Napa Valley’s Food & Vine Inc. Wins sofi™ Gold Product Award

Napa Valley, Ca. (May 11, 2023) – Salute Santé! Cold Pressed Grapeseed has been named the 2023 sofi™ Gold Product Award Winner in the Nut and Other Oils category. The Specialty Food Association’s (SFA) sofi™ Awards—which have been bestowed annually since 1972—are a top honor in the $175 billion specialty food industry.

The 2023 sofi™ Awards recognized a Gold Winner and a New Product Winner in each of 53 specialty food and beverage product categories. Nearly 2,000 products from domestic and international makers were entered into the 2023 competition.

“It is the greatest honor for Salute Santé! to receive the GOLD Sofi Award from the Specialty Food Association for our COLD PRESSED Grapeseed Oil.” says Valentin Humer, oil maker and visionary founder of Food & Vine Inc. “For over 30 years we’ve pushed the bar further and further to create the best quality 100% grapeseed oil. Thanks to this wonderful award – the Oscars of the food world and the ultimate stamp of approval – now everyone can know about it!” Salute Santé! COLD PRESSED Grapeseed Oil can be found at the finest retailers including The TIN Building, Zabar’s, Bristol Farms and health food, specialty food stores, grapeseedoil.com and amazon.com.

Food & Vine Inc. will now compete against other category winners for the 2023 sofi™ Gold Product of the Year Award, which will be selected and announced at the Summer Fancy Food Show, June 25-27 in New York City. The Summer Fancy Food Show is the largest B2B-only specialty food industry event in North America.

“The sofi™ Awards recognize the best, most innovative products in the Specialty Food Industry and the creative, passionate people who make them,” said SFA President Bill Lynch. “Winning a sofi™ Award can open doors to new markets and expanded business opportunities for the winners, which is central to the SFA’s work on behalf of its member makers and manufacturers.”

The sofi™ Awards competition is open to product qualified SFA members in good standing. Gold and New Award Winners in each category are featured in the sofi™ Spotlight Pavilion at the Summer and Winter Fancy Food Shows. Winning a sofi™ Award creates added exposure for products with food buyers from top names in supermarkets, specialty retailers, foodservice, distributors, and the media.

SFA partners with Rutgers Food Innovation Center in Bridgeton, NJ for sofi™ Awards judging and logistics management. Entries were judged strictly on a blind basis—without packaging, pricing, or any brand identification. Products were judged on taste—including flavor, appearance, texture, and aroma— ingredient quality, and innovation.

About Food & Vine Inc.

Food & Vine Inc. is passionate about making GOOD for YOU FOOD and keeping our carbon footprint low. That might sound trendy today, but they were new ideas when we started making grapeseed oil over 30 years ago. All our plant-based grapeseed oils are delicious, healthy and good for you AND our planet. We start with UPCYCLED, non-GMO grapeseeds from wineries in Napa Valley, Italy and Portugal with absolutely NO hybrid or genetically modified (GMO) crops, and no need for new farmland, fertilizer or water.

We have developed a proprietary process to mechanically remove the oil from the tiny, hard grape seeds. Only Salute Santé!® grapeseed oils are cold-pressed, and most important – are 100% Cold Pressed Grapeseed Oil and NOTHING else. We create this FRUIT OIL from the mighty grape — completing its cycle and creating a ZERO waste food. Loved by the best chefs, from Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten to Chef Thomas Keller, Salute Santé! is “The Chef’s Choice!” for delicious, healthy cooking.

Superb in salad dressings, aioli and marinades, grapeseed oil’s high smoke point allows one to sear, sauté, grill, BBQ and bake to perfection. Compared to other fruit oils such as olive oil and avocado oil, grapeseed oil is the lowest in saturated fat, the highest in essential linoleic acid and is naturally high in vitamin E and valuable antioxidants.

Studies have shown that grapeseed oil may significantly raise HDL (the good) cholesterol and lower both LDL (the bad) cholesterol and triglycerides, which may lower your risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes and impotence. This is something that no other food has been known to do. So, make our FRUIT OIL your medicine because good health is priceless!

DELICIOUS, HEALTHY & EASY never tasted so good!

About the Specialty Food Association

The not-for-profit Specialty Food Association (SFA) is the leading membership trade association and source of information about the $175 billion specialty food industry. Founded in 1952 in New York City, the SFA prides itself on being an organization by the members and for the members, representing thousands of specialty food makers and manufacturers, importers, retailers, buyers, distributors, brokers, and others in the trade. The SFA owns and operates the Fancy Food Shows—which are the largest specialty food industry events in North America—as well as the sofi™ Awards—which have honored excellence in specialty food and beverage annually since 1972.