Moscato
Madness
The varietal's exponential growth in the U.S. market has proven to be more than just a fad.
By Chantal Martineau
hen hip hop stars started singing and
rapping about moscato, no one was
more surprised about it than the wine
industry. Even more of a shock came
with the news that moscato sales had
climbed more than 70% in 2011,
according to Nielsen data, on top of
100% growth in 2010, representing a
leap from $100 million in sales in 2009
to some $300 million just two years
later. Today, the moscato category is a whopping 10 million cases strong and still growing. Indeed, it now represents just under 4% of varietal wine sales in the U.S.
The trend has brands and marketers wondering, just
what is driving this unprecedented boom?
"This is a crazy one," says Tom Steffanci, president
of W.J. Deutsch & Sons, the New York company that
imports Yellow Tail. "I've been in the alcohol beverage
business for over 20 years and I've never seen a category
like this in beer, wine or spirits."
Yellow Tail got into the moscato game a little later
than it would have preferred, only adding the varietal to
its line last year. The brand was forced to hold off on
rolling out moscato in order to launch with the supply
PHOTO COURTESY OF MARTINI MOSCATO D'ASTI
W
Drinks made with Martini Moscato d'Asti.
24
StateWays I www.stateways.com I January/February 2013
