WINE BRANDS THAT TOP THE CHARTS

At the end of the day when the work is done and your dear wine and spirits editor packs up the office and enters the world as just another consumer wandering various on and off-premise accounts, we often wonder what wine brands are at the top of their game. It seems as though we see and read about the same few brands over and over, but in such a fragmented industry, does over-exposure always guarantee a purchase?

IRI compiled a list of the top 30 brand performers in 2006. Here’s a peek at the top fifteen beginning with the number one spot:

Barefoot (E & J Gallo); Francis Coppola (Rubicon Estate); Sterling Vintners Collection (Diageo); Chateau Ste Michelle (Chateau Ste Michelle Estates); Crane Lake (Bronco Wine Co.); Bogle Vineyards (Bogle Vineyards); Smoking Loon (Don Sebastiani & Sons); J Lohr (J Lohr); Mirassou (E&J Gallo); La Crema (Majestic Fine Wines); The Little Penguin (Foster’s); Rex Goliath (Constellation); Kendall-Jackson Vintners (Majestic Fine Wines); Fish Eye (The Wine Group); Pepperwood Grove (Don Sebastiani & Sons).

What does it take to make the top thirty? IRI ranked the brands that achieved dollar sales growth of 22.2% versus a year ago and volume gains of 22.3%. These brands far outpaced the total table wine category which reached a 10% dollar sales increase and saw volume rise 3.6%. The top brand performers alone accounted for almost 30% of total dollar share for the table wine category and collectively gained 3 dollar share points.

Good news for California wineries. Remarkably, 23 of the top 30 brands are domestic table wines from the golden state. Imports had only five top brands with Australia contributing four.

When it comes to premiumization, there was no exception here. A whopping 83% of the brands sold for about $5.50 a bottle, which is a premium price.

Not surprisingly, E&J Gallo and Constellation each dominated the ranking again in 2006.