ONE SIP AT A TIME
Importer Leonardo LoCascio has built a stable of 3,000 fine wines

GAIL CIAMPA Journal Food Editor
7 January 2004
Providence Journal

Leonardo LoCascio is an influential man in the wine business whose name you  ought to know.

Wine fanciers already look for his name and here's why: He's an importer and  distributor of premium Italian wines who puts together a portfolio of wines  with the same care and intensity as a fund manager invests in stock.

Why wouldn't he? LoCascio earned an MBA and climbed the corporate ladder to  vice president at CitiBank by the age of 30. But he chucked it all in 1980  to start Winebow Inc., a wine importing and distributing company based in  New Jersey.

Today, Winebow's portfolio contains 3,000-plus wines from around the world. But it is a "Leonardo LoCascio Selections" logo that appears only on his  prized Italian imports. For every wine he selects to import for his  selections portfolio, he turns down dozens.

An advertising campaign in food and wine magazines last year featured the  photogenic LoCascio and a wall of labels from his Italian selections. The ad  suggested that seeing the LoCascio Selections logo on the back of an  unfamiliar bottle of wine gives it credibility to shoppers.

Just before the holiday season, LoCascio was in Providence for a reception  and dinner at Gasbarro's and Pane e Vino Ristorante, which showcased his  wines. The late Lombard Gasbarro and LoCascio did lots of business together,
bringing Italian wines to Rhode Island and selling them to the increasingly  educated public. When LoCascio met Gasbarro's son Mark last year, he asked  to come to Providence for a tasting.

"In this town, there is a disproportionate number of people who know about  Italian wines," LoCascio said, adding that he was eager to meet these  informed consumers.

Gasbarro has nothing but praise for LoCascio's resolve at finding the best  wines and bringing them to America.
"He is very thorough in his research," said Gasbarro.  Many times a year, LoCascio goes to Italy and finds gems of vineyards with  no U.S. distributor. He imports the entire line, not just one wine from each  winery. Once LoCascio makes a selection of a winery, keeping track of those  80 or so producers becomes a management task unto itself, he said.

LoCascio's Winebow company also distributes American wines, including those  of Sakonnet Vineyard. "He's not just focused on Italy," said Sakonnet owner Susan Samson.  Part of LoCascio's commitment with Winebow is to bring the best wines from  all regions to the marketplace, she said. When she met him a dozen years ago  he was advocating this regional-best philosophy that's why Sakonnet hooked  up with Winebow.

Samson was not surprised when LoCascio became a major player in the wine  game and his company flourished.  "He was also a pioneer bringing California wines to market," she said. "He is well respected around the whole country and world."

For LoCascio, who was born in Palermo, Sicily, but spent most of his adult  life in the United States, it is Italian wine and its market that he loves  to talk about most.

"Italy's really happening at so many levels today," he said. You just need to look around to see the influence.  "Espresso bars are everywhere. Pellegrino is at every table. Prada sells
Italian designs on Rodeo Drive in L.A.  "All of this adds to the awareness of wine and food from Italy," he said.  That wasn't the case when LoCascio started his business 23 years ago. He'd spent all of his career in the financial world, but he wanted more.

"I want to sell a product I could smell, touch, feel and look at," he said.  It may be hard, if not impossible, to ask a parent to name a favorite child.  Still, LoCascio shared his favorite Italian wines in three price ranges.

For inexpensive white wine, he favors Kris Pinot Grigio ($10) from the  region of Trentino-Alto Adige. For red, he opts for Sicily's Regaleali Rosso  ($11).

His other suggestions are both red blends. In the mid-price range, Allegrini  Palazzo della Torre ($20) is his suggestion. In the more expensive category,  Lamborghini Campoleone ($80) tops his list.

Yes, that is the same family that makes the flashy sports cars. Wines were  the hobby of retired car mogul Ferruccio Lamborghini; now his daughter runs  the wine estate in the hills surrounding Lake Trasimeno in Umbria.

LoCascio would be the first to tell you that once sucked into the wine  world, you drown in its pleasures. Now LoCascio is in the wine business on a  new level, as a vineyard owner. In a joint venture with Allegrini Winery and  Marilisa Allegrini, vineyards in Bolgheri have been planted. The first wines
are a few years away.