Riunite

Cantine Cooperative Riunite
Location	Emilia-Romagna region, Italy
Founded	1950
Known for	Riunite
Varietal	Lambrusco
Distribution	International
Website	http://www.riunite.com

Riunite is a brand of Italian wine sold in a variety of flavors in the United States by VB Imports (nee Villa Banfi) of Old Brookville, New York. The brand is known for the advertisements of the 1970s and 80s depicting a broad array of social situations and using the tagline "Riunite on ice, that's nice."

History

Nine wine producers from the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna came together in 1950 as the collective Cantine Cooperative Riunite. Their interest was in exchanging ideas and resources to better all of their respective wine products as well as the producers' fortunes. The Cooperative found success in the American export market in 1967 with an off-dry, very sweet Lambrusco wine suited to American tastes of the time and the Old Brookville-based importer, Villa Banfi.

The year 1973 found the Riunite brand as the top seller in the U.S. among wine imports, due in no small part to catchy advertising that made the wine a household name. These ever increasing sales numbers came to a peak in 1985 of 11.5 million cases.

Riunite has settled into a quieter profile in recent years. However, while the wine has seen a 2001 floor of 1.77 million cases and the ads are no longer the fixture they once were on American television, it has seen a resurgence. In 2006, the look of the bottle and label was redesigned. And in August 2009, VB Imports began a "Reinvent Riunite" campaign which urged people to create commercials based around the famous campaigns of their heyday.