Talk:Luca Gargano

I could not find any info on Gargano's birthday, but I extrapolated from him being 18 when he visited Martinique in 1975 and him being 27 when he bought Velier in 1983. 𝟏𝟎𝐚𝐫𝐭𝟏 ^talk 21:36, 30 January 2026 (UTC)

@10art1 If you can't find a clear source for year of birth, I'd suggest leaving it out. If you do want to include it, I'd suggest including the relevant brief quote from "Nomadic among the barrels" inside that citation, such as wherever he said he was a certain age at a certain time. Dreamyshade (talk) 05:49, 4 February 2026 (UTC)

We only include full dob if it's widely reported in RS. If you have a source that says something like "Gargano, 51," you can use Template:birth based on age as of date in the infobox and cite to that source. Valereee (talk) 13:57, 19 February 2026 (UTC)

I added {​{birth based on age as of date|18|1975|||27|1983}} but I guess the lua logic is conservative because it still says 1956 or 1957 (age 68–69) despite 1956 being the only possible year he could be born. 𝟏𝟎𝐚𝐫𝐭𝟏 ^talk 14:58, 25 February 2026 (UTC)

Additionally, this article https://durhum.com/interview-luca-gargano-velier/ has an interview with Gargano, noting that he is 57 years old and that it took place before Whisky Live in Paris on September 28, 2013, so I can say for sure that his birthday is sometime between Jan 1 1956 - Sept 27 1956, but I feel like it's too much time and effort to dig so deep into such a minor detail so I will leave it at this. 𝟏𝟎𝐚𝐫𝐭𝟏 ^talk 16:07, 25 February 2026 (UTC)

Yeah, we aren't focussed all that much on exact dates of birth. It doesn't actually provide much of use for the reader. Valereee (talk) 17:30, 25 February 2026 (UTC)

10art1, which three (and only three, please) sources represent the best for supporting a claim to wp:notability? All three must meet all three of the following criteria:

1. wp:significant coverage
2. wp:reliable source
3. wp:independent source

Valereee (talk) 13:46, 19 February 2026 (UTC)

My 3 best candidates would probably be:

Goldberg, Jacob. "Sun, music, freedom: Luca Gargano". CEO Magazine. Retrieved 2026-01-27.

Pietrek, Matt; Smith, Carrie (2022). Modern Caribbean Rum. Wonk Press. ISBN 978-0-578-27139-2.

Tristan Stephenson (June 16, 2025). "Luca Gargano - Godfather of Rum". The Curious Bartender Podcast (Podcast). Spotify. Retrieved 2026-01-27. 𝟏𝟎𝐚𝐫𝐭𝟏 ^talk 17:08, 23 February 2026 (UTC)

Hey, @10art1!

• The podcast appears to be (I only listened to the first few minutes) an interview with Gargano. We have an article about Tristan Stephenson which supports him being an expert (rather than, say, just some rando with a podcast), so the fact Stephenson calls him "the most influential figure in the rum category over the past 20 years" is a plausible claim to notability, and once we've proven notability we can use some of what he says about himself in the article, but we still need to see sources discussing him at length, so unless this podcast is primarily the host talking about him (rather than primarily the two of them discussing rum and other stuff, or Gargano answering questions), we can't use it to prove notability. What would be #4 on your list of sigcov/RS/independent?
• Hm on the Pietrek...that's not in my library's holdings nor available via interlibrary loan. Maybe we can discuss how much coverage the book gives to Gargano -- is it, for instance, several paragraphs, several pages? What kinds of things does it talk about?
• The CEO magazine I would call sigcov in an RS independent of the article subject, and it also makes a plausible claim to notability: "The classification systems he developed for natural wine and rum have become international standards adopted by some of the world’s most popular ecommerce and auction sites.".

I'm personally convinced the guy's notable, but let's bulletproof the article. Valereee (talk) 17:31, 23 February 2026 (UTC)

Absolutely. I am a relatively new editor so I try to do solid research, but I am always open to assistance to make the article better

On the subject of Modern Caribbean Rum by Pietrek and Carrie, I was mainly referencing Chapter 3 which discusses classification systems, including the Gargano classification system (notability), and the book in chapter 22 discusses the notability of the Caroni distillery, which, while not mentioning Gargano by name, was his discovery and a major contribution of his to the rum world. There's other online sources that discuss both of these points, but I was limited to 3 best sources, so that was one of my top 3. It's an independent source and Pietrek is a well-regarded rum journalist and adds to the significance of Gargano. 𝟏𝟎𝐚𝐫𝐭𝟏 ^talk 17:53, 23 February 2026 (UTC)

But yes, the interview is largely Stephenson asking him questions and Gargano responding at length.

I would say this would have been my #4

Sagnier, Damien. "Luca Gargano and Jamaica, a true romance". Rumporter. Retrieved 2026-01-27. 𝟏𝟎𝐚𝐫𝐭𝟏 ^talk 18:02, 23 February 2026 (UTC)

Unfortunately that's another interview. Again the interviewer makes statements for a plausible claim to notability ("If there is a key figure in the rum world, that person is Luca “Ruruki” Gargano!") but what we're trying to do is have three sources no experienced editor would argue with, and interviews with the article subject are nearly always not accepted for that. A person being interviewed by multiple industry media tells us "this person is likely notable" but the interviews themselves aren't enough.

Hm, it sounds like the book might be better support for Gargano system or Caroni distillery.

FWIW, the reason we ask for three (and only three) when we first open these discussions is because three is what we need, and it's a lot of work for a reviewer to go through 23, and as the article creator, you're already very familiar with the sources. We do understand that with newer editors, this is a learning experience, and I'm happy to keep going through the sources, one by one in order of your estimation of their value in supporting notability. It's just tedious when there are 23 and I have no idea which ones are most promising.

(And FFR, when I create an article, I start a draft and start working through sources. As soon as I have my three, I move it to article space, then continue fleshing it out using other reliable sources. Then if anyone ever asks for my best three, I can go back into the history, see what sources I was using when I moved it to article space, and know exactly where I was when I said to myself, 'that'll do it'.)

So at this point I'm thinking the CEO magazine is 1, and we still need two more. Which 2 would be next on your list for me to look at? Valereee (talk) 18:48, 23 February 2026 (UTC)

This one is an exciting read

CharsiuCharlie. "Caroni Rum Mania: How Forgotten Barrels in Trinidad Transformed Into A". 88 Bamboo. Retrieved 2026-01-27.

but I was concerned about naming it among my top ones because it reads more narrative rather than biographical, and 88 bamboo has some following, and have issued retractions when they were wrong, but I don't know if it is a WP:Reliable_source for sure.

Likewise, this source goes into his contributions to bringing Haitian clairin to the world

Jack, Eilidh. "Clairin and Rhum Barbancourt: Haiti's Unique Distilling Landscape". Rum Auctioneer. Retrieved 2026-01-28.

but I don't know if a rum auction site can quality for WP:Reliable_source

Overall, my issue is that I did this all backwards. I started with a guy that I was excited about, did a bunch of research, drafted an article, plugged in sources as I wrote his story, and I assumed that with everything he's done, he is surely notable, but I didn't start with a bare bones article with just 3 solid sources meeting all of the criteria for notability and expand from there.

I respect your time, so I might look for a few more sources 𝟏𝟎𝐚𝐫𝐭𝟏 ^talk 20:00, 23 February 2026 (UTC)

I'm going to call the 88 Bamboo source #2.

Yep, it's very common to do it backwards when you're new. I often think the best way to start an article is to create it from your best three and submit to AfC. If you have three and the reviewers don't have to check dozens of sources, you're good. :) Feel free to look for other sources, no harm in that at all!

The rum auctioneer source is iffy. It's not really about Gargano, he's more just quoted as an expert. We want articles about him. FWIW, we don't care what language they're in, so if there's an Italian feature article about him, bring it on. Valereee (talk) 20:22, 23 February 2026 (UTC)

I don't speak Italian so searching through Italian sources would be difficult for me. I've been just basically googling, trying to find something that looks good.

There's this site: https://www.thegentlemansjournal.com/article/luca-gargano-rum-collector/ it's independent and considers Gargano significant, but it's more of a lifestyle magazine than a trade publication.

There's also this: https://www.decanter.com/features/rum-renaissance-477394/ it's independent and a respected trade publication, but it doesn't focus on Gargano solely, just mentioning him several times as one of the drivers of innovation. 𝟏𝟎𝐚𝐫𝐭𝟏 ^talk 20:49, 23 February 2026 (UTC)

Gentlemans Journal is #3. It discusses Gargano at some length, and also refers to him as "one of the most celebrated individuals in the industry". Are all of those three (Gentleman's Journal, 88 Bamboo, CEO) already in the draft's references? (Just being lazy.)

Yes, language difficulties are a problem. It's even worse when there's transliteration.

Here are a few Italian sources I've found via a prompt to ChatGPT of "Can you find some articles in italian about Luca Gargano?": Identita Golose, Rolling Stone Italy, Cucina. Note that we don't use AI to write articles or post on talk pages. We use it to find sources. In this case I can find those Italian sources, then use the translation tool in my browser.

Valereee (talk) 12:26, 25 February 2026 (UTC)

Ok I added a few more sources from the ones you listed, including Gentleman's Journal, so now all 3 are in the references. I also added a lead section. 𝟏𝟎𝐚𝐫𝐭𝟏 ^talk 15:17, 25 February 2026 (UTC)

I've moved to article space. You could consider nominating this for WP:DYK, it easily qualifies. Valereee (talk) 17:40, 25 February 2026 (UTC)

Thanks! I'll look into it tomorrow. I'm pretty new to editing Wikipedia so I appreciate being told about these things. 𝟏𝟎𝐚𝐫𝐭𝟏 ^talk 04:44, 26 February 2026 (UTC)

With the DYK being published, I talked to some people in the rum community, and I just wanted to emphasize, in the talk page at least, that it's not the case that the distillery was simply forgotten to time and these barrels were completely unknown. From what I gather, the government of Trinidad and Angostura were in talks about Angostura buying the distillery and the old rum from the government that owned the distillery. These talks broke down as Angostura wasn't willing to pay the price that the government was asking for Caroni, and so the question went unanswered and the distillery was shuttered and guards posted around it while the government continued to look for a buyer.

Gargano discovering that Caroni was shut down, and all these barrels of rum were looking for an owner, was indeed a genuine discovery for much of the world. But I just wanted to clarify that it's not like he was Indiana Jones, discovering long lost rum in the deep jungle.

Of course, this is all WP:OR so I'm not going to add that to the article, and I didn't encounter this while researching what sources say, but I'll leave this note. 𝟏𝟎𝐚𝐫𝐭𝟏 ^talk 20:29, 15 March 2026 (UTC)