Livermore Valley hosts sister wine regions at Global AVA

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What brought wine professionals from Europe, North and South American to Livermore for a public wine tasting? Grand tastings of wines from Portugal, Hungary and beyond would normally happen in cities like San Francisco. But the Global Artisan Vintners Alliance (Global AVA) held their inaugural summit and tasting in June to exchange best practices with other regions and present their wines at their Sip Around the World event for sampling.

The founding wine regions in the Global Artisan Vinters Alliance (Global AVA) from France, Portugal, Hungary, Argentina, Croatia, Mexico, Brazil, Texas Hill Country, and Livermore Valley have major elements in common. An obvious similarity is their lack of world-wide acclaim like Napa, Bordeaux, France, Tuscany, Italy, or Tokaj, Hungary. Yet vintners from these up-and coming regions vintners produce high quality, sustainably crafted wine in small to mid-sized areas.

David Haubert, Supervisor District 1 in Alameda County, shared his vision in 2023 of launching a sister wine region program like the sister cities organizations. Think Pleasanton’s sister city partnership with Tulancingo, Hidalgo, Mexico, established in 1983 for cultural and educational exchanges. At the  2024 Taste: Livermore Valley Wine Experience, Haubert invited several founding members of the group to experience Livermore Valley and to brainstorm the potential mission of the alliance.

As interest in the group grew, the Global AVA was formally established in February, 20025 under the auspices of the Livermore Valley Wine Community (LVWC). Before the June summit, Haubert wrote, “I always imagined the partnership would include in-person visits to the participating wine regions because nothing can replace in-person connecting and collaborating.”

The summit included professional development and networking activities at Las Positas College’s Viticulture & Winery Technology venue. The group focused on sharing best practices of economic development, agritourism and marketing programs to elevate the global presence of each wine region.

Over 160 people from around the Bay Area attended the Global AVA’s Sip Around the World event that was held at the Martinelli Event Center in Livermore on June 21^st. Here is a snapshot of several of the six partner regions that participated in the tasting.

A frequent attendee at wine events, Laina Gilmore of Livermore was pleased with the opportunity to taste a wide variety of global wines. “My favorite event for tasting local wines is Taste our Terroir during the Livermore Valley Wine Experience. I visit other regions such as Paso Robles, but I want to travel more. Today I will learn about these regions without getting on a plane. I have my eye on Baja, Mexico and the Texas Hill Country where I could visit,” said Gilmore.

Jessica Frihart of Oakland heard about Sip Around the World from the newsletter of the Livermore Valley Wine Community. “From the Texas Hill Country wines, I liked the Becker Vineyard Mourvèdre, and The Schizophrenic wine from Slate Theory Winery named for its unusual blend of red grapes,” said Frihart.

A few years ago, I traveled to Croatia on a press tour to explore their inland wine country but did not visit Dalmatia on the Adriatic coast. I was also eager to try the wines after meeting Mike Grgich and knowing that he was from Dalmatia. Grgich helped elevate Napa’s global fame as winemaker for the winning white wine during the 1976 Judgment of Paris tasting and later launched Grgich Hills winery.

Mirena Bagur, co-founder of Croatian Premium Wine Imports and founding member of the Global AVA, attended the Livermore Valley Wine Experience last year, and I was pleased to see her again. I enjoyed a sample of Stina Winery’s Majstor wine made from the region’s most well-known grape, Plavac Mali grape. With a name meaning “master,” the big, bold red wine would pair well with a steak.

Next, I tried Prović Winery’s Livija Zlatarica white wine. Bagur gave a history lesson about the wine’s name. Near the winery was an ancient provincial town where Roman leaders stayed. Livija honors the first empress and wife of Augustus, Livia Drusilla. Bagur said the Zlatarica grape is called “Goldilocks” because the grape has a light golden hue, and the word refers to “gold” in Croatian. I was attracted to the Zlatarica wine because my mother Goldie’s Yiddish name was Zlatah. Yiddish is a German-influenced language, and German is also part of Croatia’s linguistic heritage.

A lively stand featured wines from Baja, Mexico. With over 200 wineries two hours from the border in the Valle de Guadalupe, the primary producing area, the region is eager to advance wine tourism. I encountered evidence of how grapevines migrate around the world. A canned sparkling wine featured Macabeo, the main grape in Spanish Cava, and a Barbera derived from a vineyard first planted in Baja by an Italian winemaker in the 1940s.

At the Texas Hill Country stand, I discovered that there were over 65 members of the association based in Fredericksburg at the heart of the wine region. Texas Hill Country wineries are ideally situated for tourism since it is about 70 miles southeast of San Antonio and 80 miles north of Austin. Like Frihart, I liked the Slate Theory’s The Schizophrenic red blend. The Alentejo region in south-central Portugal shared several interesting wines.

At the tasting I asked Brandi Lombardi, executive director of the Livermore Valley Wine Community for background on how the concept of sister wine regions evolved into the inaugural summit. After Haubert shared his vision, Lombardi asked Paul Wagner, an adjunct wine marketing instructor in the Viticulture and Winery Technology program at Napa Valley College, to produce a white paper (study) to identify other similar wine regions to Livermore Valley. Wagner told me there are no similar programs like the Global AVA. The Wine Capitals of the World organization include only one top region from each country.

Wagner, an author, a senior advisor on wine tourism for Expedia Cruises, and a professor at Wintour, a European master’s program on wine science, tourism, and innovation, prompted me to speak again with Titi Szászi. During her Wintour master’s program in 2023 and 2024,  Szászi interned with Lombardi for three months in Livermore. Under Wagner’s guidance, Szászi undertook the assignment to outline the potential for a global alliance of wine regions.

“I was offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to support the early stages of the Global AVA initiative. With  my connections in Europe, I aimed to help spark conversations and build bridges between regions,” said Szászi.

Szászi shared her thoughts on the tasting. “People were genuinely excited to ‘travel the world through wine.’ It reinforced how powerful and unifying this initiative can be. I’m especially enthusiastic about the upcoming winemaker and student exchange programs we’re working on.”

Given his involvement in the early stages of the Global AVA, I asked Wagner for his reflections on the tasting. “It’s a good way for Livermore to take a more visible position in the world of wine, not only standing, shoulder to shoulder, with some other important regions, but also playing a key leadership role in the organization. The other regions were impressed, not only with the organization of the event itself, but also with the educated and involved tasters who attended.” 

The Global AVA will hold their second summit next year in another partner’s location. From the country of Georgia, the Imereti wine region has joined the group. More news is available on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram, and a website will soon launch linked to lvwine.org.

Regarding the Global AVA’s future. Szászi said, “I’m proud to represent a small but remarkable wine region that’s ready to share its story with the world. We might be a hidden gem, but we are not looking to stay hidden anymore.

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