we do and, how the region looks like. So in this sense, I think that we were really able to learn a lot. And, I trusted that this, new opportunity will be implemented in the future too. So we will take advantage from this lesson that we learned. Since the beginning of the lockdown, one of the first headaches. I think that we all had was what to do in these days and how to be able to still engage people and it turned out to be probably even better than before. Well, actually, I I can't, add to that. I think that to hear directly from Valentina as a wine producer really demonstrates, you know, the the the power of of of what we've learned overall this period. And, and it's interesting as well that, for Valentina as well, this is something that will continue. Just to, answer to, some of this, I think that what Michelle said is crucial. It had to be well organized. Every single event had to be, extremely functional, and functioning very well because otherwise, the message that you can send is just the opposite of what you really wanna do. So your wrist is send to let the experience not be the best one, and you have no chance to compensate. If you are person to person, it's easier. If you're not there, the moment you close your screen, and then there is no chance you can continue to conversation. So for sure, organization from anyone in the in the chain is, is extremely important. And if the, scene is set up perfectly, then it's the best opportunity that we have as a producer to engage to engage people and the wine, of course, that has to be well presented. Therefore, in a stable, any stable bottle and not oxidized, and that can show well. So thank you very much for this, interaction mark for allowing us to travel even more and to discover the background of what we just see in the screen. And, thank you all for your participation today. So much rather. Thanks for listening to this episode of Italian wine podcast brought to you by Vineetli Academy, home of the gold standard of Italian wine education. Do you want to be the next ambassador? Apply online at the Natili International dot com. 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