Hill’s premier wine maven has ‘best job in the world’

Posted 4/9/15

Gina Pio Cossman, of Chestnut Hill, and her brother Bart run the family’s wine importing business. Their Moscato is one of the most popular sweet wines in the country. (Photo by Len Lear)[/caption] …

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Hill’s premier wine maven has ‘best job in the world’

Posted
Gina Pio Cossman, of Chestnut Hill, and her brother Bart run the family’s wine importing business. Their Moscato is one of the most popular sweet wines in the country. (Photo by Len Lear) Gina Pio Cossman, of Chestnut Hill, and her brother Bart run the family’s wine importing business. Their Moscato is one of the most popular sweet wines in the country. (Photo by Len Lear)[/caption]

by Len Lear

Gina Pio Cossman, of Chestnut Hill, and her brother Bart run the family’s wine importing business, Elmo Pio Wines. They have sold 120,000 cases of wine in the past year, 90,000 of which were Moscato. Their dad, Elmo Pio, who had previously run the business, died in 1996. Their grandfather, Bartolomeo Pio, had sold the family winery in 1964 and transitioned from local wine maker to international wine importer and distributor. We recently put the following questions to Gina, most of which have nothing to do with the wine business:

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Being able to eat and drink well everyday.

What were the best and worst experiences in your life?

The best was having my children, and the worst was Hurricane Sandy.

If you could have any job in the world, what would it be?

I already have it.

Which person in the world would you most like to meet and spend an hour with?

Oprah Winfrey.

When and where were you the happiest?

When I was a teenager on Long Beach Island.

What talent would you most like to have?

Artistic.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Two amazing kids and 29 years of marriage.

What is your greatest regret?

Smoking.

If you were able to come back to earth as any person or thing, what would it be?

A horse.

What is your most treasured possession?

My mother's rosary beads.

Who is your favorite athlete? Why?

I do not have one.

What is the quality you like most in a man?

They get better looking with age.

What is the quality you like most in a woman?

Women listen.

Who are your favorite writers, living and/or dead? 

I do not have one.

Who is your favorite hero in fiction?  

Mrs. Doubtfire.

Who are your heroes in real life, living and/or dead?

My father, my mother and my brother.

What do you value most in a friend?

The history we share.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Chestnut Hill.

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?

I do not know.

What is your most prominent characteristic?

My voice.

What do you most dislike in other people?

When they tell me what I should do.

What is your biggest pet peeve?

Someone else controlling the thermostat.

What is the best book you've ever read?

“The Celestine Prophecy.”

What is the best movie you've ever seen?

“Like Water for Chocolate.”

What is your favorite song?

“That's Amore.”

What are your favorite foods and/or wine and/or beer?

Pasta and Northern Italian white wine.

What do you do in your spare time?

Cook, gym, horseback riding and gardening.

What is the best place you have ever visited and why?

Southern California back in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s because it was one big party.

Who had the strongest impact on your life? Why?

My father because he was instrumental in my career.

If you had it to do all over again, what kind of work do you think you would do? Why?

I would still be in the wine business. However, I should have incorporated more travel when I was younger.

What would you most like to do that you have never done?

I would learn how to fly.

For more information about Elmo Pio wines, based in Chestnut Hill, visit elmopio.com.

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