Napa Valley’s Cakebread Expands With National Launch Of Bezel Brand
February 28, 2025Known for Cabernet and Chardonnay from the Napa Valley, California winemaker Cakebread Cellars is aiming to reach a new set of consumers with the national rollout of its Bezel brand from the Central Coast. Bezel includes a Cabernet Sauvignon ($30), Chardonnay ($25), Pinot Noir ($30), and Sauvignon Blanc ($25), with the wines sourced from the Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo Coast AVAs.
Cakebread, which had estimated depletions of 150,000 cases in the U.S. last year, according to Impact Databank, has had a long-term partnership with Kobrand. The winery saw sales grow 12% last year despite the tough conditions. SND executive editor Daniel Marsteller spoke with Cakebread president and CEO Mike Jaeger and vice president of sales and marketing Laura Webb on their aspirations for the Bezel launch and the direction of the Cakebread portfolio.
SND: What’s the thinking behind the launch of the Bezel brand?
Jaeger: We’re seeing generational shifts in the industry, where at some point aging baby boomers like me are going to tap out. We were thinking about how we go about welcoming 30- to 45-year-olds to not just the industry, but to our company in particular. One impetus for Bezel was recognizing that all of our eggs currently reside with Napa Valley wines at luxury price points focused in a couple of channels, whether it’s the on-premise or DTC. And so diversification became kind of a mantra.
We started with a price segment that we wanted to enter, which was $20 to $30, and we settled on Paso Robles and then this emerging San Luis Obispo coastal region as areas that could make best in class wines at that price. This company’s been around for 52 years. Cakebread was launched by Kobrand nationally 37 years ago. This is our first national launch since then, so it’s a big deal for us.
SND: How has the initial response been?
Webb: We just came out of two weeks of travel for most of our core sales and marketing team, and the reception was unparalleled to anything I’ve experienced. The equity of the Cakebread name holds tremendous value. We have taken such a rigid approach to our distribution in our history, highly allocated to the on-premise.
These wines show up with the quality expected of a product with the Cakebread name on it, and they’re opening doors in the on-premise that Cakebread has never been able to touch, but more importantly, they’re opening up the off-premise. That’s giving us access to consumers and channels that Cakebread has never had an opportunity to tap because of its price point and scarcity. The challenge with new product launches is getting buy-in from the distributors and trade. And we’ve been able to gain that.
SND: Which wines in the Cakebread brand itself are consumers gravitating to, and where do you see growth potential moving forward?
Webb: Cakebread is known for its Chardonnay and Cabernet portfolio, and in recent years we’ve added Sauvignon Blanc to that mix and we’ve seen substantial growth. We ended the year from a wholesale standpoint up double-digits on Chard and Sauvignon Blanc, and we beat the market by a good percentage on our Cab program. (Editor’s note: Cakebread produced 60,000 cases of its North Coast Sauvignon Blanc 2023, retailing at $36, and 61,000 cases of its Napa Valley Chardonnay 2022, retailing at $50.)
SND: How is Cakebread approaching the DTC market, and how is that part of the business faring?
Webb: We have 18 estate vineyards in the family’s ownership, 16 of which are across Napa Valley, so we have a unique opportunity to showcase each of those AVAs and educate the consumer on the breadth and depth of Chardonnay and Cabernet. We want to highlight offerings that visitors can’t get elsewhere, and we’re also continuing to explore and innovate around different formats and sizes.
SND: How do you envision the future of the California wine industry? What needs to change to ensure its viability for the long term?
Jaeger: Other beverage alcohol segments have been further down the innovation path than the wine industry has. We have a big responsibility to better understand that younger audience as far as how they view wine, how they would like wine to be formatted and discussed. We have to be better at talking to them in their language, and be comfortable breaking away from some of the traditions that have perhaps held the industry back.
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