The People Behind Montella

Ethan has lived, worked and travelled extensively throughout Mexico, where he developed a passion and appreciation for Mexican gastronomy and culture. He holds a commerce degree in International Business from University of Manitoba with an exchange in Mexico City. After graduating in 2019, and now fluent in Spanish, he moved to Guadalajara to live and work, while searching out the best possible products to import to Canada. It was also there that Ethan met and married his wife Isabel, a Mexican, and his ties to the country and culture deepened.

Ethan has visited many mezcal distilleries in different regions of Mexico, forging personal and business relationships with the Mezcaleros. Having the opportunity to taste and experience artisanal, traditional mezcal, he quickly became enamoured by the spirit’s complexity with its appealing variations in flavour and provenance. Throughout 2021-22 Ethan completed a diploma in Agave and Agave Spirits from the Centro de Estudios Sobre el Maguey y Mezcal in Oaxaca.  In Fall 2021, Montella Spirits and Wine was established, and was licensed in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.