Sommeliers Choice Awards 2024 Winners
Laureate Imports Company
Category: Wine Importer
Country: United States
Date:26/10/2020
Laureate Imports Company was established in 1979 as a subsidiary of The Coca-Cola Trading Company. Its original mission was to generate counter-trade benefits for The Coca-Cola Company in several European Countries where Coca-Cola was expanding their business. Laureate imported wines to the United States’ market and portions of the hard currency generated were used in the host countries to buy ingredients to further the soft drink business there. In 1991, Coca-Cola sold Laureate Imports Company to a major wine supplier at that time in Slovenia named Slovenijavino. In 2000, Slovenijavino’s trademarked wines were acquired by the very well known and highly regarded winery, Klet Brda in Dobrovo on the Italian border. Avia Wines, a nationally known and successful line of varietal wines, continues to be marketed by Laureate Imports Company in the United States under the ownership of Klet Brda Winery.
The Klet Brda winery is the leading producer and exporter of Slovenian bottled wine. Renowned for its distinctive style and appreciated by wine lovers in Slovenia and 26 countries around the world. The winery unites 400 families, who have been working together for over fifty years and have turned local wine making into a success story. Our mission is to capture in our wines the uniqueness of the Brda terroir and use effective marketing to contribute to the development of the region and the prosperity of the local population. The guiding principle in our day-to-day activities is a deep respect for nature and its cycles, as we believe that superior quality is born in the vineyard.
Our wine brands are: Bagueri Wines, Bagueri Sparkling Wines, Colliano Wines, Avia Wines, Fritzz Wines, Motnik Wines, Quercus Wines, Villa Brici Wines and Krasno Wines.