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There are plenty of restaurants that offer diners the chance to pair a pizza with a nice bottle of wine, but you’re probably not going to go that route if you’re eating Pizza Hut. However, the chain is now giving customers the chance to do exactly that after rolling out its very own tomato wine.
Pizza Hut is owned by the same company that operates Taco Bell and KFC, and while the former has whipped up some creative culinary offerings over the years, those other two chains tend to be a bit more aggressive when it comes to dreaming up over-the-top items and attention-grabbing publicity stunts.
However, I have to give credit where credit is due to The Hut for its newest innovation.
I can’t imagine there are many people out there who’ve found themselves in the mood for a wine that tastes like pizza, but according to Food and Wine, Pizza Hut has decided to address that void in the marketplace with its very own vino derived from tomatoes.
That unconventional concoction is the result of a collaboration with Irvine’s Just Beyond Paradise Winery in Kansas, which produced a limited run of bottles made from “ripe, juicy tomatoes and infused with natural basil” to create a wine the chain says “offers an aromatic blend of fresh herbs and spices with rich, sun-ripened tomato notes and a subtle hint of toasted oak —reminiscent of a perfectly baked pizza crust.”
If you’re curious, tomato wine was already A Thing before Pizza Hut brought its own version to fruition, as the “vegetable” that’s actually a fruit contains plenty of sugars that can be converted into alcohol using the same fermentation process as its slightly more popular grape-based counterpart.
The end result may produce a red liquid, but Pizza Hut notes it actually tastes more like a white wine and should be chilled before drinking.
It doesn’t appear the wine will be offered at any of the more than 500 Pizza Hut locations that serve alcohol, but it’s currently being sold online. A gift set that features a 375 ml bottle, an opener, and two Pizza Hut-branded glasses will set you back $60, while the bottles alone are selling for $25 a pop (you do have to order at least two if you go that route).