BOX WINE MANIA

The wine industry’s innovative marketing and packaging techniques have helped boost sales to an impressive yearly rate of 8.4%. In 2004, wine sales were up 4.3% in retail stores, a percentage that more than doubled the 2% sales gained in the beer market. Consumers are now more willing to experiment with wine, a change fueled mainly by new brands with outlandish titles and eye-catching labels. Boxed wines are also a part of this upward trend and are no longer considered second rate in comparison to traditional bottles. Last year box wines had a volume growth of 42.7% in food, drug, and liquor stores while bottles were up only 3.9%. Box wines are easy to carry, cheap to produce, better wine preservers, and allow consumers to get more for their money. They are, overall, a better deal and something wine producers are latching onto. But as Ray Sproule, founder of Granite Bay, California-based Black Box Wines, points out in Progressive Grocer’s Sept. 15, 2005 issue, “‘It’s always difficult to get people to purchase for the first time, due to the stigma…[but] we found that once people bought it, the repeat business increased.’”

WINE DECLINE IN FRANCE

It looks like France isn’t so different from the U.S. after all. The European country is facing a similar problem with their wine as compared to the United States beer market. While Americans are turning to wine and liquor as a substitute for beer, the Frenchies are increasingly replacing wine with beer and spirits. Ironic, huh? And if they’re not completely turning their noses up to vino, than they’re downsizing to much cheaper alternvatives like Appellation d’Origine Contrôlèe wines. France has lost one million regular wine consumers from 2000, and experienced a 6% drop in exports. Needless to say, winemakers are being hit with a double whammy which may force some to close their wineries in the coming years.

CAN YOU CAN WINE? YOU CAN

The Australian group, Barokes, will soon give South Africans the option to drink wine out of a can. Their innovative, patented packaging offers “stability and longevity” and is meant to target younger generations who generally prefer canned beverages according to Greg Stokes, the inventor of Vinsafe technology along with Steve Barics. Barokes is currently in negotiations with several major wineries and wine regions in South Africa.

CONSTELLATION STANDING FIRM ON VICOR

Yesterday, Vincor failed to accept Constellation’s bid of $26.45 per share made earlier this week. Constellation, however, refuses to increase their proposal. “There’s no reason to sweeten the bid,” says Richard Sands, Constellation’s CEO and chairman. He hasn’t heard of any other company interested in buying Vincor and believes they are “playing a dangerous game.”

PENNSYLVANIA WINE BANS OUT THE WINDOW

A Commonwealth Court halted the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board’s order to ban direct wine shipments. The ruling was supposed to go into effect November 1 but was stopped when the Pennsylvania Wine Association requested a restraining order that was granted on Monday. State winery owners claim that barring shipments during the holiday sale season would greatly damage their businesses. Last month, the PLCB made it illegal for in-state winemakers to ship directly to Pennsylvania consumers after the federal Supreme Court ruled that states could not prohibit out-of-state wineries from shipping directly to consumers if they permitted direct shipments from in-state wineries. A hearing on the Pennsylvania issue was scheduled for Thursday, November 10.