Luca Gargano

Luca "Ruruki" His grandfather owned a farm in the countryside, which he visited often as a young child, and described his childhood as one "before chemicals". When he was 18 years old, he started working for Spirit SpA, Italy's largest spirits importer, where his father worked as a general manager. He stated that his love of rum began with his first trip to Martinique later that year in 1975. At age 26, he became the marketing director at Spirit SpA, and he declined an opportunity to work as marketing director for Fininvest, owned by future Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Instead, Gargano decided to chase his passion for rum, and a year later in 1983, at age 27, he purchased a stake in Velier, a small Genoese family-run importer of wines and spirits. ==CEO of Velier==

Upon purchasing a stake in Velier in 1983, Gargano refocused the company toward exclusively importing exotic Caribbean rums, such as Havana Club from Cuba, This decision turned Velier from a small operation generating €300,000 per year, to a successful company generating nearly €100 million in revenue. In 2014, Gargano published Atlas Du Rhum, a French-language atlas of plantations, distilleries, and rum tastings. In 2016, Velier entered a joint venture with La Maison du Whisky to form La Maison & Velier (LM&V). In 2021, Velier launched Habitation Velier Mhoba, the first pure pot still cane juice rum from South Africa. Besides rum, Velier also imports and distributes wines and Cuban cigars. ==Contributions to rum industry==

Philosophy and advocacy Gargano believes that the best rums are made in batches at a single distillery, aged in the climate of that distillery, or preferably, in the distillery itself, and then bottled without blending or additives, and that a rum containing additives such as sugar will never be a great rum. Bottling pure single rum in Jamaica, distributed by Habitation Velier In 1999, Gargano visited Demerara Distillers Ltd. (DDL) for the first time, and was impressed by the 250 year old pot stills present at the distillery, finding the production very artisanal, unlike the industrial manufacturing of Spanish-style rums. It also created an increase in demand for Demerara rum in Italy, a precursor to the "Caroni mania" that would come a few years later. Acquisition of the last stocks of Caroni Caroni distillery officially began operations in 1918 in the Caroni plain region of Trinidad and Tobago, and was a significant supplier of intensely flavored heavy rum for the Royal Navy, with sailors showing a preference for heavier, higher-ester, "funky" rums. Described as the "epitome" of heavy rum, Caroni rums are described as "thick, deep, oily, tropical profile with toffees, treacle and even a hint of tar". Since 2018, Gargano worked with Slow Food and the Clairin Presidium and the government of Haiti to establish a geographical indication (GI) for Haitian clairin, and in 2021, the Haitian government created HaïRum, which is a certification mark granted to clairins which meet certain criteria. Popularization of Hampden Estate Gargano is credited with introducing the world to Hampden Estate, a previously unknown bulk rum producing distillery, like Caroni. In 2017, Velier became the exclusive distributor for Hampden Estate, when the company bought exclusive global distribution rights, as well as Hampden's entire stock of rum, including their entire stock of aged rum. Following the success of this collaboration, the following year in 2021, Gargano and Joy Spence released a series of the Appleton Hearts Collection, a series of pure single rums. • Fermentation: The final product is affected by the fermentation depending on the yeast used for producing the wine, how much water is added, and also whether additional substances, such as dunder, bagasse, or vinegar are added. • Pure Single Rum – 100 percent batch (pot) still rum from one distillery • Single Blended Rum – a blend of only pot still and traditional column still rums from one distillery • Rum – Rum from a traditional column still • Industrial Rum – Rum from a multicolumn still ==Awards==

In 2014, Gargano was elected "Mejor experto de ron" (Spanish for Best rum expert) by rum producers. == References ==