Instagram Photo: @AnneFed
If you love having options for your Friday knock off drinks, Sunday sessions or Summer nights, your selection has just gotten more interesting. European inspired spritzer SOFI Spritz has just launched in Australia.
SOFI Spritz was started up in Bondi last year by entrepreneur Tommy Maclean. After a trip to Italy, Maclean was inspired by the European aperitif and abandoned his career in finance to create the new product.
SOFI Spritz has released their Australian white wine spritzer mixed to a classic Mediterranean recipe. SOFI blends locally-grown South Australian Riesling grapes, blood orange, bitters and sparkling water to create a crisp bitter-sweet taste.
Maclean wanted to create a product that utilised our abundant SA local wine, whilst making it lighter and more suitable for the Australian lifestyle. He was excited to be one of the first to market in what is now emerging as a nascent category – wine spritzers.
With a background in finance, Tommy recognised the fact that he was in for a challenge when he stepped out of his comfort zone and entered the alcohol arena. “Coming from outside, it was obviously worrying to see some of the largest alcohol companies launch wine spritzers around the same time as us and throw giant marketing budgets behind them. But it was our belief all along that consumers appreciate hand crafted quality and natural, identifiable ingredients”. The SOFI Spritz team was inspired by the explosion of craft beers, where you could see boutique brands competing, and winning, against the big boys.
Eager to utilise the excellent wine produced in South Australia, SOFI Spritz enlisted the help of high calibre winemaker, Simon Gilbert, to work closely on producing a quality liquid. “I selected South Australian Riesling as the base such that the citrus notes of the wine would match the blood orange. The natural sweetness of the Riesling grapes also balances the bitters that we add upon bottling. Maintaining the right combination of flavours as well as the proper balance to achieve a bitter-sweet taste and crisp finish is as difficult as any winemaking” says Gilbert.
On the tail end of its first full summer in the market place, Tommy Maclean is thrilled with the exponential progress that his little start-up, SOFI Spritz, has achieved. Since the launch party held in December 2014 at Bondi Pavilion, SOFI has attained national ranging with major liquor outlets and has undertaken an aggressive tasting campaign throughout the country in stores, at every farmers market in Sydney and attended interstate wine shows.
As part of the Australian launch, SOFI Spritz sent product out around the country for influencers to sample. Included in the resulting coverage were posts from Adelaide’s own @AnneFed and @TheBikiniFox.
Alcohol Content: 8%/ 1.3 standard drinks per 200ml bottle
Website
www.sofispritz.com
Social Media
www.facebook.com/sofispritz
Post your own SOFI Spritz drink to Instagram: @sofispritz #sofispritz
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