We met him while he was making a phone call to a seller from Tuscany and he was trying to explain the most important things, “walk along together, walk along a path of knowledge”. According to you, a communicator who sells wine belongs to a category of the spirit rather than to a marketing school?

Drinking wine is a trip between space, time and fantasy. From a great wine we can obtain emotions that involve us, keep us company, help us to understand ourselves and other people. This is what I want to explain to my friends…”.

It’s being under therapy, reading a good philosophy book. Don’t you think it’s a bit much?

“No, it’s not much. Drinking a great wine is like an invitation to an adventure, a discovery, a great privilege for our life. Drinking a great wine is the best way to know the real taste of life”:

So a glass of wine and you spend less than seeing a therapist or looking for good company….

I’ve been trying to apply this philosophy for many years now. It was like secret dream, hidden away for ages, a dream that sometimes wants to come true but it doesn’t. Then you have to think about what you can say when they ask you  talk about the good things you’ve done for your homeland, Sicily”.  

What good things have you done in your life?

I spent my whole life showing everyone how our beautiful island is different from others, and how the sky, the sea, the sun and the people give everything they can to this island, number one in the world for the quality of grapes cultivated.

Which are the best varieties of Sicilian wines?

“Sicilian wine is the best in the world”. 
 

I must tell you, you’re a chauvinist.

“If I weren’t, there wouldn’t be passion. Passion is the result of a job you love, and passion becomes stronger and stronger, emotions run after each other and your job embraces and fills you up”.

What would you suggest to your young colleagues who would like to propose in a successful way Sicilian wines?

Your secret dream must come true and your idea of terroir must become real, different cellars, different wines, different lands, different labels, but only one culture, the wine, the greatest one! This is how our new idea of selling wine was born, in which promotion, technique and marketing design a new way to approach this world, the world of wine, which is elegant, beautiful and rich with culture”.

So it’s true that in Sicily the weather improves wines, people and idea.

Are there any marketing techniques that need to be learnt?

It’s not a question of technique but the quality of the project. The total quality of a project is the leitmotiv of the style, elegance, taste and appeal of a great wine. An authentic style will last in the future and great wines are like works of art and art is the means that connects passion and investments”.

How do you recognize a great wine?

“When you buy a great wine, you make this choice because of its history, the culture of the territory, the work of men and women, because of what a great wine communicates, the feelings it provokes, but also because of its economic value that will grow throughout the years”.

What does the market offer in such a difficult moment?

A lot, especially for great wines, that in this period are coming out and becoming masterpieces at reasonable prices. From style to taste, that is the other leitmotiv of the total quality of a project, all dedicated to the art of producing a great wine. Great wines but created with local grapes in order to drink a good glass of wine and find again wisdom and good humour”.   

Translated by Chiara Nunnari from John Milton Institute