Dear Client:Like others in the industry, Diageo felt some pain in the second quarter as consumer spending softened even more than expected. Chief Paul Walsh said he expects consumer confidence to further deteriorate, making the outlook in the second half “more difficult to predict.” However, the company said it gained more value share in the … Continue reading “Diageo’s Premium Spirits Prompt Growth”

Dear Client:Luckily for California grape growers and wineries, the 2008 harvest is smaller than the year before which should be helpful in the current economic downturn. The California 2008 wine grape crush has totaled just over 3.05 million tons, according to the California Agricultural Statistics Service. It came as a bit of a surprise to … Continue reading “California Grape Harvest Hits 3 Million Tons”

Dear Client:Retailers and restaurants have been in the news a lot lately as businesses try to find ways to stay afloat in the recession. We’re seeing a trend of consumers increasingly shopping at bargain retailers and big box stores in hopes of saving money, but it looks like Wal-Mart could be the big winner. The … Continue reading “A Lesson from Wal-Mart”

Dear Client:Absolut broke new ground Sunday night by airing a 30-second TV spot during the third hour of the Grammy Awards, which broadcasted on CBS. The commercial ran in 15 of the largest media markets on many CBS owned and operated stations, reaching 31% of all U.S. TV households. Not only is this a big … Continue reading “Absolut Ad Airs During Grammys”

Dear Client:The Wall Street Journal’s David Kesmodel published an interesting piece that features Patron’s new ultra-premium Ultimat vodka, which the company has decided to launch despite declines in that price category. At $40 a bottle, it is more expensive than Grey Goose (about $30) and Ketel One ($23). Sales of Grey Goose fell -0.3% in … Continue reading “Patron Braves Recession With New Vodka”

Dear Client:Despite economic hardships in 2008, traffic in U.S. restaurants grew slightly – 0.2% to $61.5 billion – in the year ended November. It is the weakest showing since the recession of 2002-2003, according to market research company NPD. The group’s chief food industry analyst, Harry Balzer, said strong promotional activity at restaurant chains and … Continue reading “Fast Food and Big Box See Gains”

After reporting yesterday on the fastest growing spirits brands in 2008 by citing IRI scan data, we’re now going to shift over to wine. It was a good year to be a domestic wine as imports from Europe and New World countries were forced to raise prices for several reasons (one being the weak U.S. … Continue reading “Barefoot and Other Wines Storm Through 2008”

Many brands in the wine and spirits industry still managed to generate a lot of growth in 2008 and seemed altogether unharmed by the recession. So after reporting on last year’s trends over the past couple of weeks, it’s time to take a look at the fastest growing brands in the spirits sector. Out of … Continue reading “Spirits Brands that Weathered the Recession”

If there’s one thing the past couple of weeks has taught us, wine and spirits consumption is still going strong despite the recession. Jon Fredrikson, president of Gomberg Fredrikson & Associates, told listeners at the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium that wine consumption is still expanding in the U.S., particularly among millennials. Recall that Vinexpo … Continue reading “A Year in Wine”

As many in the industry have noted, the spirits category felt more pain than beer or wine in the economic downturn. Discus said volume of US spirits grew 1.6% to 184 million cases in 2008, while dollar sales rose 2.8%, which was below analysts’ estimates. Since 2000, spirits revenues have seen an average 6% increase. … Continue reading “Spirits Remain Recession Resilient”

It was announced this morning that Constellation will sell its value spirits business for $334 million to New Orleans-based Sazerac Company. This is clearly a huge step for Sazerac, who is gaining 40 brands including Barton, Skol, Mr. Boston, Fleischmann’s, the 99 schnapps line, the diAmore line, Chi-Chi’s pre-mixed cocktail line, Montezuma Tequila, in addition … Continue reading “Alert: Constellation Sells Value Spirits Brands”

Alcohol sales over the holidays were not so good, according to IRI’s four week data ending December 28. A calendar shift is one reason for the decline. Not only was Thanksgiving late this year, but the period ended two days earlier than the same period last year. The next set of data should give a … Continue reading “Alcohol Sales Soft in December”

A lot of readers helped us come up with predictions for 2009, which we believe will be as full of changes (some unexpected) as last year. In 2010 we’ll take a look back and see how we faired. Here is what we came up with, for what it’s worth:Following in the spirit of craft breweries … Continue reading “2009 Predictions and Changes at Glazer’s”

With the economy and recent price increases taken into account, Constellation performed well in the third quarter particularly in North America where the branded wine business grew 2%. Chief Rob Sands was careful to note throughout the conference call that although the company is meeting earning expectations, the economic environment remains extremely challenging and unpredictable. … Continue reading “Constellation: Pricing Will Pay Off”

There is no denying that 2008 was a pivotal year for the wine and spirits industry and full of instances that no one (at least us) could have predicted. Here’s a quick look at some of the major changes that went down in no particular order.1. Pernod Ricard acquires Absolut, sells Cruzan Rum to Fortune … Continue reading “A Look Back at 2008”