Interview: Sam Glaetzer, President Of Constellation’s Wine & Spirits Division
June 24, 2025Constellation Brands has been on a long-term drive to reshape its wine and spirits portfolio with a focus on upscale labels that can capitalize on current consumer trends. After the divestiture of several brands to The Wine Group, the Constellation wine and spirits stable still accounts for 5.5 million cases, tilted fully toward the higher end.
Its wine lineup continues to include Napa Valley brands Robert Mondavi Winery, Schrader, Double Diamond, To Kalon Vineyard Company, Mount Veeder Winery, and The Prisoner Wine Company; the My Favorite Neighbor family of brands from Paso Robles; Kim Crawford from New Zealand; Tuscan producer Ruffino Estates and Ruffino Prosecco; Sea Smoke from Santa Barbara’s Santa Rita Hills AVA; Lingua Franca from Oregon’s Willamette Valley; and others. The Constellation spirits portfolio continues to include High West whiskey, Nelson’s Green Brier whiskey, Mi Campo Tequila, Casa Noble Tequila, and others.
SND executive editor Daniel Marsteller met with Sam Glaetzer, president of Constellation’s wine and spirits division, at The Prisoner winery in Napa Valley to discuss what the future holds for the business.
SND: What are your key priorities from a brand perspective looking forward?
Glaetzer: From a spirits perspective, Mi Campo Tequila has been growing very nicely. We’ve been very disciplined about where and how we sell it—a lot of on-premise focus to start with. There also continues to be opportunity for High West, both with one-off releases and the core four whiskies, as well as the tourism aspect at our distillery in Utah.
On the wine side the team are really focused on making sure we do right by Robert Mondavi, with the investment we’re putting into the winery and also the work that we’re doing engaging the gatekeepers and restaurants to list it and support it. (Editor’s note: Robert Mondavi Winery produced 90,000 cases of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon for the 2021 vintage, which retails at $55 and received 91 points from Wine Spectator. The high-end Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville To Kalon Vineyard The Reserve 2021, at $250, received a 95-point score.)
Kim Crawford is a mega brand for us and continues to do well. It’s a hot category, and we spend a lot of time and effort to make sure we have the quality in the bottle as the leader. I’ve been really happy with Sea Smoke as well. We were very lucky to be able to bring that team into the business. My belief is always to run those individual businesses—whether Sea Smoke or Lingua Franca or Booker— with their individual DNA, but the support and the Constellation umbrella behind it of the route to market, the capital, and the other resources.
The Prisoner has been a great brand for us too. The red blend is an approachable style that people enjoy. For us, it’s about getting it right on-premise as well. I like to see it by-the-glass and when it’s there it does well.
SND: What’s new on the innovation front?
Glaetzer: I think back to the the idea of betterment with Kim Crawford; we’re looking at zero alcohol. We’ve had the lower-alcohol Illuminate out there for a while. It’s been doing really well, but we’re seeing some interest in zero and we are still working out how Kim could participate in that. That’s been pretty front of mind to us. I mentioned Mi Campo before, but that was an innovation that was a new to world brand. And then Harvey & Harriet, while it was a small brand when we bought the Booker portfolio, the way in which the red blend has run for us makes us feel there could be more to come there as well.
SND: Any interest in acquisitions?
Glaetzer: We’re always interested, but our first job is to make sure what we have is really working for us. That’s the nice thing about being part of Constellation. It’s built around entrepreneurialism, thinking ahead, taking bets, and there’s always interest in acquiring in the right places. And so yes, we’re always looking to see what’s there, but our job first and foremost is to get the existing portfolio really firing and working together.
We’ll have more with Constellation wine and spirits president Sam Glaetzer in the second part of this interview.
Tagged : Constellation Brands, Kim Crawford, Mi Campo, Robert Mondavi, Sea Smoke
