Ste. Michelle Ends the Year up 9.6%
FILED JANUARY 27, 2012
Ste. Michelle Wine Estates grew shipment volumes by 10.9% in Q4 (Oct-Nov-Dec) and 9.6% in the full year ending Dec 30. It benefitted from the rollout of 14 Hands to the off-premise and growth in Chateau Ste. Michelle, but Q4 results were below Q3 where shipments climbed 19.7% partly due to some timing issues with Columbia Crest shipments. Read More

Jon Fredrikson: A "Tumultuous Time"
FILED JANUARY 26, 2012
The big takeaway we got from Jon Fredrikson's (of Gomgerg, Fredrikson & Associates) presentation at the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium is that emerging categories like Moscato, red blends (especially sweet red blends), chocolate wines, Malbec, unoaked Chardonnay and even flavored sake are having a huge impact on the wine category overall... Read More

Part 2 with Chocolate Shop
FILED JANUARY 25, 2012
Yesterday we gave you Part 1 of our interview with Precept Wine ceo Andrew Browne regarding their chocolate wine brand Chocolate Shop. Its red wine offering is the most successful so far, but Chocolate Shop also offers Creme de Cocoa and Strawberry red wine. That's in addition to Precept's other wine brands, including Waterbrook, Washington Hills and House Wine. Here's what else he had to say about Chocolate Shop and the company at large: Read More

The Chocolate Wine Phenomenon
FILED JANUARY 24, 2012
Americans seem to be more in favor of "sweet" things these days. We're seeing this trend with dessert flavored vodkas, for example, and also chocolate flavored wine. Although it is still a relatively small, niche category, it is growing fast and resonating particularly well with consumers who do not typically drink wine. So we caught up with Andrew Browne, ceo of Precept Wine, to talk about their Chocolate Shop red wine. They rolled out the brand in February 2011. Fast forward to January 2012 and they are just north of 50,000 cases, making it the top selling chocolate red wine brand available and the second largest chocolate wine overall, based on recent trends from both Nielsen and SymphonyIRI. (Cream-based ChocoVine remains the largest chocolate wine). Precept has 7 chocolate wines in total, but Chocolate Shop red wine is the most successful so far. Read More

A Talk with Garrison Brothers
FILED JANUARY 23, 2012
Recently we spoke with Dan Garrison, proprietor of Garrison Brothers, a craft distillery located in between San Antonio and Austin that produces small-batch, Texas bourbon. Here's what Dan had to say as you, dear reader, are a fly on the wall. Read More