StateWays is the only magazine exclusively covering the control state system within the beverage alcohol industry, with annual updates from liquor control commissions and alcohol control boards and yearly fiscal reporting from control jurisdictions
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WINE RISING STARS M ost Rising Star brands have been on the market for three years or less and have shown early sales success or, for even newer brands, initial potential. This year’s list includes 37 wine brands (versus 34 Rising Stars from last year) that vary in price range from value to superpremium. And fifteen of the wines are new to the Rising Star category. Not surprisingly, these Rising Stars come from many of the best-known wine-producing regions in the world: while more than half of the brands are made in California, the others are spread among South American producers (Argentina and Chile), the Europeans (France, Spain, Germany and Italy), and New Zealand and Australia. The top brand on the list, Cupcake Vineyards, more than tripled its sales to an eye-opening 1 million cases in 2010. Cupcake features a range of varietals made in California as well as several other well-known wine-pro- ducing areas, such as Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and Italy. The wines are retailing in a range of about $8 to $13. The brand just released a new Italian Prosecco ($14 suggested retail). Coastal Wine Cellars, from Bronco, is in the second slot, volume-wise, among the Rising Stars. The value-priced California brand hit 255,000 cases, a 53.6% increase. Bronco’s two addition- al members in this category include the returning Down Under Cellars label, a competitively priced line of Australian wines (Chardonnay, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon), which notched sales of 147,000 cases; and the new Green Fin label, a white table wine made from organic California grapes, which is being sold through Trader Joe’s for $4 a bottle. E&J Gallo numbers numerous brands here, and the brands are as varied as the entire Rising Star cate- gory, starting with Don Miguel Gascon, the competi- tively priced Malbec from Argentina that attained 175,000 cases in 2010. Other Rising Stars imported by Gallo include Martin Codex, the Spanish Albarino sell- ing for above $10 (120,000 cases, up 50%); Starborough, from New Zealand, featuring a Sauvignon Blanc also selling for above $10 (75,000 cases); and La Marca, an Italian Prosecco priced about $12-$13 (25,000 cases). Also from Gallo is the Apothic, a California blended red (syrah, zinfandel and merlot), selling for below $10, which exploded to 120,000 cases; and the higher priced Ghost Pines label, which also moved 120,000 cases last year. Gallo is also continuing to supply the Costco-driven Kirkland Signature label (150,000 cases), which includes a range of wines from various regions, selling at different price points. Once again, WJ Deutsch & Sons has two value- priced imported brands returning to the Rising Star list 34 : Hob Nob from France (150,000 cases) and the Sicilian label Villa Pozzi (40,000 cases). Deutsch is also importing a new Rising Star: Volteo, a value-priced line of varietals from Spain. The Cechetti Wine Company continues to have good success with its Redtree line of Lake County varietals (132,000 cases, retailing at about $10), and its slightly higher-priced Line 39 label (the 39 designates the 39th latitude, a prime wine-making latitude around the globe). Trinchero Family Estates numbers two returning Rising Stars: Newman’s Own line of varietals (85,000 cases, up 26.9%), an extension of the famous actor’s food line; and . the value-priced Jargon Pinot Noir (40,000 cases), which has been positioned as coming from the “Anti-Snob Zone.” Trinchero also debuted a new Rising Star member last year: the Seaglass label (33,000 cases), which features California Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling, retailing about $10 or slightly above. For its part, DFV Wines can count two returning Rising Stars from its portfolio: the Loredona label of predominately California Riesling and Pinot Grigio (37,000 cases); and Brazin Old Vine Zinfandel, also from California (about $15 retail, 32,000 cases). Other returning members of the rising Star list include Colores del Sol, from Argentina, which climbed 57.1% to 66,000 cases; The Crusher line of affordable single vine- yard varietals from California (retailing for $10 to $13; 39,000 cases in 2010); the OWS Cellar Selection, up another 33.3% to 32,000 cases; and the Argentinian High Note, priced above $10 (25,000 cases). The remaining Rising Stars are all new to the list. They include Ninety+ Cellars 45,000 cases), which fea- tures wines from California, Washington State, Italy, New Zealand, Australia, Argentina and France, all priced $10 and above; Blufeld, an off-dry Riesling from the Mosel in Germany selling for slightly above $10; Santa Barbera, which hit 28,000 cases in its first year on the market; Peregrine, a high-end line of varietals from New Zealand, focusing on several different Pinot Noir expressions; Yali Wetland, a line of value-priced wines from Chile; San Telmo, featuring four varietals priced well under $10 from Argentina; and at the higher end, Powder Keg, a line of California Petite Sirah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Pinot Noir retailing for close to $20 a bottle; Wily Jack, the value-priced portfolio of California Chardonnay, Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon featuring a cowboy label design; Vigne Regali, the premium-priced lineup of Italian labels, from white wine to brachetto; Cantiana di Soave, another line of premium Italian wines; and finally, two German imports, retailing for about $10, highlight- ing the latest in critter labels: Superstition, a Riesling StateWays www.stateways.com March/April 2011