&‘&‘The adage of offering good-tasting, fun, affordable wines is the not-too-secret recipe for succeeding in the wine market these days."
These are the opening words to an article in the alcoholic beverage industry trade magazine Beverage Dynamics, which catches my eye each year.
The article, from one of the top industry-analytical publications, tracks sales growth among wine, spirits and beer by brand, and it's always interesting to see who the industry leaders are. That's because it alerts me to what sort of wines are selling, which tell me about popular styles.
And the case sales leader in the last five years is Barefoot Cellars, a brand of E&J Gallo, which has vaulted from an estimated 2.4 million cases to 9.5 million cases between 2006 and 2010.
Keys to the growth of this brand are that (a) it is composed mainly of non-vintage wines, (b) there is a startlingly fine sweet Muscat-based wine in the line, and (c) the wines are all under $7 a bottle and are very well made.
The first fact tells me that younger consumers (who seem to be driving much of the growth in wine sales over the last few years) do not really care if a wine has a date on it as long as the wine delivers the sort of up-front fruit they want.
Second is the Muscat, a recent surprise. Scanner data from A.C. Nielsen in the last year show dramatic growth in sweeter white wines with Muscat grapes in the mix. So successful are the Muscat-based wines that anyone who has Muscat grapes to sell can just about set a price. Buyers are everywhere.
A decade ago, Muscat-based wines didn't sell because many consumers have long memories and associated the word with muscatel, a cheap, fortified wine often consumed out of a brown paper bag. Today's younger buyers do not know this connection.
Moreover, a key to success for Muscat-based wines is that they are now called something else: Moscato, using the Italian version of the term "Muscat."
Second on Beverage Dynamics' list of wines on the fast track is Constellation's excellent line of Black Box wines. These are fine-quality wines packaged in three-liter boxes that retail for about $7 a liter. Americans bought some 1.93 million cases of them in 2010.
Third on the list is the Trinchero Family Estates' humorously named Menage a Trois brand (1.73 million cases), followed by The Wine Group's Fish Eye ($1.6 million cases).
In terms of fastest-rising brands, Beverage Dynamics lists Cupcake, from The Wine Group (with 1 million cases sold in 2010) as the leader, up from 20,000 cases when it was introduced in 2006. No one approaches that sort of growth, which may be credited to high wine quality from winemaking chief Adam Richardson.
In all, E&J Gallo, the world's largest wine company, has more brands on the two Beverage Dynamics lists (10) than any other company.
Correction: Our Wine of the week last week was from Alysian; it is reprinted here: 2008 Alysian Pinot Noir, Russian River Selection ($40) - Striking fruit aroma that is graceful and delicate, with hints of cherry, spices (from aging in French oak barrels), clove, and a bit of cranberry. Needs a lot of air or a few more years. This is a wine that a decade from now will still be delivering complexity and fruit.
Wine of the Week: 2009 Starborough Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough ($15) - Striking aroma of lime, tea, and green herbal notes; succulent entry and crisp finish, a stylish white wine to pair with herbal-based foods.
Sonoma County resident Dan Berger publishes "Vintage Experiences," a weekly wine newsletter. Write to him at winenut@gmail.com.
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