In this episode we welcome Kristy Wenz, an experienced wine and travel writer from the US. Kristy will join us to talk about her career in wine and the United States as a wine country. The US is considered a “New World” wine country but has a recorded history of viticulture dating back to the 16th century, when European settlers brought vines with them and planted them on the continent. American wine has been recognized and awarded in Europe since the 70’s of the last century and found their own place on the world stage these days. The country has a wide variety of grapes which are used to produce wine consumed all over the world. Some of the most popular varieties are: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Main wine regions in the US are California (Napa Valley and Sonoma), Washington (Columbia Valley), New York (Finger Lakes District), Oregon (Willamette Valley) and Virginia. Kristy has spent nearly a year exploring European wine regions and has visited wineries in nearly 30 US states. She is a wine educator as well as a part-time assistant winemaker at Hickory Creek in SW Michigan. Kristy is WSET 3, began her WSET Diploma and is currently working on the Spanish Wine Scholar certification. In this podcast we discuss the major US wine regions and some of their notable wineries and winemakers, as well as the present and future of the country.   This is an integral recording taken from our talk show Cellar Talks. This show (season 2, episode 6) was broadcasted on Friday the 12th of March, through Instagram Live on our Instagram page. For this reason, there might be references of images shown in the show, which we obviously cannot display through this podcast. The full video recording of this show can be watched through our Instagram page, in the IGTV section. You can find a direct link to the recording here.