In Ireland, we met these young guys—three childhood friends—who run Irish Craft Beverages. They have Two Stacks Irish whiskey, and their own distillery called Killowen. They also have an Irish cream liqueur that’s delicious. We’re excited to bring that over as well as a bunch of different expressions of Irish whiskey. We’re going to make a big push on that in 2025.

And we partnered with the Banuelos family on El Mexicano Tequila. They have a family owned and operated distillery backed by three generations committed to traditional methods and certified as additive-free. You hear a lot about premiumization slowing down, yet super- and ultra-premium Tequila is projected over the next five years to be the fastest-growing segment of distilled spirits. Consumers are demanding transparency in Tequila, embracing additive-free, and rejecting celebrity brands that lack authenticity. El Mexicano Blanco is going into a new package and will also be getting a big push next year. We’re working on a mezcal as well.

Lastly, we were able to bring (Balcones founder) Chip Tate over to work with us. He’s helped out with El Mexicano and is working on the mezcal. We’ll also be releasing a line of brown goods under his name next year. There will be one that has more mass appeal, and then some special cask finishes which will be more limited release.

SND: What are your top priorities in wine right now?

Schiffer: One of the things we’ve done on the wine side, with the number of wineries Bill (Foley) owns, is really be disciplined and not try to boil the ocean. We’ve worked with our distributor partners to zero in on 10 to 12 individual SKUs that drive most of our volume and make sure that those are strong. And those priority growth SKUs (including brands like Ferrari-Carano, Chalk Hill, Banshee, Silverado, and The Four Graces) are significantly outperforming the U.S. wine market.

The beverage alcohol business is tougher than I’ve ever seen it in 30 years. And we certainly have our share of headaches like everyone else, between fires, grape oversupply and overplanting, price pressures, and so on. But we have a number of wines that are connecting with consumers.

SND: What’s driving those focus brands?

Schiffer: Millennials and older LDA Generation Z seem to be responding very well to Banshee (projected to grow from 185,000 cases last year to 230,000 cases this year). We want to continue to drive that growth. We also have a new partnership on Ferrari-Carano with Nadia Caterina Munno, an Italian chef, author, and digital and social media personality. She’s known as “The Pasta Queen” and has millions of followers. And we just launched a Ferrari-Carano Pinot Grigio from Friuli Grave in Italy ($25).

SND: How about the tourism aspect in California wine country?

Schiffer: We’ve had fewer people, but they’re spending more. Our wine club signups continue to accelerate. So that’s a key part of the equation for us.

SND: Do you anticipate overall growth for the wine portfolio this year?

Schiffer: We continue to put up solid if unspectacular growth numbers on a year-on-year basis as a total portfolio, and the priority growth brands are doing better than that. Overall we’re showing steady growth.