Interview with Jacopo Cossater

Jacopo Cossater in action

Jacopo: Tell me about yourself and your background

Me: My name is James Scarcebrook, I am 30 years old and I was born and raised in Melbourne Australia. I began working with wine almost nine years ago in my local shop, also selling beer and spirits. With a growing interest in wine I began working for Domaine Chandon Australia (part of the global Louis-Vuitton/Moet-Hennessy group) in the visitor centre.

J: First of all, why take this trip? It is probably the longest single wine trip ever made. Why did you choose to do that?

M: I left Chandon because I felt I had more to offer the world of wine and more to learn. After I started working for the independent premium wine store I was introduced to many new wines from Australia and the world. I soon realised that the best way to learn about the wines of the world was to travel to as many wine regions as possible and meet people who were committed to producing the best wines. Several people encouraged me to write a blog about my experiences not only to communicate about what I was doing but also as a record of my trip.

J: What was your itinerary?

M: Something that is very well known of in Australia is a ‘Round the World’ plane ticket, which is a very inexpensive way to travel to many continents. There are two major restrictions that I needed to follow. The first is that the travel between continents (five in total) must be in one direction. Therefore I decided to begin my trip in North America, then South America, then Europe and finally Asia. The second restriction is that the travel must be within 12 months, and so I only booked flights to Paris as I intended to travel for more than one year.

J: How many wineries did you visit?

M: In total I visited about 400 wineries give or take.

J: Having travelled to every major wine-producing region and so much in Italy, what are your thoughts about Italian wine?

M: This is based on my summary post from my blog, which I wrote soon after my initial time there.
1. Italian wine is the most unique and varied in terms of grape varieties, styles and regions.
2. Italian wine is the most accessible, most of the wine is for everyone rather than the elite. It is for everyday consumption, almost always with simple yet delicious local food.
3. Italian people are the most honest, generous, open-minded and unpretentious about their wine. They are proud to make wines of their own in the best way they can.
4. In Italy people don’t have enough courage of conviction to promote and sell their own unique wines, and too often make wine from introduced grape varieties or with indigenous varieties in a very ‘international’ style. They seem to do this for business reasons.
5. Italy seems to be influencing the rest of the world more than ever, with regions around the world growing native Italian varieties and holding Italian wines up as the best.
6. In Italy people are working harder than ever to better understand their own terroir and varieties, utilising technology when it is useful to make better, more commercial and unique wines.
7. Tradition and family are important are respected as much as place in Italy.
8. Most importantly, every region in Italy is different, from the people, wines, food and landscapes. It would take a lifetime to truly understand the country, and it is my greatest regret that I can’t spend a lifetime there.

J: How do you think others around the world view Italian wine?

M: This is a very good question. Something that bothered me was not only how little people involved with wine in Europe didn’t know about Italian wine but also didn’t seem interested. In my opinion they are generally unaware about how much progress has been made in Italy in terms of understanding of terroir, varietals, technology and most importantly creating wines of character and depth.