News Briefs for February 12, 2025

•Delicato Family Wines is extending its Three Finger Jack brand with a new Wild Country Red Blend. Retailing at $18 a bottle, Wild Country is a Lodi-sourced blend with an abv of 15.5% and is billed as red cherry-forward in flavor profile. Debuting nationally next month backed by a “Jacks Run Wild” in-store and digital consumer sweepstakes, it joins East Side Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon and Gold Mine Hills Chardonnay in the Three Finger Jack portfolio.

•Martine Saunier, who brought the wines of Burgundy’s Henri Jayer and Domaine Leroy and Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s Château Rayas to America as a trailblazing importer, died Feb. 9 from lung cancer. She was 91. Saunier had an exceptional palate for wine, a clear vision and a fierce determination to follow her own path. For more than 30 years, she imported some of the best estates from Burgundy, Rhône, Champagne, and Portugal. She was an inspiration to many in the wine industry, particularly women. Wine Spectator has more on Saunier’s life and career.

•Diageo’s Ketel One vodka and Tanqueray gin, official partners of HBO series The White Lotus, are debuting special cocktail kits as well as other series-themed promotional initiatives for the show’s third season. The White Lotus Vesper Martini and The White Lotus Punch cocktail kits are debuting via Cocktail Courier, selling at $99 apiece, and Diageo has linked with series star Patrick Schwarzenegger on a short film, along with experiential events and a sweepstakes offering a luxury trip to Thailand. Ketel One was roughly flat at 2.5 million cases in the U.S. last year, while Tanqueray is at approximately 1.35 million cases.

•Southern Glazer’s has promoted Robert Brooks to executive vice president, general manager in the New Mexico market. An 18-year company veteran, Brooks was most recently vice president, general manager for Southern Glazer’s of Tennessee. In his new role he will report to Lewis Kenrick, president, West Region. Southern Glazer’s New Mexico sales are estimated at $175 million for 2024, according to Shanken’s Impact Newsletter.

Tagged : Delicato, Diageo, Ketel One, Southern Glazer's, Tanqueray, Three Finger Jack, Wine Spectator

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