Exclusive interview with Luca Boccoli

Luca Boccoli is an institution in the world of wine and sommeliers in Italy, even more so if we are talking about Rome.

Tireless wine selector and always on the move, his research has been changing and evolving with him for 13 years now.

What is certain is that in order to select a wine, a sincere relationship with the land and an absorbing story of the man who works it are necessarily required.

Those, like me, who have had the great opportunity of working together with him, and therefore, of learning a lot, will know that the main thing you learn from him is, without a doubt, the importance of questioning yourself and, therefore, keeping yourself continually up-to-date.

Today we are lucky enough to have him with us for an exclusive interview in which we will try to better understand his extraordinary relationship with wine:

When did you realise you were in love with wine?
It happened during my first trip to Burgundy in 2004, even though I had already been working in the wine field for six years.
Once I arrived in Beaune, taking the Route Des Grands Crus, I travelled through all the most important wine areas in Burgundy and arrived in Vosne-Romanée, I finally understood the essence and magnificence of wine and, therefore, that I had fallen madly in love with it.

What does Tasting mean for you?
In my opinion, tasting is mainly an aesthetic pleasure (from the Greek aisthētikós or “concerning sensation, sensory”): it is about drinking a substance and a liquid that gives me pleasure and that makes me feel good.

How does one relate to a wine?
I believe we have to look at this from different angles, as there are two different ways of drinking: the first is sans souci, that is without worries, the other is to drink with commitment, because maybe you have to buy a bottle, or because you want to better understand a wine and its history, but, at that point, knowing how to taste becomes indispensable.
There is no doubt that both methods are valid, but obviously it is the context that changes.

So can you detach yourself from the emotional aspect when you’re tasting wine?
Absolutely yes, to get excited you have to go and look for thrills, you have to know how to prepare yourself, also because someone like me, who drinks and tastes every day, can’t hope to be overly enthusiastic every time. That would be unreal.

What is the greatest merit of Italian wines?
Definitely the great difference in land and vines, in other words biodiversity, which has become a very fashionable term lately and which is not necessarily synonymous with quality, but it is certainly a great gift.

What do you think of the wines of Southern Italy?
I think they could be a great bet!
From Abruzzo downwards, I seriously think that you can still find some healthy, intact areas, where there have been no massive chemical activity and where the vines are still wild and, therefore, man for his part interacts with them and simply tries to tame them.
We should, and we could, start talking about ethics of nature.

What advice would you give to a person who wants to get into the world of wine and tasting?
Today, the first piece of advice I would give is that wine has no colour, in fact, we must go beyond the standards and not stop at colour, otherwise, believe me, half the beauty of wine is lost.
And then, I would like to see the idea that Art is made in the vineyard spreading, the art of the winemaker, who intervenes in the natural process and transforms grapes into wine.

If wine is natural, it must be assessed from bottle to bottle, starting from the study of this art. Scoring, on the other hand, is only for conventional wines, for all other wines, speaking of numbers is disagreeable and of little value.

Ilaria Giardini
Tenuta Liliana Staff