The breakthrough brands

There are brands that have defined the wine market. Maybe they brought a whole new group of consumers to wine. Maybe they changed the way that a category of wine was made. Maybe they opened up a new niche. Here, in the first of our two-part series, is a look at the brands that broke through.

Black Tower
Black Tower

19 Crimes, Australia

Built from scratch as a brand aimed at Millennials, 19 Crimes was introduced into the Canadian market for about C$10.00 ($7.67) a bottle. Created in the Melbourne office of Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) and aimed at young men, its labels feature the faces of convicts sent to Australia for committing one of 19 crimes. The collectible corks showcase the crime committed, and the wine has been backed by witty video and social media campaigns. It was introduced into the US in 2012 and named Market Watch’s Leaders Choice Best New Wine Product of the Year in 2015. It now sells around 1m cases annually in the US, and has helped revive TWE’s fortunes. In 2017, 19 Crimes introduced an Augmented Reality label that allowed the convicts to speak to consumers. The label instantly spawned a host of imitators – expect talking labels to become the norm. FC

Bouvet Ladubay, France

Bouvet Ladubay, one of the Loire’s leading sparkling winemakers and the second oldest in Saumur, was founded in 1851 by 23-year-old Etienne Bouvet and his wife Celestine Ladubay. Bouvet was a great innovator, shipping his wines to the UK in 1860, and commissioning a château and electricity power station plus housing and a theatre for his employees.

The company struggled after Bouvet’s death in 1908 and was sold to the Monmousseau family in 1932. Ownership passed to the Taittingers of Champagne in 1974 and then to the UB Group of India in 2006. In 2015, with the help of three private equity firms and local banks, the Monmousseaus regained control.

Bouvet Ladubay has pioneered appellations such as Crémant de Loire, Cabernet Franc sparkling wines and extended lees ageing (10 years for the Ogmius Premium Cuvée). The château has become a luxury hotel, the theatre has been restored and is opened to the public, and the brand now has its own contemporary art centre. Most importantly, Bouvet Ladubay remains synonymous with high-quality Champagne-method sparkling wine. RJ

Black Tower, Germany

German wines have a problem: although often delicious, their names can be tough to pronounce. So perhaps it’s not surprising that when consumers came across two German whites with friendly names, they embraced them so strongly that the two export brands – Blue Nun and Black Tower – came to define the 1970s. But while very few brands from that time have remained market leaders, Black Tower is still bringing new consumers to wine. Created in 1967, Black Tower arrived on UK shelves in a black stone crock bottle. Originally a Liebfraumilch, the brand was modernised in the late 1990s, when Bingen-based Reh Kendermann acquired it. Black Tower has moved with the times, adding styles and varietals to the range, until by 2008 it was German’s bestselling wine. Its packaging was transformed again in 2010, with the range extended to include low alcohol wines and a sparkling meant to be served on ice. Black Tower’s ability to maintain its identity while staying ahead of consumer trends has lifted sales to 15m bottles a year, and it is exported to more than 25 countries. FC

Cantina Tollo Feudo Antico 

Cooperatives like Cantina Tollo have been instrumental in keeping families on the land; founded in Abruzzo in 1960 when many Italians were emigrating abroad, it gave locals a reason to stay. Cantina Tollo played a key role in developing winemaking in the region, including guiding growers to best practice viticulture. “We have a really important impact on the 700 or 800 families in our territory,” says sales and marketing director Andrea Di Fabio, adding that organic production doubled in 2018 alone. Cantina Tollo has bought indigenous grapes such as Pecorino back from the brink and 15 years ago created the Feudo Antico brand, which showcases native grapes from low-yielding vineyards. We have chosen Feudo Antico Tullum Pecorino to represent the co-op’s work in maintaining a region. FC

Casillero del Diablo, Chile

In a crowded wine world, Concha y Toro is an outstanding success. One of the five biggest producers in the world, it makes almost one bottle in every three of Chilean exports. Casillero del Diablo, the brand launched in 1963, assured its success and the company now sells more than 5m cases, 10 times the volume of just two decades ago. 

From the outset, Casillero del Diablo was ahead of its time in exploiting the now-popular notion of storytelling. Founder Don Melchor was said to have frightened would-be thieves by telling them that his wine cellar was protected by a devil. That simple tale is still being told across 140 markets but in high production-value advertisements and via sponsorship of the UK football team Manchester United.
While Casillero del Diablo has historically been associated with Cabernet Sauvignon, the range now comprises over 20 wines. As Viña Concha y Toro’s CEO Eduardo Guilisasti acknowledges, a key element of the Casillero del Diablo strategy has been its investment in research to understand what today’s wine drinkers want and to deliver that to them consistently. RJ

Clos d’Ora, France

Former rugby player Gérard Bertrand has a keen understanding of timing. It took 17 years for him to release his first wine from the stone-walled Clos d’Ora vineyard he bought in 1997. Over that time, he’d added Syrah and Mourvèdre to the old Carignan and Grenache vines growing there, and introduced the biodynamic methods of which he is a stalwart supporter.

Bertrand had successfully created a long list of domaine wines, but Clos d’Ora was different. Two hundred metres above sea level in the grand cru Minervois sub-appellation of la Livinière, and covering just 9ha, it is the jewel in the crown. Making the 10,000 bottles of the first vintage in 2012 was only part of Bertrand’s gamble. The price tag of €195.00 ($280.00) was higher than that of any wine from this region. But in the US, where such prices are less unusual, this and the subsequent releases have been very well received with critics awarding points in the 90s, helping drive the Languedoc forward. RJ

Cloudy Bay, New Zealand

David Hohnen, who in 1970 created the highly successful Cape Mentelle winery in Western Australia, was dazzled when he first tasted Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc in 1984. The following year, with winemaker Kevin Judd, he set out to make a super-premium New Zealand wine. The result was Cloudy Bay, more complex and subtle than most of its neighbours but more immediately seductive than the French Sauvignon Blancs of the 1980s. It carried an appropriately higher price tag and distribution was managed to create rarity value. Retailers had waiting lists, even as production volumes rose. The halo effect of its reputation as one of the world’s best Sauvignon Blancs unquestionably helped to build the image of New Zealand as a whole. 

Today, the company which LVMH acquired in 2003 is notoriously tight-lipped when it comes to discussing how much wine it produces, but credible estimates suggest an annual harvest of 100,000 cases of the Sauvignon Blanc, which now represents 65% of the total production. Jean-Guillaume Prats, CEO of LVMH’s wine division, says it has succeeded by treating all of its wines as luxuries. “That’s something we take very seriously in everything, from packaging to distribution.” RJ

González Byass Tio Pepe

Tío Pepe is one of those rare products that undeniably transcends its category. There are Fino sherries and there’s Tío Pepe, a sherry that’s a mainstream drink. González Byass achieved this feat through a painstaking, broad-ranging and genuinely unique strategy. This begins with quality and consistency: as chairman Mauricio González-Gordon explains, the wine is made from grapes grown in two specific vineyards in Jerez, and aged for four years in a solera, “much longer than by other producers”. In recent years, the focus has moved from volume – the brand is sold in more than 100 countries – to premium positioning, with the launch of the Tío Pepe En Rama and Finos Palmas Collection and the imminent release of vintage sherries from 2010. 

While the on-trade has been encouraged to serve Tío Pepe in white wine glasses rather than sherry glasses to encourage its appreciation as an accompaniment to food, there has also been an acknowledgment of sherry’s role in cocktails. This year more than 1,000 bar tenders from 16 countries took part in a mixology competition called the Tío Pepe Challenge. Other forms of communication have ranged from extensive social media campaigns using the #SherryRevolution hashtag to a Sherry Master educational programme for professionals. The Tío Pepe visitor centre welcomes 200,000 visitors a year and is one of the most popular destinations in Jerez. In 2019 it will be joined by the first Tío Pepe hotel. RJ

Kumala, South Africa

In 1995, a year after South Africa’s first democratic election, an Englishman called Roger Gabb decided to create a wine. He named it Kumala, after the lead character in Alan Paton’s classic novel Cry the Beloved Country, and made it from blends of grapes grown across the Western Cape, aimed firmly at export markets. Today, it is the world’s biggest selling South African brand (by 9-litre cases). Since its launch, Kumala has been associated with the new inclusive South Africa; in 2014, for example, it sponsored the DVD release of the Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom biopic and more recently it has sponsored the PinkDrive breast cancer screening and education initiative. RJ

Les Dauphins, France

In 2010, while much of the southern Rhône Valley was in crisis, one winery invested in a new brand, Les Dauphins. The Union des Vignerons des Côtes du Rhône (Cellier des Dauphins) commissioned brand creator Richard Evans and Amphora Design in the UK to create a striking package for a new bistro wine from oenologist Guillaume Valli. With its label evoking the Belle Epoque, plus its high-quality wine, the brand made an immediate splash in the UK upon its 2012 launch. Les Dauphins is proof of what cooperative winemaking can achieve, with the right strategy. Today, it’s a 3m bottle brand, sold in more than 40 markets. FC

Love Story, Italy

The wine world has been slow to create effective social media campaigns, but one company that has is Sartori di Verona. Known for its classic Valpolicella and Soave wines, it has a forward thinking streak as its latest brand, Love Story, demonstrates. Drawing on the heritage of a town famously home to Romeo and Juliet, the company created an interactive brand that encourages consumers to connect the wine with their own love lives. “You can personalise the label and put the name of your wife or loved one,” says Andrea Sartori, president and fourth generation family member. The consumer downloads the app, takes a snapshot of the label and uploads or posts it, and back come 12 personalised labels. They are also encouraged to share their own love stories on social media. The wine retails for $14.99 and was released in the US in June. Other markets will follow. FC

Mateus Rosé, Portugal

In 1942, Fernando van Zeller Guedes, owner of Sociedade Comercial dos Grandes Vinhos de Mesa de Portugal – now known as Sogrape – was confronted with a problem: World War II had hampered sales in Europe. His solution was to target Brazil with a totally new wine produced in the Vinho Verde region, but not in the red or white styles that were traditional there. If the pink colour was a novelty, so were its light, fresh, gently off-dry flavour and the bottle’s shape, based on soldiers’ hip flasks and the classic German Bocksbeutel. 

In the 1960s and 1970s, Mateus introduced millions of people to wine. Bottles were used in countless homes as candlesticks and empty old examples now sell online for $700.00. More recently, “we found the need to make the brand more contemporary and appealing”, said João Gomes da Silva, Sogrape’s director of marketing and sales. White and sparkling versions have been introduced and the iconic glass bottle has changed hue from green to clear glass. Today, Mateus Rose sells more than 20m bottles in 125 countries, benefitting from the pink wine boom by promoting itself as “a Rosé with attitude”. RJ 

Moët & Chandon Ice Impérial

The rise of Prosecco was driven in part by its value as a cocktail base. LVMH’s Moët & Chandon was quick to spot an opportunity and in 2011 launched its own Ice Impérial, a wine designed to be poured over ice, or even mixed with other ingredients. Aimed at Millennials, the Ice Impérial offers drinkers the glamour of Champagne coupled with an accessible taste; the classic blend of Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay is unashamedly sweet, with 45g of residual sugar. Not surprisingly, it soon had a host of imitators – always a sign that a new category has been created. Moët & Chandon has strong credentials as an innovator, having also created Champagne vending machines and even customisable bottles. The Champenois are notoriously reluctant to release figures, but earlier this year just-drinks.com reported that Moët & Chandon sales had hit “record volumes”. FC

Mouton Cadet, France

This world famous brand was born in 1931, following the previous year’s disastrous vintage. Philippe de Rothschild decided against selling the wine under the Mouton Rothschild label, instead calling its ‘youngest son’ or cadet in French. The concept and the wine were well received and Rothschild was obliged to buy wine from neighbouring vineyards to satisfy demand. Then came a pause during World War II, but following the wine’s relaunch in 1947, it became successful worldwide. The original red was soon joined by a white, then a reserve in 1996 and a rosé. Today, more than 1m cases are sold globally. Since the arrival in 2002 of Hugues Lechanoine as managing director, Baron Philippe de Rothschild has been rejuvenated. “We realised that we needed to have greater control over quality and consistency,” Lechanoine says, explaining the decision to open a modern production facility covering 17ha, and a process that since 2015 has enabled the winemakers to trace every wine back to 450 producers’ plots. RJ

Planeta Nero d’Avola, Italy

Before the 1990s, Sicilian wines were so far from being taken seriously that some producers remember trade fairs where people refused to taste. Today, Sicily is acknowledged as one of the world’s most exciting regions, a shift in perception that is largely thanks to Planeta. While the family has been in Sicily for centuries, the modern wine boom began when Diego Planeta planted a vineyard in 1985, and used consultants such as the legendary Giacomo Tachis. While Planeta went looking for native grapes, its first wine was a Chardonnay, launched in 1995. Thanks to its high quality, the market welcomed Planeta’s introduction of Sicilian varieties such as Nero d’Avola, now a classic, which led to a boom in indigenous varieties from other regions. FC

Torres Mas La Plana

For an ancient winemaking nation, Spain has fewer icon wines than some might expect. One of the most famous was created in 1970, when Miguel Torres junior produced a groundbreaking wine in the Penedès. Originally known as Torres Gran Coronas Black Label Reserva, Mas la Plana broke all the rules. It was created from newly planted Cabernet Sauvignon vines by a producer, and indeed in a country, with no history of producing successful varietal Cabernet. As Miguel Torres Maczassek, Torres’s son, recalls, his grandfather Miguel Torres Carbó, then head of the business, had so “little faith” in a project treated as an experiment that the wine was packaged in a Burgundy bottle.

Torres who, following his time studying in Dijon, had introduced a number of innovations to Spain such as stainless steel tanks and cooling equipment, believed in the wine, however. His faith was justified nine years after the vintage when that first release beat wines from Château Latour and Château La Mission Haut-Brion in a blind ‘Olympiades’ held by the French magazine Gault & Millau. News of that victory helped to build Torres’s reputation internationally, and opened the door for other super premium Spanish wines. Almost 50 years after the first vintage, about 9,000 cases of Mas la Plana are still produced from the original 29ha vineyard and sold across the world. RJ

Trapiche Terroir Series Malbec

In 2014, Argentina faced a crisis as the peso plummeted. Runaway inflation destroyed profit margins as domestic costs rose faster than export earnings. Worse, harvests were down, so Argentina could no longer supply markets with cut-price Malbec. Management at Grupo Peñaflor, which owns Trapiche, took a drastic step – to premiumise. It was a risk, because the market could simply have refused to buy at higher prices. But the team at Trapiche poured their efforts into investment and innovation, identifying better plots and parcels and producing better wines. The results were startling: the upper wine segments experienced double-digit growth, while the lower end dropped away. The overall average case price has risen by 35% since 2009. Trapiche led the charge for Argentina, helping to secure its place in the profitable, premium end of the market. FC 

Zonin1821 Prosecco

In a world gone mad for Prosecco, it’s surprisingly hard to stand out; consumers just reach for Prosecco rather a specific brand. Zonin1821 has bucked the trend by combining social media marketing with authenticity, notably when it introduced its Prosecco into the US. “One of the great things about wine is that it’s one of the few products you have great stories behind,” says vice-president Francesco Zonin. “The problem is how to spread the stories. Social media lets you get in touch with anybody.” He says it’s important to listen to feedback, even if it stings. “It’s an open communication and it goes both ways,” he says. “But comments are useful because it’s the true opinion of the consumers.” After much trial and error, the company’s approach now is to post what’s happening on the estates. “People are not interested in knowing how many days of fermentation the wine had,” he says. “But they are interested in knowing that it’s a lovely day in Lugana.” The work has paid off – this year, the company is on track to sell 5m bottles, 10% more than in 2017. FC

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