Innholdsfortegnelse for July 15, 2017 i Shanken's Impact Newsletter

BACARDI LTD. HAS BECOME THE EXclusive U.S. importer for the Teeling Irish whiskey range, effective September 1. Under the new partnership, Teeling will be distributed in select states by Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, joining the distributor’s Transatlantic Spirits division. As part of the deal, Bacardi has taken a minority stake in Dublin-based Teeling, marking its first foray into the Irish whiskey segment. Established in 2012, Teeling is known for its flagship 46%-abv Small Batch Irish whiskey ($40). A Single Grain ($50) and Single Malt ($60) round out the core lineup. Teeling was previously handled stateside by Infinium Spirits. Teeling is on pace to reach about 20,000 cases in the U.S. this year. Dominated by Pernod Ricard’s Jameson, the U.S. Irish whiskey category has more than doubled since 2010, and…

ON JULY 5, A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT WAS FILED AGAINST SOUTHERN GLAZER’S Wine and Spirits (SGWS) in U.S. District Court in California alleging fraud, unfair competition and violations of federal and state alcohol distribution laws. The suit was filed on behalf of James Nguyen, previously a liquor license holder for Arena Restaurant and Lounge in San Jose. The complaint accuses Southern Glazer’s of allowing its employees to use customers’ account and liquor license numbers to illegally sell alcohol to businesses without liquor licenses, creating tax liabilities and jeopardizing liquor licenses for Nguyen and others. It also says SGWS permitted employees to purchase liquor on customers’ accounts in order to meet sales quotas, and falsified sales documentation to avoid scrutiny. The plaintiff seeks damages, restitution, and the discontinuation of the alleged…

DESPITE AN 8.5% VOLUME INCREASE TO 29 MILLION CASES, CHINA’S WINE IMports slipped 1.2% by value during the first five months of this year, to approximately $994 million, according to the Chinese Association for Imports and Exports of Wine and Spirits. Wine overstocking, particularly from Bordeaux, price increases and the weakened Chinese currency contributed to market softness. Bottled wine imports, comprising about 92% of total category value, experienced a 3.4% value decrease to $912.5 million, despite a volume increase of 8.1% to 22 million nine-liter cases. Some segments of the Chinese imported wine market nevertheless showed promising signs during the period. Sparkling wine value was up 26.6% to $26.3 million on an approximate 11.3% volume gain to about 590,000 cases. Bulk wine imports, meanwhile, climbed 30% in value to $53.3…

CONCHA Y TORO’S FETZER HAS launched a new national wine label, Adorada, with a California rosé and Pinot Gris. The wines, made from grapes sourced from Mendocino County, are packaged in wax-dipped bottles. Fetzer says the new brand is aimed toward upscale off-premise occasions, like bridal showers and other special events. Adorada Pinot Gris and rosé are now available across the U.S. at a suggested retail price of $19.99 a 750-ml. THE WINEBOW GROUP IS EXTENDing its wholesale footprint to the Rhode Island market.The company’s new Rhode Island operation will be overseen by Mary Masters, vice president and general manager of Winebow, New England and Arjun Dewan, the group’s executive vice president, Wholesale East. Rhode Island marks the 21st state in which The Winebow Group operates as a wholesaler. EUGENE,…

BREAKTHRU BEVERAGE HAS DRAMATICALLY EXPANDED ITS FOOTPRINT IN NEW JERSEY by combining with Allied Beverage Group. Allied is New Jersey’s largest spirits and wine wholesaler, with revenues projected at $825 million for 2017, according to Impact. New Jersey’s number-two player is Fedway Associates, at $790 million. Breakthru’s subsidiary in the state, Breakthru Beverage New Jersey, is at number-three with projected 2017 revenues of $365 million. The new entity will operate as Allied Beverage Group, and will have total revenues of nearly $1.2 billion and a roughly 60% share of the market. The combined company’s portfolio will include Smirnoff, Patrón, Jose Cuervo, Jameson, Kendall-Jackson, Yellow Tail, Absolut, Bacardi, Johnnie Walker, Jim Beam, Hennessy, Beringer and Campari, among other brands. The deal is expected to close by late summer. Breakthru, formed through…

MOËT HENNESSY HAS PURCHASED Washington state craft whiskey distiller Woodinville Whiskey Co. Financial terms weren’t disclosed, but Moët Hennessy confirmed that it’s buying 100% of the company. The deal is part of an ongoing trend of major drinks multinationals acquiring craft distillers. Constellation has been particularly active, last year purchasing Utah-based High West Distillery for around $160 million, while also taking minority stakes in Kentucky’s Bardstown Bourbon Co., Virginia’s Catoctin Creek Distillery and Tennessee-based Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery. Meanwhile, last year Pernod Ricard acquired control of West Virginia’s Smooth Ambler Spirits Co., while Remy Cointreau bought Washington- based Westland Distillery. Earlier this year, William Grant & Sons purchased Tuthilltown Spirits Co. in its entirety, having already acquired Tuthilltown’s largest brand, Hudson Whiskey, back in 2010. Woodinville Whiskey Co., based in…

AFTER A THREE-YEAR PROBE OF 164- unit retail juggernaut Spec’s Wines, Spirits and Finer Foods, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) failed to produce any evidence to back dozens of allegations against the retailer and has been admonished by a pair of Texas administrative law judges According to the Texas Tribune, which has been tracking a series of controversies at the embattled TABC, state administrative law judges examining the case tossed the TABC’s plan to rescind permits for all of Spec’s stores and fine the retailer over $700 million. Instead, the judges recommended that Spec’s receive a warning for the late payment of an invoice from a wine supplier back in 2011, and not be fined. The TABC began investigating Spec’s back in 2013, with officials claiming the retailer had…

PERNOD RICARD HAS SOLD OFF Scotland’s Glenallachie Distillery to a consortium including Scotch whisky industry veterans Billy Walker, Graham Stevenson and Trisha Savage. The transaction, for which financials weren’t disclosed, includes the Glenallachie single malt brand, as well as the MacNair’s and White Heather blended Scotch brands and relevant inventories. Pernod said the divestiture is in line with its strategy to focus on its priority spirits and wine brands. Walker’s previous project, Benriach Distillery Co., was sold to Brown-Forman for about $415 million in April of last year.…

WITH CONSUMERS INCREASINGLY WILLING TO EXPERIment, the U.S. drinks market has seen an unparalleled wave of innovation in recent years, with new product activity rampant across the wine, spirits, beer and RTD categories. As wine consumption in the U.S. reaches record highs, winemakers are tapping consumer interest via on-trend varietals, as well as new packaging formats, while spirits marketers are taking a page from vodka’s playbook and further expanding into flavors. Meanwhile, craft brewers are keeping their audiences engaged with myriad new beer expressions, and hard soda and seltzer offerings are flooding the RTD segment. In wine, the dominant new product trend has been the influx of rosés from all over world. Imports of Provence rosé alone increased tenfold in the U.S. between 2010 and 2016, rising from 123,000 nine-liter…

A YEAR AGO AT THIS TIME, SOUTHERN WINE & Spirits and Glazer’s Inc. had just completed their blockbuster merger, creating a $17.5 billion colossus at the drinks industry’s middle tier. Given the enormity of the task of combining two multi-billiondollar companies, we decided to check in with Southern Glazer’s CEO Wayne Chaplin to see how things are proceeding a year after the deal. In our exclusive interview (page 13), Chaplin discusses the many challenges attendant to the merger, but concludes that the business is now fully integrated and primed for further growth, given the opportunities afforded by its massive scale and unprecedented national footprint. The conventional wisdom goes that while whiskies and brown spirits in general have been a relatively easy sell for Southern Glazer’s and other distributors lately, vodka…

INDIAN SINGLE MALT WHISKY MAKER John Distilleries Ltd. has released Paul John Bold, a new peated single malt whisky, in the U.S. market. Bold ($75) joins a Paul John portfolio that also includes Brilliance ($60), Edited ($65), Select Cask Classic ($95) and Select Cask Peated ($100). Initially, about 1,000 cases will be available in the U.S. Paul John expects to sell about 12,000- 15,000 cases total in the U.S. for 2017. Paul John Single Cask Whisky P1-163 recently garnered a 91-point rating from Whisky Advocate, and Paul John Brilliance and Paul John Select Cask Peated both scored 88 points.…

TREASURY WINE ESTATES IS LOOKING to garner a millennial following for its latest wine brand, Samuel Wynn & Co. Named for Australian wine industry pioneer Samuel Wynn, the new range is packaged in an angular, whisky-like bottle and will initially include two wines: The Man From Nowhere Shiraz and Last Rites Cabernet Sauvignon. TWE says Samuel Wynn & Co. wines will have a “multi-region sourcing model, which allows for flexibility in sourcing to meet future demand.” The company notes that the arrangement dovetails with Wynn’s own philosophy. The brand’s namesake was an early 20th-century traveling wine merchant known for championing new wine territories throughout his career. Samuel Wynn & Co. is launching first in Australia— retailing at A$19 ($14) a bottle— and is slated to hit the U.S. and Asia…

On June 30 of last year, Southern Wine & Spirits of America and Glazer’s Inc. finalized their merger deal and launched spirits and wine distribution giant Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, LLC. The deal, which had been announced six months earlier, created a distribution company with total revenues projected at $17.5 billion for 2017. Southern Glazer’s today handles more than 150 million cases of wine and spirits annually, employs over 20,000 people and operates in 44 states plus the District of Columbia, in addition to the Caribbean and Canada. Impact executive editor David Fleming spoke recently with Southern Glazer’s CEO Wayne Chaplin to get an update on progress after year-one. IMPACT: After a year of being Southern Glazer’s, how’s business? Chaplin: Things are progressing even better than we thought. Most merged companies…

HEAVEN HILL BRANDS’ Deep Eddy Vodka has appointed Matthew Pechman as vice president of marketing. He will report directly to Deep Eddy president John Scarborough. Pechman joins Deep Eddy from Infinium Spirits, where he most recently served as vice president, marketing and innovation. He has also previously held several corporate and brand positions at Diageo, working with both Crown Royal and Tanqueray. Rodney Strong Wine Estates has named Anthony Capobianco as vice president, off-premise national accounts, a new role within the company. Most recently Capobianco worked for Crossmark, where he managed strategic development and execution of the national off-premise grocery, wholesaler and drug business for Kimberly-Clark. Previously, he spent nine years at MillerCoors, and also served as national account director for Treasury Wine Estates. MillerCoors has appointed Pete Marino as…