Innholdsfortegnelse for February 1-15, 2017 i Shanken's Impact Newsletter

EVEN AFTER SEVERAL CONSECUTIVE YEARS of surging growth, Bourbon is not only still booming—it’s picking up speed. After climbing 5% by volume in 2015, the global Bourbon category rose roughly 6% to more than 33 million nine-liter cases last year, according to Impact Databank. The expan-sion is being driven by the U.S. market, where Bourbon has surpassed 20 million cases for the first time in three decades. And while the U.S. accounts for nearly two-thirds of worldwide Bourbon volume, the category is also gaining steam in several es-tablished markets such as the U.K., Austra- lia, France and Japan, where growing inter-est in American whisk(e)y cocktails and the craft spirits movement has helped bolster Bourbon’s allure. “We see several key factors supporting the sustained growth of Bourbon, and the first is…

DIAGEO IS GETTING BACK INTO THE THRIVING IRISH WHISKEY CATEGORY, IN-vesting $25 million in a new Dublin distillery that will produce an upscale brand called Roe & Co. Diageo director of U.K. and Ireland operations Colin O’Brien recently told reporters that the company will soon begin rolling out Roe & Co. in major European markets. The new brand will be priced at around £30 ($37) and will join Diageo’s reserve unit. Diageo will initially source Roe & Co. whiskey from undisclosed third-party distilleries, but plans to start building a new distillery at its Guinness headquarters in Dublin. Whiskey production is slated to begin there in 2019. Diageo has been absent from the Irish whiskey category since late 2014, when it sold Bushmills to Casa Cuervo, in exchange for Cuervo’s 50%…

CASA CUERVO IS TOASTING A STRONG response to its initial public offering on the Mexican stock exchange, with the company raising more than $900 million from investors for a combined 13% stake. Bloomberg cited unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter who said the public offering—priced at 34 pesos ($1.66) a share—was eight times oversubscribed, as investors brushed off concerns about a potential border tax in the U.S. to focus on Cu-ervo’s growth potential in the thriving Tequila market, and its plan to acquire additional premium spirits brands with funds from the offer. Tequila volume rose by 6.5% to 15.8 million cases in the U.S. in 2016, ac-cording to Impact Databank esti-mates. Jose Cuervo’s U.S. volume grew by 4.5% to 3.6 million cases last year. Cuervo’s brand stable also includes…

Ste. Michelle Wine Estates (SMWE) has long reigned as the U.S. market’s leading Washington wine player, led by its flag-ship Chateau Ste. Michelle brand, which sells more than 3.4 million cases annually. The company’s stable also comprises Wash-ington state standouts including 14 Hands (about 2 million cases), Columbia Crest (1.2 million cases, excluding Two Vines), Col Solare, Snoqualmie, Northstar and Stimson Estate Cellars, among others, as well as a variety of California and Oregon of-ferings. A subsidiary of Altria Group, SMWE achieved 8% rev-enue growth to $746 million in 2016, on volume up 5.3% to 9.3 million cases. With the Washington category heating up, Impact senior editor Christina Jelski recently spoke with SMWE president and CEO Ted Baseler to discuss the outlook for 2017 and beyond. IMPACT: How are SMWE’s…

IF THERE’S ONE DRINKS CATEGORY THAT CAN TRULY be described as red-hot, it’s got to be Bourbon. The once dusty whiskey segment continues to see soaring consumer demand, amid heavy investment from leading marketers and robust premium-ization activity. As this issue’s exclusive report shows, the Bourbon market in the U.S. has surpassed a total volume of 20 million cases for the first time in 30 years, with upscale players like Maker’s Mark, Bulleit, Woodford Reserve and Knob Creek posting some of the category’s most eye-catching gains. Meanwhile, ambitious players from across the spectrum are in innovation mode, vying to capture consumers’ at-tention with either entirely new brand propositions—like Brown-Forman’s Cooper’s Craft—or returning heritage whiskies that had disappeared over the decades, like Diageo’s I.W. Harper and Campari America’s Bond & Lillard…

ITALY’S GRUPPO CAMPARI HAS AC-quired Bulldog Gin for roughly $58 million. Campari has distributed Bull-dog since 2014 through its own net-work. Launched in the U.S. in 2007 by entrepreneur and investment banker Anshuman Vohra, Bulldog (roughly $26 a 750-ml.) is currently available in nearly 100 markets around the globe, with a strong concentration in Europe. It sold around 150,000 cases in total in 2016, with net sales growing 22% to $12 million. The deal gives Campari a company-owned gin to pair with its namesake bitter brand in the popular Negroni cocktail. It values Bulldog at €13.6 times the expected CAAP (contribu-tion after advertising and promotion) of approximately €4 million ($4.3 mil-lion) in 2017.…

JOHNSON BROTHERS IS ENTERING the New York market, shaking up a distribution tier that’s been dominated by two players—Empire Merchants and Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spir-its—for the past decade. Johnson’s New York operation will be managed by industry veteran Eddy Rivera, for-merly with E.&J. Gallo Winery. The distributor will operate in metro New York, Westchester County and Long Island. The St. Paul, Minnesota-based Johnson is the country’s sixth-leading spirits and wine distributor, according to Shanken’s Impact Newsletter, with revenue of nearly $2 billion.…

•Constellation Brands has appointed Bill Newlands to the newly created post of chief operating officer. Newlands, a 30-year in-dustry veteran who joined Constellation in 2015, has been serving as president of the company’s wine & spirits division. In his new role, Newlands will oversee the beer division as well. Additionally, Chris Stenzel has been promoted to ex-ecutive vice president, wine & spirits division. He joined Constellation in 2008 and was most re-cently senior vice president of finance for the beer di-vision. He’ll report directly to Newlands in his new role, as will Paul Hetterich, president of the beer divi-sion. Ben Dollard will transition to the role of se-nior vice president, chief marketing of-ficer and international for the wine and spirits division, reporting to Stenzel. Dollard joined Constellation in 2001 and…

SANDRA LEDREW, A VET-eran wine executive who formerly led Diageo Chateau & Estate and Treasury Wine Estates Americas, has been ap-pointed president, winery operations, and chief development officer of Terlato Wine Group. LeDrew will be based in California and report di-rectly to company presi-dent and CEO Bill Terlato. The ap-pointment is effective February 27. LeDrew’s role as president of winery operations is a new post within the company, overseeing Terlato wineries around the globe, including California holdings such as Rutherford Hill, Chimney Rock and Sanford as well as joint ventures in France, Italy and Aus- tralia. She will also manage production of the Federal-ist, Seven Daughters and Terlato Family Vineyards brands, as well as all direct-to-consumer business and retail sales at Terlato’s win-eries. In her additional du-ties as chief development…

SPURRED BY SIGNIFICANT GROWTH in the U.S. market, Cognac exports reached record highs in volume and value in 2016, according to the BNIC trade group. Exports rose by 6% to nearly 15 million nine-liter cases, while export value grew by 6.8% to €2.76 billion ($2.94b), according to the BNIC. Volume and value both eclipsed their previous records set in 2015. North America was the growth engine, with shipments up 14.2% to nearly 6.5 million cases. The U.S., Cognac’s largest global market, ac-counted for more than 95% of North American volume. While a number of leading brands are making progress, category leader Hennessy is more dominant than ever. In 2015, Hennessy rose by 18% to pass 3 million cases. Remarkably, the brand’s 2016 performance is estimated to be even better. According…

SOUTHERN GLAZER’S WINE & SPIRITS HAS SECURED NEW LONG-TERM DEALS with two of the U.S. market’s key spirits suppliers, Beam Suntory and Campari, covering broad swathes of the market. Campari is shifting to Southern Glazer’s in 14 new markets (effective March 1) while maintaining its relationship with the distribution giant in another 27 mar-kets. The 14 new markets include Texas, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Maryland, Washington, D.C., West Virginia, North Carolina, Vir-ginia, Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Montgomery County, Maryland. Campari previously partnered with Republic National Distributing Company— the country’s second-leading spirits and wine distributor—in all of these markets. “The move to shift more of our business to Southern Glazer’s was driven by their ability to fully support our key priority brands, including a real focus on driving distribution…

•THREE PACIFIC NORTHWEST wholesalers—Click Wholesale Dis-tributing, Craig Stein Beverage and the Odom Corporation—are joining forces to create Northwest Beverages LLC, a distributor of craft/specialty beer, wine and spirits. The new com-pany is being formed though Craig Stein’s acquisition of Click and its subsequent agreement to partner with Odom. Northwest will have op-erations in Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. The Seat-tle-based company will be co-owned by C. Stein, Inc. and Odom. The deal is expected to be finalized in March. •PERNOD RICARD’S IRISH DISTILLERS unit is investing €10.5 million ($11m) in its Midleton Distillery in Co. Cork, Ireland, intending to grow the facility’s single pot still capacity by more than 30%. The expansion will include installation of three new copper pot stills, which are expected to be operational by June.…