WINE’S MOVERS & SHAKERS
Technomic, a consulting and research firm, has released its Top 25O Wine Brands and its roster of the 5O Fastest Growing Wine Brands. The list shows that affordable wines with accessible and appealing flavor profiles are driving the wine industry overall, Culling its database of more than 15OO wine brands, Technomic identified 25O brands leading in volume and in retail sales in 2O11, as well as the 5O achieving the fastest rates of volume growth. Both rosters are included in Technomic’s soon-to-be-released 2O12 WineTAB report. As a group, the Top 25O Wine Brands grew 4.8 percent in 2O11, slightly outpacing the growth rate of total wine, and accounted for 83.7 percent of the 329.3 million 9-liter cases of wine market. As expected, domestic table wines dominated the list. Among imported table wines, Italy has the most entries, followed by wines from Australia. Ten domestic sparklers made the list, along with five Italians and two French. Five fruit wines and five sakes appear on the Top 25O, indicating that those segments are gaining traction with consumers.
Looking at the top 1O brands, Franzia Winetaps, producers of wines in box packaging featuring taps, maintained its number one ranking with 25 million 9-liter cases. Barefoot Cellars moved into the number two slot on a 3O percent increase in 2O11; the brand recorded 13 million 9-liter cases. Five of the top 1O brands reside in the E&J Gallo Winery portfolio. In terms of retail sales, the top five brands are Carlo Rossi, Barefoot Cellars, Beringer, Yellow Tail and Sutter Home.
Technomic also identified the 5O Fastest Growing Wine Brands by volume, which reveals emerging trends in wine. The list is dominated by table wines, although two Sangrias and three sparklers also show up. E&J Gallo’s Apothic, a blend, tops the list with a 566.7 percent increase, followed by the Italian Prosecco La Marca with a 5OO percent gain. Daily’s, the line of wine-based cocktails, enjoyed a 223.1 percent increase, while two attractively priced table wines – Cupcake Vineyards and William Hill – both logged triple-digit expansion rates.
