March 2016

It’s easy to spend an evening with Erika Ribaldi. Not only because the effervescent area manager, Asia-Pacific for Marchesi de’ Frescobaldi wines has a deep knowledge of her company, or even because, being based in Asia, she has developed respect for the culture of the continent which she applies to her work. No. Actually one could spend an easy evening chatting about food, Fendi, footwear, philosophy, and of course, wine.

The vineyards of Castelgiocondo, Italy

Ribaldi is here to host a series of Frescobaldi wine dinners. I have to skip the dinner due to a prior commitment, but the chat before the event is a breathless rollercoaster of ideas, opinions and effusive warmth. I miss my sip of the Frescobaldi  Tenuta di Castelgiocondo Brunello di Montalcino 2009, but I’m promised a tasting at a later time.

“Wine dinners are the icing on the cake in our job,” she says, “This is when we have fun. The first ten minutes of interaction with the guests are important to create the mood – if people laugh at your speeches, the formality is gone and the job is done. I refuse to be the Taliban of wine!”

Ribaldi speaks passionately from her heart without pausing to assess or weigh her words, and that is so refreshing in the wine world, where everyone interacts with varying degrees of seriousness and often self-importance. She puts it down to understanding Asian culture in the time she has spent in the continent – she’s based in Bangkok – “Wine producers need to understand Asia more when we sell our wines. We feel the emotion and pride in our wine, but we think micro matters. What we need to consider is not how, but where we are selling our wines. Does a visiting wine producer understand Bangalore, for instance? Then why should the wine waiter pouring that wine understand Montalcino? For instance, in India you have many types of tea. I don’t know your tea – why should you know my wine? As producers, we need to be humble. Instead of talking, we need to communicate.”

Erika Ribaldi, area manager, Asia-Pacific, Marchesi de’ Frescobaldi

With wine education the need of the hour to grow wine culture in Asia, Ribaldi is aware that wine educators must engage and draw in potential wine lovers, something more than just teaching them empty wine verbiage they may not relate to. “We use metaphors in Europe which are hard to understand in Asia. There are no terms in wine tasting which relate to Asian flavours – like mango, jasmine – we need that. Instead of using empty words, if I say to you, “This bottle of wine will make you think of dancing the tango in red shoes – or, this one roars like the engine of a Ferrari Testarossa – you will understand the meaning of that wine better. A winemaker may have passion for his own craft, but often he might lack the skills of communication.”

The pairing of wines with Asian food is another conundrum winemakers scratch their heads over. “In Europe we must understand that Asia dines differently from Europe. Here, food is shared, there’s family style dining, and so wine matching often becomes irrelevant. What is more important in this scenario is to pick a wine that pleases your guest, rather than one which combines well with the cuisine,” she says. Makes sense, I tell her. (more…)