Ben E. Keith introduces SOLEMAR, a new pinot grigio
FROM VENIZIA, ITALY
Solemar is Ben E. Keith Beverage
Distributors’ first entry into the booming wine market
DALLAS,
September 4, 2007
– Ben E. Keith Beverage Distributors has launched its first wine
brand - Solemar - a new light, dry, crisp Italian Pinot Grigio with
a refreshing blend of lemon and lime, and hints of orange blossom
and pear flavors. Solemar is now available in 60 counties across
North Texas and is easy to find because of its colorful,
eye-catching, sapphire-colored bottle. Due to its light, crisp
flavor, it is best paired with fish, chicken or salad dishes.
“U.S.
wine sales have skyrocketed over the past 12 months - with sales up
8.7% - so this is absolutely the best time for us to enter the wine
segment,” said Kevin Bartholomew, president of Ben E. Keith Co’s
Beverage Distributors. “We are introducing Solemar as our first wine
brand because we wanted to offer our Texas customers an authentic
Northern Italian Pinot Grigio, but at a value-directed price of
around $7.99 a bottle and $5 a glass. We see it as an exceptional
buy for a wine of this origin and quality."
Solemar,
which means “sun and sea,” is produced at the 79-year-old Casa
Vinicola Botter, a two million-case, third generation family-run
winery located in the cool Delle Venezia region, in the heart of the
Italian wine country. Influenced by the climate of the nearby
Italian Alps, the terraced hillsides of Venezia are bathed in sun
and sheltered from the cold moisture of northern Europe by the
mountains. The harsh winter cold forces growers to pick early, at an
optimum balance of sugars and alcohol, producing the dry, light,
crisp Pinot Grigio that northern Italy is most well known for. After
the Pinot Grigio grapes are picked, they are fermented in a 100%
stainless steel tank to capture the freshness and bright fruit
flavor, and then are bottled cold and early in the vintage to keep
the wine bright in the bottle.
About Ben E. Keith Beverages
Ben E. Keith Company, established in
1906, began selling Anheuser-Busch products in 1933. Today, Ben E.
Keith Company – Beverage Distributors is one of the largest
independent Anheuser-Busch wholesalers in the country. The company
also distributes import beers, craft beers, wine products, and
nonalcoholic beverages. With eight regional branches in Texas
including Abilene, Commerce, Dallas, Denton, Fort Worth, Llano,
Palestine and Waco, the company operates in 60 counties across
Texas. For more information, please visit
http://www.benekeith.com/beverage.
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