Younger Consumers, E-Commerce Drive Strong Growth For Chateau d’Esclans

Last week, Chateau d’Esclans, the leading producer of Provence rosé in the U.S., announced a rebrand for its entry-level wine, now called the Beach. The move comes amid a period of substantial growth for the company, with its flagship wine Whispering Angel at the center of two industry trends: the growing popularity of rosé and consumers’ rising appetite for more upscale wines. Chateau d’Esclans and parent company Moët Hennessy are also targeting a new generation of consumers, with e-commerce placing the brand just a tap away for millennials and older Gen Z drinkers.

The d’Esclans portfolio, led by Whispering Angel, was up 16% to 651,000 cases last year in the U.S., and has roughly doubled in size over the past four years, according to Impact Databank. Amid the pandemic, the off-premise has been driving growth, according to Paul Chevalier, vice president for Château d’Esclans at Moët Hennessy USA.

Over the last two years, when the balance was shifted toward the off-premise, the e-commerce segment became a substantial source of growth for Chateau d’Esclans, with Whispering Angel seeing a huge bump on Drizly, according to Chevalier. “Sales blew up on e-commerce and we became the number-two best selling wine after Veuve Clicquot on these e-commerce sites,” he noted. Chevalier likened the boom in e-commerce to opening up a whole new world for Whispering Angel.

In addition to driving sales, the enhanced focus on e-commerce and social media marketing pushed Chateau d’Esclans to more deliberately target younger millennial consumers. “With Whispering Angel, we never really focused on that demographic,” Chevalier said. “Our first vintage was 2006, over 15 years ago. So even if you were a millennial back then you were 25 years old and now you’re like 40.” Chevalier called this shift the biggest change in how they’ve marketed Whispering Angel.

This year, Whispering Angel’s focus is growth in bars and restaurants as the on-premise returns to full strength. The brand’s heightened social media and e-commerce presence will remain, with Chevalier remarking that the convenience of ordering and engaging with the brand online will endure beyond the pandemic. While Chevalier is positive about the future, he acknowledges that growth will be tempered somewhat by the availability of the wine. “It is a balancing act,” he said. “It’s still an allocated product. So the allocation of growth will go to on-premise in ’22.”

While the bulk of the brand’s sales come from Whispering Angel and the entry level wine—which, when marketed as the Palm, exceeded 100,000 cases in the U.S. in 2020—Chevalier is confident the emerging future for rosé is even more upscale. “We’re also seeing premiumization and that’s our forte,” he said. “We really think the future will be in premium cuvées of rosé.” Chevalier sees events and in-person tastings as the way forward for higher-end rosés like Rock Angel and Garrus, among Chateau d’Esclans’ other luxury wines, which benefit from a hand-sell.—Shane English

Tagged : Chateau d'Esclans, Moet Hennessy

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