Expat Stories: An American Opens a Winery in Italy
I’m glad that I’ve been able to meet Amanda and hear her fascinating story. And since I was doing “Thursday Takeovers”, I thought that she’d be perfect for it.
Talking with her makes me feel delighted. I was captivated with her passion. Indeed, a revelation of thrill and enchantment!
And I hope you’ll also feel the same way as you go through Amanda’s story, so be ready to ride onto some adventures and/or lay back and drink a great glass of wine. With that said, let’s get started.
HOW DID YOU END UP IN ITALY?
I moved to Italy to be here with my husband Gianni. I came in the fall of 2011 and moved here permanently in June 2012. I live in Castagnole delle Lanze, a small town right outside of the Barbaresco winemaking area. I ended up here well, really because this is the town where my husband grew up. Plus, having a place close to our vineyard is quite important.
CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE SPOTS TO EAT, GO OUT AND EXPLORE AROUND WHERE YOU LIVE?
Some of my favorite places to frequently visit with my friends there are at Bar Castello in Castagnole delle Lanze, where they make the most beautiful soy cappuccino and are always a super easy place to grab a cold beer after a long day in the hot sun. Otherwise, if we are planning to go out, I love going to Santo Stefano Belbo and Canelli. Some of my favorite spots are in Santo Stefano Belbo, Bar Roma, when you go in the evening the bartenders there make up some of the best cocktails in the area, and let me tell you it is hard to find a good cocktail around these parts. Then there is a new gelateria called Bun da Mat (in dialect means like crazy good) and there they have this pistachio gelato that is out of this world. Also if you stop for a coffee there they have the top Napoli style coffee in Piemonte. One of my favorite old school Osteria in the area is called Ristorante Belbo da Bardon where they make the pasta fresh every day and if you order a cheese plate they will come wheeling up to your table with a cart full of incredible cheese for you to choose from.
Then I like going to our neighboring town Neive, one of the 4 villages in the Barbaresco winemaking area. Here they have one of the most fun enoteca (wine bar) around called Al Nido della Cinciallegra, where you can casually sit and enjoy a glass of a few bottles of wine with friends.
Another nearby town I like to visit now is Costigliole d'Asti, apart from them having the best butcher in the area called Punto Carne (they raise all their own cattle and the quality of the beef is out of this world). Next door they have this really cool wine bar with all-natural wine called Vino Enobottega, it is in this little teany cozy place where I like to go in the winter as it has only 4 tables and is located in a very old cellar with brick cathedral ceilings, it is a bit dark and warm and good wine and snack. It's a win for me.
WHAT DO YOU DO FOR A LIVING? AND HOW DID YOU END UP IN THAT INDUSTRY?
Apart from working with my husband in our vineyard, I host wine tours at Amanda’s Wine Adventures, mostly around Piemonte in the Barolo and Barbaresco wine areas, but also some in Sicily on Mount Etna as well. I ended up doing this kind of work, well as I have studied to be a sommelier. I have worked in several places in Los Angeles before moving to Italy working as a sommelier. When I arrived here, I started to work in wineries. I would host the tastings in the winery as well as handle the office work and marketing. It was a big job but I really enjoyed it. Not so much the pay though.
As time went on, I noticed that so many people would come to me with questions of where to eat, drink, and what other wineries in the area are great to visit. They would come to me with all these questions because well, I am the local. Then it turned into us meeting for dinners and on weekends going to tastings together where I would continue to explain the area. From there I said, hey, I could totally make this my job.
I have over 15 years of experience in the hospitality business. I know Piemonte and Sicily like the palm of my hand so why not help people plan the best, most authentic vacations in Italy? So I did, I started my company in 2015 and things have been just getting better and better every year to the point where I help organize events and weddings as well as luxury small group travel.
HOW DID YOU PICK THAT NAME?
For our winery Delinquent, it started with me being obsessed with our local dialect. It is really important to me that the regions of Italy continue to speak in their dialects as we are noticing with the youth there are fewer and fewer people who speak it as it is a regional language. The second important thing was to make sure my parents could pronounce the name. If it is too complicated to say, people won't order the product because no one wants to feel silly. So we went back and forth for weeks.
Until one day Gianni said to me "What do you think about Delinquent?" Delinquente is the Italian word, Delinquent is in dialect from the area of Asti, but it is also the same spelling of Delinquent in English and it means the same thing. So it was a WIN!
My husband's grandfather would always lovingly call him a Delinquent and my husband has gained his passion for the vine from his grandparents so this was a perfect fit. Plus we kind of are the Delinquents of the Annunziata street. We work organically, the first one in the area to do this. We take care of our vines in a different way which is with respect to their life to make sure they live a very very long time, something no one in our area is doing. And we are the youngest people in our area trying to build up to something great!
Delinquent Wine
WHAT TYPE OF GRAPES/WINE DO YOU PRODUCE?
We have just one hectare and grow only Nebbiolo grapes. Our wine is labeled Monferrato Rosso Doc but when we come out with our 2019, the denomination will change to Monferrato Nebbiolo DOC which we are quite excited about.
I KNOW ITALY HAS SOME PRETTY STRICT RULES AROUND FOOD PRODUCTION. LIKE PEOPLE IN ITALY AREN'T ALLOWED TO GROW GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD, RIGHT? WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT? AND HOW DOES IT INFLUENCE HOW YOU GROW AND PRODUCE YOUR WINES?
This for us is great! We are working our hardest to have a super high-quality product, where we don't have to mess with nature. What I like about living in Italy is everything is fresh and REAL. Your veggies will not stay "fresh" in the fridge for the whole week. They are really fresh and you need to use them up quick otherwise they will go bad. The same thing for the wines, you cannot put any tricks into the wine here. It is great. No mad scientists making wine. It's hard-working farmers making wine.
WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELVES AND YOUR BUSINESS IN THE NEXT FEW YEARS?
In the next few years we hope to have some more hectares, from there we would like to work with 2 other indigenous grape varietals from the Monferrato area. Freisa is one and Grignolino is the other. Both quite hard to find, and even more hard to find in high quality but complex style. So we are going to try our hardest to bring up the awareness of the Monferrato winemaking area to be known for its quality.
I FEEL LIKE IN A LOT OF WAYS YOU'RE LIVING THE ITALIAN DREAM. ARE YOU?
It is romantic to make wine and own a vineyard, but you must always remember that the soil is very low, and it is tiring and back-breaking work. There are no days off, there are no more days where we can sleep in. It is a lifestyle, but it is a very rewarding one that is for sure.
WHAT ARE SOME THINGS YOU WISH YOU WOULD HAVE KNOWN BEFORE COMING TO ITALY?
What I wish I had known before coming to Italy, we Americans say that we work a lot, and yes we do. But, for as much as the Italians have a wonderful life, revolving around friends and family, food and wine, they work just as much if not more. And some things are wicked tough to get some done. Like paperwork or anything legal. Bureaucracy here is painful and if you don't know what question to ask or who to turn to then things might not get done. Trust me.
ANY ADVICE YOU'D GIVE TO SOMEBODY WANTING TO MOVE TO ITALY?
Well to be perfectly honest, talking to Thea about her moving to Italy course, I would have jumped on to that to get some insider information. Yes my husband is Italian and I was kind of lucky to have had a little bit less paperwork to do for that reason, but I would have loved to have someone help me through the process of moving here. Also to just explain to me how to buy a car (not the same as in the US) or how to rent an apartment and set up all the utilities.
Things here are very different, and people are not so willing to give out information nor the correct information. To have some help would have been wonderful and probably would have spared me some grey hairs.
So guys what are your thoughts? Does this article make you want to experience Amanda’s winery?
Or are you excited about moving to Italy? If so sign up for info on our new course, Move to Italy here or via the sign-up sheet below
And definitely make sure you like Amanda’s Wine Adventures on Instagram and Facebook.
