Interview, Part 2: Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits President Tom Steffanci

In the second part of our interview, Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits president Tom Steffanci discusses growth opportunities for both domestic and imported wine brands across the portfolio, as well as the company’s expanding spirits business.

SND: At the higher end of the wine market, you have The Calling. How is that brand progressing?

Steffanci: The Calling, a brand founded by Peter Deutsch and world famous broadcaster Jim Nantz, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. The brand has been growing by double-digits and reached 32,000 cases in the 12 months through November, before soaring by 50% in December. Its upscale price tier is growing nicely and we’re growing at more than double that rate. On the high end we were fortunate to get a contract for Terra de Promissio, the famous Pinot Noir vineyard in Sonoma County. That’s a very small production wine, but a gem of a vineyard, and we’re working on another addition to the portfolio as well.

SND: Which other wine brands in the portfolio are making a significant impact?

Steffanci: Layer Cake is at almost 300,000 cases. It benefited from being a familiar brand during the first year of the pandemic. So we’re cycling more and more challenging comps, but Layer Cake remains a large healthy brand across a range of varietals. We have a brand called Clos de los Siete, which is one of the few brands that Michel Rolland owns. He works on many brands but owns very few, and Clos de los Siete is such a consistent line for us. At about $20, you could set your watch by the scores, year-in, year-out. We also have The Crossings from New Zealand. We had significant shortages over the summer and much of the fall on that brand, but now we’re back in stock and showing huge growth. We’re relaunching The Crossings in the spring with a dramatically new package and really feel like we can scale that up. We also have new packaging on shelves across the country for Barone Fini Pinot Grigio, and we’ve seen it accelerate.

SND: How has Deutsch Family’s spirits business progressed over the past year? Which brands in that segment are showing good traction?

Steffanci: Our super-premium spirits brands are really our future growth engine. Redemption whiskey, Gray Whale Gin, and Bib & Tucker Bourbon, those three super-premium brands are growing very rapidly. We launched Gray Whale ($39) 16 months ago—all during the pandemic—with virtual kickoffs in the off-premise, and did more than double what we expected to do on a fiscal year basis. That brand will be about 30,000 cases in the year to the end of March. We’ve only had the opportunity to build the on-premise for four or five months, but it’s already up to 30% of the business. Bib & Tucker ($50) is a brand that we bought a few years ago. It was supply constrained. We’re finally now catching up to the point that we can look at extending the brand, and it’s growing rapidly.

SND: What’s the latest on the Redemption whiskey label?

Steffanci: Redemption ($30-$100) has really become a juggernaut for us in whiskey. We’ll finish our fiscal year through March at 120,000 cases. We’re seeing a lot of growth on our higher marques. A couple months ago we launched a Redemption High Rye Bourbon finished in Cognac barrels ($70), which has done very well out of the gate. And we have a wheated Bourbon that’s part of that premium-plus tier that has also been very successful.

Tagged : Bib & Tucker, Deutsch, Gray Whale, Layer Cake, The Calling, The Crossings

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