Bloomberg reports that wine coolers – or at least this particular of wine cooler, is making comeback, thanks to a superb new product.
Wine coolers were big in the 80’s. It was a $1.5 billion dollar business with brands such as Bartles & Jaymes leading the way. And then abruptly, wine coolers disappeared.
In 1991, it quintupled the excise tax on wine-based drinks, and a burgeoning industry was zapped. The tax seemingly favoured malt products and the beer industry; beverages that might have once been made with wine, such as Mike’s Hard Lemonade, are based on malt. In the next 15 years, sales declined 95 percent.
Twenty five years later, one entrepreneur is intent on making the wine cooler trendy again and the celebs are buying into it.
Jordan Salcito, wine director at Momofuku restaurants and founder of Bellus Wines, has created Ramona. It’s a delicious, captivating white wine drink that’s just hitting the market. Made with organic Muscat-like zibibbo grapes from Sicily and flavoured with natural ruby grapefruit flavors and organic cane syrup, Ramona is a little bit sweet, a little bit bitter and citrusy, and it’s utterly refreshing, with a 7.5 percent alcohol content.
Though Ramona is just getting out in the market, it already has a few notable fans. On the night of the MTV video awards, during an afterparty at Pasquale Jones, Kanye West asked for the coolest drink the place had. He got Ramona. It was so good that P-Diddy had the same thing, and Alicia Keys drank it straight from the can. A few nights later, again at Pasquale Jones, Rihanna was seen drinking Ramona, too.