Innholdsfortegnelse for August 1-15, 2021 i Shanken's Impact Newsletter

CINCORO, THE LUXURY TEQUILA brand backed by a group of NBA owners including Michael Jordan, launched just ahead of the pandemic in fall of 2019, but the unprecedented condi-tions haven’t stopped it from gaining strong momentum at the category’s top tier. Cincoro starts at $70 for its Blanco expression and reaches $1,600 for its Extra Añejo. “Our May sales more than tripled since last May, making us the fastest growing Tequila brand, year on year, according to Nielsen,” says Cincoro CEO Emilia Fazzalari. “We closed the month of June with all-time record high sales.” For the current calendar year, Cincoro, which is packaged in six-pack cases, is expected to reach the equivalent of 75,000 9-liter cases. Fazzalari adds that the brand aver-ages a 50% reorder rate nationally with its most…

AFTER A MODEST FIRST QUARTER, SPIRITS VOLUME HAS ACCELERATED THE PAST three months in the U.S. market’s 18 control jurisdictions, to bring year-to-date gains through June up to 7.7%, according to NABCA. Especially considering the tough comparison against last year’s pandemic-aided growth, June 2021’s increase of 8.6% was quite impressive, with 16 of the 18 markets registering gains last month. Control states comprised nearly 24% of total U.S. spirits market volume last year—according to Impact Databank—as control jurisdictions once again outperformed license states in 2020.…

CAMPARI GROUP POSTED A STRONG SET OF RESULTS FOR ITS FISCAL FIRST HALF ended in June, with net sales up 37% organically to €1 billion ($1.18b) and ad-justed EBIT jumping 89% to €223 million ($263m). According to the company, the “positive trends accelerated in the peak second quarter, thanks to sustained home consumption trends combined with the gradual on-premise reopening.” While Campari benefited from a relatively weak comp against last year’s second quarter, its sales were also up a robust 22% compared with the same period in 2019. In the U.S., Campari’s largest market, sales rose 29% in the first half, with Espolòn, Grand Marnier, and its Jamaican rums showing double-digit growth.…

•SOUTHERN GLAZER’S HAS UN-veiled a new SG+ initiative aimed at providing enhanced service across its fine wine, artisanal wine, craft and luxury spirits business. The company says the enhanced customer service and delivery model supporting SG+ will be rolled out initially in Florida and Texas, with additional markets to follow in 2022. The push includes national points of contact, dedicated artisanal route-to-market strategies, on-premise incubation of brands, logistics, operations, and training and development. With SG+, Southern Glazer’s is introducing three new nationwide selling divisions: Signature Fine Wines & Spirits, Domaine & Estates Artisanal Wines, and Craft Collection Luxury Spirits. •JACKSON FAMILY WINES HAS appointed Romano Beverage as its distributor in Illinois, Southern Glazer’s in Pennsylvania, and Johnson Brothers in Minnesota. Breakthru Beverage previously handled Jackson Family’s brands in all three…

DIAGEO POSTED SALES UP 16% ON AN organic basis to £12.7 billion ($17.7b) for its fiscal year ended in June, with operating profit up 17.7% to £3.7 billion ($5.2b). The company hailed a 20% organic sales increase in North America, “reflecting resilient consumer demand, spirits taking share of total beverage alcohol, and the replenishment of stock levels by distributors and retailers.” Tequila was a major driver of U.S. growth during the fiscal year, with net sales up 87%, led by Don Julio (+69%) and Casamigos (+126%), despite sup-ply constraints on some aged expressions. Crown Royal (+13%) also saw some supply issues, but was boosted by its Peach, Apple, and Vanilla flavored offerings. Among other key whiskies in the portfolio, Johnnie Walker rose 19% in the U.S., while Bulleit was up…

REPUBLIC NATIONAL DISTRIBUTING Company recently announced its entry into the CBD business. RNDC signed distribution agreements with DayTrip, Oh Hi, Sati Soda, and Wyld CBD. Their products will be sold in Alaska, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, Okla-homa, Oregon, and Texas, where CBD is legal and legislated by the states. The distribution agreements are effective in mid-August. Stephanie Honig, president of the Napa Valley Cannabis Association, is consulting on CBD brands and strategy as RNDC enters the new category. “The sober curious view CBD as an alternative to alcohol, it’s growing in the health and wellness space, and it’s growing on-premise in restaurants and bars,” Honig told Impact. “So there’s clearly an opportunity for a company like RNDC that’s been a leader in wine and spirits for decades to also lead…

LESS THAN A YEAR INTO HIS TENURE as Phillips Distilling Company’s CEO, Andy England is leading a portfolio-spanning rebrand and spurring the Minnesota-based company to bring new products to market. The company’s flagship UV Vodka has just received a packaging refresh and, later this year, Phillips will revamp its Revel Stoke flavored whisky port-folio, taking aim at young legal drinking age men. England puts Phillips’s branded business at roughly 1.5 mil-lion cases and says that his goal is to return the portfolio to growth after a challenging period. In addition to revamping UV and Revel Stoke, Phillips is launching a new vodka brand, Cubist, intended to be stored in consumers’ freezers. Cubist retails for $25 and is launching this month in Arizona and Minnesota ahead of a wider release planned…

IMPACT DATABANK PROJECTS THAT THE U.S. WINE market will decline in volume terms this year for the first time in nearly three decades, with the category expected to slip 0.5% to 334.5 million 9-liter cases. To be sure, wine is running into some heightened competition from spirits, premixed cocktails, and hard seltzers, all of which have been cutting into its market share. But even as marketers work to reverse those negative effects on the category, it bears pointing out that the premium end of the wine market continues to expand significantly, as consumers actively trade up to higher priced bottles. Premium-plus table wines (retailing at $10 a 750-ml. and higher) recorded solid growth in 2020, combining for a 4.4% volume increase. Premium-plus brands accounted for fully half of the total…

INDUSTRY VETERAN MIKE KEYES WILL RETIRE AS PRESIDENT AND CEO OF PROX-imo Spirits by the end of the year, with Luis Félix, currently Grupo Cuervo’s man-aging director for Mexico & Latam, set to replace him. Prior to joining Proximo in 2019, Keyes had a long career at Brown-Forman, including time as president of the North America region. Meanwhile, Cuervo posted second quarter net sales up 9.7% to $480 million, despite a 3.8% decline to $343 million in North America, where the company was hampered by “foreign exchange effects, and the difficult comparison with Covid-19 pandemic-driven results in the second quarter of 2020, partially offset by price increases in selected markets.” Cuervo’s North America volume was down 5.1% to 4.4 million cases in the second quarter, affected by tough comps and…

AFTER 27 CONSECUTIVE ANNUAL GAINS, THE WINE INDUSTRY IN THE UNITED States is expected to suffer a 0.5% volume decrease this year, down to 335.4 mil-lion 9-liter cases—according to the recently released 2021 edition of The U.S. Wine Market: Shanken’s Impact Databank Review & Forecast. While the U.S. has been the world’s largest wine-consuming market since 2013, volume growth has been modest at best in each of the past ten years due to fierce competition from whiskies, hard seltzer, and other ready-to-drink brands. While the wine industry registered an above-average 2% volume increase last year owing to off-premise gains during the pandemic, wine continues to lose market share to spirits and flavored malt beverages. For more information and to order the report go to IMPACTDATABANK.COM.…

VERMONT-BASED DISTILLER WHIS-tlePig is set to enter the Irish whiskey category with the launch of Limavady Single Barrel Irish Whiskey in August. Limavady is a revival of an Irish whiskey brand that can trace its roots to the 18th century. It’s helmed by Darryl McNally, who previously was distillery manager for Bushmills. The single malt is bottled at 46% abv and, as a single barrel release, is somewhat unique in the Irish whiskey category. Limavady will retail at around $50 a 750-ml. and will initially be available in California, Florida, Colorado, Ari-zona, and Washington ahead of a wider rollout in 2022.…

INDUSTRY VETERAN JOHN ESPOSITO has joined the board of directors of Indiana-based Oliver Winery and Vine-yards. Formerly president of Bacardi USA, Moët Hennessy USA, and Stoli Group USA, Esposito will be a resource for the Oliver management team as they progress their brand to national distri-bution and continue to build brand equity among consumers. Oliver has products in the growing flavorful and sweet wines category and recently earned Impact “Hot Brand” honors after rising 46% to 671,000 cases in the U.S. last year •Southern Glazer’s has promoted Laura DePasquale to the new role of senior vice president, sales & commercial operations, Artisanal Wine Division. Reporting directly to Cindy Leonard, executive vice president and general manager, Fine Wine, DePasquale will oversee Southern Glazer’s new national artisanal wine selling division as part…