Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Have you got Prosecco in a can?

Then Paris is just the gal to let it out, we guess:

(ANSA) - Rome, September 26 - Producers and fans of Italian Prosecco are up in arms over plans by an Austrian company to market the sparkling white wine in a can.

The wine in a can is called Rich Prosecco and American heiress and jetsetter Paris Hilton has been hired to be the product's pitch girl.

Makers of quality Prosecco, which is produced in the northeast zones of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene, are very worried that the reputation of their wine will suffer from the marketing of an inferior product .

And well they might worry if this inferior pun is typical:

"No one gets upset over caviar being sold in a can and no one confuses tinned meat with a fillet. So I don't see what the fuss is all about", Veneto Region Vice President Luca Zaia told ANSA.

...."From a marketing point of view this is an opportunity," Zaia observed, "because it meets a market demand and has the potential of increasing the number of consumers of one of our most famous wines".

"People who will drink prosecco in a can will most certainly in the future also buy quality Prosecco in a bottle. We need to be more open-minded," the region official added.

In response to the protests by Prosecco producers, Zaia said "I hope this is just not sour grapes because someone else came up with the can idea first" .

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