Out of 900 wine samples tested each year, Donato Carozza and Franco Stalteri can sniff out the best by instinct.
“It hits you right there,” Franco says, pointing to his heart.
Donato nods. “Agreed. Passion is king in this business and it has always led my brain. It has been all heart all the time.”
How they became one of Ontario’s top wine agents started 23 years ago when Donato gave up his career as a bond representative, his Yorkville pad in Toronto, and a BMW 325I to learn the art of wine making in Italy. It sounds romantic, sure, though it was anything but, he says.
After graduating from York University in Business Management, Donato took a job selling assurance bonds to construction companies. When the market went hard, (premiums increased and clients began questioning their policy) he had to rethink his career choice. So, he took off to the Province of Treviso where his Uncle Bruno owned a 60 million litre winery in a small village called Montebelluna. Translated, it means nice moon hill. Moons seem to be an important symbol of transition in Donato’s life.
It was there he stayed learning the craft, waking at 6 a.m. to clean out the garbage disposals, moving to plastics and packaging, cleaning fermentation tanks and eventually to testing laboratories, and into the vineyard. On his days off he visited neighbouring wineries, learning the subtle differences that would make their grapes different than another and their wine a signature of pride in the family. In a country populated by vineyards, it is the smallest of nuances that give a vineyard its reputation. Donato was consumed with knowing everything there was to know about wine making. Somewhere down the road he would put that knowledge to good use.