Saturday, February 19, 2011

HOT! HOT! HOT! Copa Di Vino on ABC's Shark Tank, March 20, 2011

Copa Di Vino Press Release: March 2011:

Native Oregonian, winery entrepreneur, James Martin founder of “Copa Di Vino” will be making his national television début on March 20, 2011.
ABC’s primetime reality show “Shark Tank” is 20 minutes of fame that could make a huge impact on both the Columbia Gorge wine region and James Martin himself who’s self-funded startup dream, has grown to a national story.

James Martins company has gained international recognition by first winning the World Champion Best Wine bottle in 2010,
and then becoming the first winery recipient of the Dupont Packaging Award for Innovation Excellence.

Copa Di Vino has developed a patented process to bottle wine directly into a wine glass. This allows wine enthusiasts to open a single serving, instead of an entire bottle, drinking straight from James’ elegantly designed reusable cup. James has fostered an industry wide debate similar to screw cap versus cork, highlighting how wine bottles are cumbersome and inefficient.

Interest in Copa Di Vino and James’ personal story compelled ABC to add a second filming on-site in The Dalles Oregon at the home of his wineries, in The Historic Sunshine Mill.

This press release is not to be a spoiler so the outcome of the “Sharks” decision will be kept a secret until March 20th, Join us all at the Sunshine Mill viewing party and become part  of the next chapter for Copa Di Vino.



Copa Di Vino spotlights for spring:
ABC’s Shark Tank episode Airing: Sunday March 20, 2011 at 9PM and Friday, April 22 · 5:00pm
Food Network's “Gordon Ramsay's Masterchef”.
the Historic Sunshine Mill, Copa's home will also
be featured in the May issue of Sunset magazine.
www.sunshinemill.com
Visit us on Facebook at:
www.facebook.com/CopaDiVino

Oregonian Article 1

Oregon vintner pursues success in single servings
By Dana Tims
The Oregonian


Saturday,January 16, 2010
Edition: Sunrise, Section: Business
SUMMARY: Copa Di Vino | James Martin's company in The Dalles markets quality wine in well-sealed individual helpings

Oregon vintner pursues success in single servings

DANA TIMS

When it comes to wine, it's rare that good things come in small sizes.

The small, single-serving bottles available on airplanes, for instance, are commonly filled with juice from grapes that could, and probably did, come from just about anywhere.

James Martin, founder and CEO of a new business called Copa Di Vino, or "wine by the glass," is out to change all that.

Martin, in partnership with a French company, is selling what he calls North America's first high-quality, fully sealed single-serving wine. It sold out at last month's Rose Bowl game in Pasadena and is now available at Whole Foods, New Seasons, Mt. Hood Meadows ski area and Elephants Delicatessen.

"A few others have tried something like this, but until now, no one has figured out how to create an effective seal," said Martin, 46, who hails from a seven-generation farm family in The Dalles. "The key to our success, in addition to the product's convenience, will be making sure there is great wine inside every container."

Initially, the $2.99 single servings will feature chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and merlot produced by Martin's own Quenett Winery. Later this year, he hopes to talk with other Oregon vintners about the possibility of bottling their wines in the product's 6.3-ounce recyclable plastic containers.

"Bottling for the entire Oregon industry would be a dream," he said. "This would open a lot of doors for a whole bunch of people."

Martin recently installed patented bottling equipment at his winery in The Dalles to handle the task. He has also signed an agreement with Tri-S Superior Screen Systems in Tualatin to print logos and additional bottling information directly onto the plastic containers.

He got the idea for the new product after seeing something similar while riding on a bullet train in France with his wife, Molli, in 2008. When subsequent research indicated how difficult the seemingly simple product was, he contacted Pascal Carvin, the French patent-holder, and struck an agreement for Martin to hold exclusive North America production and distribution rights.

With penny-pinched consumers already "trading down" when it comes to wine purchases, Martin hopes the time is ripe for the world to embrace the idea that smaller is better --at least when it comes to wine.

"Some of the biggest wine companies in the world tried to do this and failed," he said. "We're very excited to see how far we can take it."

Dana Tims: 503-294-5918; danatims@news.oregonian.com

Copa di Vino uncorks plan to sell wine-by-the-glas

Copa di Vino uncorks plan to sell wine-by-the-glass

The Dalles-based startup seeks nationwide distribution

Premium content from Portland Business Journal - by Erik Siemers, Business Journal staff writer

Date: Sunday, May 9, 2010, 9:00pm PDT


Copa di Vino CEO James Martin wants to make single-serve wine more elegant and more popular.

James Martin could have named his company “Wine by the Glass.”
That is, after all, what he’s pitching: high-quality Pacific Northwest wine in ready-to-drink, single-serving portions.
Instead it’s called “Copa di Vino,” using the far more elegant Italian translation, which is befitting since Martin is attempting to bring a touch of elegance to the world of single-serving beverages.
“It’s not in a box and you’re not drinking by the straw,” said Martin, founder and CEO of Copa di Vino, his self-funded startup based in The Dalles. “It’s in a fashionable and sexy glass that makes it culturally appropriate.”
The idea is far from revolutionary. The wine industry is littered with concepts attempting to break wine away from its 750-milliliter trappings with smaller, portable quantities.
Previous efforts, including wine in juice boxes and bottles with attached glasses, focused more on portability while requiring that the wine be poured into another vessel.
The distinction with Copa di Vino is that the wine is meant to be consumed directly from the hour-glass shaped recyclable plastic cup that comes sealed at the rim.
Martin’s goal is to compete in the beer- and soda-dominated ready-to-drink beverage category, which he said represents 80 percent of all beer and soda sold today.
“You’re talking about an $80 billion market out there that’s in ready-to-drink packaging,” Martin said. “In the wine business, you’ve never had that solution. Feeling the rim of a wine glass is complicated and tricky.”
Copa di Vino’s solution came with the help of a partner in France that developed the technology that enabled the rim of a wine glass to be sealed.
Its business model is two-fold: The company will offer its by-the-glass packaging solutions as a vendor to other wineries and it will sell its own branded product.
Martin, who also owns the six-year-old Quenett Winery, is declaring his initial soft launch a success.
Using a French wine, the product sold out its allotment at January’s Rose Bowl. It’s selling through a handful of retailers, from Northwest Whole Foods and New Seasons groceries to smaller vendors like the Elephant’s Delicatessen inside the Fox Tower in downtown Portland.
“I put it between the cash register so everybody notices,” said Jack Simmons, the wine and beer steward at Portland’s Barbur World Foods in Southwest Portland, where Copa di Vino sells for $2.49 each. “I imagine with a few warm days and with people thinking of being outside and picnicking, that should really move them along.”
Martin said he’s working on launching the product nationwide.
In the last month, the company has begun bottling its own Northwest-made wine using the Copa di Vino brand and reached deals with distributors in 25 states.
Martin said the Gorge Amphitheater in George, Wash., has made Copa di Vino the venue’s sole wine vendor. Officials with the amphitheater couldn’t be reached for comment.
But wine drinkers are a finicky bunch that are tied to their traditions, which could be one of the biggest hurdles Copa di Vino has to overcome.
“Probably more than any other beverage, (wine) is very much governed by tradition. People are resistant to change simply because it’s such an old and perceived to be such a high-quality product,” said Pan Demetrakakes, editor of Food & Beverage Packaging Magazine in Deerfield, Ill. “New fangled aspects in packaging just don’t find the audience they would with other kinds of products.”
As an example, Demetrekakes points to the cork, which he describes as a “terrible way to close up a bottle.”
“They leak, they grow mold, they deteriorate, and they have a failure rate of something like 10 percent more,” he said. “Corks persist for no other reason than people expect them and associate them with high-quality wine.”
Tradition has the same grip on the standard glass bottle.
“I do happen to think that those are the reasons why single-serve hasn’t made much headway in wine,” Demetrakakes said.

Introducing Copa Di Vino!

Copa Di Vino's home, The Historic Sunshine Mill !

Hot! Press Release for Copa Di Vino March 2011: Copa Di Vino to be the spotlight of ABC's "Shark Tank" April 15th 2011


Copa Di Vino Press Release: March 2011:

Native Oregonian, winery entrepreneur, James Martin founder of “Copa Di Vino” will be making its national television début on April 15th of this year 2011.

ABC’s primetime reality show “Shark Tank” is 20 minutes of fame that could make a huge impact on both the Columbia Gorge wine region and James Martin himself who’s self-funded startup dream, has grown to a national story.

James Martins company has gained international recognition by first winning the World Champion Best Wine bottle in 2010,
and then becoming the first winery recipient of the Dupont Packaging Award for Innovation Excellence.

Copa Di Vino has developed a patented process to bottle wine directly into a wine glass. This allows wine enthusiasts to open a single serving, instead of an entire bottle, drinking straight from James’ elegantly designed reusable cup. James has fostered an industry wide debate similar to screw cap versus cork, highlighting how wine bottles are cumbersome and inefficient.

Interest in Copa Di Vino and James’ personal story compelled ABC to add a second filming on-site in The Dalles Oregon at the home of his wineries, in The Historic Sunshine Mill.

This press release is not to be a spoiler so the outcome of the “Sharks” decision will be kept a secret until April 15th, Join us all at the Sunshine Mill viewing party and become of the next chapter for Copa Di Vino.



Copa Di Vino spotlights for spring:
ABC’s Shark Tank episode Airing: Friday, April 15 · 5:00pm
FOX networks “Gordon Ramsay's Masterchef”.
the Historic Sunshine Mill, Copa's home will also be featured in the May issue of Sunset magazine.
www.sunshinemill.com
Visit us on Facebook at:
www.facebook.com/CopaDiVino