People come from all over the world to sample Sonoma Valley’s wine. But those coming from Cuba are probably not average tourists.
The group flying into SFO this Sunday is a case in point: For the first time ever, a delegation of nearly 20 Cuban sommeliers – representing much of that country’s expertise in wine and the hospitality industry – will be touring Sonoma County and Napa Valley as part of a weeklong trip designed to foster both cultural and business connections.
As organizers explained in a statement, “The U.S. government opened the Cuban market to (American) wine last year and so this trip marks a milestone in Californian-Cuban agricultural trade and business relations.”
But it’s not all business either, said Steve Burns, a marketing and events coordinator hired to help organize the trip.
“For most of these people it’s their first time in America,” Burns said. “They are here on a buying trip, but we wanted to be sure there’s a little bit of fun.”
He added, “I’ve done hundreds of these kinds of trips in my career, and this has been the most interesting on so many levels.”
Multiple local vintners and other wine experts will meet with the group throughout the week, sharing knowledge on local appellations and offering export-ready wines for purchase.
Next Tuesday, as currently scheduled, is a typical day on the tour: Awake at El Pueblo Inn, breakfast at Ramekins, morning tasting at Gloria Ferrer, lunch at Benziger, another tasting at Seghesio in Healdsburg, dinner at Healdsburg’s Dry Creek Kitchen (with wines from Russian Hill, Kamen and Hamel), and back to El Pueblo for the night.
The trip is being put together by Sonoma-based nonprofit Californians Building Bridges, founded by Darius Anderson in 2010. (Anderson owns Ramekins and is principal of Sonoma Media Investments, which owns the Index-Tribune.) In fact, the Cubans will have dinner at Anderson’s Sonoma home on the evening of their arrival – and the host plans to serve barbecue, along with reds and whites from Scribe Winery.
“Something real casual,” he said, “because when you travel that far, you just want comfort food.”
Anderson said the idea for the trip arose in a conversation between him and Fernando Fernandez – an eminent Cuban professor, master sommelier and internationally known expert in cigars and rum – in which they discussed the lack of California wines in Cuba.
“The reality is, the majority of them (wines in Cuba) are from Argentina or Chile or Spain, and there are very few California wines,” Anderson said.
The reason, he realized, is that “Most of them are just not educated on California wines, because they can’t come here.” So he got to work on fixing that.
“The intent is to drive sales,” he said, calling the trip “a great opportunity to expand the California wine reach.”
Burns said vintners from other parts of California – Santa Barbara, Paso Robles, Lodi and Livermore – were coming to the North Bay next week so the Cubans could meet them and sample and learn about their wines as well.
“We couldn’t get them everywhere so we’re trying to get everywhere to them,” he said.
As for how much the visitors might spend on their buying trip, Burns said it was impossible to say.
“When you have groups like this, everybody is looking for something that’s special for them. … So it’s very hard to put a dollar number on this.”
Burns said he took his own trip to Cuba a year ago (“one of the most interesting trips I’ve ever been on”), where he attended a talk by Fernandez on the art of smoking cigars.
“It’s of course all about ceremony and ritual,” he said. “… And he led me through it, and I thought it was magic.”
Speaking to an Index-Tribune team during a visit to Cuba in 2012, Fernandez described the pairing of cigars and rum as “the essence of Cuba.” Wine and cigars, he said, “not so much.”
The visitors will be in the area from July 20 to 26, flying in and out of San Francisco. More about their trip can be found at cabuildingbridges.org.
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