Vino del Sol was born in an elevator. In April 2004, the Vino del Sol business plan won the
Wake Forest Elevator Competition, the international MBA contest judged by venture capitalists during a two minute elevator ride.
This win assured Vino del Sol of investor backing and put the company on the path to success.
But let's back up a bit. In 2001, Matt Hedges was studying abroad during his junior year of college in Buenos Aires. On a student's budget, he soon learned that wine offered the best bang for the buck. He started drinking it all the time and developed a strong passion for it.
Matt also fell in love with a beautiful Argentine, Claudia. After returning to the U.S., Matt was disappointed to discover that Argentine wine was hard to find. With an upcoming marriage to Claudia, what better way to unite the two cultures than by starting an Argentine wine import company?
After graduating from Vanderbilt, Matt went to Ole Miss for his MBA, where he developed the business plan. He realized though that he knew little about wine and even less about how to sell it, and was lucky to become partners with Alejandro Darago and Thane Prichard.
Alejandro was the Sommelier of the Alvear Palace Hotel in Buenos Aires, the highest ranked hotel in South America. He knew not just who made great Argentine wine, but more importantly who were the great people with whom to build long-term relationships.
Thane brought over twenty years' experience of successfully building wine brands at the national level. Over the years Vino del Sol has developed a great team dedicated to the vision of bringing the most exciting Argentine wines to the U.S. market.
Since shipping its first container in 2004, Vino del Sol has gained distribution in over 40 states and sold millions of bottles of premium Argentine wine.
Vino del Sol has earned a reputation within the industry as the Argentine Wine Specialist®: the company has representative offices in both Mendoza and Buenos Aires to directly oversee quality control and logistics, and to work directly with our suppliers to rapidly meet our customers' needs.
Vino del Sol is proud to be the exclusive U.S. importer of Altocedro, Camino del Inca, Ksana, Lamadrid, Manos Negras, Tapiz, Verum, and Zolo. It's an honor to work with these great families and bring their wines to the U.S.
