(Wine-Searcher) - Wineries in Napa and Sonoma look for new wine lovers in Cuba.

A group of California winemakers will descend on Havana on January 31st to promote the state's wines in Cuba's first-ever trade show of American wine.

The California Wine Symposium has been set up to capitalize on Cuba's increased interest in wine in recent years, and a relaxing of the trade embargo which has plagued relations between the two countries for 50 years.

Representatives from 100 wineries in Sonoma, Napa and Paso Robles are headed to the Symposium to showcase their wines. The event has been put together by U.S. CAVA Exports (USCE), an organization set up in 2014 to facilitate trade between Cuba and California in the agriculture and food sector, in partnership with Napa Valley Vintners, Sonoma County Vintners, and the California Wine Institute.

"The time is right and the interest is unprecedented," said USCE founder Darius Anderson in a statement.

The Symposium will offer the Cuban wine trade information about California's various wine regions and appellations, and the event will culminate in a grand tasting at the Hotel Palco Convention Center in Havana on February 2nd. The Californian delegates will also have a chance to learn about the Cuban wine industry, and take in some of Havana's sights.

The Symposium will not be the first time that Cuban restaurateurs and sommeliers have been exposed to US wine. In 2014, a group of Cubans traveled to San Francisco, Sonoma and Napa to learn more about the Californian wine trade and purchase wines for export. The trip was organized by Californians Building Bridges, a non-profit organization that is partnered with the USCE.

Interest around wine has been building steadily in Cuba, especially as the country's tourism industry has boomed. Wine-Searcher figures show that French and Spanish wines are most popular in the island nation, and in particular, Cubans have been searching for Champagne, Bordeaux and Rioja.