Congrats to Domaine Select Wine Estates and Paolo Domeneghetti for this terrific honor from Food & Wine Magazine:
Domaine Select Wine Estates is honored this week as the recipient of Food & Wine magazine’s 2010 American Wine Awards as Importer of the Year. DSWE will celebrate this award with producers, staff and colleagues attending the Domaine Select Grand Portfolio Tasting held today in NYC. Paolo & Allison Domeneghetti, founders of Domaine Select, stated they are thrilled to be receiving this award as it represents the culmination of more than a decade of their devotion, passion and a dynamic position in the wine & spirits trade. “We are honored to accept this wonderful award, and feel tremendous gratitude to be recognized for our work and more importantly the work of the amazing growers and suppliers who we have proudly represented over the years,” explained Allison Domeneghetti who is the company’s C.O.O. and President of the Merchants Wholesale Divisions.
The Domaine Select portfolio spans a diverse array of more than 70 wine and spirits producers from around the world including France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Spain, Chile and Argentina. The tenets of Domaine Select – Diversity, Expression, Character and Tradition – have not changed since the inception of the company. “Our search begins with character, and the wines & spirits that have the most character also happen to be the ones which are produced according to a very specific tradition and love for the most sustainable and healthy agricultural and vinification processes possible. This is not a coincidence,” explains Paolo Domeneghetti, Founder and C.E.O.
Nominations for this award come from a panel of 34 notable wine buyers and sommeliers from throughout the country; the editorial staff does research on the top nominees and then a winner is chosen. Winners are profiled in the October wine issue, on newsstands September 17, and on http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/american-wine-awards-2010. The award recipients this year are officially recognized at the annual gala affair on Tuesday, October 5 at FARM at the Carneros Inn in Sonoma.
About Domaine Select Wine Estates: DSWE was founded by Paolo and Allison Domeneghetti in 1999 in order to represent wines and spirits which are of the highest quality and which express tremendous character, particular to their origin. The company now operates as a national importer of fine wines and boutique spirits from around the world. Domaine Select Merchants is the wholesale division of DSWE and operates in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and California.
Paolo Domeneghetti has had an extensive career in the restaurant and wine & spirits business, spanning a period of more than twenty-five years of progressive and successful experience at all levels. After graduating from University in his native country of Italy, he moved to the U.S. in 1992. Founding DSWE has been a lifelong ambition, and one borne with a very clear identity and philosophy, which Domeneghetti strongly upholds today.
Allison Domeneghetti has been a wine enthusiast for more than fifteen years. After graduating from Columbia University she spent several years in fine arts institutions in New York City, including the New Museum of Contemporary Art and Sotheby’s New York. Her interest in wine on a professional level was sparked in 1994 during the some of the first U.S. wine auctions held in New York. From that point, she has not looked back and has worked alongside Paolo to build a company where passion comes first. The Domeneghettis reside in Scarsdale, NY with their three children.