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October 25, 2006
German Canned-Wine Excitement With Paris Hilton
Socialite’s Munich Oktoberfest canned prosecco campaign bears Berlin fruit...
Paris Hilton’s campaign for Italy's RICH prosecco last month during Munich’s Oktoberfest has been very successful in the land of beer drinkers.
A company spokesman told The Berlin Paper that sales have been “very impressive” of late, although he remained mum on actual numbers.
RICH isn’t the first company to capitalize on movable-feast drinking trends, but it is the first brand to hire someone as prominent as heiress and canned wine aficionado Paris Hilton to promote its product.
The socialite has been touring Europe this year promoting the bubbly. Her most recent stop at Munich’s Hotel Bayerischer Hof for a RICH PR event was widely picked up in the German media, and ignited a storm of controversy in Italy, where wine in cans is banned, and local companies complain that RICH devalues prosecco and exploits legal loopholes by selling it outside of Italy.
While local Berlin wine merchants scoff at the idea of selling RICH, Karstadt on Hermannplatz and Galeria Kaufhof on Alexanderplatz do brisk business in the spirit.
“It’s kind of a trend, but it’s selling really well, although the wine doesn’t taste at all like real prosecco,” Helmut Sembritzke, wine expert at Galeria Kaufhof told The Berlin Paper.
Mr. Sembritzke said that although the drink is “definitely one of the best selling items in the cooled-drinks area” real wine drinkers don’t touch the stuff.
RICH isn’t the only company to capitalize on the portable vino trend.
California’s Napa Valley Niebaum-Coppola Winery, owned by Hollywood producer-director Francis Ford Coppola, is producing a canned version of a blended sparkling wine it also sells in bottles at a $4.99 per can (theoretically making the wine comparable to a $20 bottle of wine).
Source: “Paris Hilton unleashes German canned-wine excitement,” The Berlin News, October 25, 2006
Additional Avene Vine Articles Concerning Paris Hilton &:
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“Paris Hilton’s Prosecco Party,” September 28, 2006
“A New York Perspective On California Wine,” September 15, 2006
Posted by fortna at October 25, 2006 11:45 AM
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