Impact “Hot Brands” Seaglass, Fre Driving Gains For Trinchero

Rising labels like Seaglass, Sycamore Lane, and Fre are driving progress for 16-million-case California wine player Trinchero Family Estates. While the company’s top-selling brands like Sutter Home, Ménage à Trois, and Joel Gott have been battling competitive conditions lately, other areas like on-premise-focused wines and the growing non-alcoholic segment are providing momentum.

Trinchero’s Seaglass brand has grown by 21% each of the past two years, according to Impact Databank, and is now above a half-million cases. “That brand is really doing quite well and it’s resonating with consumers,” Trinchero president and CEO Bob Torkelson tells SND. “It’s a Central Coast project that has taken wings here in the last couple of years. We’re up 15%, 16% this year.” On-premise-focused label Sycamore Lane suffered a steep dropoff during the pandemic, but has now rebounded strongly, adding more than 100,000 cases in the past two years to approach 400,000 cases.

Non-alcoholic “Hot Brand” Fre, meanwhile, has been growing steadily, reaching 344,000 cases last year, up more than 100,000 cases since 2019. Although non-alcoholic wines are still a small part of the market overall, they represent one of the fastest-growing areas of the wine category. “We’re going to launch Sauvignon Blanc in the Fre line coming up in the spring,” says Torkelson. “We’re excited about that with the growth that’s happened in Sauvignon Blanc.” Other Trinchero labels on the rise last year included Trinity Oaks, Tres Agaves Tequila, Avissi, Taken, and Mind + Body.

At the top of the portfolio, Trinchero’s Sutter Home brand remains the fourth-largest wine label in the U.S. by volume at just under 10 million cases in 2022. Torkelson notes that despite tough market conditions Sutter Home is gaining share and the company is working to draw in younger consumers through innovation.

“Launching things like our Fruit Infusions and teas have brought a younger demographic in the brand,” he says. “We seem to be bringing consumers back into the Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay piece of our business. Both of those varieties are up inside the Sutter Home brand, which kind of bucks the trends that we’ve seen overall.” Torkelson adds that the company’s 187-ml. business helps to drive consumer trial at the entry level.

For Ménage à Trois, a 2.75-million-case brand, Torkelson points to sweet red wines as growth areas. He says that Ménage’s dry red blends are over-performing in a challenging market and are gaining market share. The company is also working to revitalize Joel Gott, focusing on core SKUs: the 815 Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir. “What we find is when we put the brand in the marketplace with those four core varietals, we see an awful lot of return there,” says Torkelson.—Shane English

Tagged : Ménage à Trois, SeaGlass, Sutter Home, Trinchero Family Estates

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