Anto has the ‘wine bug’. He loves wine in all its facets and wants to learn as much as he can about it. Coming from Auckland’s West Brook winery where he worked in the e-communication and sales fields, Anto sees his position at Regional Wines as ideal for pursuing his passion. Anto cannot stop thinking about wine. He loves to read, taste, talk and write about it. “This is the job where I can spend all day discussing wine and not be told to keep quiet!” he says. The enjoyment of wine with food is the natural follow-on for Anto, and it has become a major interest for him and his partner Natalya.

Anto’s wine epiphany came during a holiday trip to the Mudgee wine-growing region in NSW, where a “home-made” Sangiovese drunk in the beautiful setting of the vineyard in glorious weather sparked the romance of and interest in wine. Then, Hugh Johnson’s description of Chablis in his book “Wine” ignited the interest in the whole wide world of wine. While all wines interest and indeed excite him, Anto is immersing himself in Rieslings, Chardonnay, Rioja and Bordeaux-varietals at present. Some wines that have particularly excited him recently have been Kumeu River ‘Hunting Hill’ Chardonnay 2008, Trinity Hill ‘High Country’ Pinot Noir 2008, Chateau Lafite-Rothschild 1983 and a Lustau ‘San Emilio’ PX Sherry. Anto’s role is maintaining the fine wine sales, stocks and cellaring, and we can see his excellent knowledge continuing to grow exponentially!

Anto contributes to the writing copy on www.regionalwines.co.nz and his style is readily recognizable, and expresses his love of good wines, and his wide literary interests and music. If Anto can tear himself away from a wine activity, you may see him playing golf or keeping fit, scuba diving or snowboarding. But no doubt, there will be another glass of wine to appreciate and discuss not too far away…