News Briefs for March 28, 2014
March 28, 2014•California-based Winery Exchange has acquired Paso Robles wine brand Chronic Cellars for an undisclosed sum. Founded in 2008 by Jake and Josh Beckett, Chronic Cellars produces a variety of red, white and dessert wines priced at around $15-$40 a bottle, including the Purple Paradise and Sofa King Bueno red blends. According to Winery Exchange senior vice president of marketing Oren Lewin, the brand is well-positioned to lead “the next generation of wines targeting millennial consumers.” Josh Beckett, who serves as the brand’s winemaker, and Jake Beckett, who leads marketing and brand development, will remain with Chronic Cellars following the deal. Known for its private label production, Winery Exchange has expanded its branded business of late, having also acquired California’s Echelon, Our Daily Red and Orleans Hill labels and Italy’s Ogio brand over the past few years.
•Oregon winery Willamette Valley Vineyards has posted a 6% increase in sales for 2013, to $13.3 million. The revenue rise was credited to higher out-of-state and retail sales in 2013, partially offset by a decrease in in-state Oregon sales. The Salem-based company’s profits also rose for the year, up 5% to $1.4 million. Known for Pinot Noir, Willamette says it’s nearing completion of its cellar and tasting room expansion, intended to create “one of the West Coast’s winery destinations,” with a grand opening slated for May 3.
•Luxco is relaunching its Purple Passion ready-to-drink beverage with a reformulated recipe next month. Originally introduced in the late 1980s, wine-based Purple Passion gained popularity early on, with sales reaching a high of nearly 1 million cases. The RTD has since gone through several transformations, most recently being sold in the form of a PET-packaged, 26-proof spirits-based offering. The revamped 10-proof version—which is produced by Luxco and bottled at the company’s Cincinnati-based winery—returns Purple Passion to its wine-based roots. Purple Passion will be available in four-packs of 12-ounce glass bottles, priced at $7.99.
•Laurent-Perrier is introducing a special Mother’s Day pack for its Cuvée Rosé Brut Champagne. Available nationally, the Laurent-Perrier Cuvée Rosé Brut limited edition is packaged in a 17th-Century inspired bottle that is set in a decorative cage evocative of a jewelry box or perfume bottle. The pack, which retails for $100, also includes a re-corker styled in the shape of a replica “mini-cage.”
•Brown-Forman Corporation has elected Michael Roney to its board of directors, effective immediately. Since 2005, Roney has served as the chief executive officer of Bunzl PLC, a multinational distribution and outsourcing group in the U.K., where he has also sat on the board since 2003.
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