Interview, Part 1: Foley Family Wines’ Rapidly Expanding Spirits Portfolio
July 16, 2024Foley Family Wines ranks among the top 20 wine marketers in the U.S. with annual volume of 1.8 million cases, according to Impact Databank. Recently, the company has turned its attention to spirits and quickly assembled an impressive portfolio of both domestic and imported offerings spanning whisk(e)y, vodka, gin, Tequila, and liqueurs. Early last year, Foley acquired Minden Mill Distillery in Nevada, a grain-to-glass operation with a robust tourism business and the ability to scale up to 100,000 cases. SND executive editor Daniel Marsteller met with Foley Family Wines president Shawn Schiffer to hear more about the rapidly evolving spirits range.
SND: Foley has been a major player in the wine business for many years. Why is now the right time to put the pedal to the metal in the spirits category?
Schiffer: We saw that spirits were taking more and more share of throat with LDA and above consumers. We’ve got a very strong route to market partner with Southern Glazer’s, and we figured if we can bring spirits to market that are at price points and quality levels consistent with our wines, which are mostly estate wines, then that would feel congruent to our distributor partners and the trade.
Another thing that led us to dive deeper into spirits was when Horse Soldier Bourbon went over to Gallo. We had served as their sales, marketing, and logistics partner and worked with them as they incubated the brand. That went pretty well to the point where after three years or so it was in the 20,000-case range and they were able to exit to Gallo. We wanted to replace that slice of revenue.
SND: What are the initial products you’ve brought to market?
Schiffer: Years back Bill Foley had created two products. One was Charles Goodnight Bourbon and one was Lighthouse Gin. The Charles Goodnight that Bill created 10, 12 years ago was a Kentucky Bourbon. I suggested refreshing and repackaging these products and giving them the luxury cues they deserve. I said to Bill, look, you’re a Texan. Charles Goodnight was a famous Texan in frontier history. Let’s relaunch Goodnight as a Texas Bourbon. He thought that was a great idea.
With Lighthouse, the product was already a very high quality, New World style, citrus-forward gin, and we created a bespoke package for that and relaunched it. Those were the first two products, which came out last September, and shipments have been ahead of our expectations. (Charles Goodnight retails at $80, while Lighthouse Gin from New Zealand sells at $50.)
SND: How are operations progressing at the Minden distillery in Nevada?
Schiffer: In about two weeks, our first product on the brown goods side is going to bottle. We’ve got a Minden Mill Bourbon and a rye (both $50), and in October, we’ll launch an American single malt ($60). We also have an estate rye vodka, High Ground ($30), and we’ve already run through our first batch. There will also be a coffee liqueur coming out in the fall. We’re really bullish on the rye expression. Rye grows up in that high desert area in about 90 days. It gives it a unique flavor and a strong sense of place.
Minden is very well located from a tourism standpoint. 14 million people go through the Lake Tahoe area a year, and that’s about 25 minutes away. We have the opportunity to get a lot of foot traffic, and our tasting room visitation has already been very strong. We could produce 100,000 cases a year running a couple of shifts from a plant capacity standpoint, so we have a lot of oxygen there to build out the brands.
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