Recent content by Luca Mazzoleni

Excuse me? No hyperbole at all. I meant to say what I said. I am 44, I live in North Italy and I know the wine list of hundreds of restaurants, trattoria and enoteca/vineria throughout North Italy. I assure you Pinot Grigios from Friuli or Veneto are by no means a 'staple wine' or 'mainstay...

Hi Bob, I hope you are doing well. I would like to add the following comment: there is a deep-seated, archaical and unjustified cultural bias in Italy against expensive white wines. Like only red wines in Italy have a right to fetch a premium price. Sure the production cycle of an unoaked white...

How can one disagree with this? I remember back in 2001, my first days in NY, I was shocked at the sight of a certain infamous 'Holy Daisy' PG selling for 25 bucks on the shelf of some of the finest wine shops in NY. Here in Italy this very wine has always been a supermarket wine selling for 4...

Hi Jayson, I hope all is well with you and your family. Thank you.

As hard to believe as it may be, I am talking a hectare of planted vineyard land. 50K Eur if your vineyard is in a prime site and your winery has a reputation and an established clientele. Around the year 2000, before the introduction of the EURO currency (which triggered a notable price...

1 Ha of vineyard land in the Matelica / Jesi appellations cost 20K to max 30K EUR, roughly. Many family-run wineries in the region operate in marginal economy. You get the picture. Your math is correct, EUR 3 / 4 is the common export price for entry level Verdicchio. Low demand for Verdicchio on...

Thank you, Marc. I hope all is well with you.

I couldn't have said it better. Who brings it in in the US?

oh yes, I can say 2017 is the year in which I've had the definitive revelation of the absolute greatness of Trebbiano and Montepulciano 'taken seriously' (in the vineyard and in the cellar, by the growers). and to be honest I should have inserted in my red wines podium the fabulous 1975...

you are more than welcome, Nathan. To be honest I don't buy so much from Michelin-star restaurants, just occasionally. I mostly buy from a few time-honored 'pushers' of old & rare wines I know in Alba / Barolo and in the Veneto region, who are longtime friends and also good friends of many top...

Hi Marc, long time no speak! I always enjoy reading your wine notes and find them very useful. Hope to see you around in Milan one day; the cellar's long and life's so short...:) but we will taste the same old Biondi-Santi, Quintarelli and Valentini in two separate ULPA clean rooms (Ultra Low...

imo you should drink one bottle now, the color is a full rich golden yellow with a lovely faint orange-ish hue. The nose is beautifully expressive, eggy, biscuity with tangerine fruit and a delicate nutty tone. If you like your Clos du Mesnil more on the nutty / dried fruit side...then wait a...

When a middle-aged Barolo with an unresolved acid/tannic structure meet a mature red Burgundy with a fully resolved tannin and a ripe, tender fruit...the Barolo is a dead wine walking, to paraphrase a famous Western quote. No doubt. Had you opened a 1995 or 1999 Brovia Rocche di Castiglione the...

How in the world can one dislike Beaune? I just meant to second your 'like'.

Touché. We all live in diverse and non-comparable social, geographical, generational milieux. And the milieu we live in - today vis-a-vis ten years ago or ten years now - determines how much income we invest on wine and how we decide to optimize the consumption of the finest wines in our cellar...