On Saturday, August 14, at precisely 4:15 p.m., history was made in the Great Pennsylvania Wine Toast. That’s when lifelong Pennsylvanian, wine lover and racing legend Mario Andretti raised a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon in a toast to the Pennsylvania wine industry and a Guinness World Record. Approximately 7,675 wine lovers gathered at 60 wineries across the state followed his lead, in what could easily be considered the single busiest day in Pennsylvania wine history.
Andretti's speech, broadcast to wineries via the video above, was the keynote address in the Great Pennsylvania Wine Toast, a one day celebration of the state’s wine industry and an attempt to set a world record for the largest wine tasting ever conducted.
And although the attempt fell short of the official record of 17,540 (set at more than 400 U.K. pubs in 2008), the Pennsylvania Winery Association’s (PWA) secondary goal – raising awareness of the 130-plus wineries throughout the state – was an overwhelming success.
A portion of the proceeds from the events held throughout the state were donated to Andretti’s charity of choice, The Fund to Benefit Children & Youth. The charity’s mission is to provide abused, neglected and at-risk children with the items and services they cannot receive from traditional sources.
The toast recited by Mario was written by Pat Mast of Bath, PA and was one of hundreds of toasts submitted in our Write the Ultimate Toast Contest.
The Pennsylvania Winery Association would like to thank Mario Andretti for his participation in this historic event. We’d also like to thank all of the wineries that participated in the Great Pennsylvania Wine Toast (as well as the staff at each winery who worked so hard to put each event together!). Finally, we’d like to thank the thousands of people who gathered to celebrate with us on August 14. It’s because of you – and the hundreds of thousands of other Pennsylvania wine lovers out there – that we have a reason to celebrate!