How do we choose the wineproducer with to start a long term collaboration with?
Posted on: 21-11-2020 om 05:28:32
| Karina Imschoot
How do you choose a wine producer?
My shadow in the wine world, not visible "online
The very last place I would go to work with a wine producer would be Vinitaly, a fair that for me only means a mass gathering. My problem - claustrophy in closed rooms where I have to stay for more than two hours - means that my brain cells no longer function as they should. The organ of smell and taste is therefore at a loss.
In 99% of cases, how I arrive at a particular wine producer can be described as 'coincidence'. I do admit that in addition to my perception of smell and taste, I call on one of the greatest masters in the wine scene, Francesco Gaja, Angelo Gaja's nephew. A retired, no longer commercially active character, but with a knowledge of wine that surpasses every wine journalist in Italy and worldwide. When I lived in Barbaresco (2013 to 2016) Franco came by every day with another wine that I had to taste blind. That's how I rolled into the wine business, so to speak.
To summarise: if I come across something that fascinates me, Francesco is, for the friends Franco, the man who resolutely cuts me down or lets me hear a "bravo Karina". I can then only save my reputation from negative criticism by adding the starting point of 'why' and, above all, 'for whom' the wine fascinates. In one out of ten cases, I am still right.
Coincidence: the right person in the right place at the right time
To find the right man or woman at the right place at the right time: not a foregone conclusion, of course.
Shall we give an example?
On my last but one trip to Piedmont, I had to walk my dog after a busy day. I know such a beautiful path in Barbaresco where normally no cat comes because the average tourist does not know this path. The only ones you can find there are Angelo Gaja and journalists, but at that time of day this was not normally the case. For your information: I ALWAYS have my bodyguard with me, an Australian Shephard, blessed with the name Asanka. My four-legged friend wants to expend tons of energy after a day in which my duties are discussed.
That was of course out of the harvest and so about 10 pickers and one governor in the wagon at a relatively short distance. What does an enthusiastic, energetic dog do long before he can notice a human being? Yes, he makes a sprint, no longer detectable in my field of vision and goes to greet each and every one of them and then jumps into the chariot of the governor who later turned out to be the owner of the vineyards, with Angelo Gaja's toppers as the neighbour of each of his vineyards.
All this information was exchanged and the governor, the co-owner of La Spinona, also turned out to be a great dog lover. Logical with such a name because La Spinona actually means the name of a typical Piedmontese dog breed. Just as nice that I don't have to appeal to my insurance company for a dog that first nestled itself in the worm mountain of Angelo Gaja and then gave the car of this wine producer a new layer of colour and smell.
To the point: business with clear objectives
What happened after that was classic: on the next wine tour I did an extensive tasting, visited the winery and vineyards "without" my bodyguard this time and a commercial agreement was the result. Franco had already sent me a whole advice page between the first meeting and the visit onsite.
I feel fortunate not to have to depend on situations where crowds, too many people present, the wrong locations for tastings in the mix of experience. This wrong mix would not lead me to the right choices: getting to know unique wines in conjunction with unique characters, with their own story in the wine world.