News Briefs for December 11, 2013
December 11, 2013•Campari America has expanded its Skyy vodka brand with a pair of new flavors, Skyy Infusions Vanilla Bean and Skyy Infusions Georgia Peach. Priced at around $19 a 750-ml., both offerings will be available in 50-ml., 750-ml., 1-liter and 1.75-liter formats, while Georgia Peach will also be offered in a 375-ml. package. Vanilla Bean and Georgia Peach mark the 12th and 13th entries in Skyy’s flavored Infusions lineup. Last year, Skyy vodka was up 3.1% to 2.8 million cases in the U.S., according to Impact Databank.
•Moët & Chandon has been named the official Champagne of Times Square New Year’s Eve 2014, Times Square Alliance and Countdown Entertainment, co-organizers of the event, announced yesterday. The partnership marks the first participation in the Times Square countdown for the Champagne brand and coincides with a seasonal campaign featuring an 11-foot bottle of Moët & Chandon Imperial touring iconic New York City locations before arriving in Times Square. The largest Champagne brand worldwide, Moët & Chandon lost ground in the U.S. in 2012, with shipments decreasing 7.3% to 380,000 nine-liter cases.
•Canada’s Stratus Vineyards has chosen Paul Hobbs Imports as its exclusive U.S. importer. Hobbs has worked with Stratus since 2009, when he became a viticultural and winemaking consultant for the winery. Stratus Vineyards, established in 2005 in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, was one of Canada’s first LEED-certified wineries and spans 62 acres on the Niagara Peninsula. Currently available in the U.S. are the winery’s flagship 2009 Stratus White and 2009 Stratus Red, both with a suggested retail price of $30.
•Ca’ Momi Napa Valley has added three new Napa Valley reserve wines to its portfolio—Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Reserve Chardonnay and Reserve Pinot Noir. The wines are sourced from premium vineyards in Napa Valley, including two vineyards in Napa Carneros that Ca’ Momi recently purchased. The Napa Valley Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon’s suggested retail price is $68, while the Reserve Chardonnay is at $38 and the Reserve Pinot Noir is at $52. The reserve wines will be limited in production and allocated to on-premise accounts in major markets in the U.S., such as California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois and New York. In total, Ca’ Momi produces around 40,000 cases annually.
•Lede Family Wines says it will relaunch its Breggo Cellars brand next March under a new label, FEL Wines. FEL refers to the initials of Florence Elsie Lede, mother of company founder Cliff Lede. The name change is intended to better integrate the brand as part of Lede Family Wines. The relaunch will begin with Anderson Valley Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines under the FEL brand in March. Those will be followed by an Anderson Valley Pinot Gris and several single-vineyard wines later in the year. FEL’s pricing will run from around $25-$90, roughly equal to Breggo, which has garnered 11 scores of 90-plus from Wine Spectator since 2006. Lede Family acquired Breggo in 2009.
•The Napa Valley has been granted geographic indication (GI) status in Australia and Taiwan, the Napa Valley Vintners trade group has announced. In 2012, Napa Valley was the world’s first wine region to achieve similar GI status in China, as well as the first non-European region to earn GI status in the European Union in 2007. Napa Valley has received name protection assurances from Brazil, Canada, India, Thailand, New Zealand and Norway. A 2000 law in California protects the Napa name in the U.S.
•MillerCoors’s Miller Lite brand is releasing a limited edition version of its “Original Lite Can” packaging. First launched nearly 40 years ago, the retro look features images of hops and barley, as well as the tagline “A fine Pilsner beer.” Miller Lite’s Original Lite Can will be available in 12-, 16- and 24-ounce formats from January through March, supported in part by an appearance in Paramount Pictures’ “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues,” which hits theaters December 18. Following several years of single-digit declines, Miller Lite was down 1.1% to 14.7 million barrels in the U.S. market last year, according to Impact Databank.
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