News Briefs for July 1, 2013
July 1, 2013•Caymus Vineyards has reportedly purchased a 178-acre vineyard in California’s Solano County and submitted permit plans for a new winery and production and warehouse facilities. The new winery, if approved, is expected to be completed by 2016 or 1017, and would be used to expand production of the Caymus family’s Meiomi, Mer Soleil, Conundrum and Belle Glos brands. The family’s Caymus Cabernets, however, will continue to be produced at the primary facility in Rutherford, Napa Valley.
•Harris Teeter has partnered with mobile company Hello Vino to launch Wine Assistant, an add-on to its HT Mobile shopping app. Hello Vino claims this is the first time a major retailer has used an “app within an app” to provide detailed information on wine selections at their stores. Harris Teeter’s HT Mobile app is available for both iPhone and Android devices. Wine Assistant, created by Hello Vino, will recommend wine and food pairings, sort wines by a shopper’s personal taste preferences, provide a search function for wines and show a wine’s location in-store. Harris Teeter launched HT Mobile April 2011.
•Pernod Ricard USA has announced a reorganization and expansion of its spirits marketing team, beginning today. Changes will include a sharper focus on innovation, multicultural marketing and digital media, as well as the appointment of a new executive, Pierre Berard, to build a new marketing team and “further enhance existing momentum behind the company’s key spirits brands.” Berard, who was most recently director of marketing for Pernod Ricard China, said he intends to staff Pernod USA’s revamped marketing unit with appointees from both inside and outside the spirits industry.
•E&J Gallo is adding two new flavors to its New Amsterdam vodka range, Citron and Coconut. Now in national distribution, the new entries retail at $14.99 a 750-ml. in line with the rest of the New Amsterdam vodka portfolio, which also includes Peach and Red Berry flavors in addition to the core unflavored offering. An Impact “Hot Brand,” New Amsterdam vodka soared to 1.1 million cases in 2012, from just 45,000 cases a year earlier.
•Champagne Taittinger has been named the official Champagne of FIFA soccer. The deal runs through December 2015 and includes a presence at last month’s 2013 FIFA Federations Cup as well the 2014 FIFA World Cup, which begins next July. Tattinger is being poured at FIFA’s VIP and VVIP areas at the two events, both of which take place in Brazil. The tenth-largest Champagne brand by volume globally, Taittinger slipped 7% to 325,000 nine-liter cases in 2012, according to Impact Databank.
•Paso Robles producer Villa San-Juliette Vineyard & Winery recently broke ground on a new facility that will allow it to bring production of its wines in-house. The state-of-the-art facility will include a 3,200-square-foot fermentation pad for new tanks and a 2,300-square-foot crush pad in addition to other investments. It will increase Villa San-Juliette’s production capacity to about 25,000 cases. The 2013 harvest will be the winery’s first to be produced in-house. The wines were previously produced at Orcutt Road Cellars and Monterey Wine Company. Villa San-Juliette, started by television producers Ken Warwick and Nigel Lythgoe, produces a line of nationally distributed wines (ranging from $16-$25) as well as a Reserve line (which ranges from $19-$48).
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