Gal Keren

Owner  of: Santa Armosa

Home Base: New York, NY

Interests: Wine

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Gal Keren is the founder of Santa Armosa LLC, an importer and distributor of boutique wines and olive oils from the South of Italy.

Gal is passionate about wine and food. Gal was introduced to exquisite gastronomy and viticulture already in his early life in the Galilee region in Israel.  On the border of the Sea of Galilee (Lake Kineret), his family has been running a prominent hotel and restaurant business for two generations.

In 2000, fascinated by the U.S., Gal decided to take a trip to tour America, and shortly after his arrival, he started his college studies in Finance and Accounting in New York. During those academic years, Gal was working in Italian restaurants and as bartender.

These were the years when Gal improved his knowledge of Italian wines and became more and more interested in the unexplored gems of the South of Italy. It was during an organized wine tasting about Puglia that he found out that Puglia produces a quantity of wine that is comparable to 70% of the entire continent of Australia. Yet, Australian wines are a more popular choice among Americans, compared to wines from Puglia.

Fascinated with the South of Italy, Gal at that point started touring Italy extensively while collecting wines from passionate artisan of wine and olive oil. Gal truly believes the Italian South is the "Best kept secret" as it is a region that is largely undiscovered in the U.S. market. Santa Armosa was awarded Italian importer of the year at the 2012 NY International Wine Competition.