One day soon, you’ll want to lift a glass of sangria, and drink a toast to Rick Martinez.

The Maplewood entrepreneur spent three years developing Señor Sangria (www.senorsangria.com) out of a backyard recipe into a viable business.

Rick, a former internet account manager, made sangria for parties. He put it in buckets, then poured it into bottles and brought it as a house gift. Then, he had a revelation.

“One night while still living in Hoboken my girlfriend (who is now my fiancé) said I should bottle the sangria and sell it,” Rick wrote us. “The next morning I woke up with the idea still in my head.”

Rick sold his Hoboken apartment and moved in with his girlfriend to fund the venture.

Three long years spent in research, developing, locating a producer (Brotherhood Winery in Washingtonville, New York) and now Rick’s Senor Sangria is hitting the market. The wine is imported from Chile, blended with natural fruit juice and a touch of sugar.

Rick marketed the sangria by making it available for sampling on a recent cruise sponsored by the Wine Library (www.winelibrary.com) of Springfield. The critics were impressed: Click here to watch video review

What’s next? The 32 year old is adding sales reps, and has closed about 20 accounts himself. Just in time for your summer parties.

“The journey hasn’t been easy, but it has been fun and exciting. We heard a lot of “it will never work” … the rest is sangria history.”

Good luck to Rick—and look for Señor Sangria to become a major brand. We’ll drink to that!

Tags: Sangria