A year after winning Union’s business plan competition, Votto Vines has come to life.
The plan for a company that imports and sells fine wines from small Italian vineyards was in February 2008 named the winner of an annual business plan competition sponsored by the College’s Entrepreneurship Club. Stephen Votto ’08 drafted much of that plan with help from his cousin Michael Votto ’00. And last January, the pair, along with other family members, began importing and selling wine from small Italian vineyards.
“Building a customer base and generating revenue at home in Connecticut is our focus right now but is really just the beginning of what we hope is a master plan,” Michael said. “We are trying to broker deals in China. We are talking about bringing our wines to the United Kingdom. And in Westchester County, there is a travel firm that wants to partner with us to establish a wine heritage tour visiting several of our vineyards.”
After both spending a trimester in Florence, Italy during their junior year at Union, the idea for Votto Vines was hatched during a 2006 vacation that Michael and his wife, Amanda (Famolare) Votto ’00, took in Tuscany, Italy. The pair were sipping a blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot and sangiovese grapes when Michael wondered if the wine was available in the United States, according to a recent story about Votto Vines in the Hartford Courant. He learned that wine, and others produced by mostly family-owned Italian vineyards, were not sold in the States.
After returning from vacation, Michael’s large Italian-American family entered the picture. Stephen drafted the plan, which called for importation and marketing of rare Italian table wine sold for $20 to $50 per bottle. Others invested a total of $50,000 to get the operation off the ground.
“The initial idea for this business came in the fall of 2006 and by the time we were done with the licensing and permitting process it was the end of 2008. Simply put, in that time, the economy went into the tank. So, we had to evolve our plan,” Michael said.
The team will remain focused on international markets and meanwhile, in Connecticut, they decreased their first shipment from 7,800 to 5,000 bottles and expanded their offerings of wines priced as low as $12 per bottle. Today, the company has a dozen active accounts, a mix of restaurants and retail shops in Connecticut, is negotiating distribution contracts with wholesalers around the country and has been invited to a number of wine tasting and other events.
While originally a side show to Michael’s career as a commercial real estate and corporate attorney, he is now pursuing entrepreneurial endeavors full-time. Amanda is a physician assistant at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston specializing in internal medicine. The couple have a 1-year old son and reside in Newton, Mass.