Shanken's Impact Newsletter October 15, 2017

WITH THE BEVERAGE ALCOHOL INDUSTRY SEEMINGLY GROWING MORE COMPETITIVE each and every year, it’s a rare brand franchise indeed that manages to cut through the clut-ter and find an enduring place in consumers’ drinks repertoires. And while success may be harder than ever to achieve, it’s even more difficult to maintain in a modern consumer cli-mate which prizes novelty near the top of its list of virtues. That’s why earning a spot on Impact’s Blue Chip Brands list—which salutes the brands that have not only risen to rar-efied heights, but stayed there over the long term—is a uniquely impressive feat. Just 61 brands qualified for “Blue Chip” recognition this year. All of them met Impact Databank’s stringent growth and profitability criteria to earn the title. To qualify, brands must have…

DESPITE ITS RECENT SLOWDOWN, THE boom in the craft beer sector in the U.S. has clearly benefited not only brewers, but also wholesalers and retailers alike. Still, the rise in self-distribution and retail sales by craft brewers is serving as the latest example of the “blurring” of industry tiers that has char-acterized the market in recent years and stirred debate over the shape the business will take over the long term. Self-distribution is not a new concept. Many craft-brewing pioneers, including Sierra Nevada, New Belgium, Stone, Harpoon and Brooklyn Brewery, were forced to sell beer directly to retailers in their early days as they attracted little attention from established beer wholesalers. But as the ranks of craft breweries have shot up in recent years, those who have opted to self-distribute…

THIS ISSUE FEATURES AN EXCLUSIVE REPORT ON THE state of beer wholesaling in the U.S. Beer distribution is a sector that’s in the midst of significant change, much like the wine and spirits wholesale business, which is facing many of the same issues. Legions of new craft brewers are vying to find room in the pipeline to bring their wares to market, with some opting to self-distribute and rely on taproom sales in a challenge to the long established three-tier model. Unsurprisingly, influential players from across the beer world have plenty to say on the topic, and about the future of the beer distribution business as a whole. Of all the new craft spirits and beer brands on a rapid rise at the moment, many will fall out of favor…

THE ALCOHOL AND TOBACCO TAX and Trade Bureau (TTB) is continuing its crackdown on so-called “pay-to-play” schemes, this time targeting the Illinois market.While details are scant, the agency revealed that it partnered in recent weeks with Illinois Liquor Con-trol Commission officials to investigate alleged pay-to-play arrangements—otherwise known as slotting fees—in Chicago, the Quad Cities and Peoria, Illinois. This is the second major investigation into slotting fees that the TTB has con-ducted this year. In July, the agency said that it had worked with Florida officials to investigate similar alleged schemes in the Miami area. Tom Hogue, the agency’s director of congressional and public affairs, de-clined to name the parties in question, but said more information on both the Miami and Illinois investigations would be available in due course. In a…

AFTER BEING WITHOUT A U.S. IM-porter for the past few years, Montalcino’s Biondi-Santi appointed Wilson Daniels as its U.S. agent, effective October 1.The Wilson Daniels partnership marks a new chapter for Biondi-Santi, in which French luxury group EPI took a significant stake late last year. Impact managing editor Daniel Marsteller spoke with Wilson Daniels president Rocco Lombardo to get the details on the new tie-up and other developments in the importer and distributor’s portfolio. Impact: What does Biondi-Santi bring to the Wilson Daniels portfolio? Lombardo: Biondi-Santi furthers our cause of representing the greatest European wineries—including proper-ties like Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and Domaine Leflaive from France, and Dal Forno from Italy. We’ll be targeting the on-premise and fine wine shops, focusing on the connois-seur segment. We’ll have an initial re-lease…

WITH GROWTH IN THE ITALIAN SPARKLING WINE SEGMENT ONGOING, PRO-secco brand Mionetto is projected to approach 700,000 cases in the U.S. market this year, up from 610,000 cases in 2016, according to Impact Databank. Mionetto USA CEO Enore Ceola tells Impact that given the health of the Pro-secco category and Mionetto’s recent expansion in the chain retail market, he sees the brand reaching its goal of 1 million cases before long. Mionetto’s recent partnership with California-based sales agent Vintage Point targeting the chain channel has been paying dividends, Ceola says. “We’ve made incredible strides with Safeway-Albertsons in California. We were basically non-existent in that chain two years ago,” he explains. Within the next year, Mionetto ($14 a 750-ml.) will also have national placements with CVS and Cost Plus World Market,…