Talk about a good idea — and the right folks to bring it to market!
The folks at Food Network want to make wine more accessible to more people. They want to teach Americans how wine and food go together and complement one another. And they want us to feel comfortable selecting wines to go with our everyday in-home meals.
To that end, Food Network has partnered with Wente Vineyards of California, America’s oldest continuously operated family-owned winery, to create four new wines. The wines are named entwine to signify the entwined relationship between food and wine. There is a pinot grigio, a chardonnay, a merlot and a cabernet sauvignon. They will be priced between $10 and $15 and will arrive in three Knoxville liquor stores next week, according to Scripps Networks exec Chris Powell, with whom I shared dinner last night. Powell said the wines will be available at Ashe’s Wine & Spirits, Bob’s Package Store, and Campbell Station Wine and Spirits.
Powell said the partnership between Food Network and Wente has been in the making for about two years and culminated in April during a meeting in San Francisco. “The power of the brands resulted in an authentic strategic partnership that connected good folks who shared a good idea,” Powell said.
The entwine marketing team is making every effort to de-mystify both wine and the art of pairing wine with food. On the back label of each of the four bottles is a simple listing of foods — and situations — that might go well with the particular wine. And the foods are items we all consume every day. For instance, here are the suggestions for the pinot grigio: salty cheeses, guacamole, Asian takeout, tropical fruit, ham, white fish, and hors d’oeuvres on the porch. (Love that!)
The occasion last night was a wine tasting fundraiser held at Ruth’s Chris Steak House to benefit the Knoxville Area Urban League’s Walter Hardy Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarships for minority students entering health care fields. (Both Chris and I serve on the board of the Urban League.) The Urban League Young Professionals organized the event, along with Scripps Networks folks, and it was a huge success, with the $50 per person tickets selling out almost immediately. They are sure to cost more next year!
Powell said Food Network and Scripps plan to partner with Urban League Young Professionals and Ruth’s Chris in Chicago, Houston, Dallas and Atlanta for similar evenings as the entwine roll-out continues. It’s the perfect target audience if you are trying to reach young, upwardly mobile folks who like to try new things. If they start thinking of wine as an everyday addition to their dinner table now, they’ll be wine lovers the rest of their lives.
Here’s a look at some of the fun last night:
Sounds wonderful — we love Wente! It’s a great vineyard that makes great wines and has a fabulous restaurant. Can’t wait to try entwine! Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
We were trying to get seconds of that veal ravioli. Wow! That was good stuff.
Annette: If I had only known, you could have had mine! Fun, wasn’t it?
So jealous! Sounds like a great evening!
The wine and food were outstanding. So much of an evening is your table mates. We laughed the entire evening.
Agree, Mickey! My face hurt from grinning!
I was hoping that you would say that Food Network would be opening a wine bar — like the one in Hilton Head! And I am still dying laughing at the definition of an auctioneer – whatta classic!!!
I loved this one.
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