100 Winemakers Headed To Havana, Cuba, For First-Ever California Wine Symposium

The first-ever symposium of California winemakers will be held in Havana, Cuba, in a historic trade mission that reflects the recent détente in the diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba. 

The symposium will be held on February 1 and 2, and feature the wines of 100 California vintners. The symposium is meant to foster connections because winemakers and the Cuban hospitality industry.

"I am pleased to be leading this vintner delegation on the precedent-setting California wine trade mission," said Darius Anderson, founder of U.S. CAVA Exports, a company that helps U.S. businesses export their products to Cuba. "The time is right and the interest is unprecedented, especially among the growing community of privately-owned family-run restaurants known as paladares, and the hoteliers who serve the rapidly expanding Cuban tourist market."

The wine symposium will include a grand tasting event at the Hotel Palco Convention Center in Havana, as well as seminars about California wine country and importable California wines.

"The California Wine Symposium signals the new possibilities within reach since the opening of relations between the U.S. and Cuba, said Joel Peterson, founder of Ravenswood Winery in Sonoma, California. "We are ready to bring California wines to the Cuban market and we can't wait to introduce the wide range of wines California has to offer during this historic event."