Our Story

Doniti is built around a single Italian ingredient: grape must.

The name is short for Donum Itineris - Latin for 'gift of the journey.' The journey started with a gelato in Modena in the winter of 2023. A scoop of crema under a slow drizzle of DOP balsamic, and the recognition that what many Americans call balsamic is not what Italians actually use in their kitchens.

Many Americans think of balsamic as a thin, sharp, brown vinegar blend designed to sit on salad. Real Italian balsamic is something else: cooked grape must, aged slowly, used both in pots and on plates, used frequently on weeknights and not just at dinner parties. The reason it never made the leap is not just quality. It is positioning. One bottle with no clear job stays in the cabinet. Two bottles with specific jobs get reached for.

That is what Doniti is.

The Producer

Acetaia Castelli sits in Rio Saliceto, a small town in Emilia-Romagna twenty minutes north of Modena. The acetaia is fourth-generation, owned and run by the Iotti family.

The grapes are estate-grown - Trebbiano, Lambrusco, and Spergola - cooked to must in kettles and aged in wood.

Every bottle in Doniti's first release comes from this family acetaia, selected for a clear purpose; one balsamic for cooking, one balsamic for finishing.

The Founder

Doniti was founded by Austin Replogle, a physician assistant on Long Island raised around the Italian-American table on his mother's side, with big family meals and recipes passed down from his grandmother and great-grandmother.

That early connection to Italian food eventually led him to Emilia-Romagna, where balsamic is not just a condiment, but a craft built around grape must, time, and wood.

After months of emails and video calls, he visited Acetaia Castelli for the first time in February 2026 with his wife and infant son. The first batch shipped just a few months later.

Doniti is being built one bottle at a time: slowly, carefully, and without rushing the product ahead of the trust it has earned. 

- Austin