Innholdsfortegnelse for January 1-15, 2022 i Shanken's Impact Newsletter

BREAKTHRU BEVERAGE GROUP HAS announced an agreement to acquire Missouri wholesaler Major Brands for an undisclosed sum. Major Brands has annual revenues estimated at above $400 million. The company distributes wine, spirits, beer and non-alcoholic beverages, has a workforce of 600 people, and serves more than 9,000 retail customers. Breakthru’s co-owners the Wirtz family took a controlling stake in Major in 2020. Now the distributor is coming fully into the Breakthru fold. Breakthru had estimated 2021 revenues of $6.1 billion, according to Impact.…

THE CHAMPAGNE CATEGORY GREETS 2022 with a sizable new player among its ranks, following the merger of Nicolas Feuillatte and the Coopérative Régionale des Vins de Champagne (CRVC). Financials weren’t disclosed. The combined entity, to be known as Terroirs et Vignerons de Champagne, is projecting 2022 turnover of €287 million ($322m) on volume of 20 million bottles (1.7 million cases)—including 14.3 million bottles of its own brands—and brings together approximately 6,000 wine growers and 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) spread over the entire appellation, representing nearly 9% of the Champagne vineyard area. Terroirs et Vignerons de Champagne’s brand stable includes Feuillatte, the Abelé 1757 brand Feuillatte acquired in 2019, and CRVC’s Castelnau brand, each of which will constitute a profit center with direct responsibility for commercial revenues, economic performance, and development.…

MULTIPLE REPORTS SUGGEST THAT fast-rising instant needs delivery company Gopuff could go public as soon as this year. The Philadelphia-based startup is in the midst of a funding round led by Guggenheim Partners, Axios reported, which has raised $1.5 billion and could value the company as high as $40 billion. Gopuff hasn’t commented on the situation. Gopuff, which is now active across 1,000 cities and has a network of 275 micro-fulfillment centers, has expanded aggressively into beverage alcohol with acquisitions of BevMo on the West Coast and Liquor Barn in Kentucky.…

AMID A BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT PRESENTING NO shortage of challenges—from a supply chain squeeze, to rising inflation, to the persistence of the Covid pandemic—the U.S. spirits category delivered another year of growth in 2021, reaching a new record of 260 million 9-liter cases, according to Impact Databank. As our exclusive report on the top 25 spirits brands in the U.S. demonstrates, brands from categories across the spectrum succeeded in increasing volume over the past year, even against a relatively tough comp from 2020, when the off-premise boom pushed sales higher for the market’s best-known labels. The top 25 brands’ share of the total spirits market reached 45.8% last year, up from 41.2% in 2015, propelled by strong increases from Tito’s, Fireball, High Noon Sun Sips, Jameson, Malibu, Patrón, and Maker’s Mark,…

CONSTELLATION BRANDS HAS STRUCK a deal with Coca-Cola to target the booming premixed cocktail category through the latter’s Fresca brand. Under the agreement, Constellation will produce, market, distribute, and launch Fresca Mixed, a new line of spirit-based, ready-to-drink cocktails. Fresca is currently the fastest growing soft drink trademark in the Coca-Cola Company’s U.S. portfolio and is used as a cocktail mixer, a soft drink, and a zero-calorie, zero-sugar sparkling soda water. Constellation’s Fresca Mixed premixed cocktails are expected to roll out this year. The alliance furthers a trend of blurring lines across the drinks business, in which Molson Coors is partnered with Coca-Cola on the Topo Chico hard seltzer brand, Boston Beer has aligned with PepsiCo to produce Hard Mtn Dew, and Beam Suntory has agreed to collaborate with Boston…

SONOMA, CALIFORNIA-BASED FOLEY FAMILY WINES HAS ACQUIRED CHATEAU St. Jean from Treasury Wine Estates. The acquisition includes St. Jean’s chateau in Kenwood, California, as well as a 6,000-square-foot visitors center, and 39,000-square-foot production facility. The deal also includes Chateau St. Jean’s 79 planted acres of estate vineyards. Zepponi & Company served as Treasury’s financial advisor, and terms weren’t disclosed. Last year, according to Impact Databank, Chateau St. Jean was at 329,000 cases. “Chateau St. Jean is a Sonoma County icon, with almost 50 years of history in Sonoma Valley,” said Gerard Thoukis, CMO, Foley Family Wines. “The future strategy of this brand will aid Foley Family Wines in our desire to become the number-one luxury wine producer in the U.S.” In addition to the Chateau St. Jean facilities, Foley Family…

TREASURY WINE ESTATES IS PARTNERing with Martha Stewart on a new release for 19 Crimes. Similar to 19 Crimes’ ongoing partnership with Snoop Dogg, the label’s partnership with Martha Stewart and Marquee Brands, which runs her eponymous brand, will support the release of 19 Crimes Martha’s Chard. It’s launching this month in California and will ramp up to national distribution February 1 carrying a suggested retail price of $12 a bottle. “Just like her creative collaborator and friend Snoop, Martha Stewart also embodies the spirit of 19 Crimes – disruption and culture creation,” said Treasury Wine Estates’ vice president of marketing John Wardley. “We couldn’t be more excited to welcome another absolute icon of modern American culture to the 19 Crimes family.” 19 Crimes sells more than 2 million cases…

BACARDI LTD HAS FIRED A NEW SALVO IN THE LONG-RUNNING BATTLE OVER the Havana Club trademark in the U.S. market. The spirits giant filed a lawsuit in federal court against the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) alleging that the agency acted illegally when it restored the trademark for Havana Club to Cuban government-owned exporter Cubaexport in 2016. The filing alleges that the USPTO did not have the discretionary power to make that move, which occurred roughly a decade after Cubaexport was denied its re-registration of the trademark in 2006. Cubaexport, which is partnered with Pernod Ricard for global distribution of Havana Club, originally gained the U.S. trademark in 1976, but has been barred from selling the brand in the U.S. due to the embargo on Cuban goods. This suit…

KNOWN FOR ITS FLAGSHIP PINOT Grigio and other Italian wine labels, Miami-based Santa Margherita USA is expanding into Oregon. The company has agreed to take a majority stake in Willamette Valley-based Roco Winery. Neither the exact stake nor financial terms were disclosed. Roco was founded by winemaker Rollin Soles and his wife Corby Stonebraker-Soles in 2001, and has garnered critical acclaim, earning a host of 90-plus scores from Wine Spectator over the years. Focused on the Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and sparkling segments, Roco produces about 15,000 cases annually, Santa Margherita USA chief executive Vincent Chiaramonte told Impact, “with plans to grow further in the future. The leading wines are Gravel Road Pinot Noir and Gravel Road Chardonnay (retailing at $25- $30) and The Stalker Pinot Noir ($40),” Chiaramonte added.…

MOËT HENNESSY HAS NAMED MANuel Reman as president of Maison Krug, effective April 1, 2022. Reman joined Moët Hennessy in 2005 and is currently managing director of Champagne Services for the luxury drinks company. He takes over for Maggie Henriquez, who is departing after a 12-year tenure running the prestige Champagne house. Henriquez and Reman will work together leading up to April 1 to ensure a smooth transition. •Lyle Stutzman, president of Johnson Brothers of Iowa, has announced his retirement. Stutzman joined Johnson Brothers in 1985 and has guided the Iowa division of the company to new heights, with the distributor becoming the largest in the state. Following the end of Stutzman’s 36-year tenure, Brian Grant has been promoted as Johnson Brothers of Iowa’s general manager. Grant comes to his…

•LUCAS BOLS HAS AGREED TO acquire the upscale Partida Tequila brand from Gary Shansby and Edrington for an undisclosed sum. Expected to close in the first quarter of 2022, the deal will see Lucas Bols gain Partida’s La Familia and Roble Fino product ranges and add the brand to its global portfolio. “We see ample opportunities to grow this brand, not only in its home markets the United States and Mexico, but also in select other markets around the world,” said Lucas Bols CEO Huub van Doorne. •REPUBLIC NATIONAL DISTRIBUTing Company (RNDC) has purchased Alaska distributor White Mountain Beverage, forming a new unit combining wine, spirits, and beer distribution under the RNDC Alaska banner. Along with White Mountain—an independent Anheuser-Busch wholesaler—comes full control of its subsidiary K&L, which had a…