T
he Wine Established Growth Brand category focus- es on top-selling, high-volume wine brands that have shown consistent growth over each of the past four years. These are some of the industry's powerhouse brands that help comprise the backbone of wine sales in the U.S. This year, there are 15 brands represented compared to 22 that made the list last year. Clearly, a number of best-selling wines in the U.S. did not qualify, primarily because they had a sales decline for at least one year between 2007 and 2011. While there are a few premium and above-premium priced wines here, the vast majority of these brands are generally viewed as value-priced wines. For instance, the top volume Established Growth brand is Sutter Home, featuring an extensive portfolio of offerings, with 2011 sales at just under 10.8 million 9-liter cases. Sutter Home is followed by the well-known Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi, with a lineup of more than a dozen value-priced California wines, which climbed to sales of 8.0 million 9- liter cases last year.
Interesting, the highest percentage gainers among the Established Growth Brands list include the premium- priced J. Lohr Estates, which notched an 11.3% increase, breaking the 1 million case mark for the first, to more than 1.08 million cases; the Louis Martini portfolio of above-premium priced wines, primarily a line cabernet sauvignons as well as Gnarly Vine Zinfandel, which together saw a hefty 20.0% gain to 600,000 cases; and
Santa Rita wines, featuring a line of Chilean varietals from several different labels at a range of price points (up 16.6% to 505,000 cases).
Also notable here are CK Mondavi Vineyards, with a line of varietals retailing about $10 and up (1.44 mil- lion cases, up 5.9%); and Castle Rock, the line of California wines that range around $10 and above retail (up 6.0% to 560,000 cases).
There are two new members of the Established Growth brand category: Octavin Home Wine Bar, which is a collection of six different labels (Monthaven Winery, R. Muller Riesling, etc.) that come packaged in 3-liter "premier" wine casks meant to prevent oxidation and keep wine fresh for up to six weeks after opening. The brand hit sales of 450,000 cases last year. Also new to the list Trapiche, the top-selling line of varietal wines from Argentina, which saw sales climb to 445,000 cases. Additional leading Established Growth brands include Peter Vella, a Gallo brand that markets large-size bag-in-box wines, and reached 6.7 million cases last year; the value-focused Cavit wine from Italy (more than 3.5 million cases); Corbett Canyon's value-driven California wines (3.4 million cases); Sycamore Lane, from Trinchero Family Estate, featuring a line of value California varietals (up 8.3%% to 614,000 cases); Real Sangria, from Spain, totaling just under 522,000 cases; and finally, the rice wine Gekkeikan Sake (438,000 cases), from Japan.
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28 StateWays s www.stateways.com s March/April 2012
