May 4, 2017
Villa Pinciana, Rome

(As prepared for delivery)

Welcome to Villa Pinciana. I am delighted to have you here, in this beautiful residence tonight, to taste and enjoy American wines from Washington State.   The U.S. Embassy and the United States Department of Agriculture are pleased to introduce you to Pomum Cellars, one of America’s hottest new wineries. It is an enchanting boutique winery devoted to making premium wines that exhibit the best of American wine making.

With us tonight is Hans Karpf-Betancourt from Grupo Meddis who will be presenting for the first time in Italy five Washington State wines. We will be tasting a Syrah 2009, a Shya Red 2013, a Red Wine 2013, a Riesling 2013 and a Chardonnay 2014.

Washington State is a premium wine producing region located in the northwest corner of the United States. Although a relatively young wine industry, it is the nation’s second largest wine producer and is ranked among the world’s top wine regions. Approximately 100 million bottles of wine are produced each year by 900 wineries.

I am delighted that interest in this event has been enormous.  We know that the popularity of American wine in Italy is growing, because they are among the worlds’ finest.  Global recognition started at a blind tasting in Paris in 1976.  There, several American wines stunned the world by winning top honors.  Today the United States is the fourth largest wine producing country in the world. In 2016, the United States exported $36 million worth of wine to Italy.   It is the high quality and diversity of American wines that distinguishes them in the world market. Our wines find enthusiastic new converts wherever they are tasted.

My special thanks to Bormioli Rocco for their wonderful glassware that will greatly enhance our wine tasting experience tonight.

With that, I invite you to enjoy the fine American wines offered this evening. Enjoy!

By U.S. Mission Italy | 4 May, 2017 | Topics: Chargé D’Affaires, U.S. & Italy | Tags: wine tasting