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The new wine markets through the eyes of Luca Mazzoleni.

How can foreign consumers be won over more effectively? What are the most acknowledged virtues of Italian wines abroad? What communication approach should be adopted to respond appropriately to the evolution of the market? We put these and other crucial questions for those who operate (or intend to operate) on international markets to one of the leading experts in the sector in Italy, Luca Mazzoleni, selection consultant and salesman in the USA for many years and founder of UnoVino Wine Trading, a firm specialising in the brokerage of wine and food products to the main export destinations.

Born in Bergamo in 1975 and having gained familiarity with the world of wine through Luigi Veronelli Permanent Seminar courses, Luca Mazzoleni, after graduating with top marks in Modern History at Milan University, moved to New York for work and remained there from 2002 to 2008. During his six years in the USA with the importer Selected Estates of Europe Ltd, he worked first as procurements manager/selection consultant, and then as area manager and sales force trainer. At the end of 2008, his second USA work permit having expired, he returned to Italy and founded UnoVino Wine Trading, a sole proprietorship engaged in the brokerage of wine and food products to the main export markets. Today, he works with more than thirty companies in Italy and Burgundy, helping them export to North America, North Europe and Asia. In addition to the brokerage activity through his own firm, he previously occupied the position of sales director at two prestigious Italian wine production companies, the Gulfi company in Sicily and the Mazzolino Estate in Lombardy.

Based on your experience, what are the most acknowledged virtues of Italian wines among foreign consumers?

Firstly, the great heritage of native vines possessed by our country, from the north to the south, able to generate an eclectic, all-round

This year’s Pinot Noir Masters revealed an encouraging number of balanced and refined entries, particularly at higher price points, reaffirming the judges’ perceptions of this most pernickety variety.

However hectic your wine tasting schedule, it’s hard to get a truly global handle on the stylistic trends concerning any single grape. But with our annual Global Masters, you gain exactly that – a current snapshot of winemaking fashions among the major noble grapes.

Not only that, but this is delivered in just one day – each judge tastes up to 70 different wines from the same grape within a matter of hours.

As we’ve reported before, with Chardonnay, wherever it’s from, we’ve seen a shift from heavier styles, as winemakers dial down the diacetyl and new oak. On the other hand, we’ve seen the emergence of matchstick characters in this grape, as cellar masters engineer the production of volatile sulphur compounds, or sulphides, which are a by-product of a reductive winemaking approach – such as leaving the wine on its lees for extended periods without stirring.

Meanwhile, in Sauvignon, as we wrote last month, there’s a move towards more textural styles, created through later harvesting, increased lees contact, and the use of barrels or foudres for fermentation and ageing, among other techniques.

But what about Pinot? With this grape too, judged on 18 February by nine Masters of Wine and one Master Sommelier, there are clear developments. Most of these are good, such as the emergence of more balanced wines. This year’s competition certainly saw fewer examples where the oak was too dominant, tannins too coarse, or alcohol levels so elevated that you’re left with a burning sensation on the finish.

It seems that those who choose to work with Pinot understand that it’s best when handled gently, and grown in cooler sites, as well as picked when ripe enough to ensure the retention of bright fruit, and avoid that bland raisined chara

Wine Tour of Alto Adige and the Veneto

Spectacular snow-capped mountains as a back drop, long hot sunny days with a glass of Pinot Bianco in hand - Alto Adigein North East Italy has to be one of the most perfect places for  a wine tour. Great wines, superb food, stunning scenery – no wonder that it often features in those “best places to live” listings!

A tour that I organised this year for a group of wine lovers, kicked off in Verona, that beautiful city with its Roman Amphitheatre, Verona is compact enough to get the feel of it within a couple of hours, yet there are enough cobbled side streets to escape the ravening hordes. Away from the bustle of the main square, a host of small shady squares nestle ready to revive your weary feet with anAperol Sprizt - the quite livid orange but delicious Aperitif that appears in every bar in the Veneto!

Thanks to the variety of the Veneto’s geography, traditional dishes ranges from simple grilled fish from Lake Garda, the largest lake in Italy, through to delicious risotto from the rice fields of the Po Valley. Starting off at one of Verona's most best loved institutions, Antica Bottega del Vino, founded in 1890 and which has one of the most impressive wine lists of the region. Delightfully traditional with its wooden furniture, walls lined with ancient bottles, the Bottega has a vibrant energy that makes it ideal for a quick glass of wine with friends, perhaps with some of their delicious cicchetti (local dialect for nibbles with drinks!) such as fried quails legs or  a more relaxed lunch featuring their traditional Veneto specialities. The classic dish Risotto all’Amarone, a deep purple hue which paired well with the Ripassa Superiore fromZenato (a "halfway" house of a wine between the lightness of Valpolicella and the sheer power of an Amarone, it makes the ideal food wine. Although the weather called more for a salad, wine was the focus of the evening, so a meltingly tender braised be

Left Bank & Right Bank Bordeaux

Waking up in London to the snowfall of the “Mini Beast from the East” was not the best weather to kick start Day One of a recent private Bordeaux Wine tour that I had the pleasure to organise for a London Livery Company – especially when the tail of the BA plane has to be de-iced before departure! But soon off to land in Bordeaux bathed in sunshine.

Taking the classic Route des Châteaux (rather more prosaically known as the D2), our wine guide, the esteemed Derek Smedley MW pointing out the Chateaux, the list reading like a desert island wine list as we meandered from the Haut Medoc through Margaux, St Julien and onto Pauillac to our first hotel.  A converted Chartreuse, the glorious Cordeillan Bages surrounded by vines, it was the ideal place for a reviving glass of Blanc de Lynch 2015. 60% Sauvignon Blanc, 20% each of Semillon and Moscatel creates an aromatic delight – rounded mouthfeel but lightened with incredible notes of tangerine.

Château Lascombes in the Margaux appellation has had a chequered ownership over its history (including a spell under British Bass Charrington), but today the property is firmly back with quality wines, in great part thanks to their General Manager Dominique Befve, who welcomed us for an evening tasting visit. Against the backdrop of the ivy clad Chateau, listening to Dominique’s charmingly accented English, we heard about their concentration on the viticulture – to the point that 80% of their wage bill is spent in the vineyards and only 20% in the cellar.  In the barrel hall, emptier than usual which was a stark reminder of the frosts that hit in April 2017, when the estate lost 40% of their production. Unusually for the appellation, Lascombes has a higher percentage of Merlot in its vineyards of about 50%, the remainder being Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. No better way to illustrate this than tasting the 2017’s from barrel – just a fortnight ahead of the an