Bee D'Vine on 'Shark Tank': Who is the founder, what is the cost and where can you buy this exotic honey wine?
A great glass of wine can instantly lift up anyone's spirits. But what if we told you that by drinking wine you can help in saving endangered bees, protect rainforests, and even improve the lives of beekeepers in the forests of Kafa, Ethiopia, and Sonoma, California? If this piqued your interest then you might love Bee D'Vine, a hone wine company based out of California. Ayele Solomon, the founder of Bee D'Vine will be appearing on the upcoming episode of 'Shark Tank' to present his pitch for the exotic honey wine that goes beyond being just a great glass of wine!
What is Bee D'Vine?
Bee D'Vine is inspired by Ethiopian national beverage t'ej or honey wine. Unlike several other wineries that manufacture and sell grape-based wines, Bee D'Vine makes their wines from honey. This honey is extracted sustainably, and the end result is a smooth, sweet, and dry wine that promises to be nothing like any other wine you have ever tasted before. "Historically, more honey wine has been consumed than grape wine, so it has a long history of production, but there were none that I knew of that had broad appeal to premium wine and beer enthusiasts. So my goal was to reintroduce mead as smooth honey wine that would not only appeal to people who already enjoy t'ej, the traditional Ethiopian honey wine, or regular mead, but also to people who appreciate beer and grape wine," shared Ayele on his website.
The company currently manufactures both still and sparkling wines in the following variants: "Brut" for those who fancy drier wines, and the delicious "Demi Sec," a semi-sweet wine for those preferring slightly fruit-forward wines. In 2020, they introduced a rare 17% dessert wine called Dolce X.
Who is the founder?
Bee D'Vine was founded by Ayele Solomon, a conservationist, and Food & Magazine Tastemaker. According to the company's website, Ayele came up with the idea of producing the honey wine, while driving through the last remaining parts of Ethiopia's Kafa rainforest in 2009. Ayele felt that there should be some way to incentivize people to protect the trees instead of cutting them down. So, he turned to Ethiopia's national beverage t'ej (honey wine) for a solution.
"Ayele realized that these flowering trees were an ideal source of nectar and pollen that bees use to make valuable honey. This set Ayele on a quest to better understand the art and business of creating honey wine. He evaluating production in Ethiopia and South Africa, but settled on the world-class wine region of Sonoma – not far from where he grew up – using California honey for the first varietals," states the website.
For the sharks, tasting the Bee D'Vine will definitely be a memorable experience, for they have been used to drinking conventional grape-based wine. So, it will be interesting to watch how the sharks react to a sustainably made smooth, sweet & dry wine from honey.
What is the cost of Bee D'Vine?
The prices of Bee D'Vine bottles range from $28 to $349. They are currently offering a 'Shark Tank' mixed special offer comprising of their popular wine variants for $129, aside from a sweet special for $99, and dry special for $119.
Where to buy?
You can get your very own bottle of delicious honey wine from here.
'Shark Tank' Season 12 airs every Friday at 8/7c only on ABC.