Dragons Den reject wins Wine 'Oscar'

Perhaps the Dragons aren't s clever! They rejected the ‘cup-a-wine’ concept – wine sold in plastic glasses with a tear off lid .

First the product was snapped up by Marks & Spencer for its ‘Food on the Move’ section, proving a big hit with commuters and picnickers. And now the wine itself has won an award in the international wine ‘Oscars’.  The M&S wine Le Froglet Rosé has been named the Great Value Champion Rosé at the The International Wine Challenge.

This same wine is sold in the ‘cup-a-wine’ packaging that featured on Dragons Den and was famously rejected.

The man who developed the idea, packaging expert James Nash, was given a particularly tough interrogation by the Dragons, James Caan, Duncan Bannatyne, Deborah Meaden, Theo Paphitis and Peter Jones, when he presented the idea in 2009.

They rubbished his financial projections, suggested the product would not sell well and questioned whether he would be able get a patent.

Mr Bannatyne was particularly dismissive, saying: ‘This doesn’t work as a selling item. People do not want to buy wine in plastic glasses like that. For that reason, I’m out.