High-end Italian water hits US

“Just look at these beads rising to the top of the glass,” exclaims Luca Gardini, the 2010 “Best Sommelier in the World” at the ultra high-end The Leopard at des Artistes restaurant in New York, pointing to the bubbles in the sparkling water as one does a fine Champagne.

Ferrarelle, producer of Italy’s number one sparkling mineral water, is preparing to enter the US market in a big way by engaging the high-profile Gardini to give a “water appreciation” tasting (and three-course dinner) to Manhattan’s most prestigious wine journalists.

With over two dozen brands of waters gracing the shelves of most large supermarkets, the question is: does America really need another water brand?

Ferrarelle, whose main competition in the US market is San Pelligrino, believes they do.

The US imported mineral water market is worth well over $218 million, with 35.1% sold in supermarkets and 12.1% on-premise.

Ferrarelle wants to focus on capturing the on-premise market away from its main competitor San Pelligrino, and feels it can do so because in the words of Ron Saleron, an executive for Ferrarelle’s US Corporation: “Ferrarelle has been a premium brand for thousands of years. Unlike other waters (many of which are artificially carbonated) the water springs out of the ground naturally effervescent and is higher in mineral content than other Italian mineral waters.

“It is also a quality brand claiming that one litre fills 2/3 of a person’s daily requirement of calcium, so it offers incredible health benefits as well.”

For “Best Sommelier” Luca Gardini, however, it’s all about the taste. “It has a soft and rich texture, with sweet notes rather than salty,” Gardini told the crowd, later asking his mesmerised audience to smell – and then taste – the water, and to pay close attention to its purity.

Once consumers tasted the Ferrarelle water in the restaurants, Saleron revealed they would be more motivated to buy it when they next saw it next to their usual water in the supermarket.

If the reaction of the public to the water is anything like the journalists, this will be a good bet on Ferrarelle’s part … the question is, will Luca Gardini be there to hand sell it?

By Marisa D’Vari in New York