Hi everyone and welcome back to a special episode of Global Village. 欢迎回来【小酒馆大世界】的特别节目. Let's continue to talk about Abruzzo wines. After our talk with Davide who represents the Abruzzo wine region. I'm sure you all got to know a bit more about this beautiful wine region of Abruzzo and the unique wines and cheese it produces.

Now let's connect with one of our old friends, Roger. And Roger is not only a wine expert who regularly holds like master classes on wine appreciation, but also the owner of a few very popular restaurants in Xiamen, was one on Gulangyu Island, right Roger?

Yeah sure. I love my restaurant, anyway, this is by the seaside. Sounds beautiful! Love the seafood by the seaside.

I mean, so today we invite you to the studio. So hopefully we can get some insights from you as a wine expert and also obviously someone in the food and beverage business. What is your impression of Abruzzo wine? So first of all, what is your personal impression and perhaps also professional impression of Abruzzo wine?

OK! Shall we start with the professional side? Sure, of course. Which feel more, a lot more complicated. But overall, I think Abruzzo is not a very complicated wine, of course, but when it comes to the aging, and Abruzzo shows a very good potential of aging, shows complexity, shows the tertiary, a typical character of tertiary flavors, for example, like leather, chocolate, and which is (what) I like most.

And apart from that, Abruzzo always comes from very ripe grapes. And that gives the Abruzzo wine a very beautiful, you know, there's a plum, ripe cherry, the sort of red fruit or dark fruit flavors; and plus with there's some aging in the oak. So, give it a hint of vanilla plus the chocolate I talked about and toffee, you know, the sort of sweet tasting. But it's not sweet, it's like just give you the sweetness.

Sweetness, without the sugar.

No, no sugar. So, I'm just talking about the ripening of the fruit. And it's no sweet but still really, really mature and ripe wine that you can have.

From the other side, we also have easygoing Abruzzo wines. So, it's like daily consuming wines. So, it's more like a red and dark fruit together with red berry, strawberry and mixed with plum, mulberries. They sort all the different red and black fruits all mixed together.

Lots of berries.

It does, lots of berries over there. And it shows... there're sort of the really fruitiness and all over again and again, give you a really nice feeling of… in the flower garden, you know this sort of things.

The floral and the fruity feeling. It all... from what you're describing, it sounds like quite an approachable wine. When I say approachable, I mean, some of the wines, although very famous, very like big wines from Italy, but they are actually harder for beginner wine lovers because they find it way too heavy. You know, like the Barolo, not everyone, especially like the beginners, they don't have that palate to appreciate that.

So, it sounds like with the fruitiness, with the floral tasting notes, Abruzzo wine sounds perfect for people who want to know a little bit more about Italian wines.

Exactly Lulu, I totally agree with you. For the big wine, for example, like what you say about Barolo and Barbaresco. They are big wine. They are really big. However, it's very harsh, you need a really good time for you to do the canteen and then to solve out all the tannin.

Actually, for some beginners, you feel a lot of tart, you know, this sort of black tea, this sort of feeling that makes you like try to run away from it. Like quite a lot of people who first contact of the champagne, they can't even deal with those yeast. I know. A very strong yeast taste over there. It's the same story.

So comparatively speaking, Abruzzo wines are smooth and very easy drinking, very approachable.

Yeah, so I would like to for the… another part of the first question and which is from the (personal) no professional way, personal... I think Abruzzo is such a...like old friend to me, is an old friend that comes to visit you. Even though it's no really often, and every time they come, they bring a small gift or some snacks they used to like a lot and then they give you a touch heart, that sort of the warm feeling.

Every time you don't really have to feel like… oh this is the new guy I didn't know. I will hesitate to meet him. Abruzzo is well as an old friend that hugs you at the first glance when you open the door that sort of feeling.

So instead of like being flashy, being extravagant, Abruzzo wines are more like tried and true. They represent warmth, affinity that kind of feeling.

I'm quite curious. So, Roger, you obviously organized a lot of these wine tasting events for experts and wine lovers alike. What do you think Chinese consumers’ attitude towards Abruzzo wines is, in general? Do they know much about this wine region?

Most of the Chinese people don't really know about Abruzzo wines, to be honest, because all the shining things is all wrapped by the ABBBC if what I'm talking about, the top five Italian wines. And when it comes to the middle part and you can take away… attention will be taken away from Chianti the sort of other regions.

So, when come to Abruzzo the small area and there's not very strong characters where sometimes will be ignored.

However, I’m gonna tell you this really... a true data from the market, the import market for Abruzzo in these 5 years have 154% growth which means the whole market is starting to be recognized.

Yes, it's starting to... it’s coming up really. I would say that I think it was probably a bit understated, underrepresented because it is, like you said, not perhaps with that much marketing as from other wine regions, other big wine regions in Italy, but doesn't mean it produces some of the really amazing wines and also cheese.

Actually this whole our episode this whole project is also funded by not only the Abruzzo wine consortium, but also the local cheese, the Piave cheese, DOP cheese consortium.

So the food and the wine there are really amazing. I can't wait to go. I have to admit I've never been in that region. I've been to Italy many times, but I've never been in that region, but it sounds like an amazing place. It definitely sounds like an amazing place.

You gotta go there because it's warm but with the quite a high mountain over there, it's also have bring down some cool, really cool air from the top of the mountain.

So, it's sort of really, really comfortable to live in. There's a quiet little town over there in between the Piemonte and in between the Sicily, the most focus, the increase imported wine is... we ranked the... Prosecco ranking the first and Sicily grow up as the red wine ranking the second, and I think Abruzzo now is like totally got recognized by the Chinese market. So friendly. That's what I'm saying.

It's definitely on the rise. I think, personally think it has a lot of potential, would you agree with me on that in terms of the market share in China?

Totally, so I can't agree more, because so friendly not just from palate side, it's also from the food matching side.

Okay. I mean, in a bit, we're gonna put the food in towards the end. I know you are as a restaurant owner, you can't wait to talk about food.

I can't wait, hahaha.

But first things first, let us talk about some specific wines from the Abruzzo region. Could you recommend a red and a white?

A red and a white? Red, of course, the Abruzzo, right, over there. And…

The Montepulciano?

Montepulciano d'abruzzo. That is the definitely the signature wine you have to test it, definitely.

How would you describe that? Let's say in expert language, let's hear it. I know it's probably I'm gonna struggle to understand, but…

No, no, you won't. I mean, to me it's a… as I say, friendly is still my first word to describe it and because if you go for a really new Montepulciano d'abruzzo, it gives you a really good acidity with the ripeness and sweetness from the grapes, a sort of balance and give you either refreshing or you can enjoy it with most of the food.

What I mean most of food is like… because it's the sweetness, the ripeness from the sweetness, you know, this sort of thing that testing is really matching the salty flavor for Chinese cuisine. Oh, I see. Especially from my Fujian part, can be quite a lot of food rather to put 酱油, you know, soy sauce into the dishes.

So, you eat a lot of like salty food.

Yeah, we do. And so that sweetness at the end give us the opportunity to solve our saltiness, to balance out those saltiness in the food.

To balance it out.

Yeah, and then plus this, you know, for the some entree level Montepulciano, they have sort of the beautiful acidity. They can also give you… to refresh the palate to go on with more food from there.

So, I think it's really, really friendly. It goes really well with Chinese cuisine, even though we don't really recommend red wine to go with some Sichuan cuisine, right? Because it's spicy, it's really spicy. And if you have that a high tannin wine, really dry wine, red wine and go with the spiciness that is doubling it. They make it for a lot uncomfortable. So, what I'm saying is from the Montepulciano d'abruzzo, they have a really good sweet finishing, but no sweet. It's like right, again, you have to emphasize it. It's no sweet, it's a dry red wine. But this all the sweet finish give you a really, really good balance. And apart from that, that the tannin from the Montepulciano d'abruzzo is really soft and silky.

So, it's not like strong and inky, not like that.

No, it's no harsh. If you use the word harsh and use it to describe Barolo and Barbaresco, this sort of wine is a harsh tannin and over there, or really young Bordeaux, harsh tannin that give you a whole mouth of the joyness that you couldn't even open your mouth after that. Exactly!

So, you totally understand what I'm saying, right? So, with this silkiness they give you the hints of like a seer. He says, look, I'm here, I'm the Montepulciano d'abruzzo, I give you the sweetness but I'm here to give you some bitterness to try to balance your food to give you more complicity of food and wine matching.

You know, you sort of feel like so complicated, the complicity gives you a lot more to want to drink more to study and to research of this sort of wine. I think I quite like that.

Yeah, I think that is actually very, very important like food pairings, because I would say this goes in the culture as well. I would say for most Chinese probably we're not really in that much of a habit to just drink wine on its own. Most likely we're gonna be doing that over food. And I don't just mean snack food perhaps like proper meal.

So, to know what pairs, I think this has become really, really popular before. When Chinese people first start to drink wine, everyone feels like that's such a European such a western thing. So, you drink wine, then you eat western food.

But now, in recent years, I've seen all these pairing tips about how to pair, for example, Italian wines with Chinese food, which I think it's a really, it’s actually a very good angle. It's also very good sort of marketing tips because perhaps I want to try the wine, but I don't want to go through the trouble actually just cook myself a full Italian feast. I don't have the materials, I don't have the know how, but if you tell me I can have my hometown food, but still pair it very well with Abruzzo wines, that’ll be perfect.

I would love to give you an example from my Abruzzo experience, that last time I was in Hangzhou, you understand Hangzhou food that is quite... Sweet? With a little bit sweetness. I don't want to say that but yes, with the sweetness at the end just like perfect Abruzzo.

So, think about those two food combined together, think about that 红烧狮子头 that meatball with the beautiful, sweet, you know, the sort of sweet tasting at the end of the meat and the soup with the meat. And I don't know this is really one of my favorite food, cuisine in Hangzhou, and when it comes... when you try to match the 红烧狮子头 with the Abruzzo wine ,OMG, thay is just, perfection, so perfect.

But so far you've been talking about reds, right? Can you also recommend a white? I know they also have some Abruzzo origins, so produces some beautiful whites as well.

You are right, it's perfect, it's nice. Because actually we go back to the cuisine of the Abruzzo, because they love to have those deep fry things. Deep fry fish, deep fry shrimp, even barbecue. Those foods, they love it. Just like those like 烧烤 in China, they love this sort of food.

So, you know the Pecorino? Cheese? That is also a white wine. Yeah, I'm talking about wine Pecorino, it’s just beautiful as well. It's perfect, because Pecorino is a cheese, but it's also a sort of wine. So, if you try the Pecorino, they sort of… they have the beautiful acidity, freshness. At the same time, they have some complicity, for example, like vanilla. Sometimes they have the sort of like from zest, lemon zest, this sort of acidity and complicity and even like 柚子, you must know 柚子.

Like pomelo. The citrus, basically the citrus family. They have like a citrus note.

They're so perfect, citrus, all is. Mandarin is金桔, I don't even know how to say 金桔. Kumquat, I think. But kumquat, oh thanks for that. I don't really like kumquat anyway, but when you taste it in the wine and you feel like that's the complicity, that's the deep it's quite deep, deepness of the wine. There's not really quite a lot of wine have this sort of flavoring taste. And it's perfect.

From what… I don't know if I'm right to summarize what you've been saying about the red and the wine from Abruzzo region. It sounds like it is smooth enough even for beginners to get into. But it doesn't lack in complexity.

So even the more seasoned wine drinkers can appreciate it and it has a nice balance of like dryness but without being overwhelmingly heavy in tannin. But it also has the sort of balance of acidity and sweetness without any like sugar.

Wow, Lulu. You are the wine expert now.

Hahahaha, no, I'm just summarizing what you are saying.

You are doing really just right, just right, that's exactly Montepulciano d'abruzzo and Pecorino, you know, the Trebbiano, those wines in… uh from Abruzzo, it's really amazing.

You really have tempted my palate. So, to speak with not just the wine, not only your description of the wine from Abruzzo, but also talking about food pairings, possible food pairings. I can't wait to actually go to that region. I actually said this to Davide who is representing that region, Abruzzo consortium, that I would really love to visit that place to see its unique sort of climatic condition and see what kind of soil or what's the expert word that “Terroir”?

Terroir, 风土。

Thank you, Roger, for coming to the studio to share with us not only your professional opinion, but also your personal impression of these beautiful wines from this beautiful region. Thank you, Roger.

Always my pleasure, Lulu. Thank you for that!