Most asked question: how did it actually start your wine business?
Yesterday, during a tasting in Durbuy , the same question was asked again. Exactly the same way as one wants to know the story of a wine grower from the very beginning until now, one also wants to know from "bibi" what triggered it. In any case, an entry into the wine business was not planned!
After 16 years of running my own event agency, Belgiumhad become too small for me and in 2011 I started an incentive agency, in Italy, in the business heart of Milan. Not without having spent the last 5 years organizing occasional company incentives in Italy from Belgium (about 10 per year). Back then, all of Italy was my "playground". Piemonte was only for 15% the field of action.
A little over a year later, I also left Belgium to settle in Cherasco (Piedmont). I lived in a sort of "Melrose Place" yard - owned by a coffee producer and his family who also lived there full time - and was immediately immersed in the Piedmontese atmosphere.
This continuity of food & wine stimuli (AND not just a week's vacation!!!!) was definitely a first primer in my brainpan.
Less than a year later I traded Cherasco for Barbaresco (Tre Stelle), a grand villa with sublime views including a very spacious underground cellar where a wine producer used to have his private and cantina.
A mere 14 days before the move I participated in a master class in Perugia with tasting of all the wines of the renowned winery GAJA, followed by a gourmet dinner with at least 10 year old top vintages of mainly Barbaresco wines, organized by FISAR.
In Italy, the two recognized organizations that deliver an officially recognized sommelier wine diplomaare : AIS, Associazione Italiana Sommelier, the largest, the most well-known and the most active by far, but FISAR also reaches a target audience.
What happens when you sit at the table next to Angelo Gaja for 5 hours?
The president of Fisar Perugia knew about my moving plans AND as the only non-local guest, it was thus decided to have me sit next to Angelo Gaja.
And what do you think it's about when you spend five hours chatting with Angelo Gaja? The future, my potential in the wine business, the springboard to wine tourism.
Above all, it is the life lessons Angelo Gaja gave me that have stayed with me to this day. It was then April 13, 2013. I can still hear those life lessons word for word, the color of his voice, the raising of his voice on certain words....
Here I share with you, readers of this blog, the three most important ones:
Wine business is not a hobby, it is a business that you are constantly working on, full time every day and not a few hours a day or only on weekends. You have to shift gears often, revise plans, and most importantly, hugely important: surround yourself professionally with the right people.
Your wine partners are not your friends. You communicate as a professional and don't let the word "friends" get in the context. If things do not go as expected, it is much harder to name the difficulties.
Dare to say "goodbye": some people's life path is different from what you have in your mind and what you set out/got together with them for. Consider it a habit that you have to walk your path alone.
Everything that followed in a nutshell
As a new resident in Barbaresco, originally from Belgium, I went over tongues. Also Francesco, the nephew of Angelo Gaja, came to the frequently organized aperitivo's in my garden The result was that for three years I hung out with Francesco and got to know wine from one of the most famous winetraders (also the Piedmontese secrets!!!). I was also invited everywhere such as to the end of harvest parties of the most famous wineries etc... I got to know Piedmont in a way that very few get to.
I started a training with AIS with three modules and three years of "Piedmont Wine Education (Associazione Italiana Sommelier) including all the follow-up courses until today. The best decision I took in my professional life by the way ! I don't need to know all the wines of the world... There is never anyone who asks me: please give me the equivalent of Beaujolais & Co! Focus Piedmont at AIS, three modules, for three years.
In 2015, Made In Piedmont Wines was launched as a real webshop and all the rest is crystal clear.... Between 2015 and today, 80% are still with the same wine producers which means we are both working on a success story. For the remaining 20% the parting is due to local obstacles (own webshop of wine producer with lower prices, transport insurmountable problems etc...).
For 80%, the aesthetic form of the label is what determines whether people want to taste at all... A wine may score so high, without the visual invitation it does not hit the taste buds of the potential customer.
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