Bartles & Jaymes

Bartles & Jaymes is a flavored wine cooler and malt beverage line produced by the E & J Gallo Winery in the United States, and introduced in 1981. Flavors include Strawberry Daiquiri, Fuzzy Navel, Exotic Berry, Margarita, Pina Colada, Classic Original, Tropical Mango, Blue Hawaiian, Strawberry Margarita, Raspberry Pomegranate, Body Shot Lime, Mojito, and Sangria. Discontinued flavors include Blackberry, Raspberry Daiquiri, Strawberry Cosmopolitan, Melon Splash, Apple Passion, Orange Sunset, and Red.

TV commercials

The product line is well remembered for its folksy television commercials, created by Hal Riney, which ran from 1984 to 1991. Two elderly gentlemen characters, Frank Bartles and Ed Jaymes (played by David Joseph Rufkahr and Dick Maugg, respectively), sat on a front porch and related their new discoveries or projects on which they were working. The characters were patterned after two men who started a little winery which eventually became the Ernest & Julio Gallo Winery. Bartles did all the talking, and ended each commercial with the tagline, "... and thank you for your continued support." [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3LkWVqYecE]

Neither man was an actor before doing the spots: Rufkahr worked for an advertising agency, while Maugg was a general contractor. David Rufkahr died of a heart attack in April 1996, in Bend, Oregon, at the age of 61.

External links

* [http://www.bartlesandjaymes.com/ Official site]
* [http://www.tvacres.com/admascots_bartles.htm TV Acres Advertising Mascots]