TuTu

Kono, a New Zealand-based indigenous beverage and food producer, has launched Tutu Cider in California, the US.

The cider is claimed to be developed from a secret family recipe using native Fuji apples, and is crafted in the Maori lands.

Kono New Zealand export sales manager Dan Taylor said: "Having already garnered an excellent national and international reputation for our Kono, Tohu, and Aronui wines, we knew that we had the skill and knowledge to present a unique offering to a growing segment of the beverage market."

“We knew that we had the skill and knowledge to present a unique offering to a growing segment of the beverage market.”

The drink derives its name from a Maori colloquial term that means cheeky and mischievous.

With 5% alcohol by volume, this drink is claimed to be gluten-free.

It is a single varietal hard cider, crafted using the company’s own Fuji apples, sun ripened on its ancestral lands in Nelson at the top of the South Island.

Kono claims that right from the planting of the trees, to the final bottling of the cider, its team carefully crafts each step of the process, to provide a cider that offers a fresh, crisp fruit bouquet.

It is imported to the US by Total Beverage Solution.

The drink is priced between $6.99 and $7.49.

Image: Kono launches Tutu Cider in US . Photo: coutesy of PRNewsFoto/Kono.