New Briefs for November 19, 2012

•Champagne house Vranken-Pommery is launching a capital increase of €42.5 million ($54.4m), offering one new share for three existing shares, to finance an acquisition of fellow Champagne company Bissinger & Co. The Bissinger brand, founded in 1875, includes brut and rosé Champagnes, and the company holds supply contracts for vines covering 228 hectares (563 acres). Vranken-Pommery, the world’s third-largest Champagne group by shipment volume, fell 1.5% to 1.69 million cases last year.

•The 2012 Hospices de Beaune auction reported record sales of €5.9 million ($7.5m). Held on November 18, the 152nd annual charity auction was organized by Christie’s and featured 407 barrels of red wine and 111 barrels of white. Highlights included the Mazis-Chambertin Cuvée Madeleine Collignon Grand Cru (€38,318), Clos de la Roche Cuvée Georges Kritter (€55,667) and six barrels of Echézeaux Cuvée Jean-Luc Bissey (€50,000 a barrel). The auction’s President’s Barrel, which this year was 350 liters of Grand Cru Corton, Cuvée Charlotte Dumay, fetched €270,000 ($346,000). According to Anthony Hanson, master of wine, senior consultant of Christie’s for the sale, “the reduced quantity and progression of demand for great Burgundy in many countries, not just Asia,” contributed to the record results.

•Castle Brands said net sales increased 9.8% to $10.3 million for the company’s fiscal second quarter ended September 30. Volume was up by 7.6% to 92,704 total cases, including an increase in sales for the Gosling’s rum brand (+16.3%) and Gosling’s Stormy Ginger Beer (+45.5%). The company also noted that growth of the Jefferson’s Bourbon brand has accelerated with the launch of Jefferson’s Rye and expansion for the brand into additional control states. For the six-month period through the end of September, Castle Brands reported net sales of $20 million, a 19.3% increase from the year-earlier period.

Tagged : auctions, Castle Brands, Champagne

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