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JUNE NEWS Packaging Maverick Rejects Investors Oregon inventor turns down second offer T he Dalles, Ore.—The star inves- tors on ABC's reality series "Shark Tank" sweetened the pot, but not enough to buy into Copa di Vino, James Martin's innovative, ready-to-drink (RTD) wine package. In an unprecedented second appear- ance on the television show, Martin turned down a collective offer from Kevin O'Leary, Robert Herjavec and Mark Cu- ban of $600,000 for 30% of the business. Martin phoned his friend and mentor Jim Koch, founder of Samuel Adams beer. "He still owns 100% of the voting shares" of his wildly successful brand, Martin said; that weighed heavily in his decision to re- ject what he termed a "low-ball offer" for a business that's already growing rapidly, racking up the equivalent of more than 1 million 9-liter cases in just 18 months. Wines & Vines first wrote about Copa di Vino in a section of the May 2010 packag- ing cover story "Too New to Be Trendy." Martin had just begun to market his con- cept, loosely based on single-serve wine sales aboard France's bullet train. Unlike other alternative wine presentations, in- cluding the AstroPouch profiled in the same article, Copa di Vino's package is itself a sturdy wineglass, making it a true RTD wine product. Martin patented the package and the bottling process, and he brought a mobile bottling line to the Sunshine Mill, a land- mark flourmill he refurbished to house his Quenett Cellars and Silver Salmon Winery. He hoped that presenting single-serve con- tainers would tempt consumers by offering individual 187ml glasses at a fraction of the bottle price: $3.99 vs. $16 per bottle. James Martin is the only "Shark Tank" con- testant to appear on the show twice. Martin added Moscato to the Copa di Vino line of Cabernet Sauvignon, Mer- lot, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Riesling and white Zinfandel. Copa wines are now available in 42 states. So far, he said, "We're off-premise driven," although he revealed that, after his first appearance dur- ing the second season of "Shark Tank," he was contacted by "multiple NFL stadi- ums" interested in on-premise sales. —Jane Firstenfeld winesandvines.com Learn more: Search keywords "Shark Tank." The original, BOTTLE-MATIC-II 3 YEAR WARRANTY INCLUDED Front and Back! $1800 for Wines & Vines Readers! Front & Back! Label any cylindrical container fast and accurately from ½" to 21 day trial MADE IN USA! DISPENSA-MATIC Label Dispensers 16 Wines & Vines JUne 2012 8" diameter, @ Speeds of 1200 Pcs. per hour. NOT A CHEAP, IMPORTED KNOCK-OFF! Wasting Time Labeling by Hand! STOP FAX:(573) 392-1757; E-mail: info@dispensamatic.com Web: http://www.bottle-labeler.com 28220 Playmor Beach Rd, Rocky Mount, MO 65072 Call Toll Free: 1 (800) 325-7303 or (573) 392-7684 Price subject to change without notice. 2/01/10