KENDALL-JACKSON NAMED “WINERY OF THE YEAR.”

So wine’s doing great these days, but there was one brand in particular that did noticeably well. The highly respected industry analyst Jon Fredrickson named Kendall-Jackson his “Winery of the Year” at the Symposium last week. The award is presented by the analyst each year to recognize a winery that has done significantly well with marketing its wines.

It looks like the company’s price increase paid off. Sales of Kendall-Jackson wines in food stores soared 19% last year despite a $2-per bottle price increase of its flagship Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay, said Jon during a presentation. The winery also sold an estimated 4.1 million cases last year, 650,000 more than 2005.

The company took a risk in re-branding its flagship brand, already the best-selling chardonnay in the nation, but it paid off.

In 2005, K-J announced it would up the price of its Vintners Reserve from $10 to $12, and source grapes only from its family-owned vineyards. The new label and advertising campaign now focuses on the winery’s family ownership and farming, and carries the phrase "Jackson Estates Grown."

According to ACNielsen data for wine sales in grocery stores, Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay increased from $72 million in 2005 to $81 million last year.

In addition to the success of Vintner's Reserve, sales of K-J's $17 Grand Reserve Chardonnay, increased 52% percent, from $24 million to $37 million, he said.