News Briefs for August 1, 2023
August 1, 2023•Loveblock, the New Zealand winery founded by Erica and Kim Crawford, is introducing a Sauvignon Blanc using green tea tannin extract as a natural preservative in replacement of sulfur. First bottled in 2019 in New Zealand, the wine enters the U.S. in major markets beginning this month. Loveblock Tee Sauvignon Blanc is grown on the winery’s certified organic Awatere Valley vineyard and is also vegan-friendly. Retailing for $31 a bottle, Tee will be available in CO, CT, FL, IL, MA, MD/DC, NC, NJ, NY, SC, TX, and WI. Loveblock was up an estimated 20% to 40,000 cases in the U.S. last year, where it’s handled by Terlato Wines.
•Seattle retailer Downtown Spirits is opening a new 4,200 square-foot location with a checkout-free shopping experience powered by Amazon Just Walk Out technology. Guests enter the store using the Downtown Spirits app at the front door. The technology detects what shoppers take from or return to the shelves, and creates a virtual shopping session. Guests’ choice of payment method will be charged for the items they selected when they leave. The store is also linked with CityHive, which provides inventory management, customer identity and age verification management, checkout and payments capability. “This technology allows us to streamline the in-store experience for shoppers and build on our reputation as Seattle’s finest merchant of wine and spirits,” said Downtown Spirits president Marques Warren.
•Healdsburg, California’s Rack & Riddle has acquired Lodi’s Weibel Family Winery, bringing the custom sparkling wine producer’s capacity up to 3.5 million cases. With this acquisition, Rack & Riddle now has four sparkling wine production facilities across California, covering Méthode Champenoise, Charmat, and in-line carbonation, as well as facilities for producing canned sparklers. Financials were not disclosed but Rack & Riddle announced that the majority of Weibel’s staff have joined the newly expanded company. In addition to the new acquisition, Rack & Riddle has production facilities in Healdsburg, Alexander Valley, and Geyserville. Rack & Riddle offers grape-to-bottle, wine-to-bottle, and private label sparkling wine services.
•Simon Coughlin, CEO of Rémy Cointreau’s whisky division, whose brands include Bruichladdich, Westland and Domaine des Hautes Glaces, has retired, effective yesterday. Coughlin is best known for partnering with Mark Reynier to reopen the mothballed Bruichladdich Distillery in 2001. He stayed with Rémy after it acquired Bruichladdich in 2012.
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