Sara d’Amato

Sara is a Toronto-based wine consultant, sommelier, wine critic and principal partner with WineAlign. She has worked in cellars both in Niagara and in France, formerly as Sommelier of Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto and you may now find her at the Platinum Club of the Air Canada Centre. Tune into daytime Toronto with Val Cole on Rogers Cable 10 or 103.9 Proud FM with Mike Chalut in Toronto where she is a regular guest. A graduate of the University of Toronto and Niagara College’s winery and viticulture technician program, she was the youngest and only woman to win the grand prize at Canadian Renaissance Wine Tasting Challenge in 2006 as featured in CBC’s Wine Confidential Documentary. Sara has been awarded The Ontario Hosteliery’s “Top 30 Under 30” Award and is a staunch promoter of local wine and gastroculture. Sara is a member of the Wine Writer’s Circle of Canada and continues to participate in judging wine competitions across the country. Currently, Sara sits on the board of the Ontario Chapter of the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers.

Read our interview with Sara below…

1. How many years have you been working with wine?
11 years.

2. What was your first wine related job, article, or assignment?
Working the harvest at Niagara College in 2003.

3. Is there a grape or style of wine you are personally attached to?
Sparkling, fresh and fragrant reds, cool climate styles.

4.  What was your first Canadian “aha” wine moment?
Learning that the Canadian wine industry was beginning to educate its own future winemakers (through programs like CCOVI and NCT Winery) in the early 2000s. A sign of not only an impending quality boom but that the world would have to take notice.

5. Which grape(s) do you feel is/are Canada’s best bets in terms of producing top quality wine?
Gamay, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Riesling and Chardonnay.

6. What would you like consumers to know about Canadian wine?
That our fringe climates produce wines of unique expression and character that are well worth discovering! Many of us in Canada seem to need outside or foreign praise to justify our pride and now we have it – there has never been greater international acclaim for our local wines.

7. How many years have you judged Canadian wine?
9 years.

8. What do you enjoy most about judging at The Nationals?
I most enjoy learning a great deal from my fellow judges who each have unique backgrounds and experiences with wine. I also love the debate and the revelations about the changing landscape of Canadian wine. The opportunity to taste such a large cross-section of Canadian wines in one week offers a unique and valuable snapshot of the current state of wine production within our borders.

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