Tony Sasa has spent 33 years in the international wine industry. He works with small boutique producers as well as with Tenuta Il Palagio, owned by Trudie Styler and Sting. Yet for the experienced wine merchant, the value of his work is not determined solely by what is inside a bottle. This is a portrait of a businessman who believes in the power of personal encounters.
“What if I told you that I have made great sales without saying a single word about the harvest, the vineyard or the wine itself?”
Tony Sasa asks this question for a reason. He has known the international wine trade for more than three decades. He knows how difficult it can be to bring a wine to market. Yet whenever he talks about his work, he keeps coming back to people.
A curious listener, he explains, may fall in love with the conversation. And sometimes someone will buy a bottle simply because it reminds them of the person they were talking to.
This attitude becomes apparent during a public online conversation at Salvator Mundi Café in October 2026. Sasa talks about his experiences in the wine industry. But rather than focusing solely on his own career, he has invited four guests, including winemaker Violante Cinelli Colombini and artist Diego Bormida. Milan-based publisher Marco Sutter and designer Vivia Ferragamo are also there.
He makes it clear that he does not want to deliver a monologue. He would rather give others the opportunity to speak.
His interest in their stories seems genuine. He asks questions, listens and brings together people whose professional paths, at first glance, have little in common.
From Restaurants to the International Wine Trade
Antonio “Tony” Sasa’s story does not begin with celebrity names or prestigious wineries. He grew up in a farming family and began his career in the restaurant business, which took him from Genova to Chicago and Florence.
A defining encounter came in 2001, when he met wine journalist Daniel Thomases, who had worked for the Italian Veronelli wine guide and Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate. Over the following years, they tasted thousands of wines together. Sasa learned not only how to assess their quality but also developed a deeper understanding of Italy’s diverse wine regions.
In the early 2000s, he began working as a modern négociant. Rather than exclusively marketing wines from a single producer, he looked for wineries that would be a good fit for international importers. His role was to bring together producers and merchants who suited one another.
In 2006, he opened Enoteca Pontevecchio in Florence. But Sasa does not merely trade wine. He also produces it himself. As early as 1997, he and his wife Laura Rissone leased vineyards in southern Montalcino. In 2003, they produced their first Brunello di Montalcino, naming it Martina after their daughter.
Running through these different ventures is a clear understanding of how business should work. Sasa knows the commercial side of the industry and understands that enthusiasm alone does not sell bottles. But he does not view relationships solely in those terms.
During that October gathering, he describes himself as a “yes man.” He tries to help whenever someone asks. He accepts that his willingness to help may not always pay off; what matters to him is making a contribution.
It sounds idealistic. Yet in Sasa’s case, this attitude goes hand in hand with a decidedly pragmatic business mindset.
A Famous Name Is No Guarantee of Quality
In 2007, Sasa began working with Tenuta Il Palagio, the Tuscan estate owned by Sting and Trudie Styler. Its wines carry names such as Message in a Bottle, When We Dance and Sister Moon, titles recognized far beyond the world of wine.
A famous name attracts attention. But how much does it actually help when it comes to sales?
“Nothing is easy when it comes to sales, with or without a name,” Sasa says.
Building a brand takes time. Tenuta Il Palagio, too, needed time to establish its credibility and reputation. What matters, he explains, is being able to recognize changes in the market and respond quickly.
The connection with music creates expectations that the wine itself must ultimately live up to.
“Labels are like book covers,” Sasa explains. “Sometimes we choose them for their aesthetics or for the words written on them.”
When design and message appeal to consumers, and the taste does not disappoint, that is what matters. The real message in a bottle, after all, lies in its contents and quality.
There is more to Il Palagio than a celebrity signature on a wine label. Trudie Styler leads the Il Palagio team and is closely involved in its development. And Il Palagio has long been more than simply a place where wine is produced.
I have experienced two different sides of the estate. At an evening event hosted by Limonaia Events, tables dressed in white stand among the vineyards, with strings of lights suspended overhead. The sun slowly disappears behind the Tuscan hills. Everything is elegantly arranged, down to the smallest detail.
Yet another moment has stayed with me.
A sunny day at the Farm Shop. Old wine barrels line the path, while hay bales and a wooden swing stand on the lawn. People sit together at long tables beneath the shaded roof as children play outside. In the background, as you might expect, Sting is playing. At some point, I catch myself tapping my foot along to the music. There is pizza and a fruity Roxanne Sangria, also from Il Palagio. Nobody explains the grape variety to me. I do not ask, either.
Only later, in conversation with Tony Sasa, do I realize how important this place is to the marketing of the estate’s wines.
For him, the Farm Shop and the pizzeria, which opens during the summer season, are the “engine” behind Il Palagio’s wines. This is where people connect with a product without anyone necessarily having to sell them something. Those who enjoy their time at the estate may well associate the wine with that experience long afterwards.
Between the Vineyard and the Global Market
As much as Sasa appreciates the emotional side of wine, he takes a pragmatic view of the industry’s economic realities.
The wine industry is under pressure. In his presentation, Sasa discusses overproduction, declining demand and uncertainty in international markets. Particularly in the lower-priced segment, production volumes no longer necessarily match demand. Sasa also addresses these developments in his own article, “Message in a Bottle: What Thirty-Three Years of Wine Have Taught Me.”
Asked whether the wine industry spends too much time talking to experts and too little to ordinary consumers, Sasa begins by pointing to its agricultural roots. Wine starts with farmers. But between the vineyard and the glass lies an entire world in which merchants and importers each play their own role.
In his view, the industry should pay greater attention to these economic realities.
There is no shortage of ways to communicate today, Sasa says. In fact, there are more than ever. Rather than investing in communication, which is already strong, wine producers should perhaps invest more in their sales teams.
“It’s the most important piece of the industry.”
That sounds rather businesslike at first. But listening to Sasa makes his point clear: for him, selling is above all about engaging with people.
He also criticizes the often overly technical language used to communicate wine. For people who are not already deeply interested in the subject, this can quickly become tiresome.
Nor does he see artificial intelligence as a substitute for human interaction. It may be useful for writing or making information accessible, but it cannot reliably determine whether someone will enjoy a particular wine.
For Sasa, what matters is individual taste. Even the most technically convincing recommendation is of little use if someone simply does not like the wine.
When the Next Generation Drinks Differently
Changing drinking habits among younger generations are becoming an increasingly important topic in the wine industry. Sasa, however, sees little reason for alarm.
“Even my generation wasn’t drinking wine when we were 20 years old,” he recalls.
Cocktails and beer were alternatives back then, too. The fact that young adults today do not automatically reach for a bottle of wine therefore comes as little surprise to him.
What has changed, he believes, is the way people access and process information. Learning about a bottle’s origin and contents has become much easier. Health consciousness is also becoming more important.
It is a development he explicitly welcomes.
During the discussion with his guests, he goes even further. If young people choose not to drink wine, that is perfectly fine. Nobody needs to be persuaded to do so.
His attitude towards alcohol-free wines, however, is more reserved.
“It’s not something I have taken into much consideration,” he admits.
He believes traditional wine drinkers will continue to choose conventional wine.
There is a certain tension here. Sasa accepts that consumer preferences are changing, yet his own understanding of wine remains firmly rooted in traditional wine culture. The prospect of fewer wine consumers in the future does not seem to trouble him particularly.
When Wine Becomes Music
Alongside his work in the international wine trade, Sasa has been pursuing an unusual idea for several years: What does wine sound like?
Through his project Sound of Wine, he is exploring ways to experience the world of wine through music and sound. Working with percussionist Trilok Gurtu, he draws inspiration from sounds found in nature and the winemaking process. The resonance of a wooden barrel or the sound of stainless steel can become part of a musical narrative.
In 2025, the project was featured in Forbes Italia’s 100 Eccellenze selection. In October 2026, Sasa also spoke about plans for audiovisual episodes of approximately 25 minutes, designed to portray wine regions through their distinctive sounds.
For someone familiar with his pragmatic views on wine marketing, this might initially seem surprising. Why develop an elaborate new format for communicating wine when he places such importance on direct personal contact?
Perhaps because, here too, he is less interested in explaining a product than in giving people the opportunity to discover their own connection to it. What someone experiences when listening to music is no more predictable than their reaction to a glass of wine.
The Value of an Encounter
To this day, Tony Sasa still enjoys asking people a simple question: What do they think of the wine in their glass?
“I love this question,” he says. Regardless of nationality, the beauty of it is that their answers always teach him something new.
The same wine can be perceived very differently in different countries. What feels familiar to an Italian guest may be an entirely different experience for a buyer in Japan.
Sasa has spent decades learning about these differences. Yet his curiosity about the people he meets seems to have remained intact.
For all his enthusiasm, he is still a businessman. He knows that, ultimately, bottles need to be sold. But not every conversation has to lead immediately to a deal.
Sometimes, it takes years to discover what possibilities might emerge from a single encounter.
