After Marco Mensurati’s exit, Lorenzo Ruggeri was appointed director of Gambero Rosso.
Young, prepared, resourceful, Lorenzo Ruggeri becomes the new director of Gambero Rosso. A background within the Roman publishing group, where he most recently held the position of International Editor, enabled him to grow and become the holding company’s new point man.
Bachelor’s degree in Communication in the Society of Globalization from the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Roma Tre in 2008, Master’s degree in food and wine communication and journalism right within Gambero Rosso in 2009 followed by the advanced certificate from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust in 2010. These were the starting points on which Ruggeri developed his career as a journalist and manager until he arrived at the helm of Italy’s most important food and wine magazine.
To Lorenzo the best compliments of DoctorWine’s editorial staff and editor Daniele Cernilli.
Thus Lorenzo Ruggeri recounted his first steps:
“I learned to appreciate wine in Norway. I was in Erasmus and wine was scarce. It could be purchased, but the Vinmonopolet accepted a currency we did not have: gold bars. It was the beginning of an illicit shard trade on the Rome-Bergen axis; when the smuggler on duty extracted a bottle, it was real party time. Then again, our craft beer-despite the efforts and advice of German master brewers-was the real bogeyman of every dinner party. The wine, on the other hand, was uncorked in religious silence and centered to the last drop: it tasted of distant lands and Mediterranean scents.
Back in Italy, I enrolled in a sommelier course, then said goodbye to mom. I used to force my girlfriend into basement vicissitudes (“it’s around the corner here,” “it’s passing through,” “we practically shorten”). The bottles were beginning to pile up in the cellar; the ais was lulling me with its free tastings; the red moleskine was marking a ridiculous amount of descriptors and scores.
And then Burgundy. He electrocuted me on an on-the-road trip; when I grew up I wanted to live on wine. One evening in August, one of those evenings when there’s more binge drinking than usual, I jokingly entered a blind wine recognition contest: to the disbelief of my friends, I won. Even in my dissertation, not exactly on topic (nonplaces), I recounted wines and territorial contaminations: cap and praise.
Then the master’s degree in food and wine journalism from Gambero Rosso. Noticed by observers from the Consorzio Tutela Vini Oltrepò Pavese, at the end of my master’s degree, I went to make my bones in Broni. Where is it? I haven’t figured it out yet. I remember succulent polenta, mists of the third kind, and exquisite friends. Beckenbauer Beghi taught me the sense of position; Bonarda, Barbera and many Pinot Noirs tempered the spirit. The big chance is coming: sent to New York to captain the Lombardy national team at Italian Wine Week.
On my return I turned down a good contract that would have tied me to Milan, picked up my suitcase and threw it to London – Always suspicious of a nation that does not produce wine. Among the counters of the Wine & Spirit Education Trust-a few pubs away from London Bridge-I tore through the advanced level. I cradled the thought of living in London, then amended it over cacio e pepe with friends.
Called back by Gambero Rosso, I picked up the same suitcase and the way home. Time to put something aside and I was off on a round-the-world trip. Five months with the same intensity of play as Barca. Alone? Not really, the wine was with me: Napa, Sonoma, Mendoza, Maipu, Waiheke Island, Central Otago, Marlborough, Yarra Valley. I have approached Mexican wines, Thai wines; on the side I have written some reports, in other cases I have improvised tasting classes. I returned home on June 12. The next morning, in a semi-oxidative state, I resumed service at the Città del Gusto in Rome with a horizontal on New Zealand wines.
Next? I will be opening my own wine bar soon. I’ve already reviewed it, I just need to find it.”
Then life pointed him down another path….
