Winebow: from Italian to global wine importer

Winebow, America's leading importer of fine Italian wines, has recently announced the signing of an agreement to acquire Click Wine Group and all company-owned brands. Winebow was founded in 1980 by Leonardo LoCascio, and soon became a "de facto" seal of approval for Italian wine enthusiasts in Usa. Click Wine Group is a leader in creating and developing innovative super-premium wine brands from around the world, including category leaders Fat Bastard from France, Root:1 from Chile, and Clean Slate from Germany. Wine Group portfolio is made up of two acclaimed collections: the Global Wine Collection, and Peter Click Selections. The Global Wine Collection consists of signature varietals from world-class appellations with easy to pronounce names and appealing, consumer friendly packaging aimed at taking the intimidation out of wine. Peter Click Selections, instead, is a collection of critically acclaimed wines produced by boutique wineries located in Australia's premium wine regions. "This acquisition will result in a 1,5 mio cases import portfolio from virtually all of the best wine regions in the world, advancing our aim to be the leading super-premium import wine supplier in the USA" said Mr. LoCascio, President, CEO and founder of Winebow. Winebow is headquartered in Montvale, New Jersey, with additional distribution offices in New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Boston and Wallingford (Connecticut). Click Wine Group will continue to be based in Seattle under the same name, operating as a division of Winebow.

The consolidation between Usa wine distributors/importers is going on. But in this case it's interesting to notice two other possible trends. First of all the fact that wine distributors are loosing their Country specialisation, in order to be able to compete in the global market with a wider range of products. The Italian wine industry will surely miss importers specialised in Italian wines, but that's where the market is going. The second interesting fact is that an importer cannot rely any more on established and well known brands only, but has to learn how to create and manage new ones. That is a job that Click Wine can do well: in the past, in fact, it has created and launched successful consumer-driven wine brands from around the world.

Borgogno winery sold to retail entrepreneur

The Piedmontese family that has owned the Giacomo Borgogno & Figli winery for nearly 250 years has sold the historic company. Family owners Giorgio Boschis and his brother, Cesare, great-nephews of Giacomo Borgogno, say they finalized a deal selling the winery to local entrepreneur Oscar Farinetti and his son, Francesco, in January. Local sources estimate the sale price at around $30 million. The winery, located in the town of Barolo, is one of the landmark producers in the Barolo-producing Langhe zone of Piedmont. In its heyday in the 1960s, it sourced grapes from many small producers in the area for its Barolo, Barbera and Dolcetto reds. Farinetti made his fortune initially with the Trony electronics retail chain and, more recently, with the Eataly Italian food-and-wine outlets in Turin and Milan, with stores opening soon in Tokyo and New York. According to the terms of the sale, the Boschis brothers will continue to oversee production at the winery for the next three years. They each retain a 5 percent interest in the winery for that period. "Nothing is going to change," Giorgio Boschis said. "We retain complete control over the production and will carry on as normal. If we decide to sell the rest of our percentage after three years, the price is already fixed." The sale includes a valuable inventory—around 120,000 bottles of old vintages of the winery's Barolos, from 1961 through 1990. "My uncle, Cesare, built up the bulk of the collection," said Boschis, "during the lean years of the [World War II] and after. We generally keep back around 20 percent of the production in a good vintage and sell [the bottles] a few at a time, mostly to the quality restaurant trade." The Farinettis will make a few changes after the sale, according to Boschis. The winery will only produce wines from its own 49.5 acres of vineyards, including vineyard plots in the top Barolo crus, such as Cannubi, Liste and San Pietro. Consequently, production of the Grignolino d'Asti and the Freisa d'Asti reds, made from bought grapes, will cease. Boschis also said that Farinetti has made a marketing strategy agreement for the United States with his friend, Giorgio Rivetti, owner of La Spinetta in Barbaresco. The winery currently produces around 8.300 cases of wine, including 3 Barolos: a standard Barolo, a Barolo Classico and the single-vineyard Barolo Liste. The rest of the production includes a Barbera, a Dolcetto, a Nebbiolo d'Alba and a small quantity of the traditional Barolo Chinato (herb-infused Barolo). The 2003 vintage of the Barolos will be released shortly, after the customary five years in the winery. "I guess we were a bit unhappy to see the winery go out of the family," said Boschis. "But the new owner is a very practical person, not just a financier, and we can feel confident about the future."

(from http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Features/0,1197,4412,00.html)

Interesting news. Retail and distribution, in fact, are becoming more and more powerful in the wine market, even in the niche segments. Probably in the future we will see on the market two different kind of retailers: groups like Tesco and Carrefour, focusing on price, and some high range food concepts like Whoole Foods Market and Marks and Spencer "Simply Food". The so-called niche products need to enter in global distribution networks, and small-scale wine and food producers could even be acquired by retailers, as Eataly has indirectly done with Borgogno. With distribution networks like this, producers can offer their products directly to the final consumer, skipping the various intermediate links of the chain. Is there any risk if the distribution rules the game?

Campari ready to buy Vin & Spirit brands from Pernod Ricard

Having taken over the entire Swedish group Vin & Spirit, Pernod Ricard is preparing to sell off Plymouth gin and Fris vodka in the next 6 months. The Italian group Campari has already indicated its interest in acquiring them. Campari, the sixth largest wine and spirits producer in the world, has pursued rampant external growth for more than ten years, having notably acquired the whisky brands Glen Grant, Old Smuggler and Braemer in 2005 for €130 million, again from Pernod Ricard.

(from http://www.lesechos.fr/)

In 2007 wines represented 15,8% of the Campari's turnover. This segment has been boosted by vermouth (+18,7%) and by sparkling wines (+12,7%). Difficult to understand which role Campari wants to attribute to its wines' brands Sella & Mosca and Riccadonna. They have a great potential, but the synergies with the spirits seem not yet fully expressed in the international markets.

Cantina di Soave buys Cantina di Montecchia

On Wednesday April 24th, the Cantina di Soave winery has merged with Cantina di Montecchia, another important venetian wine cooperative. With this acquisition Cantina di Soave further strengthens its position in the Italian and European market. It owns five production plants, and sells 30 million bottles per year, with a turnover of over 70 million euros. Cantina di Soave has enlarged its social base to 2.200 members, that own 6.000 hectares of vineyards, for a total of one million quintals of grapes produced annually. "We are very happy for this operation - says Bruno Trentini, General Director of Cantina di Soave - becouse it follows a logic of consolidation that becomes more and more indispensable nowadays". Thanks to this acquisition, Cantina di Soave will be able to manage 48% of the Soave Doc total production, 43% of the Soave Classico, and 50% of the Valpolicella denomination. Furthermore it will become the largest producer of Lessini Durello wine. "The acquisition of the Cantina di Montecchia - concludes Attilio Carlesso, new president of the Cantina di Soave - follows a general trend to consolidation between Italian wine cooperatives, with the aim of improving the efficiency of the industry, and of increasing the production quality".

The biggest Piedmont wine coop is born

It's called "Tre secoli" (three centuries), and it's the biggest Piedmont wine cooperative, born by the merger between Cantina Sociale di Mombaruzzo (Asti), founded in 1887, and Cantina Terre di Ricaldone (Alessandria). The new company name has been chosen by a jury made up of about forty people among marketing experts, communicators and Italians and foreign traders. The structure will bring together more than 450 members, and will have a total of about 1,300 hectares of vineyards located mainly in the "Nizza" subzone of the classical production area of Barbera d'Asti, and partly in the Alessandria province, where Brachetto d'Acqui, Moscato d'Asti, Asti, Dolcetto d'Acqui and Cortese of Monferrato come from.

(translated and adapted from http://www.focuswine.it/portal/intxt.asp?idtext=4285&at=16207499M16470073V329401465018&uid=REGGI565)