Hi, everyone. Welcome back to your favorite segment Global Village. 欢迎大家回来你们最喜欢的板块【小酒馆·大世界】.

Today we're going to present to you a special episode sponsored by the Abruzzo consortium from Italy. We have a special guest speaker in the studio, Mr. Davide Acerra, who is the marketing manager of the Abruzzo consortium. Welcome to the show Davide.

Thank you, Lulu.

First of all, could you give us a general introduction about yourself, especially your role at the Abruzzo consortium?

For sure, I'm the marketing manager of the consortium that is the major organization in our region that represents more or less 80% of the producers from Abruzzo wines, and my role is... I work for the marketing about the marketing of the promotional activities of the Abruzzo DOC, in particular, and normally I organize the activities in the world, in particular out of Italy.

The overseas market.

Yeah. I talk about the wines, I talk with the agency, with the importer, all that you need to organize some promotional activities.

I see. First of all, I think our audience probably, well I mean including me, we don't really know that much about the region. I've been to Italy many times, but mostly you know to Rome, Milan. So where is Abruzzo, and could you give us a general feel, I know that you actually live in Abruzzo, is that correct?

This is a good question because normally the foreign people when they come to Italy normally used to go to Rome, Milan, Venezia, but Abruzzo is my region, we are in the center south of Italy, the east side of the country.

Abruzzo is a very small area, you think that we are more or less 1 million habitants living here, so it's very small for the numbers of China, but it's very rich in biodiversity. It's a treasure of biodiversity.

In fact, we are known as the green region of Europe because more than 30% of the territory is protected by leisure parks.

Yeah, I mean before our talk actually I did a little bit of research online.

Yeah.

And like lonely planet is describing Abruzzo as like a hidden gem because its national parks, all the nature.

We have free national parks. The first national park of Italy was in Abruzzo, we have one original park and about 77 natural protected areas, so you think it's very, very green, it’s a small region, but we have everything.

In the east side, we have the sea. In the west side, we have the habitats, but we have many rivers, lakes, ancient villages, standing serene time. It's original to be discovered.

Yeah, I've also heard about you have quite a few ski resorts, quite popular ski resorts for skiing.

Yeah, for sure. We have the most important ski area of the central Italy. In Abruzzo it’s one of the few places in Italy where you can ski while looking at the sea, something very, very special.

That sounds amazing.

It's very amazing. I like so much my region, I live here for sure, but it's you have to come here to understand because when they talk about Abruzzo, yes. It's amazing, but if you come here, it's something different.

Yeah, of course. A place you gotta experience it yourself.

Yes.

See it with your own eyes. And actually we are trying to connect with the world like my podcast or also my brand we are actually trying to connect with, for example we can maybe next year or sometime this year going to your region and live stream there to show our audience, your beautiful region.

Yeah, I hope it.

And the other thing that I want to ask, and I hope I'm not stereotyping because obviously as a visitor, as a traveler, I talked to my Italian friends about this as well. People always talk about the north and the south, like northern Italy, the personality and the characteristics are very different from people in the south. So how would you think that your region fits in, like Abruzzo? Would you consider it more northern or southern or just central?

No, we consider the central because that we’re perfectly in the central area, in the same line of Rome, but in the opposite side, if you know where is Rome, it’s perfectly the same line, but in the opposite side. So normally we’ve considered ourselves as people from the center of Italy.

People from the center, I see.

The other thing is, before we get into the wine talk, as a foody, I just want to ask what food is your region famous for. I know Italy is a big food country. You have amazing, gastronomic culture, so what is your region specifically famous for?

In Abruzzo, we have a lot of dishes, a lot dishes. Abruzzo cuisine is very bright with the seafood and the land specialties, because we have the sea, the mountains, so it's a mix of the dishes of products.

Among the best-known dishes is Arrosticini, they are skewers of barbecue sheep meat.

Oh, wow, sounds yummy.

Yeah, and represents the best local street food in Abruzzo. So we have a restaurant where you can eat just Arrosticini and nothing more, because it's something very, very special in our region.

But also we are also great producers of pasta. Abruzzo is one of the region where the production of pasta is very, very famous. We have also a pasta district in the Italy of the region, in every town, in every village, there is a local handmade pasta. One of the most famous…

Handmade pasta.

One of the most famous is pasta Chitarra. Pasta Chitarra is made with the three meats, three kind of meats, beef, lamb and pork, and…

Wow, all three meats, ok.

It's a very long process because you have to (spend) more time cook before the meat and then put the sauce.

I see. Is it one of those slow cooking pasta?

Yeah, it's very slow cooking, you'll find that tomato sauce with the small meatballs.

Sounds yummy, absolutely delicious.

But we have a lot of kind of handmade pasta. Also if you are in the coast, you have to try, for example, a fish soup, you have different kind depends on where you are. For example, in the south of the region, the most famous is Brodetto alla Vastese, that is the soup made with the tomato sauce, with different kinds of Adriatic fishes, small fishes.

Pretty sure with fresh fish, the soup would taste great.

It’s one of my favorite dishes and the difference between the fish soup behind the different town, villages is that the quality of tomato, so in the southern region, you have just... it’s not red the soup, it's orange.

I see.

Sure, if you go more in the north, it’s more red.

The north is red with the more quantity of tomato. Also, we have a lot of cheeses or local cheese. Do you know Abruzzo is known for the sheep, so we have…

So you have like sheep milk.

Yeah. We have a lot of sheep milk. We produce the pecorino.

Oh, pecorino(羊乳干酪).

It's a local cheese made with the sheep milk and many kind of salami, so we have a lot of….

You have a lot of local delicacies.

The cuisine in Abruzzo is very delicious. You have to try.

Definitely, I'm so intrigued.

But having talked so much about food, now you of course have to pair it up with wine, and that's also what you do.

Let’s bring the topic back to wine. Now what types of wine are typical for the Abruzzo region? I noticed that you mentioned DOC, so you’re also like a designated area for the specific types of wine that is produced there, right? It's like a geographical tag.

In Abruzzo, we have different wines, but the most famous, the most important is Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, it's a red wine, and it’s one of the greatest Italian red wines.

So first of all, for sure, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo that represents more or less 80% of the DOC wines that you see wines in Abruzzo, so big quantity, because in Abruzzo, so you can find the vineyards from the sea to the mountains, everywhere. We are very, very small as a region, but we are the 5th region...

You produce a lot of wine.

We’re the 5th producers of wines in Italy, so following Piedmont, Veneto, Tuscany, and Sicily. There is Abruzzo.

So you mentioned the specific terrain, specific features, natural features of the region because it's very green and it's next to mountains, you got alpine region, you've got the sea, the coastal region. How does that climate and terrain influence the wine production?

Yeah, in Abruzzo territory as a natural position for wine growing because the region is located between the up... the Adriatic sea and the Apennines , in particular second-highest mountain massif, which is 3,000 meters height, so big mountains.

But Abruzzo can be divided into two zones. The inland mountains area which makes up more than 65% of the entire region and the coastal area with their extensive hills.

So the climate is mild in the area of Adriatic facing side of the Apennines and more continentally in the inland.

Overall, therefore, the admixture of good rainfall, the high levels of the sunlight combined with a general mild climate, and that one of the most important characteristics of the territory is that the distance between the sea from the mountains is very very short. Can you think that you can go from the sea to the mountains by car in less than 40 minutes?

Wow. That is very close.

Yeah. This characteristic generates a big range of the temperatures between day and night which combined with a good ventilation in the valley where normally the vineyard growing create the best condition for the growth of wine grapes.

I see, and what grapes if I can ask, I know actually our audience, they're not wine experts, they're probably just wine... I would say curious about wine or some wine lovers. What kind of grapes do you cultivate locally?

First of all, for sure is Montepulciano, Montepulciano grape, we have the wines is Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, but the grape is Montepulciano. And it represents... in Abruzzo we have more or less free 34,000 actors of vineyards and 70,000 of which is cultivated with Montepulciano grape.

Montepulciano, that's red, right?

It's red, but not only because with the same grape, we produce also Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo, so it’s another DOC from our region. And it’s a rose wine.

Oh, a rose wine.

With Montepulciano grape, it's very versatile because with the same grape, we can produce red wines, rose wines, sweet wines and sparkling wines. Yeah.

I see. And can I just ask I mean without I'm sure most of my audience they haven't tasted Abruzzo wines. Can you describe to us? Is it more on the dry side or is it more on the fruity side? What about sweetness? Just give us general introductions that we can kind of imagine how Abruzzo wine taste like?

Yeah. Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, so if you have to try some Abruzzo wines, you have to start from Montepulciano d’Abruzzo.

Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, it's a wine of a great versatile. It can be fresh, fruity, drinkable when it's young. It's very, very easy to drink, but the same time it can evolve over time and you can try is more complex with... when it matures with aging.

For example, if you try Montepulciano d’Abruzzo after some years, you can try something of different. For example, Cerasuolo, Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo is our rose wine. It's the wine of the heart of Abruzzo people because in the past, it was the wine of the farmers.

And now is that the wine that we used to drink every day because it combines the freshness of the white wines with a stretch of red wines. It's different, it's rose wines, very, very different from the others.

I mean that every people the same thing for they wines, but if you try Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo in the category of rose wine is very, very different from the other.

I mean I can't wait to try, I love rose wine.

Yeah, you have to try, but in November when we meet in China, you can try everything.

I can't wait, so looking forward to it.

Also we have a lot of indigenous white grapes.

First of all, Trebbiano d'Abruzzo. Trebbiano d'Abruzzo is the most important white wines. Also, it's a very amazing wine because it has greatest of pairing and also with aroma and acidity, are capable of conquering the most demanding parts.

The last one, because in the last 20, 30 years, we discovered the main indigenous white grapes, the most important is pecorino. Pecorino d’Abruzzo, do you know pecorino?

I only know pecorino as the cheese to be honest.

Yeah. But do you know the history about it? the name, the origin of the name?

No, actually no. Please educate me.

It's amazing because in the past, in the hinterland of the region, the shepherd used to take the sheep from the L’Aquila province, it’s the province of the hinterland of Abruzzo to the south of Italy normally to the Puglia region.

Normally, this trip was very, very long, some months. During this trip, it is the voyage, normally they used to pass through some vineyards. Normally the sheep used to eat this kind of grapes because they’re sweeter than trebbiano grape, because normally pecorino used to mature before the trebbiano. So in the middle of September, when they did this trip, they're sweeter. Sweeter. So the owner, the shepherd, used to compensate the owner of the Vineyards with a piece of cheese of pecorino cheese.

I see.

It's from that we used this name pecorino for this kind of point.

I see. I definitely would like to try that. Now actually, earlier on, you mentioned that some of your amazing wines, local wines can satisfy the most demanding clients.

So let us talk about the clients. Now I know that you are the marketing manager for Abruzzo consortium, so what work does the Abruzzo consortium do, I know the general thing, but market are you currently, let's say, exporting to in terms of like internationally.

But we have many markets... In Abruzzo, we produce something like more than ..., now under the millions bottles, a lot of wines, but normally the first five markets are Germany in Europe, is our first market from 20 years; for sure, the biggest market in total is North America with the US and Canada. Then we have UK and Switzerland and in Asia, the first market at the moment is Japan.

Japan, yeah. So based on our talk before the recording, I understand that like for you for the Abruzzo wines, Chinese market is still a very, very young market. When did you start getting into the Chinese market and how do you feel about it? I know Davide you have been in China before I mean that's pre-Covid times.

Yeah, I think that China market it's a young market for sure for Abruzzo wines, but that's a great potential for sure, because it's very, very big. So you can find more space to sell wines;

Because I think that our wines, in particular, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo wines, it's a wine that we can introduce in China. It's very nice for the pairing also with the local dishes.

Our experience, my experience is very, very small because we started to with our promotional activities just in the 2018. And then we had the Covid in the last 3 years, I never been in China and I did only some activities by the net with where we know, something like that.

I'm sure there are many more opportunities are on the horizon, now everything's back to normal. But can I ask, so you're saying that you're coming in November, right? So which... are you planning on like a tour around some cities in China or just for example Shanghai or Beijing? What's the plan?

Yes. Normally when we organize this kind of tour, we used to organize more events in the same times because you know when we…

It's a long trip.

It's a long trip, so it's better to do more things.

We're planing more tour in China November with the wineries with the producers that will touch several cities. From Shanghai, the first stop will be Shanghai for sure. Then we'll go to Hangzhou.

Hangzhou.

Hangzhou, It's not so far from Shanghai, then Ningbo.

So all in that region.

In that region, and in the Xingjiang area. Finally the last stop will be Beijing for sure.

I see, and what kind of events or projects are you planning for China for all these promotional activities in China?

Normally we used to organize two kinds of activities. One is more institutional and we used to do master class.

Oh, master classes.

Wine dinner, winery, something like that for to promote the region, the DOC of Abruzzo, introduce our region in the market, with the media and sommelier, with the stakeholders of the market.

The other activities normally is now are with the wineries and the more to introduce the wineries in the market.

So more commercial to meet the producers, the winery with the importers. We organize normally work out tasting. We participate to trade show, something like that.

Trade show and tasting.

It sounds like you're mostly still focused on industry people. Not so much the end consumers, right? You said half is institutional, the other half is commercial, so it's more importers, sellers, and just different channels rather than the end consumers.

Yeah. Normally we organize activities for the trade, for the media, but not for the wine lovers, for the consumers, but depends from the market because if the Abruzzo wines, for example, in the US or in Canada where we have a big quantity of wine in the market, we used to organize also something for the consumers.

For the consumers

We organize, I don't know restaurants, tasting events perhaps, events for the white lover, something like that.

I think this is perhaps where brands like us or media, sort of social media brands like us. This is how we can come in because we can connect you also to the end consumers.

I know that in my community of over 1 million fans we have lots of wine lovers and like me, they probably are very curious to taste Abruzzo wines and hopefully in the future we will have an opportunity to work with your consortium to bring your lovely wines to our audience, to your end consumers.

I hope it for sure, just from this year, we are organizing also some training activities for not only for operators, but also for the wine lovers that want to know more to know the region and the wines from Abruzzo.

And then I think that in the next year will organize 5,6 classes classroom about it.

Sounds amazing, sounds great. I can't wait to see you in person Davide in November and I can't wait to taste some of your lovely wines from your region.

Thank you so much. I hope it, yeah.

I'm sure I’ll love them. We're gonna wrap up here and Davide came on the show and introduced a lot of lovely things about his own region Abruzzo. He's representing the Abruzzo consortium

If you're interested in finding out more about the region, leave us a comment in the comment section. And thank you, Davide for coming to the show.

Thank you so much, Lulu. I hope to see you very, very soon.

I'm looking forward to that.