Episode 69: All in the Wine Family

Author Suzanne Hoffman chats with us this week to talk about her new book, Labor of Love: Wine Family Women of Piemonte. She shares some great stories and insight on how she was able to bring these precious stories to paper. Anyone that loves and appreciates great Italian wines will certainly fall in love with the women who left their indelible mark on Italian wine culture and heritage. We did. We also recommend you regard the table of contents as a wine list while you’re reading this gorgeous book. We hope you enjoy this special episode. Salute~

Steph: “Hey everyone, welcome to episode 69 of Wine Two Five! Steph here, along with Val and a special guest, and we have a super fun show that we can’t wait to dig into!”

Val: “We do! With us today and along for the Wine Two Five ride is Suzanne Hoffman, author of Labor of Love: Wine Family Women of Piemonte. She is joining us from Vail, Colorado, so we have most of the state covered today with Steph up in the FoCo and Val in Colorado Springs.”

Steph: “Suzanne, it’s so great to have you here and that you’re enjoying some wine time with us! Why don’t you get things started – what have you had lately in your glass?”

Drinking – What’s in our glasses: 

Suzanne: “One of my favorites to drink are some bubbles from Deltetto, their spumante metodo classico and lately I’ve been enjoying quite a bit of it since we just got a new shipment.”

Val: “I’ve got this 2014 Edi Keber Collio Bianco from Friuli-Venezia-Giulia. This wine actually comes from an appellation near the Slovenian border. It’s a blend of Friulano (no can call Tocai anymore, right?) Malvasia Istriana and Ribolla Gialla. It’s about a $20 bottle. Steph?”

Steph: “I’m drinking German Gilabert Brut Nature Rosat Cava. It is a rose sparkling wine that Justin brought home from Wilbur’s Total Beverage. It is a geeky wine without the price tag because it is made from 80% Trepat and 20% Garnacha and it is also a Brut Nature meaning there was no dosage (no sugar) added. It is a dry, delicious, breakfast wine for $15/bottle. I’m excited to hear more about Suzanne and her book project!”

Discussion – Interview with Suzanne Hoffman:

This is unlike any wine book we’ve talked about on this show – and we talk about a lot of wine books!  Suzanne started writing Labor of Love: Wine Family Women of Piemonte back in 2013.  She is an attorney and freelance journalist born in New Orleans, Louisiana. She grew up in Thibodaux, in the heart of Louisiana’s bayou country, spent most of her adult life in Switzerland, and now resides in the central Colorado Rockies near Vail.

In 1999, Suzanne discovered Piemonte and devoted herself to becoming a wine family expert committed to the preservation of their stories for future generations. Her voice has become their collective voice. When not immersed in her labor of love of writing, Suzanne delights in alpine skiing, snowshoeing, biking, hiking, and exploring the enchanted world of wine with her husband, Dani.”

Suzanne talked to us about her hope for the book and why it’s important in society and the wine world today. First and foremost, these stories have mostly been kept verbal for decades but are a vital part of the wine history and culture of Piemonte. She is hoping for the book to be commercially successful, mainly because that would mean that a lot of people would have read these stories. In fact, her ability to not only be the voice of the wine families but to document the sacrifices and contributions of the men and women who produce some of the world’s finest wines, is amazing and timely. While there is much talk about the wine world being “a man’s world” one can imagine what it was like at the turn of the 20th century and during two world wars.

Val and Steph attended the Thursday night book event the day this episode aired. What a treat to sip wines from Matteo Corregia (Chapter 3) with the books in our laps. Suzanne talked about the genesis of the book project as she read from her personal journal. She also read some special passages from Labor of Love. And a labor of love it truly was. She would share even more about the indie publishing process with her husband, Dani, serving as her publisher and setting up their own publishing company. She was not able to only set a personal deadline (June 2nd, 2016) for the release of this book, but assemble her team of talent based right here in Colorado! The book is printed by VeronaLibri in Verona Italy. She tells us, “There’s never been a better time to be an indie writer.”

Honestly, you have to have your hands on this book to appreciate not only the stories (some of which she shared some background during this podcast episode), but the photos, the design work, and the passion which brought this project to fruition. How did she assemble her team? Well, the same way we met Suzanne – online through social media!

If you can attend one of the book and wine events, we highly suggest it. There’s nothing like the complete package of holding Labor of Love, sipping wine from the Table of Contents, and hearing Suzanne talk of her own labor of love: the why, the how, the when, and, most importantly, the who. It’s a full-on sensory experience vital for wine lovers and Italofiles alike.

We sincerely hope you enjoy our interview with Suzanne. She explains why some stories were the hardest to write, and then she has a little funny story at the end.

New segment – Burning Wine Questions:

Val: “We are going to introduce a new segment called ‘Burning Wine Questions’ where listeners can leave us a voicemail. We will choose one to play on the show (but answer all of them) and give you all the answer.”

Steph: “It’s as if the listeners get to choose the factoids! This is so cool! All you have to do is go to our website and look for the “We’re Listening” widget on the right hand side of the page above the tweets. Click, speak, send!” Here is the link for the Wine Two Five Speakpipe widget.

Winoradar:

Steph: “Next week is the SWE 40th Annual Conference in Washington D.C. – so that’s exciting! I love how they accurately describe it as the “Best Wine Education Conference EVER.” Val and I will deliver a recap for you the week after the conference so stay connected for that…”

Suzanne: “One of the fun things about Labor of Love is that we’re able to do book/wine pairings. Why not? The book and the wines go so well together. On the 11th of August I am at Ridge Street Wines with Ann Dowling, and you can find a lot of this information on my website at www.winefamilies.com. I will be there in the evening from 5:30 until about 8 o’clock, and once again we’ll be tasting wonderful wines.

“On Friday, the 9th of September, I will be at Prima restaurant in Walnut Creek, CA with John Rittmaster and we have quite a selection of wines. You can go on my website and see the lineup – it reads like my table of contents, that’s for sure.

“And then on the 11th of September in the afternoon I will be at San Francisco Wine School, and we will be doing a Piemonte event there. Lots of things are in the planning stages now!”

Shoutouts:

Steph: “Applause, applause for the Heavy Restaurant Group’s Purple Cafe & Wine Bar! I had a fabulous lunch at the Bellevue location when I was in Seattle last weekend. There wine list design is particularly awesome and they really deliver on service and the overall sensory experience.”

Val: “Love. That. Place. My shout out goes to the guys at our Sushi O’ Sushi restaurant. Steph, you remember that place? Bob, the manager, Jay, the GM, and Taylor and Martin gave my client from out of town and me the royal treatment last week as we were there for three hours doing a private wine tasting and sushi pairing class. Thank you guys for your hospitality and being so accommodating.”

Suzanne: “To everybody here that serves a bottle of wine from a wine family. I think we need to support wine families because of the heritage and their wonderful product that they’re bringing us. Two of my favorite places here in Vail to go to, or actually in Avon, is Vin 48 Greg Eynon has the most amazing wine program going on over there, and also of course Zino Ristorante in Edwards River Walk. They are the scene of many of the Piemonte wine makers who come to town and do dinners there. And Steve Lewis of Giuliana Imports – what a great guy. He is bringing these families’ wines to Colorado and many more states west of us. Those are just amazing people who are running their own businesses, locals who have just such a passion to support the wine families. So obviously they have a big place in my heart for that.”

Steph: “And that’s a wrap – with a bow – for this week! Connect with Val on Twitter @WineGalUnboxed and on the Vino With Val FB page, and on instagram as Vino with Val.

“You can find Steph on Twitter @Albarellosoap and on the AlbarelloSoap FB page, and check out the videos on the Albarello YouTube channel!

“Suzanne? Where can our listeners connect with you?”

Suzanne: “They can connect with me on facebook, at Wine Families of the World, on twitter, @WineFamilies, and through my blog at Wine Families.com. You see a theme there, I’m sure.”

Val: “Please visit us on the W25 FB page, Twitter, Pinterest & YouTube. Also, if you want to build your collection of wine books or accessories, please check out the online store on our website!

“We hope that you’ll share Wine Two Five with your friends and online community, and we certainly appreciate all your involvement and feedback. Leave us a burning wine question or comment on speakpipe and while you’re at it, go out to iTunes and show us some love there in the form of a glowing iTunes review so other wine lovers can discover our fun W25 community.

One more thing… Don’t forget to use the #W25Challenge when you are trying new wines and drinks. Until next week …. Cheers!”