WGW making a mark worldwide


Replacement for the wine charmis a washable, non-toxic product that writes on glass and glazed ceramics.


By Susan McIver S


ummerland is the Canadian centre for a rapidly expanding international wine accessory company, thanks to a romance sparked at a Nicaraguan resort. Renée Stewart of Summerland is the director of operations and Canadian sales representative for Wine Glass Writer.


A replacement for the wine charm, WGW is a washable, certified non- toxic marker that writes on glass and glazed ceramics.


“People often forget where they left their wine or which wine charm they chose, but they seldom forget their names,” Renée said.


WGW was launched in 2010 by Stewart’s mother, Jeannine Fradelizio, who lives in San Francisco. Working with chemists Fradelizio developed the WGW ink that dries in 1-2 minutes and is virtually odourless, so it doesn’t interfere with the wine’s bouquet.


In 2011, WGW was named for the first of two times among The Wall Street Journal’s Top Five Wine Accessories of the Year.


Shortly thereafter, WGW made it into the Martha Stewart Magazine. WGW now has factories in both the U.S. and China, a distribution centre in Vancouver in addition to California and sells at thousands of wineries, cooking stores and retailers across the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway.


Currently, promotion material and labels are being translated into six languages for a major push into the European market.


A California native, Stewart met her Canadian husband, Chris Stewart, at a Nicaraguan resort in 2012.


14 British Columbia FRUIT GROWER • Summer 2015 SUSAN MCIVER


Renée Stewart is the director of operations and Canadian sales representative for Wine Glass Writer, a rapidly expanding international wine accessory company.


“Our move to Summerland right onto Bottleneck Drive, puts WGW in the heart of the Okanagan wine scene, which offers our company tremendous opportunities to grow our business at


the grassroots level,” Stewart said. New markets keep opening because of WGW’s many household uses, such as home brewing, food preservation and calligraphy art.


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