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Since acquiring full control of Ruffino in 2011, Constellation has thrust the Italian wine brand into high gear in the U.S. market. Over the past half-decade, Ruffino has expanded by nearly 75% in the U.S., reaching 1.1 million cases on 10% growth in 2015, according to Impact Databank.
While Ruffino claims a leading share of the Chianti market—controlling about 20% of the category overall, and nearly 50% of the luxury segment through wines like its flagship Riserva Ducale—Constellation tells SND that progress has lately been led by its Lumina Pinot Grigio and Prosecco, which are the two fastest-growing offerings in the franchise. Ruffino’s Prosecco alone leapt 43% to reach a quarter-million cases last year, according to Impact Databank.
“The growth seen with Lumina Pinot Grigio and Prosecco are largely driven by a slightly younger consumer, about 25 to 45 years old,” says Scott Ehrlich, Ruffino’s global director of marketing. This spring, Ruffino will target those same consumers with the launch of a sparkling rosé. The new entry, rolling out nationally in May, is an extra-dry style rosé sparkler sourced mainly from Friuli Venezia Giulia and Veneto and retail priced at around $15 a 750-ml. bottle.
As it branches out from its traditional Chianti business to exploit new opportunities across the Italian wine spectrum, Ruffino will look to maintain its current distribution split of about 70% retail to 30% on-premise. Ehrlich says that’s a healthy balance for the brand, “leveraging the breadth and quality of the portfolio to ensure the appropriate wines are available in the right accounts.”
In a reflection of the growth within the craft category, the annual American Craft Spirits Association Distillers Convention held in Chicago last week reported sharply higher attendance compared with the 2015 event in Austin, Texas. There were more than 400 distillery representatives at this year’s event in Chicago, up 17% over the Austin turnout of 350, while 91 vendors staffed booths, an increase of 34% over the 68 total in 2015.
The keynote speech, inviting small distillers to consider partnering with select retailers to bottle direct-branded products for their customers, was delivered by Eli Aguilera, vice president of spirits at Total Wine & More. In all, there were 69 speakers and 26 educational programs spread over two and a half days at Chicago’s Palmer House Hotel.
•Grandroots LLC, a spirits investment firm started last year by Hpnotiq co-founder Jim Goldstein and Alan Shayne (president of Florida-based Spirit Imports) has invested in Sia Scotch whisky, with plans to expand the female-focused Scotch brand’s production, marketing and distribution. An 86-proof blend of Speyside, Highland and Islay malt and grain whiskies retailing at around $50, Sia is imported by Spirit Imports and is currently distributed in California, Illinois, Washington D.C., Maryland, Delaware and Tennessee.
•St. Louis-based Brew Hub plans to break ground on a new $20 million brewing facility in Chesterfield, Missouri this year, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The project, which is still pending city approval, will comprise a 71,000-square-foot brewery with an annual capacity of 75,000 barrels, as well as a tasting room and outdoor beer garden. The facility is projected to be operational by 2017, with the tasting room slated to open by the end of 2016. Brew Hub’s Chesterfield site marks the second of five new facilities the contract brewer plans to open in the U.S., joining a 100,000-barrel, Lakeland, Florida-based brewery completed in 2014. Backed by private equity firm Yucaipa Cos., Brew Hub is reportedly eyeing existing breweries throughout Texas and the West Coast for its next expansion site.
•Bend, Oregon’s Crux Fermentation Project is launching two of its most popular beers in six-pack format for the first time. Since opening in 2012, Crux has distributed exclusively in 375-ml. and 500-ml. bottles. This month, however, noting demand in key markets like Bend, Corvallis, Portland, Tacoma and Seattle, the brewer is introducing its Crux Pilz in six-packs of 12-ounce cans and its Cast Out IPA in six-packs of 12-ounce bottles in retail outlets in Oregon and Washington.
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