Santa Marghertia USA’s Vincent Chiaramonte / Photo by Riccardo Piazza
Sixty years ago, the first bottle of Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio was introduced to the Italian market. Championed by Count Gaetano Marzotto, the patriarch of one of Italy’s most prominent wine families, the delicate white wine was one of the first single-variety bottlings of Pinot Grigio and featured grapes grown in Trentino-Alto Adige. His goal in making the wine was to help rejuvenate the area’s farmlands while also creating a livelihood for his family and employees.
After the wine debuted on U.S. shelves in the late 1970s, the Santa Margherita brand helped put Pinot Grigio on the radar of American wine drinkers. The wine had massive appeal and quickly became a consumer favorite. Today, Pinot Grigio is one of the world’s most popular grapes.
In 2015, the family launched its own importing and marketing arm in the U.S., called Santa Margherita USA.
“They wanted to continue to build their story in the United States and introduce the marketplace to both the renowned and the undiscovered regions of Italy, and the beauty and unique wines each of those areas can offer,” says Vincent Chiaramonte, president and CEO of Santa Margherita USA.
The name Santa Margherita is still synonymous with its iconic Pinot Grigio, but the importer—who maintains the brand’s place in American wine glasses—is forward-thinking and committed to continuing to introduce wine lovers to other regions of Italy.
