A British man who is living his retirement dream after starting a wine estate in Italy says he has been struck by his new country’s more egalitarian approach to drinking than in “elitist” Britain.
David Mogford, from Crickhowell in south-east Wales, moved to Italy to set up his wine business in northern Italy three years ago.
During his 22-year career in the steel industry, he had always nurtured a love of Italian food and wine.
So in 2023, with his partner, Susan Taylor, after retiring, he bought a wine farm in Italy’s Piedmont region, one of the world’s leading wine production areas.
The couple spent the next few years enlarging it into a seven-hectare estate with four vineyards, Tenuta il Finale, between the villages of Castagnole delle Lanze and Costigliole d’Asti.
The couple now live on the estate in an old renovated farmhouse, where they focus on promoting regional grape varieties and regenerating old vine stocks.
The winery features a vaulted cellar where they hold tastings. He said he had received positive feedback from international and local visitors and he hopes he can contribute to changing the UK wine culture.
David Mogford said he ‘wanted to be part of producing a wine that would be of a quality that I would be proud and that our friends would appreciate’Mogford said he had been struck by the huge difference between the drinking cultures of Britain and Italy. He said he had had a very different experience in Italy where wine was not consumed for the effect of the alcohol but to complement a meal.
“I have drunk, tasted and shared wines around the globe. The UK remains the heart of wine writing and reviews; in turn an elite has been created,” Mogford told The i Paper.
“Sommeliers add to the mystique and increase their restaurant profits by making the customer feel inadequate in the decision-making process and by promoting wines based on price,” he said, accusing them of scaring consumers and giving wine “an image of exclusivity” which “is not justified”.
In contrast, he felt wine drinking in Italy was a daily ritual tied to good food consumption and generational ties, with a taste for wine cultivated at an early age.
“A British arrival in Italy can see the stark differences and the cultural value and importance of these basic components, wine and food, to support the changes needed in the UK,” he said.
He believes that both the quality of fresh food in Italy and family ties have led to a more egalitarian wine culture, unlike in the UK.
In Italy people tend to drink in moderation with food during social and family gatherings, Mogford said, whereas “the UK has lost some of the purpose of wine as the family structure has broken down”. He felt a lack of quality fresh food in Britain was part of the cause, and binge-drinking was one result.
“Fish and chip shops or cafés where the all-day breakfast is provided alongside a cup of tea are not a wine story,” he said. He felt that in the UK, wine and dining out were associated with expense.
The couple have enlarged their winery into a seven-hectare estate with four vineyardsOn the other hand in Italy, where “all elements of a society treat something as a normal part of their lives, then there is no mystique and it does not become the preserve of only certain economic classes”.
For Mogford, his new life producing wine has been hugely fulfilling and a dream come true that has already landed his wines recognition in competitions.
His wine has received a bronze award for his 2023 100 per cent Barbera red wine from Decanter and a bronze award for the Barbera from the International Wine and Spirit Competition.
“We focus only on Piedmont grape varieties as we want to be at the forefront of sustaining these vines and bringing even more global recognition,” he said.
Mogford said winemaking was deeply satisfying and he had “been fortunate in achieving product quality in a short space of time”.
“I wanted to be part of producing a wine that would be of a quality that I would be proud and that our friends would appreciate,” he said.
However, he admitted that it was “not a route to riches”. He said that returns were comparatively modest compared with the substantial returns that his previous business generated.
He added that winemaking had changed and enriched his perspective on life, being forced to adapt to uncontrollable events such as weather.
Discussing his and his partner’s experience moving to Italy, he said they had both been welcomed by the locals.
“We have been extremely fortunate to be accepted so far within this community in Piedmont, even though we are British producers in one of the most historic wine regions of Italy,” he said.
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