Pansy - a quirky Kim Crawford wine originally made "just as a bit of fun" - has captured the imagination of the company's United States distributor.
The rose wine, which features a distinctive bright-pink screwtop and label, was first produced last year and was intended only for the wine lists ofa handful of Auckland restaurants.
It is dedicated to "three of Ponsonby Rd's best-known hospitality professionals" - SPQR bar manager James Hall, Surrender Dorothy's Robert Street, and Street's drag queen alter-ego Onya.
Despite its initial limited release, the wine was such a hit with Auckland drinkers that the company began distributing it more widely.
When Erica Crawford was in Atlanta, Georgia, last month giving a presentation at Vincor distribution subsidiary RH Phillips-Hogue's annual sales meeting, she pulled out photographs from the Pansy launch party, held at SPQR restaurant.
At the end of the presentation an enthralled Phillips-Hogue sales manager asked if the company could take 2000 cases of the wine.
Erica Crawford had to pass on the bad news that only 100 cases were available. But a much larger order is now on the books for this year's vintage.
