Orfila Vineyard’s Wines Are Now Available in Cuba
BY TANYA RODRIGUES
Staff Writer
ESCONDIDO , Orfila Vineyards’ products are now being sold in Cuba, by way of an American law allowing the exporting of certain agricultural products if they are requested from within the country.
The first shipment of the Escondido-based winery’s products was sent in February and a second order is in the works, said Leon Santoro, Orfila’s general manager and winemaker.
For Santoro, who wasn’t involved in actually exporting the wines, the deal was comparable to a sale. The shipment of 60 cases was worth $7,830, he said.
So far, the venture has broken even with the various costs to buy the wines and transport them, said Costa Mesa-based businessman Massimo Navarretta, who broached the idea to Santoro.
The prices aren’t increased very much in order to find market share, Navarretta said.
“There’s no loss, but there’s no great gain,” he said.
However, the company’s goal for now is establishing a track record, Navarretta said.
Navarretta’s brother, who lives in Cuba, helped create a distribution company in Havana to import the wines.
Navarretta approached Santoro to see if Orfila would be interested in having its wines available there. Santoro, who already ships Orfila wines to Switzerland, Argentina, Germany and places in the United States such as New York City, was pleased with the idea.
According to Navarretta, the process really began before that, when he was at a wine show in Italy. A Cuban businessman told him he would be interested in buying American wines.
Navarretta was able to apply for a license to do it, which took close to five months, and involved the U.S. Department of Commerce, the CIA, FBI and the Defense Department.
After the license was approved, they sent the first shipment.
The transaction is legal because of provisions of the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Acts of 2000. The regulations went into effect July 26, 2001.
One part of it, called “Eligible Agricultural Commodities,” lists wines and spirits among several products that can be exported into Cuba.
Other products include beer, cotton, wool, soft drinks, livestock, shellfish and fish products, tobacco and tobacco products, lumber and utility poles, and reproductive materials such as embryos and fertilized eggs.
