National Liquor News October 2018

AUSTRALIA’S LEADING LIQUOR INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

vol. 37 no. 9 - OCTOBER 2018

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‘For 36 years National Liquor News has been the leading trade publication communicating news, trends and in depth features to educate and inform liquor retailers nationally.’

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EDITOR’S NOTE

Editor’s Note

W

elcome to the October issue of National Liquor News – our biggest edition of the year!

This month, our retail strategy, marketing and experience expert Norrelle Goldring has been on vacation in the USA and has two articles for us; the first takes a look at the prominence of growler stations at liquor retail outlets in Alaska (page 24), and the second compares the big box liquor chains of BevMo and Total Wine (page 36).

Over the past month, we were also lucky enough to jet off overseas. I went to Singapore and Bangkok with the Independent Liquor Group (ILG) and Shane T Williams headed to Dublin with the Liquor Marketing Group (LMG). In this issue you will be able to read our recaps from each of these conferences (ILG on page 26 and LMG on page 32) – it is pleasing to see great growth from both of these independent banner groups.

One of the topics that was discussed at length at the ILG Conference was how we can work to engage with more millennials. During her presentation, Kylie Farquhar from Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) spoke about how millennials are wanting refreshing drink choices and how TWE has recently launched a new canned wine range in response to this trend – so in this issue we decided to take a look at the growing canned wine category, you can read this on page 74.

Another category that was discussed during the conference was RTDs, which is experiencing a period of growth. Riley Fisher from Diageo spoke about how suppliers and retailers can better work together to continue to drive this growth, which you can read about on page 39. In this issue we have also got our annual RTD feature, where Ava Green has taken a look at what is actually driving the growth in this segment.

As we head towards the end of 2018 and begin our planning for Christmas, what springs to mind for me is what bubbles I’ll be enjoying. And so to help with your planning for the festive season we’ve extensively covered off the Champagne and sparkling categories in this issue, beginning on page 64 and ending with our annual blind bubbles tasting on page 96.

In this issue we again have all of the off-premise

Get the facts DrinkWise.org.au

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PUBLISHER: Paul Wootton

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EDITOR: Deborah Jackson

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GENERAL MANAGER SALES – LIQUOR & HOSPITALITY GROUP:

Paul Wootton, Deb Jackson, Shane T Williams, Kea Thorburn

TO ALL OF THE RETAILERS, SUPPLIERS AND BANNER GROUPS THAT HAVE BEEN RECOGNISED AS ALIA FINALISTS, I’D LIKE TO SAY CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU ALL. finalists for the Australian Liquor Industry Awards (ALIA). To all of the retailers, suppliers and banner groups that have been recognised as ALIA finalists, I’d like to say congratulations.

We’ve also got all of our regular features, including columns from the heads of ALSA, ABA, the Independent Brewers Association, Wine Australia and New Zealand Winegrowers.

As always, keep your feedback flowing through (djackson@intermedia.com.au).

This is your mag, so let me know what you want to hear and make it work for you.

Cheers, Deb Deborah Jackson, Editor 02 8586 6206 | djackson@intermedia.com.au

TOP READS 26 32 79

MAKING MEMORIES WITH ILG LMG FAMILY DESCENDS ON DUBLIN RTD: BACK ON THE PODIUM NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS IS THE OFFICIAL TRADE PUBLICATION OF THE AUSTRALIAN LIQUOR STORES ASSOCIATION (ALSA).

8 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

WE ENCOURAGE RESPONSIBLE DRINKING

Shane T. Williams stwilliams@intermedia.com.au

GROUP ART DIRECTOR – LIQUOR AND HOSPITALITY: Kea Thorburn

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PHOTOGRAPHER: Simon Taylor HEAD OF CIRCULATION: Chris Blacklock cblacklock@intermedia.com.au

PRODUCTION MANAGER: Jacqui Cooper jacqui@intermedia.com.au

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HIT THE REFRESH BUTTON. Coopers is proud to announce a new addition to the family – Coopers Dry, just in time for summer.

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CONTENTS

26

66

32

30 64

Contents October Wine 48 Wine Australia: Introducing Wine Watch 49 New Zealand Winegrowers: Celebrating NZ Pinot Noir 50 Wine News: All the latest releases and wine news 52 New Releases: The latest release wines to hit bottle shop shelves 64 Champagne & Sparkling Promotion: The top drops to pop for the festive season 66 Champagne & Sparkling Report: Exciting times for bubbles 74 Canned Wine: A trend that has already taken off in the UK and US 96 Wine Tasting Review: All the results from our Champagne and Sparkling tasting

Brews 41 Independent Brewers Association: An agile, innovative sector

10 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

42 Brewing: What’s new in the world of beer 87 Asian Beer: Leading the pack 94 Beer Tasting: Our experts review the latest release beers

Spirits 38 Spirits: The latest releases, news and promotions from the spirits category 79 RTD: The category is back on the podium

Retail Focus 20 ALIA: The 2018 off-premise finalists revealed 24 Shopper Insights: Norrelle Goldring takes a look at Alaskan liquor stores 26 ILG Conference: We take off to Singapore and Bangkok with the Independent Liquor Group 30 Retailer Profile: We chat with the owner and manager of Carwyn Cellars

32 LMG Conference: We head to Dublin with the Liquor Marketing Group 36 Shopper Insights: Norrelle Goldring compares big box stores in the USA 106 Shop Talk: We talk shop with Pernod Ricard Australia and The Highway, South Australia

Regulars 12 News: The latest liquor industry news for retailers around the country 22 IRI: The latest industry knowledge from IRI 40 People: All the latest industry appointments 44 ALSA: An open letter from the former Chair of the NT Liquor Commission 46 ABA: Executive Director Fergus Taylor talks about driving better drinking behaviours 102 Events: An exclusive peek at last month’s launches and parties

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NEWS

NT GOVERNMENT TO BAN SHOPPER DOCKET ALCOHOL PROMOS The Northern Territory Government has confirmed that as part of its alcohol policy reforms it will be banning alcohol promotions on shopping dockets.

The Territory is currently introducing a wide range of alcohol reforms, including the introduction of minimum unit pricing from 1 October.

NT’s Attorney General Natasha Fyles told ABC Radio that the move to ban shopper dockets for alcohol was recommended in the NT’s Alcohol Policies and Legislation Review.

“This is about alcohol being a special commodity – not part of your daily staples,” Fyles said.

“One of the recommendations which was accepted by the Government back in February was around those discount vouchers on the bottom of shopping receipts and to not have that in the NT.” Shane Tremble, Endeavour Drinks Group’s General Manager Corporate Services, told National Liquor News that the group could not see any sense in the decision.

“Receipt rewards are meant to encourage cross-shopping between our supermarkets and our BWS stores,” Tremble said. “There is no evidence that customers taking advantage of these offers are buying any more alcohol, they are simply buying it from our store rather than someone else’s.

“As an example, we are currently running a promotion which features two bottles of wine for $24 on receipt rewards. If this type of promotion is outlawed we will still be able to advertise exactly the same offer using any number of other media options.”

He added: “The NT is also introducing minimum unit pricing on Monday (1 October), as this will eliminate ‘low-priced’ options for

our customers it’s hard to see what additional benefit will be gained by banning promotional activity on one specific type of media.”

The NT is the first Australian jurisdiction to introduce minimum unit pricing, with a $1.30 per standard drink floor price starting on 1 October.

The changes to the NT’s Liquor Act are coming as part of the Riley Review, which was delivered to the Government in October 2017 and Fyles said the Government was giving in-principle support to consider implementing all but one recommendation around a total ban on the trade of take away alcohol on Sunday.

THIRSTY CAMEL SUMMIT FOCUSES ON EXCELLENCE IN EXECUTION More than 200 delegates from over 80 Thirsty Camel Victoria bottle shops and venues joined supply partners in Geelong for the banner group’s inaugural Summit.

Focusing on the key theme of Excellence in Execution, the Summit used events, workshops and seminars to detail how Thirsty Camel members will continue to win in market through strategic focus on growth categories.

In addition members learned about a bespoke training program designed and created exclusively for Thirsty Camel as well as the use of tailored The Beer 101 Masterclass insights to optimise venue profitability.

United Innkeeper Association Ltd General Manager, Mia Lloyd, told the Summit that excellent execution is critical to Thirsty Camel and will continue to be a key focus into 2019 and beyond.

“We have designed and created, exclusively for Thirsty Camel members, a ground-breaking retail training program; we have strategically collaborated with our key suppliers to collectively deliver education across beverage categories, shopper trends and market insights to educate, empower and improve profitability for our members,” Lloyd said.

The Summit was told how the modular program aims to deliver on the job training for bottle shop staff at all levels, across category, commercial know-how, sales capability and shopper understanding, ensuring Thirsty Camel provides

12 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

consumers and shoppers with the best possible liquor retail experience.

Delegates were also given a deeper understanding of the Thirsty Camel Venue Capsule, which is the online data platform individually tailored for each venue to drive insights into action at outlet level. The capsule delivers a powerful understanding into the drivers of profitability over and above the promotional program to ensure retailers are constantly maximising profits through category and pack mix.

Lloyd added: “This year’s Summit focus on Excellent Execution as the key to success is crucial given that shopper expectations continue to grow. Understanding the levers of profitability as well as driving engagement at the point of purchase to deliver weight of purchase, rate of sale and advocacy is essential to growth.

“Coming off the back of an outstanding summer result in 2018, we are confident that the new training platform coupled with our venue capsule and continued focus on our convenience shopper will ensure Thirsty Camel bottle shops’ commercial success in 2018/19 and beyond.”

Throughout the Summit, delegates also experienced a taste of the program through a series of Masterclasses across beer, wine and spirits with guided tastings on topics such as Classic Cocktails, World of Whiskies, Shiraz Styles and Beer 101.

NEWS

DAN MURPHY’S IS A BIG WINNER AT THE 27TH ANNUAL ACA AWARDS

LEADING PRODUCERS JOIN FORCES ON SOCIAL MEDIA STANDARDS The world’s leading beer, wine and spirits producers have joined forces with four of the biggest social media platforms to set and deliver new and robust standards of responsibility for the wider industry.

The 11 producers who work together as part of the International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD) have formed a unique partnership with Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and YouTube.

Speaking about the partnership, the IARD said: “As stewards of some of the world’s most known brands, we are united in our determination to set and live up to high standards of responsibility for our industries.

“By working together and leveraging the innovative and pioneering mindsets that drive our businesses, we know we can achieve more to deliver new standards of responsibility in the advertising of beer, wine and spirits across social media.”

The IARD and the social media platforms have said they will work together to: • Ensure the most-up-to-date safeguards are used so that marketing communications relating to beer, wine and spirits are directed to those adults who can lawfully buy these products.

• Explore what changes can be made to further diminish chances of those underage seeing this advertising.

• Explore ways people can have greater control over whether they see alcohol advertising and opt out of receiving advertisements for alcohol products.

The IARD added: “We respect different cultural backgrounds and recognise that there are people who do not wish to see marketing communications from beer, wine and spirits producers on their social media.

“We believe our partnership has the potential to go beyond our individual companies and could create change across a range of platforms and advertisers, ultimately benefiting the thousands of businesses who want to advertise responsibly and the billions of people who use digital platforms every day.”

The IARD was formed in 2012 with the leading producers forming a collective commitment to reduce harmful drinking. The five commitments of the IARD are: 1 Reduce underage drinking 2 Strengthening and expanding marketing codes of practice 3 Providing consumer information and responsible product innovation 4 Reducing drinking and driving 5 Working with retailers to reduce harmful drinking The IARD is made up of 11 leading beer, wine and spirits producers including: AB InBev, Asahi, Bacardi Limited, Beam Suntory, BrownForman, Carlsberg Group, Diageo, Heineken, Kirin, Molson Coors and Pernod Ricard.

14 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

The Australasian Catalogue Association (ACA) hosted its 27th Annual ACA Awards last month highlighting a strong focus on effective marketing with the addition of new categories – Point of Sale, Customer Insights and Corporate Social Responsibility.

The event, held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, was a successful evening celebrating catalogue marketing as a strong channel across Australia and New Zealand. With an attendance of more than 600 guests, the room was filled with retailers, creatives, agencies, printers and distributors all awaiting to hear who had been crowned as award winners of the night.

Liquor retailers Dan Murphy’s, Vintage Cellars and Liquor Barons were all finalists in the ‘Liquor’ retail category celebrating their successful campaigns from May 2017 to April 2018. Though on the night, it was Dan Murphy’s ‘Christmas Buyer’s Guide’ produced by Hardie Grant Media that wowed the judges.

Jill Tenner, Content and Publications Manager, Dan Murphy’s commented, “The team at Dan Murphy’s are truly honoured to be crowned winners and recognised by industry leaders. Our customers love our catalogues, we share our product ranges and value each week with our customers so they are always informed of best picks at Dan Murphy’s.”

Liquor catalogues are continuously proving to be highly effective in driving sales. According to Roy Morgan Research, 7.7M Australians (38 per cent) find catalogues the media that is most useful when purchasing alcoholic beverages ahead of internet search (22 per cent). The liquor market is highly competitive with alcoholic beverages featuring in both supermarket chains, along with standalone liquor stores.

“Vintage Cellars takes pride in delivering catalogues that contribute to the overall customer experience. It’s a shame we didn’t take home the award this year, however we send a big congratulations to Dan Murphy’s for their excellent work,” commented, Jane Sargood, Production Manager, Coles Liquor.

“All finalists in the ‘Liquor’ category produced outstanding entries for the awards and should be proud of their efforts. Over the past year, we have seen liquor retailers continue to develop their catalogue toolkit to deliver strong sales and engagement results to their customers. We look forward to what the next year will bring from liquor retailers as we begin to expand and develop our awards program into The Real Media Awards,” concluded Kellie Northwood, Chief Executive Officer, ACA.

Jill Tenner and Genevieve Blackman, Dan Murphy’s

NEWS

VICTORIA’S SUPPLY OF LIQUOR TO MINORS LAWS CHANGE Earlier this year the Victorian Government passed the Liquor and Gambling Legislation Amendment Act 2018 (LGLA Act), which made several amendments to the Liquor Control Reform Act 1998 (LCR Act).

The amendments under the LGLA Act have seen a number of changes for liquor licensees, and the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation (VCGLR) has said that it is the responsibility of licensees to ensure they understand their obligations under the Act. The VCGLR also said it is incumbent on licensees to make any necessary arrangement to make sure they remain compliant.

The amendments made a number of important changes to the LCR Act to address harm minimisation in the community and to reduce red tape for licensees.

From 13 September a number of changes started regarding the supply of liquor to minors on licensed premises and in residences.

Regarding supply to minors on licensed premises the VCGLR said that “licensees will no longer be permitted to supply liquor to persons under 18 years of age (minors) for consumption on licensed premises under any circumstances.”

In addition: “A licensee may supply liquor to a minor if the minor is engaged to deliver that liquor to a person of or over the age of 18 years for consumption off the premises and that minor is a relative, employee or apprentice of the licensee.”

As for the supply of liquor to minors in residences, VCGLR said: “From 13 September 2018, there will also be new requirements regarding liquor supplied to minors in residences. An adult (i.e., a person over 18 who is the parent, guardian or spouse of the minor, or who is authorised to supply liquor to the minor by the minor’s parent, guardian or spouse) can only supply liquor to a minor in a residence if they can demonstrate responsible supervision of the supply of liquor.”

The factors to be considered when determining whether responsible supervision has been demonstrated include: • the age of the minor; • whether the person supplying the liquor is intoxicated; • whether the minor consumes food with the liquor; • whether the person supplying the liquor is providing supervision of the minor’s consumption of the liquor; • the quantity and type of liquor supplied; • the period of time over which the liquor is supplied; and • whether the minor is intoxicated.

There are also changes to the laws regarding delivery of liquor to minors which can also impact licensees. “A person must not, without reasonable excuse, knowingly deliver liquor to a minor. It is a reasonable excuse if the person making the delivery has seen an evidence of age document confirming the person receiving the delivery is 18 years of age or over.”

It is important for licensees to remember that they are responsible for any liquor supplied from their licensed premises, including in the instance of off-premises delivery.

Most of the other amendments under the LGLA Act have already come into place, and there are fact sheets available on the VCGLR website.

THE SALES AND MARGIN SEE-SAW

By Peter Hall Ever noticed how your highest sales week will be your lowest GP% week and how your highest GP% week will be your lowest sales week? This is a fairly common occurrence in retail and a certainty in retail liquor and it comes through measuring sales as your prime Key Performance Indicator (KPI).

So, should we have our GP% as our main KPI? Well, no again as the famous saying goes, “You don’t bank GP%, you bank dollars”. So, what to measure as your main KPI? GP dollars, gained through strong sales, strong margin or, hopefully, a mixture of both.

This is, of course basic retailing, as a number of you will be saying as you’re reading this piece, yet how many of you have seen retailers fall into the trap of simply moving boxes for other people? Analyse most Christmas periods and you’ll see that we’re back on the sales and margin ‘see-saw’.

Traditional ‘loss leading’ is a valid and relevant retail technique yet ask retail liquor staff how they understand the concept and you’ll get a series of blank looks. Why else do staff, when faced with a customer request immediately offer the weekly special when you’d rather they suggest a trade

up or they’re able to switch sell to a higher GP% product (unless of course they’re convinced they can get an additional impulse sale).

Sales boosting strategies (mainly external) need to be accompanied by profit boosting strategies (mainly internal) which relate to range, placement, ticketing, theming, staff knowledge and staff skills. Without the successful internal strategies, a retailer’s breakeven sales for the year (that level of sales which generates the GP dollars that will cover all the expenses for the year) won’t be reached until mid-December. No Christmas present there for the poor, beleaguered retailer.

Peter Hall has been involved with the retail liquor industry for 40 years as a consultant to the industry and as an operator. He has always pushed the boundaries attempting to increase professionalism in the industry through business development workshops and lately through online training. He has completed retail consultancy work for Lion, CUB, ALM, ALSA and is currently working with ILG assisting in the professional development of ILG member managers and staff. He believes there are many aspects to retail management where we as an industry have our thoughts the wrong way around. He is here to ‘prick the balloon’.

NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS OCTOBER 2018 | 15

NEWS

NEW PROJECT TO IMPROVE BREWING AND DISTILLING QUALIFICATIONS A new project to improve qualifications and skills standards for Australia’s brewers and distillers has been approved by the Australian Industry and Skills Committee (AISC), the body who advises governments and approves national vocational education and training (VET) packages.

AISC has approved the Artisanal Food and Beverage Project, which will look at the skills and knowledge requirements in the unique sectors of brewing, distilling, cheesemaking and food and beverage fermenting.

Managed by Skills Impact, the project will consult industry experts, brewers, distillers, artisan food and beverage producers, industry associations and training organisations. Together, they will draft one or more qualifications or skill sets describing the skills and knowledge that brewers and distillers need to have and know.

Speaking about the project, Skills Impact said: “In recent years, the increase in popularity of locally made craft beer and spirits has exposed skills gaps in current national vocational qualifications, skill sets and units of competency.

“The Food, Beverage and Pharmaceutical Industry Reference Committee (IRC) identified this issue as a priority skill need and have responsibility for overseeing the development of this project, with Skills Impact’s support.”

In developing the courses, Skills Impact has said that it is important that the national qualifications for brewing and distilling reflect real work experience. Therefore the company has asked anyone working in the sector to provide input and assistance.

“The draft qualifications, skill sets and units of competency will be available for review and feedback in February, on the Artisanal Food & Beverage Project webpage,” Skills Impact said.

“Consultation workshops will also take place across states and territories to identify the skills and knowledge requirements of industry and embed these in the revised qualifications, skill sets and units. All you need to bring to the workshop is your knowledge about brewing and distilling practices in your part of the industry or job role.”

The input from across the sector will build on the information that Skills Impact gathers during site visits to various organisations, including The Tasmanian Whisky Academy, Willie Smiths Cider; Charles Oates Distilling; FogHorn BrewHouse and Hope Estate Brewery.

16 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

BEST LIQUOR MARKETING CAMPAIGNS CROWNED Liquor brands performed strongly at last month’s prestigious Shop! (POPAI) 2018 Marketing at Retail Awards in Sydney, with a host of liquor companies taking home prizes for retail marketing campaigns.

Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) shone, winning Gold in the Temporary Liquor category for the 19 Crimes First Choice launch, while Geometry and Lion were Awarded Silver for their Iron Jack Ute Display and Orora Specialty Packaging was handed Bronze for The new McWilliam’s wine range.

In Liquor Permanent What To Do’s Spirit of New Orleans for Southtrade International was Awarded Silver, while the Jack Daniel’s Super Premium Display for Brown-Forman by id8 Studio took Bronze.

To achieve Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards, entrants must hit set scores – in the case that a score is not met in any particular category for that year, no prize is awarded.

The annual Shop! ANZ Marketing at Retail Awards recognise and reward best practice, innovation, and excellence in retail and shopper marketing across Australia and New Zealand. Now in their 20th year, the Awards span 22 categories, covering physical display (both permanent and temporary) and shopper experience.

Campari Australia’s Aperol won Silver in the highly contested Integrated Path to Purchase Campaign; as did Bacardi-Martini Australia’s Project Botanicals by The Round Table for Experiential; and in the Sales Promotion category Carlton & United Breweries’ Buy Beer, Shazam, Get Cool Stuff – Carlton Dry by Clemenger BBDO also won Silver.

This was the Awards’ biggest year ever, not only attracting a record number of entries at 222 (65 more than 2017), but also the highest standard right across the board.

Carla Bridge, Shop! ANZ General Manager, said she was blown away by the quality of entries, with the 2018 competition incredibly tight.

“While every year has stand-out entries, this year our Awards program was especially competitive, owing to the high calibre of the campaigns submitted,” Bridge said.

“There was a noticeable lift in the standard of entries right across the board, in most categories, there were several worthy winners, however, we were only able to Award Gold, Silver and Bronze in each category.”

NEWS

CASUAL PENALTY RATE INCREASE SLAMMED AHEAD OF CHRISTMAS

By Georgia Clark, Retail Biz More than 350,000 casual retail workers will be entitled to increased penalty rates following a landmark decision slammed by the retail sector.

Casual workers who clock on after 6pm on weeknights and work on Saturdays will be entitled to increased penalty rates, with the first set of changes coming into effect on 1 November following a decision by the Fair Work Commission.

Under the changes, casual workers will be entitled to a pay rate increase of 15 per cent, with rates rising five per cent annually until March 2020.

The shake-up will also see shift workers’ penalty rates on Sunday reduced from 200 per cent to 175 per cent and from 225 per cent to 200 per cent for casual shift workers.

The Fair Work Commission decision follows a three-year call from the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association for a penalty rate increase, with the Commission finding in favour of the call, saying the award “lack[ed] logic and merit”.

The changes come as a decision entitling casual workers to ask their managers for a permanent position if they have worked consistent hours for over a year came into effect on 1 October.

Retailers have hit back at the penalty rate shake-up, with the Australian Retailers Association’s Executive Director Russell Zimmerman warning the decision will hit retailers’ bottom line hard over Christmas.

“With this decision taking place from 1 November this year, we can be certain retailers will have to re-think their Christmas trading strategy.”

The penalty rate increase could see retailer’s trading hours impacted, Zimmerman warned.

“Christmas trade is the biggest trading season for retailers, and these increases to casual workers’ pay on Saturday and weekday evenings will certainly impact on trading hours around the country.”

The suite of changes come after industry leaders flagged concerns over the complex nature of the retail award, with Zimmerman saying the changes will only exacerbate non-compliance.

“The Modern Award system is already complex, and we are concerned the Australian Labor Party’s selective acceptance of Fair Work’s employment decisions will continue to jeopardise the Australian retail industry,” Zimmerman said.

Senior Employment Relations Adviser at Employsure Alexandra Woods also warned the increased penalty rates will hit hard for small business this holiday season.

“Small business employers are feeling the pinch during the peak season and increasing consumer demand for longer operating hours before Christmas,” she said.

“Many retailers by now have already planned rosters and hired casuals before the busy wave of Christmas. Now, with this decision introduced, retailers are going to have to rethink their rostering arrangements and budgets.”

KOLLARAS RESPONDS TO BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO ACCUSATIONS Michael Kollaras, Director of Tobacco Imports Company (TIC), a company owned

by Kollaras & Co, has responded angrily to claims by British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) that some of the brands owned by TIC are non-compliant.

National Liquor News has obtained a letter to customers from Kollaras, which states the company intends to speak to the ACCC about some of the claims made by BATA. The letter states: It has come to our attention that a number of industry stakeholders have recently received a letter from British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) which refers, to cigarette brands owned and distributed by the Tobacco Imports Company (TIC) – Cleveland, Brooklyn, King Street and Regent Street.

TIC’s strict quality control policy is and always has been in place to ensure that every product fully complies with all applicable laws and regulations. This is the case with all of our tobacco products – including every TIC brand listed above, all of which fully comply with the Tobacco Plain Packaging Act. It is surprising that BATA would take such strong interest in the strict enforcement of Australian tobacco plain packaging given that BATA strongly lobbied against the legislation, unsuccessfully challenged it in the High Court, and supported an unsuccessful challenge to its validity before the World Trade Organisation. As a result, we are led to believe that BATA’s primary motivation is to aggressively defend its market position.

BATA also draws attention to rules and regulations relating to tobacco duty and excise in its letter. For absolute clarity all products distributed

by TIC are imported lawfully, with all taxes and duties paid.

Additionally, we have been informed by a number of customers that

18 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

BATA representatives have suggested that stocking the above TIC brands (which BATA inaccurately refers to as non-compliant) would be in breach of BATA’s trading terms.

Please be informed: Should any organisation threaten to decrease or cease your trading terms by simply stocking a competitors’ product is anti-competitive conduct which breaches Section 47 of the Australian Competition and Consumer Act and will result serious penalties. TIC fully intends on discussing this issue with the ACCC. As you know, BATA is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the giant British corporation British American Tobacco plc, with last year’s revenue totalling in excess of £20 billion. We are surprised that the activities of a small Australian, family-owned company like ours would cause BATA so much concern, that they felt the need to contact our customers. We can only assume that this is due to our renowned product quality, pricing and service.

A spokesperson for BATA responded to questions from National Liquor News about Kollaras’ letter, saying: “British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) denies it has engaged in anti-competitive conduct.

“What BATA has done, is draw retailers’ attention to a determination by the Commonwealth Department of Health regarding the packaging of tobacco products that do not comply with the Tobacco Plain Packaging Act. “There are potentially serious consequences, for both suppliers and retailers, for selling tobacco products that do not comply with the requirements of the Act. “BATA has invested considerable time, effort and resources to ensure our products are compliant with the law and we expect the same of our competitors.”

DRINKS TROLLEY BY

HALLOWEEN

THE AUSTRALIAN LIQUOR INDUSTRY AWARDS (ALIA) CELEBRATE THE BEST PRODUCTS, PEOPLE, BRANDS AND VENUES OF THE LAST 12 MONTHS. AFTER THE FIRST ROUND OF VOTING WE NOW HAVE THE 2018 ALIA OFF-PREMISE FINALISTS WITH THE WINNERS TO BE ANNOUNCED AT RANDWICK RACECOURSE ON WEDNESDAY 31 OCTOBER.

2018 FINALISTS BEER & CIDER FULL STRENGTH Boags Draught Carlton Draught Emu Export Great Northern Original Melbourne Bitter Tooheys Extra Dry Tooheys New Victoria Bitter West End Draught XXXX Bitter

LIGHT AND MID STRENGTH Asahi Soukai Carlton Mid-Strength Bitter Cascade Premium Light Colonial Small Ale Coopers Mild Ale Great Northern Super Crisp Hahn Premium Light Iron Jack James Boag’s Premium Light XXXX Gold

LOW CARBOHYDRATE Burleigh Big Head Carlton Dry Carlton Dry Fusion Lime Coopers Clear Ale Hahn Super Dry Hahn Super Dry 3.5% Pure Blonde Premium Mid Pure Blonde Premium Ultra XXXX Summer Bright Lager XXXX Summer Bright Lime

PREMIUM DOMESTIC Boag’s Premium Cascade Premium Lager

Coopers 62 Pilsner Coopers Best Extra Stout Coopers Pale Ale Coopers Session Ale Coopers Sparkling Ale Crown Golden Ale Crown Lager Furphy Refreshing Ale

PREMIUM INTERNATIONAL Asahi Super Dry Beck’s Budweiser Carlsberg Corona Extra Estrella Damm Lager Heineken Peroni Nastro Azzurro Stella Artois Tiger

MAINSTREAM CRAFT Cricketers Arms Spearhead Pale Ale Fat Yak Pale Ale James Squire 150 Lashes Pale Ale James Squire Chancer Golden Ale James Squire Hop Thief Lazy Yak Pale Ale Little Creatures Bright Ale Little Creatures Pale Ale Mountain Goat Steam Ale Wild Yak Pacific Ale

INDEPENDENT CRAFT Balter XPA Bentspoke Crankshaft American IPA Colonial Pale Ale Endeavour Pale Ale Gage Roads Atomic Pale Ale

Gage Roads Single Fin Summer Ale Modus Operandi Sonic Prayer Monteith’s Pointers Pale Ale Stone & Wood Pacific Ale Young Henry’s Newtowner

CIDER 5 Seeds Crisp Apple Thief Pink Lady Little Fat Lamb Mercury Hard Pure Blonde Rekorderlig Somersby Strongbow Classic Willie Smith’s Traditional Young Henrys Cloudy Cider

BEST MARKETED BEER OR CIDER Balter XPA Carlton Draught Carlton Dry Coopers Pale Ale Furphy Refreshing Ale Great Northern Heineken Iron Jack XXXX Gold Young Henrys Newtowner

RED WINE - $14.99 AND UNDER

SPONSORED BY

Annie’s Lane Devil’s Corner Jacob’s Creek Double Barrel Lindeman’s Gentleman’s Collection Penfolds Koonunga Hill Pepperjack Peter Lehmann Portrait Taylors Estate Wirra Wirra Church Block Wynn’s Coonawarra

RED WINE - $30 AND OVER Henschke Hill of Grace Penfolds Grange Penfolds Max’s Penfolds RWT Penfolds St Henri Pepperjack Premium Cut Peter Lehmann Stonewell St Hugo Wolf Blass Grey Label Wynns Black Label

WHITE WINE $14.99 AND UNDER

WINE Fifth Leg De Bortoli Deen Vat Series Gossips Hardys R&R Jacob’s Creek Classic Jacob’s Creek Reserve McGuigan Black Label Wolf Blass Red Label Wyndham Estate Bin 555 Yellow Tail

RED WINE - $15 TO $29.99

Brancott Estate Classic Fifth Leg Gossips Hardys R&R Houghton Classic Jacob’s Creek Classic Lindeman’s Bin Series Wolf Blass Red Label Yalumba Y Series Yellow Tail

WHITE WINE - $15 TO $29.99 Devil’s Corner Devil’s Lair Hidden Cave Giesen Jim Barry Watervale

Bellr

TM

PATRON RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

CAMPARI

APEROL SPRITZ LOGO IN POSITIVO CON RAGGI

Kim Crawford Regional Reserve Oyster Bay Shaw & Smith Squealing Pig Taylors Estate Villa Maria Private Bin

WHITE WINE - $30 AND OVER Cloudy Bay Pelorus Coldstream Hills Devil’s Lair Estate Leeuwin Art Series Leeuwin Estate Prelude Penfolds Reserve Bin Range Penfolds Max’s Petaluma Yellow Label Pierro Shaw & Smith M3

ROSÉ WINE Bird in Hand Brown Brothers Moscato De Bortoli La Boheme Fifth Leg Gerard Bertrand Jacob’s Creek Cool Harvest Jacob’s Creek Le Petit Mateus Squealing Pig Turkey Flat

AUSTRALIAN AND INTERNATIONAL SPARKLING Arras Brown Brothers Prosecco Chandon Grant Burge Sparkling Jacob’s Creek Sparkling Jansz Oyster Bay Petaluma Croser Yellow Tail Yellowglen Colours

CO-HOSTED BY

BOOK YOUR TICKETS NOW! CHAMPAGNE Billecart Bollinger Dom Perignon G.H. Mumm NV Moët & Chandon Imperial Perrier Jouët Piper Heidsieck Pol Roger Taittinger Veuve Cliquot Yellow Label

DESSERT AND FORTIFIED WINES Brown Brothers Australian Tawny De Bortoli Noble One Galway Pipe McWilliams Commercial Fortifieds McWilliams Royal Reserve Morris of Rutherglen Rare Tawny Penfolds Club Reserve Stanley Tawny Stones Ginger Wine Wolf Blass Red Label Tawny

BEST MARKETED WINE 19 Crimes Brown Brothers Fifth Leg G.H Mumm NV Jacobs Creek McGuigan Penfolds Pepperjack Wolf Blass Yellow Tail

SPIRITS DARK SPIRIT Bundaberg UP Canadian Club Captain Morgan Chivas Regal 12 Year Old Jack Daniel’s

Jameson Jim Beam White Johnnie Walker Black Johnnie Walker Red Wild Turkey 86.8

LIGHT SPIRIT Absolut Bacardi Superior Bombay Sapphire Gordon’s Grey Goose Tovaritch Skyy Vodka Smirnoff Red Tanqueray Vodka O

Galliano Jägermeister Kahlúa Malibu Midori Mr Black

RTD/RTS DARK Bundaberg Lazy Bear Bundaberg UP Canadian Club Jack Daniel’s Jack Daniel’s Double Jack Jim Beam Black Jim Beam White Wild Turkey 101 6.5% Woodstock Black Woodstock Gold

LUXURY DARK SPIRIT - OVER $70

RTD/RTS LIGHT

Chivas Regal 18 Year Old Glenmorangie Hennessy VSOP Johnnie Walker Blue Johnnie Walker Gold Johnnie Walker Green Lagavulin Laphroaig Starward Whisky Talisker

Absolut Botanik Gordon’s Gin & Tonic Midori Illusion Pimm’s No1 Cup Ruski Smirnoff Ice Double Black Smirnoff Ice Red Smirnoff Pure UDL Vodka Cruiser

LUXURY LIGHT SPIRIT - OVER $70

BEST MARKETED SPIRIT/RTD/RTS

Adelaide Hills 78 Degrees Archie Rose Signature Dry Gin Don Julio Blanco Four Pillars Rare Dry Gin Hendrick’s Herradurra Ink Gin Patron Silver Star of Bombay Tanqueray Ten

Bombay Sapphire Bundaberg Rum Canadian Club & Dry Captain Morgan Four Pillars Grey Goose Hendrick’s Jack Daniels Jim Beam Johnnie Walker

MAJOR AWARDS

LIQUEUR Alize Baileys Irish Cream Cointreau Frangelico

NEW PRODUCT OF THE YEAR 19 Crimes 5 Seeds Lower Sugar

BACARDI-MARTINI AUSTRALIA PTY LIMITED

Balter IIPA Brown Brothers Prosecco Spritz Coopers Session Ale Indie Draught Iron Jack Jacob’s Creek Prosecco Spritz Jim Beam Black Double Serve Slane Irish Whiskey Tanqueray & Tonic RTD Untold Spiced Rum

LIQUOR BRAND OF THE YEAR Aperol Bacardi Coopers Four Pillars Furphy Refreshing Ale Great Northern Iron Jack Jack Daniel’s Jim Beam Penfolds Wild Turkey Wolf Blass

RETAIL GROUP OF THE YEAR Camperdown Cellars Cellarbrations Chambers Cellars Dan Murphy’s Bottler Liquor Barons Liquor Legends Bottlemart Liquor Stax Thirsty Camel Porter’s Liquor Super Cellars

LIQUOR STORE OF THE YEAR Armadale Cellars VIC Bayfield’s Liquor Superstore NSW Beer Cartel NSW Camperdown Cellars NSW Carwyn Cellars VIC

Dan Murphy’s Prahan VIC Elizabeth Bay Cellars NSW Liquor Barons Swanbourne WA Liquor Legends Charnwood ACT Sense of Taste QLD The Drink Hive NSW The Oak Barrel NSW

OFF-PREMISE SUPPLIER OF THE YEAR Asahi Premium Beverages Brown-Forman Coopers CUB Diageo Kollaras & Co Lion Pernod Ricard SouthTrade International Treasury Wine Estates Vanguard Luxury Brands William Grant & Sons

NETWORKING BARS

IRI INSIGHTS

IRI LIQUOR KNOWLEDGE STEPHEN WILSON FROM IRI PROVIDES INSIGHTS INTO THE PERFORMANCE OF THE LIQUOR INDUSTRY FOR THE QUARTER TO JULY (05/08/18).

TOTAL OFF-PREMISE LIQUOR • Total Liquor as measured by IRI generated $4b in sales.

• All categories contributed to drive $ growth. Wine (38 per cent of growth) delivered the highest contribution followed by RTD (25 per cent), beer (18 per cent), glass spirits (17 per cent) and cider just 0.6 per cent.

• Branded liquor with 3.5 per cent growth outperformed private label growth of 0.7 per cent.

• Six of the top 10 growth brands were beer and collectively they deliver 64 per cent of total liquor growth.

TOP GROWTH SEGMENTS

MARKET VALUE

$4bn (+3.4%) MARKET VOLUME

45.8m (-0.2%)

CATEGORY BREAKDOWN BEER (35%)

WINE (28%)

SPIRITS (21%)

RTD (14%)

*9 Litre (m)

BEER CATEGORY • Beer $ growth was modest at 1.8 per cent off the back of flat volume of -0.1 per cent.

• Mid Strength continues to drive category growth with 16 per cent share of total beer sales delivering a whopping 71 per cent of growth.

• Premium international and low alcohol were the only sub-categories not to contribute to beer growth.

• Great Northern Brewing Co Super Crisp Lager and Original Lager brands were leading the growth ahead of Iron Jack Crisp and Furphy, these four brands collectively delivered 57 per cent of category growth.

*DOLLARS GROWTH % YA 1. Mid Strength Beer (+18%) 2. RTD Dark Spirits (+4%) 3. Red Bottled (+4%) 4. Craft Australian Beer (+11%) 5. Total Rosé Bottled (+56%)

TOP GROWTH MANUFACTURERS *DOLLARS GROWTH % YA

CATEGORY VALUE

$1.4bn (+1.8%) CATEGORY VOLUME

27m (-0.1%)

22 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

*9 Litre Equiv (000)

1. Lion (+5%) 2. Other Manufacturers (+52%) 3. Private Label (+11%) 4. CUB (+1%) 5. Gage Roads Brewing (+45%)

TOP GROWTH SEGMENTS *DOLLARS GROWTH % YA

1. Mid Strength (+8%) 2. Full Strength (+3%) 3. Craft Australian (+8%) 4. Premium Australian (+5%) 5. Low Carb (+1%)

CIDER (2%)

IRI INSIGHTS

RTD CATEGORY • Bourbon and Nth American Whiskey are driving dark RTD sales which account for a whopping 84 per cent of category $ sales and 88 per cent of $ growth.

• Big brands dominate growth with ‘trading up’ evident through higher ABV or premium brand growth.

• Canadian Club (number one growth brand) promotional level wound back five per cent and as a result price $ litre increased six per cent possibly indicating the end of a discount cycle to avoid promotional fatigue.

• Six of the top 10 growth brands were Bourbon-based with only three light RTD brands appearing.

TOP CATEGORY VALUE

$572m (+6.2%) CATEGORY VOLUME

5.3m (-0.7%)

• We are reminded of the fragmented nature of the category with other manufacturers collectively accounting for 12 per cent of category sales.

• Other manufacturers are over delivering generating 34 per cent of category growth, TWE are the category champions accounting for $1 in every $5 spent on wine.

• Red bottled wine dominates accounting for 41 per cent of category $ sales and delivering 74 per cent of category growth.

• White bottled wine accounted for 30 per cent of category $ sales but continues to struggle with $ sales softening -1 per cent and volume -3 per cent.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Beam Suntory (+10%) Campari Australia (+14%) Diageo (+4%) Asahi Premium Beverages (+4%) Brown-Forman (+3%)

*DOLLARS GROWTH % YA 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

TOP CATEGORY VALUE

Canadian Club (+22%) Jim Beam Black Double Serve (NEW) Jim Beam Double Serve (NEW) Wild Turkey 5% (+19%) Jack Daniel’s Double Jack (+13%)

GROWTH BRANDS *DOLLARS GROWTH % YA

1. Wolf Blass Red Label (+36%) 2. Squealing Pig (+66%) 3. Pepperjack (+17%) 4. Jacob’s Creek Classic (+10%) 5. 19 Crimes (+135%)

$1.1bn (+4.8%)

CATEGORY VOLUME

10.2m (+0.3%)

TOP GROWTH MANUFACTURERS *DOLLARS GROWTH % YA

1. Other Manufacturers (+16%) 2. Treasury Wine Estates (+7%) 3. Brown Family Wine Group (+13%) 4. Samuel Smith & Son (+8%) 5. McWilliam’s Wines Group (+11%)

*9 Litre Equiv (000)

GLASS SPIRITS CATEGORY • Glass Spirits continues to deliver generating $ growth of 2.7 per cent and volume growth of 1.2 per cent.

• Gin continues to generate the highest contribution to growth increasing $ sales by 26 per cent or $11m and volume growth of 22 per cent.

• The battle for a slice of the gin pie is intensifying demonstrated by a 40 per cent increase in SKU count.

• Bourbon is also delivering growth increasing $ sales by three per cent or $6m.

• Although Scotch accounts for 24 per cent of category $ sales these sales have softened by -$2m or -1 per cent.

*DOLLARS GROWTH % YA

TOP GROWTH BRANDS

*9 Litre Equiv (000)

WINE CATEGORY

GROWTH MANUFACTURERS

TOP

CATEGORY VALUE

GROWTH MANUFACTURERS *DOLLARS GROWTH % YA

1. Other Manufacturers (+39%) 2. Beam Suntory (+5%) 3. Pernod Ricard (+5%) 4. Brown-Forman (+5%) 5. Campari Australia (+6%)

$861m (+2.7%) CATEGORY VOLUME

1.6m (+1.2%)

*9 Litre Equiv (000)

TOP GROWTH BRANDS *DOLLARS GROWTH % YA

1. Canadian Club (+21%) 2. Jameson (+14%) 3. Tanqueray (+28%) 4. Loch Lomond (NEW) 5. Gordon’s Gin (+13%)

NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS OCTOBER 2018 | 23

SHOPPER INSIGHTS

ALL GROWLERS, NO CROWLERS NORRELLE GOLDRING FINDS OFF-PREMISE GROWLER BARS A COMMON SIGHT IN ALASKAN RETAILERS, BUT NO MOVE YET INTO CROWLERS.

O

n last month’s trip around Alaska and numerous liquor stores, brewpubs and breweries, one of the standout recurring themes was the number and size of growler bars and growler refilling stations in liquor stores.

Depending on their licence type, at some you can stand and drink (eg La Bodega in Anchorage), at some you can’t (any Fred Meyer hypermarkets liquor store) and at some you can get a small taste sampler but not drink on the premises (eg Alaska’s Brown Jug liquor store chain). Growler refills are also available at some supermarket chains elsewhere in the USA, such as Whole Foods. At the Alaskan liquor stores we visited, the number of taps available ranged from 10 to an impressive 30, and growler bars were typically well signed and staffed.

Off-premise growler refill stations serve the dual purpose of driving destination traffic (part of the reason the retailers advertise them on their shopfronts and in their external and customer communications channels), and building customer relationships as some customers will come in once or twice a week for growler refills, as well as the occasional keg purchase and keg refill.

This got me interested in where this trend had come from, and where it might be going.

Brown Jug in Anchorage Brown Jug in Anchorage

GROWLERS IN THE USA The term ‘growler’ is thought to have originated in the late 1800s to describe the noise made by leaking carbonation through the lids of steel pails that people would lug to pubs and breweries to have filled. Taking beer home was considered both cheaper and safer than drinking it on the premises.

Fast forward to the mid to late 1970s and the US craft and homebrewing movement started picking up speed. But it wasn’t until the 1990s that the production and subsequent refilling of growlers and squealers started to take shape, and then mostly at the breweries themselves. Growler bars in liquor stores and supermarkets are a fairly recent innovation in the past 10-15 years.

Today beer geeks get their growlers refilled at breweries for special and limited releases and brewery only releases. (However, off-premise retailers may be able to get interesting products from breweries that aren’t available in packaged formats). There’s a perception that refills at

24 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

Brown Jug in Fairbanks

SHOPPER INSIGHTS

Fred Meyer Hypermarkets

La Bodega in Anchorage

the brewery will be fresher than those at retail.

Breweries may however be more expensive than the off-premise (for packaged products) in order to maintain good retailer relationships.

Because of this it’s cheaper to buy packaged ‘mainstream’ craft styles, such as pale ales, from the liquor store rather than as a growler refill from the brewery.

However, in the US growlers are always cheaper than packaged products because all you’re paying for is the liquid and the cost of the vessel is amortised over multiple fills.

The US also has a history of people with their own tap systems at home (cheap pouring systems start at $30-$40) and thus you often see 20L take-home kegs ranged in liquor store cool rooms.

While growlers have a shorter shelf life than kegs, the tax in the US is lower on kegs and a 20L or 30L keg is affordable for an average punter.

Deschutes and Sierra Nevada kegs, for instance, are easily found in liquor chain BevMo. More recently there has been a shift to brewery and retailer provided crowlers (32 ounce cans) for reasons of cost and affordability for both retailers and consumers, product quality, and convenience (consumers don’t have to remember to take growlers from home).

However, we didn’t see any crowlers in the 20-odd off-premise liquor stores we visited during a month in Alaska, even in the warehouse format Brown Jug stores that featured up to 30 taps. In a number of ways Alaska is culturally behind the ‘lower 48’ states (we joked it was ‘welcome to the 80s’) and the lack of crowlers may be one of them, although I would expect crowlers will reach Alaska in the next year or two.

In Australia, we’re starting to see movement on the off-premise growler front, with a number of beer specialist retailers offering growler refills and a couple of retailers starting to fill their own cans in millages as low as 250ml or 300ml units, which aids consumer affordability.

However retailer refilling is still in its relative infancy here, and (tax excise keg size issues aside) could benefit from a more consistent and high profile approach to brands and products provided for refill, as well as more frequent and broader communication strategy around refill availability.

ABOUT NORRELLE GOLDRING Norrelle has 20 years’ experience in the liquor industry in retail, category, channel and customer strategy, marketing and research, working in and with global retailers, manufacturers and research houses. Contact Norrelle on 0411735190 or email norrellegoldring@hotmail.com.

La Bodega in Anchorage

NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS OCTOBER 2018 | 25

ILG CONFERENCE The ILG Group at Singapore Zoo

MAKING MEMORIES

WITH ILG

Amanda Jobson and Maria Limsico

THE INDEPENDENT LIQUOR GROUP MADE ITS WAY TO ASIA LAST MONTH TO CELEBRATE THE BUSINESS’ SUCCESSES WHILE CREATING SOME LASTING MEMORIES, AND DEB JACKSON WAS IN ATTENDANCE.

“W

e’re ahead of the game” was the key message from Independent Liquor Group (ILG) CEO Paul Esposito as he opened business sessions at the 2018 ILG conference in Singapore and Bangkok.

Around 100 ILG members along with their families and key suppliers took to the skies for the Asian adventure of a lifetime. It was an opportunity to not only hear about the strengths and future direction of the ILG business, but to engage and spend time with like-minded business owners and fellow ILG members, who by the end of the week were more like family than friends.

And that really is what the ILG business is all about and is very much the direction that Esposito has been steering the business since he stepped into the CEO role back in April, 2017. It has been all about getting ILG back to its grass roots and family-orientated cooperative core.

The ‘A Taste of Asia’ conference, co-ordinated by the amazing Maria Limsico and Amanda Jobson from ILG, was filled with money-can’t-buy experiences including a police escorted took took ride around the streets of Bangkok – and if you’ve ever experienced the traffic in Bangkok you’ll understand just how valuable that police escort really was.

Mark and Sheila Jarvis

o, ul Colosim d John-Pa ul Esposito n a io rg e ee, S d Pa Bob McGh Sandy McGhee an Damien Bottero and Nathan Fitzsimons accidentally twinning

THE FUTURE OF ILG This was just the second international conference that Esposito has presided over and in his opening address he was able to share with delegates that ILG is experiencing growth in every category of its business, with an improvement in net assets sitting at $18.7m that puts ILG in a strong position for future growth.

“Every category of our business has good growth. There are some areas that still need improvement but we’re ahead of the game. We all know that in business cash flow can be an issue, however ILG is in a positive cash flow position, giving us the flexibility to be able to do some exciting things.”

This time last year ILG reported net assets of $16.8m and this year that balance has risen to $18.7m.

Esposito talked delegates through ILG’s performance, with sales revenue in growth of 13 per cent versus last year. He also said that the Townsville warehouse is now fully-owned by the cooperative. Excess Kylie Farquhar, Tony Snell and Sara Hesse

26 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

ok took scorted to A police e h Bangkok g ride throu

ILG CONFERENCE

Checking out the sights of Singapore

Danielle Hart and Emily Hart-Williams Off on safari we go

Fish feeding frenzy on the Chao Phraya

Lethal McC ra Kath Butte cken and rfield

River

“Behind every decision we make here at ILG, be that moving into the Victorian market place, a new concept store or implementing an ERP system is based on adding value to our membership,” Paul Esposito. space in Townsville will be leased and will further improve Townsville’s profitability. “My focus over the last 12 months was also to reduce inventory holdings and we’ve successfully reduced this number by 23 per cent, resulting in more efficient practices and improved cash flow.”

As for ILG’s banner groups, Super Cellars and Bottler Banners are up 13 per cent in value and nine per cent in volume versus a year ago.

Esposito told delegates that the reason the value is outgrowing volume is based on the impact of the Container Deposit Scheme (CDS) in NSW and the mix of business shifting to higher value products.

As for moving forward, ILG has some pretty exciting things on the horizon, including a move into retail in Victoria, a concept store in NSW and the launch of a new premium banner.

“Once a year the Executive and Board members of ILG get together to plan what ILG should look at in the next three or four years. Last year we set ourselves an ambitious target, to turn over a half billion dollars in shed sales by 2022, so that is our aspirational target,” Esposito said.

To reach that target ILG will be launching a new premium retail banner. The approval process is currently in place for the name to be registered and ILG hopes to have a couple of stores branded with the new banner by November 2018, and a focus on premium products in every category. “We need to be playing at that top end,” he continued.

Another area of focus Esposito spoke about was increasing ILG’s membership base by five per cent year on year.

Esposito also provided an update on the implementation of a new ERP system, which he said is near completion. “We’re in the final stages but it’s a huge investment and we need to make sure it’s a collaborative Executive and Board decision, and that we get it right. I’ve seen some companies over the years invest a lot of money into ERP systems only to fall down at the last minute.

“We’re down to two providers and we’re at the final decision now. It’s going to be about a $3m investment over 10 years. The long-term plan is to provide better efficiencies internally and at membership level, with better response times.

“Behind every decision we make here at ILG, be that moving into the Victorian market place, a new concept store or implementing an ERP system is based on adding value to our membership.”

VICTORIA BOUND Esposito spoke delegates through the business’ strategy for the move into Victoria and the new retail business in NSW. Rather than investing millions of ILG members’ dollars in opening another warehouse similar to Townsville, to minimise risk, ILG has instead acquired a sound retail business with the space to operate as a wholesaler in Victoria.

“The Victorian strategy differs from the ILG traditional model. We have formed a new business called ILG Retail, which is 100 per cent owned by the cooperative. Eventually the plan is to build a successful retail business in Victoria, with wholesaling being secondary. The development of ILG Retail gives us the flexibility to provide wholesale services to hotels, bars, clubs and liquor retail in Victoria.”

ILG will soon announce a partnership in a retail business in NSW that

NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS OCTOBER 2018 | 27

Mark Jarvis and

Darryl Jobson

ILG CONFERENCE

“The beauty of these conferences is that friendships are formed and there are stories that we’ll talk about for a long time,” Paul Esposito will run as a Super Cellars branded store and operate as a concept store with training facilities and tasting rooms for ILG members.

Both stores will give ILG members the opportunity to trial new initiatives such as ‘click-and-collect’ and the opportunity to explore digital with suppliers.

“As a former supplier and being in the industry for over 25 years, the key message from the membership is that ILG needed to expand into other states. We’ve now started the process and we’re in for some exciting times. I plan to give the membership regular updates and I’ll present our strategy at our AGM ‘four in one’ forum in October on the Gold Coast.

“Obviously both properties in Victoria and Sydney are fully-owned, so that’s another branch of ILG itself. ILG Retail will stand alone, with profits returning to the cooperative.”

About to kick off our tour through the Tiger Brewery in Singapore

ALL LIQUOR SEGMENTS ARE IN SYNC

Tanya Langlois an

A pleasing finding from the supplier presentations at the conference was seeing that each segment of the liquor industry is heading in a similar strategic direction, sharing common goals to help drive market growth.

During the conference we saw presentations by representatives from Pernod Ricard Australia, Carlton & United Breweries (CUB), Lion, Diageo and Treasury Wine Estates (TWE).

Throughout the course of the presentations it became apparent that each of the different supplier groups had identified similar industry trends and are working towards common goals.

These trends included appealing to millennials through targeted innovation and NPD; understanding the ‘connected shopper’ in the digital age; the rise of the health and wellbeing trend and a shift towards low carb and mid-strength beverages; drinking local and the importance of supporting local producers; and of course, premiumisation.

Esposito said that it’s great to see that the industry as a whole is in sync and he thanked the suppliers who presented during the course of the trip.

“We’ve all got common goals and we all want growth. It’s a tough market and people are drinking less. The issues that we face and the things we need to focus on moving forward, we’re all in tune and it’s been a pleasure working with you guys.”

Esposito went on to say that the next 12 months are looking exciting for ILG, with the move into retail and into Victoria and the goal to turn over $550m by 2022 – it’s all systems go.

d Mike Clark

mily

llor with their fa

David and Tina Me

VIENNA AND BUDAPEST BOUND The destination for the 2019 ILG Conference was announced at a breathtaking gala dinner held at Sala Rim Naam on The Chao Phraya River in Bangkok. The destination will be Vienna and Budapest and it will be held in July 2019. ILG hopes to get a group of 200 people along for the trip.

“The beauty of these conferences is that friendships are formed and there are stories that we’ll talk about for a long time. Our goal is to get to 200 delegates next year, so please encourage everyone to come along.

And bring your families as they’re the next generation of retailers and hoteliers moving forward,” said Esposito.

But of course, what happens on tour stays on tour so if you want to be privy to these stories and create some life-long memories and lasting friendships then you’ll just have to make sure to get along to Vienna and Budapest in 2019.

28 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

Paul Dunn, Peta Hemphill, Damien Bottero, Belle Bottero, Lachlan Britt, Dean Kornman

ILG CONFERENCE

Adam Nixon The crew having some fun at the Tiger Brewey

HIGHLIGHTS FROM ILG SUPPLIER PRESENTATIONS

n, hael Lawso Nixon, Mic n Thomas na au Sh , ir so and Ja Neville Bla Lloyd Blair

Kylie Farquhar, Treasury Wine Estates Over the past three years TWE has conducted its largest ever usage and attitudes study and will use the findings to bring more people into the wine category.

The study found that the biggest opportunity lies in millennials and that those drinkers are looking for refreshment.

“One of the key segments that we’re focusing on, not only this year but into the future, is all about refreshment and of course rosé, which is pretty much the biggest growth segment at the moment at more than 10 per cent of the market. We believe that bringing wine into that whole refreshment category is the biggest incremental growth activity that we could do in the next 12 months and beyond.”

Luke Van Staveren, Pernod Ricard Australia The digital age has shaken up the way consumers are making purchasing decisions. Luke Van Staveren pointed to the frequency of internet use in Australia, saying that 56 per cent of people use the internet more than five times a day, so it’s more important than ever to engage with your shoppers with premium content online.

“Just basically use whatever you’ve got on hand. I’m sure all the suppliers in the room would say that they’ve got plenty of content that you guys can use within stores to generate that lead activity and generate brand awareness, and the shoppers to have that consumer experience. It doesn’t have to be perfect but at least if you’re making it relevant is the key.”

Sam D’Agostino, Paul Esposito and Deb Jackson

Riley Fisher, Diageo With the spirits and RTD categories experiencing a period of growth, Riley Fisher spoke about how suppliers and retailers can work together to be able to ride that wave.

“Execute with excellence. Shoppers are becoming more educated and they’re expecting more from us. Are we meeting those expectations? Be a big part of the theatre. Ask yourselves what can I do to capitalise on all that advertising that’s out there? What can I do to turn that into some extra incremental dollars going through my till? And then keep open to new opportunities.

“We will bring them. Trust me, we will bring them. Some of them will work, some of them won’t.

But to give them the best chance, it’s about us working in partnership.”

Suzanne and Jose

ph Esposito

Taking a dip in the infinity pool at the Marina Bay Sands

Sara Hesse, Carlton & United Breweries Sara Hesse told delegates about AB InBev and CUB’s strategy around the health and wellbeing trend. “[We aim to] influence social norms and individual behaviours to reduce harmful alcohol use by investing US$1bn across our markets into dedicated social marketing campaigns and related programs by 2025. “[We will] ensure no or lower alcohol beer products represent at least 20 per cent of AB InBev’s global beer volume by the end of 2025. We will place guidance labels on all of our beer products in all of our markets by the end of 2020, and increase health literature by the end of 2025.”

To kick this off, CUB has recently launched the first non-alcoholic beer in the brewery’s 180year history, Carlton Zero.

Richard Matthews, Lion Richard Matthews spoke about the changing retail landscape, highlighting a consumer shift towards buying local. He also said that if retailers can entice 10 people to spend an extra $10 in-store per day it would equate to more than $35,000 in additional sales per year. Matthews also covered the connected shopper in the digital age and the importance of innovation.

“The market’s constantly evolving. What worked yesterday doesn’t work today, and what worked today maybe won’t quite work tomorrow. Innovation is the key, so we need to embrace and leverage it as much as we can within our business at all levels. We need to challenge the norm as well, so think about how can you go into your store every day and think about what you can do differently today that’s going to add some value and change the shopping experience, create more margin, and grow for the future.”

NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS OCTOBER 2018 | 29

RETAILER PROFILE

L-R Ben Carwyn and Ben Duval

CARWYN CELLARS WE CATCH UP WITH BEN CARWYN AND BEN DUVAL, THE OWNER AND GENERAL MANAGER (RESPECTIVELY) OF CARWYN CELLARS IN THORNBURY, VICTORIA. Q How did you get into liquor retailing?

Q You’ve been nominated as Liquor Store of the Year and also Best Beer

Ben Carwyn (BC): My first job as a teenager was in liquor retail and after spending seven years as a viticulturist in the Margaret River I realised that I much preferred retail.

Ben Duval (BD): I grew up in the Barossa Valley and my first job was in liquor retail in Adelaide. I walked into Carwyn Cellars about seven years ago with no intention of staying in the industry, but how times change.

List at the 2018 ALIA awards – it’s obviously quite rare to be recognised in both on and off-premise categories, so what does that recognition mean to you? What is it about Carwyn Cellars that you think makes it such a popular venue?

BC: It’s incredibly humbling that a group of our peers appreciate what we do as much as we have fun in doing it.

BD: We have really good flow between the bottle shop and the bar and no one area is more important that the other. As much as we push really hard with some pretty cool events, at the end of the day we are a relaxed venue enjoyed by the people of Thornbury. We have some pretty high-end-wanky booze, but we try and make the environment and the service inviting and approachable.

Q Why did you decide to go down the craft beer path at Carwyn Cellars?

BC: I come from Western Australia which was the first place that craft beer really took off in Australia. Not really knowing Melbourne, we picked Thornbury as it felt like an up-and-coming area (this was 12 years ago) and a place we could have some fun experimenting, rather than being just a traditional bottle shop. Initially we were planning on being a wine shop but once we settled into Thornbury we realised that craft beer suited the area far more.

BD: We have a huge selection of beer from around the world with a focus on craft breweries and brands that are really pushing the envelope. In particular, we have a huge collection of rare and cellar worthy beers, most of which are available through our website as well. We’re definitely selling more local beer than ever before with an increase in domestic quality combined with sharper pricing and consumer demand for freshness in beer. Overall, we probably stock more than 400 beers, as well as 500 wines, 200 whiskies and more than 60 Australian gins.

Q Can you tell me a little bit about your Club Wild? How successful has it been since you launched it?

BD: We were early adopters of the wild and sour beer scene and became known for our events such as ‘Midnight Sour’. When sour beer became more popular and available it was an easy decision to add it to our list of carefully curated subscription services. Keep an eye out for ‘Club Hops’, which offers mandatory ‘cool shipping’, launching late October.

Q How challenging is it for independent retailers to compete with the Q Did you always have the intention to create a bottle shop/bar hybrid?

BC: Initially we were just a bottle shop but as Thornbury evolved so did we.

In terms of expansion that’s an ongoing ‘discussion’. We have no plans to expand at present but we have thrown around installing a rooftop deck, brewery, distillery, fromagerie, bakery and butcher – lots of ideas.

30 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

big chains?

BC: Quite simply we don’t. We started Carwyn Cellars with a philosophy that if the big boys sold it we wouldn’t. Clearly that was a little idealistic but we do make sure that we’re primarily only stocking independent family-owned brands and companies with a good corporate social responsibility. There is so

RETAILER PROFILE much good booze produced by the ‘little guys’ that we really don’t need to pay too much attention to companies stocked by the big guys.

BD: We’re so specialised that we really don’t take much notice of the chains these days. Of the few craft beers that we also sell, I find that we are most often the cheaper.

Q Are there any promotions that work particularly well for you in-store?

BC: We’re not big into price discounting – we prefer to host unique events and tastings to add value and bring people in. One of my favourites is our annual Christmas expo where we get a range of suppliers to come and set up like an old school trade expo but for our customers who get access to special deals while having a chat to the folks who make the booze.

BD: We tend to rely on good old fashioned great service and sharp everyday pricing, but if I had to pick something, it would be that our regulars love to mix their own six-packs of beer for a 15 per cent discount.

Q How important do you think it is for a venue to be involved with social media?

BD: It’s paramount to what we do. Social media is about instant gratification and so is the craft booze world. We get a new release in and it can be gone the day it arrives, so it’s a great tool for that, as well as promoting all the events we do.

It can be hard to manage as we have so much going on that we are weary of overwhelming our different channels.

Q Is there anything else happening at Carwyn Cellars that you’d like to mention?

BC: There is always something happening at Carwyn Cellars which is part of what I think makes us such a great venue. We’ve recently released our first independently bottled whisky under the Thornbury Spirits Company label which was a personal milestone for me. The industry is ever changing but fundamentally what we try to remember is that it relies on its fundamentals of quality products and good customer service.

“We’ve recently released our first independently bottled whisky under the Thornbury Spirits Company label which was a personal milestone for me,” Ben Carwyn.

The Carwyn Cellars back bar

LMG CONFERENCE

LMG CEO Gavin Saunders speaks to delegates at the opening business session

IRELAND GETS LUCKY AS THE LMG FAMILY DESCENDS ON DUBLIN SHANE T WILLIAMS REPORTS ON THE ANNUAL LIQUOR MARKETING GROUP CONFERENCE IN DUBLIN.

M

ore than 230 delegates from the Liquor Marketing Group (LMG) gathered in Dublin last month for the group’s annual national conference. With a number of business sessions, visits to the Guinness Storehouse, Jameson Bow Street Distillery and a gala dinner at the Slane Castle, the conference was an opportunity for the LMG family to come together, learn, network and enjoy the city of Dublin.

In his opening address LMG CEO Gavin Saunders announced that the theme for the 2018 conference was ‘shopper first’, which he said was a reflection on how LMG sees the market.

Expanding on the ‘shopper first’ theme, Saunders said there’s a terminology floating around called new world retail, which has some negative connotations because it involves change. The speed of change in the market is daunting but putting the shopper and experiences first is where retailers need to be.

“This is a continuation of change that’s been happening over many years and it’s our responsibility at LMG to adapt and meet shopper demand. It’s not a revolutionary change from a retail perspective; it’s more the evolution of the shopper,” said Saunders.

The challenge is e-commerce and it’s happening right around the globe and it’s happening quicker and quicker in the Australian market.

“While traditional bricks-and-mortar retail has been impacted by digital disruption from the likes of Amazon, Australian liquor retailing is not immune,” said Saunders. He said. “Examples like Dan Murphy’s has ‘click-and-collect’ and 7-Eleven’s recent investment into Tipple highlights

32 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

Mick Tait, Clive Johnson, Ben O’Callaghan, Scott Hogan, Ben White & Marty Smith at the Jameson Distilery the emergence of technology disruption in liquor retailing. Convenience retailers have applied for the right to sell alcohol numerous times, we need to vigilantly review advancement of examples like Tipple as this may be an alternate method entering the market.”

Saunders updated that LMG is providing its members the ability to meet the challenge and evolve with the shopper need through the launch of the Bottlemart/Sip’n Save e-commerce platform, including web ordering, app and integrated delivery solution in as little as one hour.

Saunders said “e-commerce is complementary for bricks-and-mortar retailers and meets the needs of the shopper,” and that “initial results of the Brisbane trial were positive and LMG would be rolling out the e-commerce platform nationally”.

He went on to say that the evolution of the shopper has evolved from buying commodities to goods to services and now to experiences.

Saunders used the example of the coffee bean as a commodity, instant coffee as the good, a take away coffee as the service and Nespresso as

LMG CONFERENCE the experience. He added that people will pay well over the odds to buy Nespresso due to the experience element.

Taking it back to liquor retailing, Saunders said: “Our industry sells fun in a bottle, cask, or a can. We are better placed to find that connection, we are better able to service our customers and provide those experiences and earn the premium consumers will pay.”

Saunders also questioned what has driven the shopper evolution, he told delegates: “It’s a shopper need, the shopper need defines the retail evolution and that selling of a commodity in ‘new world retail’ will be challenging. If you’re just selling a commodity on a shelf with a price then this is not going to cut it given the current market price transparency.

“Experience equals value and bricks-and-mortar are able to provide those experiences. If you think of the interaction between a consumer and an online retailer they can’t possibly get that connection.”

So putting the ‘shopper first’ and providing great customer service with excellent retail execution, speed of service and marketing and promotions which champion brands engages the consumer coupled with e-commerce, provides a great shopper experience.

Matt McEvoy, Wayne Bayfield and Gavin Saunders watching the Wallabies at the Ferryman Hotel in Dublin

LMG EXPERIENCES GROWTH IN EVERY STATE AND EVERY CATEGORY In a challenging retail environment LMG has achieved an average national growth rate of 4.5 per cent, with growth coming from all states and territories and all major categories.

“Not only is it growth, it is good growth from five consecutive quarters across all states and all major categories,” said Saunders as he opened the first business session.

Saunders said: “We’ve had to fight for every single percentage point of growth over the past few years and this is a fantastic result. There’s not just one state driving growth, all states are contributing which at times can be challenging given external factors that can influence individual states and territories”.

Saunders told delegates that packaged beer, bottled wine, spirits and RTD were all in growth, in all states and were tracking ahead of the industry average.

“Having consistency of growth across all states and all categories has not come by buying volume or pushing individual categories, it’s come from the continual evolution of our programs. Our programs are working well and we’ll continue to focus on them over the coming year.”

From a head office perspective, Saunders said that for F18, 62 per cent of all revenue will be invested back into the business of driving our members’ performance. This means greater support for members, more funds for marketing programs, advertising, go to market strategies, fitouts, pricing and rebates.

He said that LMG has been able to rationalise its overheads as well as maintain and support the national field team. He emphasised that LMG is a membership-based group and their focus was on supporting members, not on making profits at head office.

Saunders said that marketing investment for F18 was up 33 per cent and as their competitors pull back, LMG had never been in a better position to prosper, to amplify and up-weight their programs.

Saunders said the group was in good health holding approximately eight per cent of the off-premise retail market, had 750 premium outlets and was growing by 4.5 per cent. He went on to say that given their current platform and momentum, along with an additional 10.9 per cent investment in FY19 he was comfortable to say that growth next year would be much higher than four or five per cent.

Aaron Dewar, Elena Lees, Frank Palumbo & Rob Lees

Damien Page, Glen Scarlett, Aneka Taylor and Scot Hayman at Jameson Distillery.

LMG MARKETING UPDATE The Head of Merchandising and Marketing Damien Page spoke to delegates about where growth was coming from and how LMG plans to continue to grow. Page told delegates there would be a renewed focus on key trading periods; he flagged Shopper Tracker performance results which highlighted that Bottlemart/Sip’n Save continue to lead

Faye Hartley, Carol Negline, Kim Coleman and Jane Crosbie at the Jameson Distillery

NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS OCTOBER 2018 | 33

LMG CONFERENCE

LMG delegates enjoying the Dublin pub crawl.

convenience liquor retailers in price perception, premium execution and overall shopper satisfaction. He also said that LMG’s strong performance had been achieved through their strong category programs and identified additional opportunities for members to grow.

Winning with the shopper was the opening message from Page. He highlighted how LMG had continued to outperform in key areas and plans to continue to increase its investment ahead of its competitors with additional support on advertising and price support where required, as well as effective category strategies.

Page said that LMG will continue to invest in press, catalogue, social and digital media ahead of the 33 per cent increase in investment they spent last year. In terms of priorities, he said the most critical element for LMG was to win during the key trading periods throughout the year.

“We need to be winning throughout the entire year, but particularly at key selling periods, and we’ll continue to up-weight and amplify our marketing plans with social and digital so that the year ahead is about being ‘always on’.”

Page discussed the challenge independents face every year around key trading periods, saying that twice a year the gap in market share between the chains and the independents widens.

He said that LMG will target ‘once-a-year’ or occasion-based shoppers and pull them away from the chains and into LMG bannered stores.

LMG plans to add additional catalogues and leverage its strongest platforms as well as promote with additional national press to reverse this market share divergence over those periods.

SIP’N SAVE TURNS 40 The South Australian-based banner group Sip’n Save turns 40 in 2019 and Page told delegates there will be a big celebration to mark the milestone in May next year. There will be additional media coverage across both print and digital, as well member and consumer events. Page also said they are working on a number of retro pack promotions over the period.

“This brand is an absolute powerhouse; it’s a leading SA independent

34 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

with 20 per cent market share. We really want to celebrate what is an iconic South Australian brand,” said Page.

OVERALL CATEGORY PERFORMANCE With all major categories at LMG in growth, Page spoke about some of the factors that contributed to this success. Premium programs as well as pack formats have helped deliver growth.

“While there is only a small portfolio of brands in the premium spirits program, it’s driving 18 per cent of total spirit growth. Further growth has come from one litre full sized bottled spirit (FSBS) growing at 33 per cent while Bourbon and gin are outperforming the rest of the market in every state.”

After a number of years in decline, the RTD category is back in growth and Page told delegates that Bourbon and Coke RTD, NPD and 10-packs were ahead of market and extremely positive.

“Sixty-six per cent of growth from RTD is coming from 10-packs, we got onto this early as a business and we’ll continue to refresh those units to make sure we’re creating activations around 10-packs,” he said.

Page also said that 56 per cent of growth had come from NPD and that five of the top 10 performing NPD were in 10-pack formats. He said that LMG over-indexed compared to the rest of the market in 10-packs and are often first to market with NPD. In the beer category Page said that contemporary beer has been the driving force for growth in the overall market and that LMG was in a good position as it also over-indexed in this segment.

“Great Northern has been a huge contributor to this success. We have over-indexed in contemporary beer for as long as I can remember. We have an exclusive pack with Great Northern and this has contributed to it being our number one beer brand growing at 51 per cent.”

On the craft beer front Page told delegates that members should expect to see a new Craft Beer Program presenter with supporting point of sale updates shortly that will further lift this category.

The wine category is the single biggest opportunity to drive profits for members and the premium wine program aims to improve category

LMG CONFERENCE performance. Page said that when the average shopper basket includes a brand from the premium wine program, the size of the basket increased by 60 per cent.

“Over the last three years the program has doubled in size, with half of our bottled wine growth coming from the program. It isn’t just about getting the ranging right or the distribution right, it’s about how we can take it to market and get more shoppers in.”

THE VALUE EQUATION LMG will be trialling a new marketing and point of sale program in Queensland around the ‘value equation’. Page said shoppers need to be able to identify value and easily evaluate what they are saving.

According to Page, with effective in-store ticketing 26 per cent of shoppers will buy more than they intended while 23 per cent of shoppers will buy something different or not on promotion. LMG plans to identify these value equations, trial them in Queensland and if they get the results they’re looking for they’ll roll it out across the country.

Gavin Saunders, Elena and Rob Lees, Craig Power and Doug May at the Nancy Hands, Dublin

USING DATA TO BETTER UNDERSTAND YOUR BUSINESS Data continues to play a key role by providing insights at a store, state and national level. LMG Data and Insights Manager Ben Kizny Gordon addressed delegates on how they use top line data to better understand their business.

“Using data to make decisions leads to better outcomes. The better information we can get internally, the better decisions we make. We can go back and see what has worked and what hasn’t worked and that leads to better outcomes.”

In a rapidly changing retail environment Kizny Gordon says the world is “changed by your example, not by your opinion. We need examples of what works and what doesn’t, it’s no good having an opinion on why it will or won’t work. We want to prove it, evaluate it and make sure it works”.

LMG category managers in each state have access to this information to help better plan promotions. “They are able to see how well a promotion is working, understand when products sell, what time of day and what day of the week. We can start to get a feel for the core metrics, what’s driving growth. Was it more shoppers coming through the door or was it an increase in spend?”

Kizny Gordon uses the Premium Wine Program as an example on how data can be used to see how a program is performing. Data shows a significant increase in the ‘per basket’ spend when a wine from the program is included in the basket. He added, “Clearly they are buying more than just one bottle of wine; they’re buying a few other things. We know when we bring a more valued shopper in they want more than that one ranged product”.

Using data to analyse the premium wine program, LMG continues to experience an increase on the average wine spend, this went up 17.4 per cent on last year. “We are premiumising our wine consumers. When a shopper comes in to buy a bottle of wine we are doing a good job at moving them up the scale and encouraging them to buy a more premium bottle of wine.”

The use of data on a national scale allows LMG to build a profile of what a premium wine shopper looks like, what products they are more likely to buy and what products they are less likely to buy. “The shoppers we bring in-store to buy from the Premium Wine Program are a more valued shopper and when they spend additional dollars in-store, it’s spent on buying other premium products from other premium categories.”

Insights can also be gained from other LMG programs like spirits and craft beer, “when we look across all these programs, not only are they bringing more valued shoppers in-store, their basket sizes are getting bigger, they spend more, buy additional products and are more likely to buy premium products from other categories”.

Kizny Gordon said that data and analysis is also used to support individual LMG members with their sales performance, stock holdings and promotional effectiveness. Getting these national and store level insights from stores nationally allows LMG to better plan their promotional activity and support members.

Craig Power, Andrew Negline, Paul Crosbie & Matt McEvoy

Manuel & Nitsa Kotis, Dom Condo, Faye Hartley, Heather Condo & Brooke Hartley

LMG Chairman Wayne Bayfield and CEO Gavin Saunders at the gala dinner hosted at Slane Castle.

NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS OCTOBER 2018 | 35

SHOPPER INSIGHTS

BATTLE OF THE

BIG BOX STORES NORRELLE GOLDRING VISITS BIG BOX STORES BEVMO AND TOTAL WINE IN THE USA AFTER SEVERAL YEARS, AND FINDS UPSCALE OFFERS IN A CORPORATE PART OF SEATTLE.

BEVMO

TOTAL WINE

BEVMO

TOTAL WINE

I

t’s been 10 years since I first visited the BevMo and Total Wine big box stores in the USA’s Arizona, and almost five years since I visited these stores in Oregon. On last months trip around Alaska, the Yukon and British Columbia I visited numerous liquor stores, brewpubs and breweries (which will be the subject of a number of forthcoming National Liquor News articles), and among them I had the opportunity to review both BevMo and Total Wine in Seattle, which was our trip’s starting and finishing point.

Both stores were in the upmarket corporate suburb of Bellevue, which is kind of like Sydney’s

36 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

North Ryde/Macquarie Park, but more upscale.

BevMo and Total Wine could be considered the closest to national, or at least regional, big box liquor store chains the USA has, given its convoluted and sometimes antiquated statebased liquor regulations and the accessibility of mainstream liquor brands in supermarkets and drugstores.

BEVMO Founded in January 1994 as ‘Beverages & More!’ in the San Francisco Bay area, and re-branded as ‘BevMo’ in January 2001, BevMo now has more

than 150 stores which are located predominantly in Arizona, California and Washington states as well as an online ordering facility providing both click-and-collect and ship to home.

The Bellevue, Seattle store is very high spec, as befits its clientele. Refurbished two years ago as one of the friendly staff told me, it features a lot of locally sourced wood for its fixtures which softens the industrial-feel polished concrete floors and ducting. Floor space equals an average Dan Murphy’s but with more education on the fixtures including food and wine pairings and similar style wines to try. Craft beer kegs and growlers are

SHOPPER INSIGHTS

BEVMO

available in the cold room and there is a sizeable tasting and education area, although this is a little confusingly signed as ‘Time to BevMo’ rather than specifying its purpose.

There’s a significant snacks area, another for mixers and non-alcoholic drinks and a separate area on the other side of the store for weddings and parties, services for which include planning, ordering and delivery. Cigars are located up front next to the checkouts.

Domestic beers are laid out by style, and imported beers by country. Wines follow a similar segmentation strategy. Much of the beer stock was cold (rather than ambient) and its dates were fairly fresh.

Promotional POS materials are small and understated. The store’s ambience is marred only by its use of cut case cartons for off location displays, which are few, low profile and located in-aisle.

TOTAL WINE & MORE Founded in 1991 and rebranded in 1998, Total Wine now numbers more than 175 stores across 20 states and is the largest US independent retailer of fine wine. It sells online in 14 states that allow online alcohol sales.

The Bellevue store is huge, double the size of the BevMo around the corner and kind of like a Bunnings but with a number of better off location displays into which you can see the

TOTAL WINE

brands pour a large amount of dollars and effort.

Gondola end displays are typically Total Wine branded (or at least look and feel) promotions.

There’s an enormous education and tasting bar room, and a staffed growler filling station.

The ‘& More’ proposition is exemplified by numerous carousel stands ranging various kinds of accessories, and half an aisle of glassware, gifting and accessories.

There is an online order collection point which was not staffed at the time of our visit and looked disused. It was located at the front of store alongside the checkouts and right next to a large, enclosed cigar humidor room.

Store layout is conventional front to back aisles with aisle headers by wine grape variety, spirits type and beer style. The aisles are split crossways at the middle of the store, which effectively allows for double the number of (I imagine, chargeable to suppliers) gondola end displays. The majority of the beer was ambient and this showed in a lower quality pour in our hotel room compared to the BevMo beers we purchased.

The staff are few and far between and you’re left to fend for yourself a bit.

WHO WINS? It’s a close call. No outright winner to my mind as they excel in different things.

I preferred BevMo’s warm and welcoming ambience, fitout, style and pairing suggestions

which created a ‘browse and explore’ atmosphere.

I would come to this store if I were looking for help from staff as the store gives the overall impression of expertise and education, although it’s Total Wine who lists their tasting and education sessions at the store entrance.

Total Wine’s sheer breadth of range was superior, but it is laid out for destination planned purchasing, punctuated by some substantive and engaging off location displays for incremental purchase. I would come here if I wanted my ‘usual’ or to stock up for an event with a range of different things.

Both have moved on substantially from the well-executed basics I saw back in 2013, and both are definitely worth a visit next time you’re in Seattle.

ABOUT NORRELLE GOLDRING Norrelle has 20 years’ experience in the liquor industry and in retail, category, channel and customer strategy, marketing and research, working in and with global retailers, manufacturers and research houses. Contact Norrelle on 0411735190 or email norrellegoldring@hotmail.com.

NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS OCTOBER 2018 | 37

SPIRITS NEWS

DIAGEO: PARTNERING FOR SUCCESS The spirits category is in a period of growth with a trajectory that is improving, so at the recent ILG Conference in Bangkok, Riley Fisher, Key Account Manager at Diageo, spoke about how suppliers and retailers can work together to ride that wave.

Fisher told delegates that there has been impressive growth across both full sized bottle spirits (FSBS) and RTD over the last 12 months.

“If I was talking to you at this time last year, I’d be telling you that spirits is growing at about 1.7 per cent, which is pretty good. But I’m talking to you this year, and in 2018 we’re growing at 5.4 per cent.

“We’ve seen FSBS double in its growth to four per cent and we’ve seen RTD go from one to seven per cent growth in the last year alone.”

SO HOW DO WE UNLOCK FUTURE GROWTH? Fisher told attending ILG members that with the strength of both businesses combined, further growth can be leveraged.

“At Diageo, we bring our leading brands, our breadth of portfolio, our data, and our insights across the market. ILG brings the strength of retail coupled with the wholesale expertise, the strong brands, the consumers, and last but not least the retailers.

“We use this combined capability to find actionable insights. We find these insights, and we turn these into opportunities that turn into growth for us.”

The three main insights Fisher identified were excellence in innovation, retail transformation and excellence in execution.

INNOVATION: Fisher spoke about winning in low-tempo occasions and how today’s consumers are looking for refreshing, lower alcohol drinks.

“Traditionally we’ve seen mid-strength being kind of over-indexed in this space, and not only with the likes of Great Northern. Now there’s Iron Jack and recently Corona mid-strength as well, so there’s more competition.

“We’ve also seen spirits come into play in that space as well. If you think about in the on-premise the likes of Aperol Spritz, the likes of Pimm’s, these products are coming into the market and really starting to penetrate that afternoon and low-tempo occasion.

“For us when it comes to premix we’ve been seeing Bundaberg Lazy Bear go from strength to strength in the three years since its launch.”

He also spoke about the growth of the ‘Sunday session’. He said that in the on-premise, Friday and Saturday trade is in about three to five per cent growth, but Sundays are actually double to three times that, with the majority of dollars spent between 12 and six o’clock.

38 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

Riley Fisher, Diageo

“This challenges us to think, what are the offerings we are bringing to our consumers to cater to this trend? What afternoon offerings do you have? What offerings do you have for that low-tempo occasion, whether it be in the on-premise or in your retail stores?”

Fisher also spoke about the premiumisation and health and wellbeing trends, saying that we need to be “winning” in those areas too.

“I want to touch on winning with the health-conscious. This is a large growth area and we’ve seen consumers finding new ways to enjoy alcohol in a little bit of a healthier way.

People still want to indulge, but they want to do it in a smarter way. We’re seeing now that six out of 10 people believe that consuming alcohol could be part of a balanced healthy lifestyle,” he said.

“One of the ways we’re embodying this experience at Diageo is with the likes of Smirnoff Pure. That insight is exactly where this product came from. People want something with natural ingredients. They want to know a bit more what they’re putting in their bodies.”

RETAIL TRANSFORMATION: Fisher spoke to delegates about five trends Diageo has identified to help change shopper behaviours. These trends are connected shopping, experimental, convenient, valuedriven and specialised shopping.

“Advances in instant delivery means the shopper’s mindset has been changing from a stock up to an in-the-moment mindset.

“We’ve seen a really big shift in the reason that shoppers are choosing a liquor store and this has only changed in the last couple of years. Traditionally it’s been driven by price but now we’re actually seeing convenience as being the number one reason people are choosing a liquor store.

“This raises a question for us, are we meeting these expectations of the customer? Do we have the right range? Do we have the right pack sizes?

Do we have the right formats for the occasions for this increasingly impatient customer?

“Secondly, value-driven shopping. I think there are no surprises that sensitivity to price is very much prominent, but what we’ve seen in this space is actually what people are seeing value in. It’s now not as much all about being the cheapest. People see values in different elements of their shopping experience. When it comes to having the right product at the right price, the right promotion, it’s not all about just being the cheapest anymore.”

EXECUTE WITH EXCELLENCE: Diageo recently ran a trial in an independent liquor store and created what they considered “the ideal spirits bay”.

The upgraded spirits bay was designed to be easily navigated, has a focus on education and clever lighting to illuminate bottles from below, making the space more approachable to the shopper.

This trial took a store that was in decline in spirits, to one year on now being in double digit growth.

“With all this in mind I’d like to challenge us to think a little bit differently in this space.

Consider a new layout. Maybe it’s not a full overhaul, but there may be some little tweaks, little things that you could change about your shelving, about your range that could turn the dial on your spirits bay.

“Execute with excellence. Shoppers are becoming more educated and they’re expecting more from us. Are we meeting those expectations?

Be a big part of the theatre. Ask yourselves what can I do to capitalise on all that advertising that’s out there? What can I do to turn that into some extra incremental dollars going through my till?

And then keep open to new opportunities.

“We will bring them. Trust me, we will bring them. Some of them will work, some of them won’t. But to give them the best chance, it’s about us working in partnership.”

SPIRITS NEWS

NIKKA COFFEY GIN AND VODKA TO LAUNCH Asahi Premium Beverages has launched Nikka Coffey Gin and Vodka into the Australian market last month.

The new products follow the recent launch of Nikka’s Coffey Grain Whisky which arrived in Australia earlier this year. The spirits are crafted in Nikka’s Coffey still column, which is a traditional type of continuous still named after inventor Aeneas Coffey and which helps add a distinct aroma to the spirits.

“We are really happy to see our new Coffey Vodka and Gin enter the Australian market. With the success of our Coffey Grain Whisky, we look forward to seeing how these new varieties are received,” said Naoki Tomoyoshi from Nikka Whisky International Headquarters.

The Nikka Coffey Gin contains 11 botanicals including Japanese citruses; Yuzu, Kabosu, Amantsi and Shequasar, which complement the traditional gin botanicals of juniper berries, anglica, coriander seeds, lemon and orange peels.

The Nikka Coffey Vodka is made from corn and barley and offers “zesty notes and a rich sweetness”.

To celebrate the launch of both products, Nikka conducted a takeover of Sydney cocktail and wine bar Door Knock on Monday 17 September. The takeover saw renowned bartenders from Japan Rogerio Igarashi from Bar Trench in Tokyo, and Hisatsugu Saito from bar Ars & Delecto in Shanghai, serving up a spectacle of Japanese cocktail making.

“Art is what we make for guests, delight is what our guests feel. It’s the most simple but also most difficult and important thing to achieve,” said Saito.

Both bartenders have gained wide recognition for their craft, with Igarashi’s Bar Trench being ranked 16th in Asia’s 50 Best Bars of 2018 and Saito winning the Diplomatico World Tournament 2018 for Japan and North Asia, as well as ranking third in the global final at the Savoy Hotel in London.

Nikka’s Coffey Vodka (700ml, 40 per cent ABV, RRP $85) and Nikka’s Coffey Gin (700ml, 47 per cent ABV, RRP $90) are available at select premium venues and stores.

E NJOY E LE PHA N T GI N. HE LP SAVE E LE P H AN T S !

Elephant Gin is infused with 14 botanicals, including 5 rare African botanicals to create a unique, aromatic, bold flavour profile. Copper pot distilled in 600 bottle batches, each batch is named after an elephant protected by our charity partners, Big Life Foundation

DIAGEO EXTENDS RTD RANGE WITH GORDON’S PINK & SODA Diageo has continued its RTD innovation in Australia, with the launch of Gordon’s Premium Pink Gin & Soda, which is now available.

The 330ml ready-to-drink serve follows the successful launch of Gordon’s Premium Pink Gin in Australia in May and has been timed for release as Australia moves into the warmer spring and summer months.

“We’re confident Gordon’s Premium Pink Gin & Soda will be the trend-setting drink of spring and summer in Australia,” said Diageo’s Marketing Manager, Jodi McLeod.

“The appetite for pink gin is going from strength to strength, while gin continues to be the fastest growing category in Australian spirits. We know our market wants an easy way to enjoy this trend that suits their lifestyle, and with Gordon’s Premium Pink Gin & Soda we’ve made it easier than ever to enjoy this summer.

“Gordon’s Premium Pink Gin & Soda is such an inherently shareable serve, both in design and the attractive pale pink of the liquid itself that we’re expecting it to be a popular choice amongst style-conscious millennials.

But the liquid truly speaks for itself; consumers are continuing to choose pink gin because it not only looks great but actually delivers on flavour too.”

The serves are made using only natural fruit flavours and combines the sweetness of the gin’s strawberries, raspberries and redcurrant with the soda to create a blush Pink Gin Spritz.

The four per cent ABV RTDs have a $21.99 RRP for a 330ml four-pack and the launch comes as Diageo has announced the appointment of Kate Waterhouse as the official ambassador for Gordon’s Premium Pink Gin in Australia.

and Space For Elephants.

AVA ILA BLE IN T HREE E XPR ESSI O N S

the flagship Dry (45% ABV), a delicious Sloe (35% ABV) and a full flavoured Elephant Navy Strength (57% ABV)

For more information visit elephant-gin.com, for Australian sales contact Luxe Wine + Spirits on 1300 526 881 or elephant@luxewinespirits.com.au

PEOPLE

HUMAN RESOURCES

Shifting Rank

JO O’REILLY

KARL BRENNER

Senior Partner Reilly Scott

ARE YOU GETTING PAID WHAT YOU’RE WORTH? If you’ve been with one employer for more than five years, there’s a high likelihood that your salary might not be in line with the industry standard.

Remuneration may not be your key driver but despite how much you love your job, would you be disappointed to learn that your take-home pay was significantly below that of your peers in other companies?

One candidate that I worked with recently had been with his employer for more than 10 years and was surprised to discover that his base salary was $25k below market value. Loyalty to an employer is admirable but is it worth missing out on over six figures?

Often the businesses are also unaware of market rates, particularly if they haven’t had to hire externally in a while, and more so if they’ve always hired juniors and trained them up.

Some businesses will only increase salary on the basis of a promotion or when an employee specifically requests a raise. Others will only increase in line with inflation rates.

As an employer it pays to reward loyalty. By not providing your staff with a competitive wage you leave the door wide open for poaching. What would happen if your top performer said that they’d been offered an extra $20k to join your competitor? It’s a significant amount to hike someone’s salary up in one hit, if you wanted to match the offer. Also when employees find out that they have been underpaid they are left feeling undervalued and unappreciated.

Not offering competitive salaries also greatly limits your ability to attract top talent.

VICE PRESIDENT OF US OPERATIONS KOLLARAS TRADING COMPANY As the Kollaras Trading Company (KTC) continues to rapidly expand and invest in long term sustainable growth, the business has announced the appointment of Karl Brenner as its new Vice President of USA Operations. Brenner has an impressive background with previous experience as Director of Fleet Beverage Operations at Royal Caribbean Cruises, as well as Director of Fleet Bar Operations at Princess Cruises. In addition, he has extensive knowledge and experience in the leisure, travel and tourism industries. Brenner will play a fundamental part as KTC continues to develop its already successful cruise channel by executing a similar strategy in mainland USA.

DOUG MISENER EXECUTIVE GENERAL MANAGER COMMERCIAL KOLLARAS & CO Kollaras & Co has confirmed that the former CEO of the Liquor Marketing Group (LMG), Doug Misener, has joined the company as the Executive General Manager Commercial. Managing Director, John Kollaras, said that bringing Misener into the newly appointed role was invigorating for the company which is currently experiencing a time of unprecedented growth. Kollaras said that Misener’s expertise in business development and strategic planning are welcomed by the company, as it looks

to harness further growth opportunities across all business units and the vast global network of customers currently served by the organisation.

Misener brings extensive industry knowledge to Kollaras, having worked in senior management positions at Lion Nathan, as well as his work with LMG. His entire career has been in the beverage industry, originating in Canada as part of the market leading Pepsi Cola franchise bottler system.

KERRY WILKINSON DEPUTY EDITOR AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF GRAPE AND WINE RESEARCH The Board of Directors of the Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology (ASVO) have announced the appointment of Associate Professor Kerry Wilkinson as Deputy Editor of the Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research. Wilkinson is an Associate Professor of Oenology at The University of Adelaide. Her primary research interests concern the flavour chemistry of grapes and wine, for example: the impact of bushfire smoke on grapes and wine; the improved utility of oak wood for wine maturation; and the influence of production method on the composition and sensory profiles of sparkling wine. Other areas of interest include the chemical and sensory analysis of foods and beverages, and their appeal to consumers. She is a member of the Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology Journal Advisory Subcommittee, the American Society for Enology and Viticulture, the American Chemical Society, the Wine Innovation Centre and the ARC Training Centre for Innovative Wine Production.

ANNOUNCE YOUR NEWEST STAFF

There are many reliable sources of salary comparisons available online or if you want to understand where the salaries lie for a particular role, please get in touch with me on joreilly@reillyscott.com.au.

40 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

Simply send the details of your newest staff member to djackson@intermedia.com.au along with a high-res headshot and share the news of your latest appointment.

INDIE BEER – AN AGILE, INNOVATIVE SECTOR

CONTRIBUTOR’S

PANEL

W

ith new beer styles, seasonal releases and innovative packaging, Australia’s 500+ independent brewers are catching imaginations right around the country, taking consumers on an exciting adventure each time they set foot in-store.

The recently released results of the third annual Australian Craft Beer Survey by independent retailer Beer Cartel offers a wealth of information about what more than 18,000 Australian craft beer lovers are drinking and thinking. What’s more, it demonstrates the dynamic nature of our indie beer sector and the changing nature of beer retailing.

INDEPENDENCE MATTERS It’s a fantastic result for independent brewers around Australia, because it confirms what we as a sector know: that independence matters. In the context of growing awareness, the IBA’s recently-released Independence Seal: “....has huge potential to dramatically change the beers consumers buy; 83 per cent of consumers aware of the seal said it was likely to have a medium to large impact on their beer purchases.”

To date, almost half of the IBA’s members have adopted the Seal on their packaging and as the IBA releases its Labelling Guidelines in the near future, we expect this figure will jump on the back of these Beer Cartel survey results.

INDIE BREWERS TO THE FRONT Most survey respondents were clearly aware of craft beer buyouts in Australia and the survey shows that consumers are, as a result, thinking twice about where they spend their beer dollars. Here, congratulations are due to the country’s favourite brewers, with Balter leading the impressive pack.

AN AGILE, RESPONSIVE ECOSYSTEM What’s also very apparent from Beer Cartel’s survey results is that this cohort of consumers highly values the diversity, artisanship and innovation that indie brewers are serving up to Australians.

“On average, five out of every 10 beers purchased by consumers are for previously untried beers.”

The sheer number of new and seasonal releases from IBA members is a joy to behold and it does not happen by accident. Our indie beer scene is an agile, responsive ecosystem, where brewers are well supported by our supply chain and retail colleagues. As local and international trends emerge, suppliers and retailers facilitate the evolution of our offerings and enable us to meet the growing demand.

In terms of packaging, the survey results show that about a third prefer

bottles, a third like cans and the remainder don’t mind as long as they get fresh, chilled indie beer to take home. The desire for new beer experiences means that singles and four or six-packs are often preferred by craft beer lovers, although cases are welcomed by consumers too.

INDIE BEER PIONEERS Equally, it’s great to recognise indie beer pioneers: the craft beer bars, pubs and bottle shops and the beer festivals and beer weeks staged around the country. These venues, retailers and events are at the forefront of a shift away from outdated attitudes towards new and exciting experiences. They are driving new purchasing habits and a culture of exploration. The IBA will be working with these indie beer pioneers to leverage the power of the Independence Seal in the months ahead.

KEEPING UP TO DATE In such a fast-paced market, you’ve got to stay up to date. Here, the beer media plays a critical role in heralding new styles, new players and new venues, educating and informing a growing band of beer lovers. It’s great to see the work of these media – Crafty Pint, Beer & Brewer, Beer Advocate, Australian Brews News and Rate Beer – recognised in the survey results.

HERALDING A BROADER CULTURAL SHIFT Beer Cartel’s survey reflects the views of those already engaged in the indie beer scene rather than the Australian population as a whole.

However, we believe that they herald one aspect of a broader cultural shift in Australia, away from mass production and mass consumption and towards fresh, local and artisanal products. We encourage you to review the results closely.

ALEXIS ROITMAN, CEO, INDEPENDENT BREWERS ASSOCIATION Alexis Roitman is the CEO of the Independent Brewers Association, based in Sydney. She is an experienced industry advocate, having worked previously in leadership roles both within and as a consultant to numerous national peak industry bodies over the past decade. She began her career as a corporate lawyer, before gaining experience in corporate communications and public affairs research. Alexis is also a BJCP-accredited beer judge and an avid home brewer since 2012.

NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS OCTOBER 2018 | 41

BREWING

COOPERS RELEASES NEW DRY BEER

JAMES BOAG LAUNCHES WILD RIVERS BEER

Coopers Brewery has announced the launch of another new beer, with Coopers Dry joining the popular dry, lowcarb beer category, spelling the end of Coopers Clear.

The fine filtered lager has now left the Coopers brewery and is available across Australia in keg, bottle and can formats.

With low-carb beers still being a popular part of the Australian beer market, Coopers’ Sales and Marketing Director, Cam Pearce, said the beer had been developed to meet the growing public demand.

“Dry or low carb beers currently represent more than 15 per cent of the total Australian beer market, but there are relatively few brands from which consumers can choose,” Pearce said.

“Coopers Dry will provide consumers with a refreshing alternative, offering low malt sweetness and modest bitterness that can be enjoyed with a wide range of foods all year round.

“Dry beers are now well established in the market.

“Coopers Dry will offer consumers a premium quality alternative and we expect it will be well received in the market.”

As well as using the Magnum hop variety, Coopers has used a highly fermentable Pilsner malt from its own maltings as the foundation. The beer is fermented at a low temperature for an extended period and this allows the specially selected strain of yeast to consume the fermentable sugars, which produces the beer’s dry finish.

Pearce said that with Coopers Dry entering the market, Coopers Clear would be withdrawn from sale.

James Boag has officially launched a new beer called Wild Rivers, the brand’s first major new beer release in the past decade.

The beer is inspired by Tasmania’s rugged natural environment and its wild rivers, which the brand says “evoke images of purity and refreshment”.

Wild Rivers – described as a modern take on an Australian premium lager – was developed by the team at the James Boag Brewery in Launceston.

“We’re proud of this beautifully balanced yet subtly complex lager,” said Brewer Nathan Groves. “We feel it reflects all that is unique about Tasmania, with its fresh aroma reminiscent of our crisp air and beautiful bushlands.

“As a brewer, this was an extraordinary challenge and a fantastic one-time opportunity. It was important for us to respect the brand’s rich history and keep its integrity intact, while creating something new that everyone could enjoy.”

Lion Beer Managing Director James Brindley said James Boag’s Wild Rivers is a significant new release and a tribute to the company’s belief in the Tasmanian brand.

“James Boag’s Wild Rivers is proudly and exclusively brewed at the James Boag Brewery in Launceston and we believe it is going to strike a real chord with those who want something modern, refreshing and crisp to drink,” Brindley said.

To promote the beer, Tourism Tasmania has partnered with James Boag on the campaign and launch of Wild Rivers.

“James Boag is a brand that tells a very Tasmanian story and aligns strongly with our tourism brand,” said John Fitzgerald, CEO of Tourism Tasmania.

James Boag’s Wild Rivers has been available at Dan Murphy’s and BWS, as well as a range of independent stores nationwide, from 17 September.

BALTER VOTED AUSTRALIA’S BEST CRAFT BREWERY Craft beer retailer, Beer Cartel, has revealed the results of its 2018 Australian Craft Beer Survey, which details the opinions of more than 18,000 craft beer drinkers.

The survey looks to understand the issues that matter to Australia’s craft beer drinkers and also asks them to vote for the country’s best craft brewery. This year saw Balter Brewing carry on its impressive run of form and take out the top prize.

Richard Kelsey, Director of Beer Cartel said that Balter taking out best craft brewery really highlighted how young and dynamic the Australian craft beer industry is.

“We’ve been doing the Australian Craft Beer Survey for the past three years – in that time three different breweries have taken out the title of Australia’s best brewery. With now well over 400 breweries in Australia and a new brewery starting every week it really does show how quickly the industry is evolving,” said Kelsey.

Stirling Howland, Co-Founder and Brand Director of Balter Brewing Company, was understandably delighted with the result.

“To win this award on the back of the Hottest 100 earlier in the year is a wonderful feeling,” Howland said.

“We’ve been kicking around for two and a half years and it has been a pretty amazing journey to date. When we started Balter, it was always

42 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

about the beer and connecting to our community through our work. We’ve been blown away by how well our beer and brand has been received and these types of people’s choice awards are a real affirmation that we’re on the right track.”

In addition to naming Australia’s best craft brewery, the survey also delved into the issues surrounding the craft beer industry in Australia, and in particular independence.

The survey found that there is a strong desire to support independent Australian breweries. Earlier this year the Independent Brewers Association (IBA) launched its Independence Seal, which helps consumers know that the beer they are buying comes from an independent brewer.

The survey found that having just been around since May, there is already a strong awareness of the seal, with a 33 per cent awareness among Australian craft beer drinkers. Additionally 83 per cent of survey respondents said that the seal would have a medium to large influence on their beer purchases.

In 2017 there were three major buyouts of leading craft breweries in Australia, with AB InBev buying both Pirate Life and 4Pines, while CocaCola Amatil bought Feral Brewing Co. The survey found that 66 per cent of craft beer drinkers were aware of one or more of these buy-outs and that 57 per cent of those people had changed their purchase habits since the buy-out. Most are now buying less (43 per cent), or have stopped buying beers from these breweries all together (13 per cent).

BREWING

CUB DISCUSSES THE FUTURE OF DRINKING

CRAFT BEER DRINKERS IGNORING THE CDS The 2018 Australian Craft Beer Survey, has thrown out some surprising results, one of which showed that drinkers in the category are not engaged with the New South Wales Container Deposit Scheme (CDS).

The survey found that few craft beer drinkers use the CDS, the controversial scheme that was introduced by the NSW Government at the end of 2017. The survey reported that just 14 per cent of respondents said that they regularly take their used bottles and cans to a CDS collection point, with the majority, 68 per cent preferring to use kerbside recycling.

Michael Waters, the Executive Director of the Liquor Stores Association of NSW and ACT, said the result did not surprise him and reflect the poor planning that went into the Government’s introduction of the scheme.

“Considering that NSW is the only jurisdiction globally to introduce a CDS after implementing effective kerbside recycling, this result does not surprise me at all,” said Waters.

“With local councils now arguably benefiting financially from redirecting beverages containers collected at kerbside, residents are right to expect a proportionate reduction in their rates.

“Keep Australia Beautiful research consistently confirms that beverage containers are not the major contributor to the waste stream that many people assume. Cigarette butts, paper, plastic and takeaway food containers contributed more to the overall litter item count than beverage containers.

“The challenge is that beverage containers take up a large amount of the litter volume (in NSW representing 44 per cent of litter by volume).

The NSW Government claim that the CDS aims to capture 43 per cent of this number (18.9 per cent), meaning people are now forking out hundreds of millions of dollars each year to deal with less than 19 per cent of the litter problem in NSW (by volume), but just nine per cent of total littered items.

“The mark of a successful CDS is one which complements, not conflicts with the already successful kerbside recycling system.”

According to the Return and Earn website the scheme has so far seen more than 700 million containers returned, while there are now 680 collection points across the state, which is still well short of the 800 collection points the Government promised would be in place when the scheme launched.

No or lower alcohol beer products will represent at least 20 per cent of AB InBev’s global beer volume by the end of 2025.

Sara Hesse the Key Account Manager NSW/QLD at Carlton & United Breweries (CUB) told delegates attending the 2018 ILG Conference in Singapore about AB InBev and CUB’s strategy around the health and well-being trend.

“Everyone wants to be healthy. It’s actually the most popular New Year’s Eve resolution – get fit, lose weight, get healthy, drink less, etc. The Australian fitness industry is worth $2.4bn and growing.

And a lot of that works against us in the liquor industry.

“If we look at health consumption by different age groups 41 per cent of millennials make the effort to be in good physical and mental shape. And that was least of the age groups that think so. All of the groups are over 50 per cent in the rating of being careful of the amount of alcohol they drink. That increases with age.

“The 24 to 34-year-olds are most likely to choose a brand based on calories, and also the most likely to preference low calorie beers, so it’s not easy to relate or to combine the fitness and health crazes with the alcohol business.”

So how does AB InBev plan to get involved with the health and well-being trend? Firstly it has set a goal to reduce the harmful use of alcohol by at least 10 per cent in nine major international cities by the end of 2020. “[We aim to] influence social norms and individual behaviours to reduce harmful alcohol use by investing US$1bn across our markets into dedicated social marketing campaigns and related programs by 2025. “[We will] ensure no or lower alcohol beer products represent at least 20 per cent of AB InBev’s global beer volume by the end of 2025. We will place guidance labels on all of our beer products in all of our markets by the end of 2020, and increase health literature by the end of 2025.”

To kick this off, CUB has recently launched the first non-alcoholic beer in the brewery’s 180-year history, Carlton Zero.

Carlton Zero aims to expand the number of occasions people can enjoy beer while encouraging moderate drinking and a long-term reduction in harmful drinking.

While Australian sales of non-alcoholic beers have grown 57 per cent over the last five years, the sales volumes of non-alcoholic beers are very modest in Australia compared to the US, Canada and Europe. CUB’s launch of Carlton Zero is expected to significantly increase non-alcoholic beer sales in Australia.

Carlton Zero is now available in liquor stores and major supermarkets across the country, where it will go head-to-head with other non-alcoholic beers. It will be sold in matte-black cans and stubbies.

Sara Hesse from CUB presents at the ILG Conference in Singapore

NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS OCTOBER 2018 | 43

NORTHERN TERRITORY CONFUSION AN OPEN LETTER FROM THE FORMER CHAIR OF THE NT LIQUOR COMMISSION

L

ast month I had the pleasure of joining Faye Hartley, President of Liquor Stores Association of the Northern Territory (LSA NT) on store visits in Darwin. Seeing first hand the work ethic and resilience of LSA NT members (and nonmembers) was incredible and a testament to the culture of small business to battle on through difficult environments.

It is fair to say that NT presents unique social and cultural issues, and these need to be tackled with careful thought, fact-based evidence and strategic implementation. It is also fair to say that the cornucopia of measures being simultaneously delivered by the NT Government as a result of the recommendations from the Riley Review, will not meet this standard.

Both residents and industry alike are perplexed and confused by the rushed implementation of Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP), which commenced on 1 October 2018 with little communication or preparation.

Store owners are facing the real possibility of

44 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

threats to their personal safety with the likely confusion and unhappiness that consumers will experience when insufficiently announced changes impact the price of a variety of products. Further, compliance will remain difficult when the complicated rules related to promotions are poorly understood even by the government itself. It seems a steep learning curve is ahead for all.

However, even more alarming for industry is the overlay of a range of other measures which are being speedily introduced over the top of MUP. It is completely unclear how the effectiveness or impact of MUP can be measured with so many other significant changes at the same time. Some would argue it is in fact impossible to accurately measure or assess.

Between a raft of changes to licence conditions for grocery stores, a licence condition review in Alice Springs, and MUP – store owners face the very real threat of simply being unable to keep pace with the compliance

environment. And the NT Government faces the challenge of being able to prove whether any of the measures were effective.

Richard O’Sullivan, the former Chairman of the NT Liquor Commission, shares the concerns. Shared here is an extract of his open letter to government and industry: “I write with regard to takeaway liquor sales, predominantly those sales from licensed outlets, commonly referred to as stores, and the Alcohol Policies and Legislation Review Final Report (‘the Report’).

In essence in the Northern Territory takeaway liquor sales are generated through: • Hotel and club bottle shops and hotel drive-through venues • Major supermarket chain bottle shops (Coles: Liquorland & Vintage Cellars; Woolworths: BWS) • Independent bottle shops (e.g. Headframe bottle shop in Tennant Creek) • Store and smaller supermarket chains • Online purchases from interstate

CONTRIBUTOR’S

PANEL Currently there are approximately 540 liquor licences operating in the NT. The Report identified that there were 78 store and liquor merchant licences selling takeaway liquor, with a further 182 hotel and clubs providing takeaway sales. While store licences enable six day a week liquor trading, hotel and similar licences provide seven day a week trading entitlement.

The NT Liquor Act has as its predominant objective the minimisation of harm. In order to ascertain the appropriateness of liquor licences, licence conditions and related safeguards, there needs to be consideration and examination of potential harm. The Report does not examine takeaway alcohol volumes or harm levels arising from the various points of sale outlined above.

It references store licences in isolation with regard to takeaway liquor, without consideration of sales volumes or harm from the other points of sale.

Trading of licensed stores is specifically targeted with the following recommendation: ‘Takeaway liquor only be permitted to be sold from a standalone business in which the primary focus of the business is the sale of alcohol.’

The Report proffers that takeaway liquor should only be sold from a standalone premises and any business that does not have the sale of alcohol as its primary purpose should not be licensed. Confusingly, the Report then refers to granting a stay for existing licensed businesses to continue liquor sales and that a period of seven years be granted for a store, or similar, to provide a standalone area for the display and sale of liquor products.

Under this scenario all 78 existing store businesses could continue trading but only after having to bear a cost burden of constructing a standalone area within or adjoining the current business premises. How this lessens or mitigates harm is not explained. A rational mind could conceive this proposal as a cost and red tape impost to store businesses with little or no benefit to alcohol problems besetting the NT. The underlying premise appears to be that a standalone grog shop will cause less harm than an outlet combining alcohol with food.

A lesson from NT Licensing Commission Decisions, in imposing restrictions on takeaway alcohol through limiting hours and product types and volumes, is that alcohol dependent people travel or move to localities where it is more ready availability. This jurisdiction or locality hopping was particularly evident where measures were imposed at communities along the Stuart Highway. Cancellation of store licences would similarly move high dependent drinkers to other easily accessible localities within the townships – moving the problem rather than removing it.

Store licences, like any takeaway licence, can be abused. Historically a number of smaller stores have been breached for illegal and irresponsible trading. So have hotels and major supermarkets.

A floor price for alcohol, a major recommendation of the Report, is being introduced. This initiative is designed to target the sale of cheap high alcohol by volume products and is anticipated to be particularly effective in combatting the harm of cheap ‘bang for your buck’ liquor. Before embarking on

any measures, to close or cost impost stores, this initiative should be given time to be implemented and to operate for a reasonable time to enable assessment of its impact on alcohol sales and harm.

The addition of auxiliary police/liquor inspectors and more vigilant enforcement measures, including for secondary supply to persons on the Banned Drinkers Register, should also be factored in before precipitative measures targeting licensed stores are progressed.

I write this as a concerned and long term Darwin citizen with the insight of having been Chairman of the NT Licensing Commission for eight years.”

It seems despite industry’s calls for evidencebased facts to be used to substantiate further changes in NT, the Government is going to press on with its plans without further consultation. LSA NT and ALSA are working with other industry bodies to continue to lobby the NT Government to pause, reflect, and prevent unintended consequences and harm to small business.

JULIE RYAN, CEO, ALSA Julie Ryan is the CEO of the Australian Liquor Stores Association (ALSA). Before joining ALSA Julie was a director of the Winemakers Federation of Australia (WFA) and on the executive management team of a global wine company with a broad responsibility covering global legal services, government affairs, company secretarial and risk.

NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS OCTOBER 2018 | 45

DRIVING BETTER DRINKING BEHAVIOURS

T

he alcohol beverages industry’s role in reducing alcohol related harms was highlighted in September with the release of the International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD) Producer Commitments report, which showed some outstanding results from around the world.

The report serves as an example of outcomes that can be achieved when the public, private, and civil sectors work together on innovative ways to reduce alcohol-related harms.

Highlights from the report include; more than six million underage children reached with messages against underage drinking via face-to-face interactions; 97 per cent of contracts with advertising agencies containing compliance with responsible alcohol advertising codes; and an average of 224 local responsible retail initiatives happening each year – an increase of 66 per cent.

Alcohol Beverages Australia (ABA) members locally and globally should be proud of the important role industry is playing to drive better drinking behaviours and working to ensure these initiatives succeed.

The most effective way to do this is to continue to work collaboratively with the public sector, Members of Parliament and local communities to ensure policy initiatives and education programs target issues with evidence-based, tailored solutions.

In addition to the report highlights, at a local level, our industry is involved in hundreds of local liquor accords where liquor retailers and licensed venues work alongside police and emergency services workers,

PANEL

business and local government to produce solutions to local problems and safer experiences for people enjoying a night out.

At the state and national level our industry is a consistent and responsible participant in evidence-based alcohol regulation and reform, and a strong supporter of responsible consumption via our strictly regulated advertising and marketing scheme.

Also released last month, the ABS’ Apparent Consumption of Alcohol data showed Australia’s overall consumption of pure alcohol per person has dropped to its lowest levels since the 1960’s.

This supports and confirms we are drinking less alcohol but opting for more premium products as we explore different drinking experiences and embrace the ever-emerging foodie scene.

The ABS findings also complement the most recent NDSHS data, which showed continued declines in key problem areas of binge drinking and underage drinking and reminds us our consumption behaviours are on the right track.

Australians should be encouraged by the positive trends in the consumption data – both in relation to overall consumption and underage and problem drinking – and as an industry we should be highlighting our role and achievements in this during the public debates around alcohol.

The industry has earned its seat at the table to help reduce alcohol related harm and will continue to draw attention to evidence-based, targeted solutions to ensure the progress we’re achieving can continue.

FERGUS TAYLOR, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ABA Fergus Taylor is the Executive Director of national alcohol beverages pan-industry body, Alcohol Beverage Australia. Before joining the industry he worked in senior roles for state government ministerial offices, national and international media organisations and as a communications and stakeholder engagement consultant.

46 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

CONTRIBUTOR’S

SEE SOMETHING THAT DOESN’T ADD UP? REPORT IT AT WINE WATCH

A

ustralian wine enjoys an enviable reputation as an authentic, highquality product. For the Australian grape and wine community’s continued growth it’s critical that it’s reputation is maintained and defended.

Wine Australia has a key role in protecting the reputation of Australian wine through our function as the sector’s regulator. We administer export controls, the Label Integrity Program and ensure that wines comply with the blending rules and the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code.

We take our responsibility to protect the sector’s reputation domestically and internationally very seriously and to make it easier for the community to draw potential breaches to our attention we have launched Wine Watch.

Wine Watch is a web page in the vein of Neighbourhood Watch, that allows anyone to

report potential breaches of winemaking rules and labelling practices to Wine Australia to facilitate further investigation.

Reports can be made anonymously, if desired, and scans or photographs of suspect labels or bottle images can be uploaded to assist our investigations. People reporting their concerns are encouraged to provide as much information as possible when making submissions through Wine Watch.

The Australian wine sector has an excellent track record of compliance and it’s one we want to maintain. Wine Watch is designed to build on the existing strong self-regulation in the Australian grape and wine community to ensure our reputation for integrity, quality and authenticity is maintained long into the future.

In addition to reporting suspected instances of non-compliance with Australian wine labelling rules, Wine Watch also allows members of the Australian grape and wine

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community to report sightings of copycat wine brands identified in overseas markets.

Copycat brands are those that are clearly developed to leverage from the confusion caused between them and similar well-known brands. This has the potential to adversely affect the export trade in Australian wine through compromising the integrity and authenticity of our wines. Exporters found to be knowingly aiding the distribution of copycat wine brands in overseas markets will come under scrutiny.

While our role does not extend to protecting or enforcing private intellectual property rights, where activity in overseas markets has the potential to adversely affect ‘brand Australia’, we want to know about it.

If you see something that you think might compromise the reputation or integrity of Australian wine, we want to know about it.

Wine Watch can be accessed at www.wineaustralia.com/wine-watch

RACHEL TRIGGS, GENERAL COUNSEL, WINE AUSTRALIA Rachel Triggs delivers legal, risk management and strategic support across all business units and assumes responsibility for Wine Australia’s regulatory function including the management of the label integrity program and maintenance of the Register of Geographical Indications and Other Terms. Prior to joining Wine Australia, Triggs worked as a corporate lawyer specialising in wine law.

48 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

CONTRIBUTOR’S

CELEBRATING NEW ZEALAND PINOT NOIR

CONTRIBUTOR’S

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H

istorically Pinot Noir appears to have been planted in the North Island’s Wairarapa region as far back as 1883, but it wasn’t until the late 1980s that accolades began to roll in, and since the 1990s plantings have expanded throughout all regions in the south and select sites in the north.

Pinot Noir accounts for 15 per cent of New Zealand’s producing vineyard area (5,653ha) second only to Sauvignon Blanc (23,102ha).

The variety recorded production increases under good conditions in 2018, a year that saw New Zealand wine exports grow for the 23rd consecutive year by 2.5 per cent to reach $1.7bn.

PINOT NOIR’S POPULARITY Pinot Noir is enjoying excellent growth in Australia. Across the on and off-premise, Australian consumers are embracing the delicate, food-friendly wine. According to the recent 2018 Australian Liquor Stores Association (ALSA) and IRI State of the Industry report, Pinot Noir brought more than $24m in growth to the Australian off-premise, the third highest of any varietal in 2017 and enjoyed the second highest cost per unit, behind only Champagne.

As the national organisation for the country’s grape and wine sector, New Zealand Winegrowers (NZW) recognises our members are well placed to take advantage of this growth with the array of distinctive regional and terroir-driven styles of Pinot Noir, known globally for their exceptional quality.

RALLYING THE INDUSTRY NZW recently launched a trade promotion where retailers and restauranteurs can win an all-expenses paid immersion trip to New Zealand. The promotion activity is to take place in October when the east coast becomes a Pinot lover’s heaven with dozens of New Zealand producers descending on Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane for the Pinot Palooza festivals. The competition provides an avenue for retailers, wine bars and restaurants to leverage that buzz and be in the running to win an incredible trip at the same time.

Entrants are required to stock or list at least three New Zealand Pinot Noirs from two different regions and come up with a unique way to showcase the varietal’s diversity. NZW sees this as an opportunity for trade to increase their range of wines and add value to their business in a category that is experiencing strong growth. The two winners will be chosen based on the creativity and effectiveness of their campaign, irrespective of venue size or scale and will be hosted in New Zealand for up to two weeks, attending key events on the NZW event calendar alongside more than 80 invited trade, media and industry opinion leaders from around the world.

COMMUNICATING DIFFERENTLY Beyond the trade promotion, NZW has also launched a ‘What’s your New Zealand Pinot

Personality’ quiz campaign to educate on the country’s different regional personalities.

Using new media, wine lovers can complete a fun, interactive quiz that determines the New Zealand Pinot Noir region that best fits their character. One lucky entrant will win a short break experience in Queenstown inclusive of flights, accommodation and a day of activities.

Restaurants and retailers participating in the trade promotion will be provided with assets to share with their own customers and databases to encourage entry and footfall to any activity they organise.

There’s a lot to get excited about when it comes to New Zealand Pinot Noir – from the wildly different expressions from each region to the abundance of food matching possibilities.

It’s now time to shine.

You can head to nzwine.com/pinot-promo to find out more about the trade competition.

NATALIE GRACE, MARKETING MANAGER – AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND WINEGROWERS New Zealand Winegrowers is the national organisation for the country’s grape and wine sector. As the local representative for the organisation in Australia, Natalie Grace is responsible for all Australia market activity including the education and events programme, visiting media and trade, and market insights. Prior to her appointment in 2013, Natalie was the Communications Manager for New Zealand winery Craggy Range based in the Hawke’s Bay.

NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS OCTOBER 2018 | 49

WINE NEWS

CAPITALISING ON THE DIGITAL AGE The digital age has shaken up the way consumers are making purchasing decisions. Speaking at the 2018 ILG Conference in Singapore, Luke Van Staveren from Pernod Ricard Australia looked at the power of digital and identified some key consumer opportunities.

Van Staveren pointed to the frequency of internet use in Australia. He said that 56 per cent of people use the internet more than five times a day and 84 per cent of Australians access the internet daily.

Looking specifically at retail, he said that 82 per cent of consumers look up information about a product or brand while they’re in-store and 52 per cent of in-store purchases are driven by digital content.

“Therefore, at Pernod Ricard we want to equip shoppers with premium content and engage with your shoppers,” Van Staveren told the 100 delegates in attendance.

“In Australia, bricks-and-mortar retailers who are venturing to online have a greater trust versus pure online retailers, so obviously the bricksand-mortar are important, as is digital.

“Sixty-three per cent of people compared prices from a competitor retailer while they were in a store, so they’re online searching, even though they’re physically in-store.

“All the traditions, the rules and conventions of the traditional past are being changed.”

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER “With the greater access to information and networks, consumers have more choices and higher demands. We’ve moved from the passive to being empowered consumers, particularly fuelled by transparency of social media and review sites.

“For Pernod, we’ve had a massive increase in our electronic data transactions. We want to know more about what’s happening with our consumers.”

Van Staveren identified seven key consumer opportunities: it’s better for me, human authenticity, shaking the codes, power for the consumer, easy at home and everywhere, doing good for the environment and the feminine identity.

THE VISUAL CONSUMER Van Staveran pointed to the fact that nearly 60 per cent of digital impressions are driven by images and more than five billion emoji’s are sent every day through messenger apps. So this is a rapidly evolving landscape that will continue to challenge brands to creatively engage with consumers.

“Now, as part of your everyday options, e-commerce is going to triple its share in global retail marketing expenditure in the next three years, and that’s massive. We’re looking at ways to interact with the customer.

That’s the on-demand type of mediums, where people can go online and purchase things any time of the day and interact with brands.”

WHERE TO NEXT? “Our consumers need online inspiration. Shopper behaviour has changed.

There has been some market disruption and Amazon is definitely one that comes to mind in that area. And convenience and speed is key, so things

Luke Van Staveren from Pernod Ricard presents at the ILG Conference in Singapore

like click-and-collect, on demand, deliveries within smaller timeframes is what consumers are demanding.

“To capitalise on these we need strategies of how we go to market and how we present our brands. The approach towards digital, obviously from a retail point of view and even from an on-premise perspective, supplier engagement and amplification of in-store activity is definitely a must. So definitely things like leveraged promotional programs that the commercial team, the marketing and trade teams put together.

“Lead generation. Gaining that data capture is quite important and making consumers or shoppers your ongoing supporters.

“Conversion. Having content to drive the sale is what’s key with data at the end of the day and having the content that’s relevant to the message of the brand that’s being presented, and being able to search for that information is critical.”

Van Staveren gave an example of a promotion that was run by Pernod Ricard to support the launch of Absolut Botanik.

“When we launched Absolut Botanik we had a $20 cashback that was communicated in-store through POS. It was also communicated through our social media platforms where people could sign up and then go into store and redeem that way. It’s a great vehicle for driving trials of NPD and innovation that you have in-store, it’s definitely a great way for people to try and get that conversion of a sale.”

So with consumers in need of so much online inspiration and with these changes in shopper behaviour it’s more important than ever for retailers to be engaged with digital. His advice is for them to work with suppliers to source content to use within their own digital platforms.

“Just basically use whatever you’ve got on hand. I’m sure all the suppliers in the room would say that they’ve got plenty of content that you guys can use within stores to generate that lead activity and generate brand awareness, and the shoppers to have that consumer experience. It doesn’t have to be perfect but at least if you’re making it relevant is the key.”

The oldest wine brand you’ve never heard of.

AVA I L A B L E N O W – C A L L 0 8 8 2 9 6 8 2 6 1 – PAT R I T T I .C O M . AU 50 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

WINE NEWS

CUMULUS WINES HAS A FRESH NEW LOOK Cumulus Wines has launched a fresh new look for its signature Cumulus Estate Wines brand, with the new packaging rolling out from September.

When its key ranges Rolling and Climbing were first released 15 years ago, their distinctive illustrated packaging stood out. Now with the help of drinks specialist design agency Denomination, Cumulus Estate Wines has been reimagined to capture the unique spirit of the brand and region that it represents.

Cameron Crowley, CEO of Cumulus Wines praised Denomination’s reputation for creating innovative and successful brands.

“Both Rolling and Climbing aim to bring to life the joy of wine and the very special place that gives these wines life – our unique dual appellation vineyard in the beautiful Orange wine region.

“In today’s competitive wine market, it’s more important than ever to increase shelf visibility and consumer attention. Our goal was to retain elements of the original design, but incorporate new illustrations with a vibrant, fresh look to reflect the quality of our wines.

“Denomination has a reputation for creating beautiful, innovative and successful brands and they have yet again delivered on our iconic Cumulus Estate Wines brand.”

Known for its whimsical packaging, Rolling has three new illustrations across the red, white and sparkling varietals. Rolling’s ‘heroine’ character Beatrice features with her faithful dog Cirro exploring the vineyard and the distinct cool climate seasons.

The Climbing labels are inspired by the high elevation of the Orange region. The brand’s ‘hero’ Henry is scaling the heights of the single estate vineyard over 600m with local Mt Canobolas in the background.

The newly illustrated wrap label includes an embellished circus ticket with serrated edges honouring the history of the travelling circus in the region and surrounding areas.

The rollout of Rolling and Climbing refreshed packaging commenced September 2018 and continues through to February 2019.

Craig Grafton, Chief Winemaker, Ferngrove

NEW CHIEF WINEMAKER APPOINTED TO FERNGROVE WINE GROUP Over the last two years, Ferngrove Wine Group has been charting a new path that’s been built on the back of its vineyard investment, new winery facilities and the addition of a new management team, with the most recent appointment of Chief Winemaker, Craig Grafton.

Grafton’s appointment will see him responsible for the winemaking and stylistic direction of all Ferngrove wines across its Australian and international portfolio. Working closely with the winemaking and viticultural team, Grafton will guide the style of Ferngrove’s brands as well as transforming the Ferngrove winemaking foundations.

Grafton joins Ferngrove from Pernod Ricard where he held a number of winemaking positions over the last 11 years. Recent leading roles including Barossa-based Winemaker responsible for the Chardonnay portfolio, Regional Winemaker and Senior Winemaker at Helan Mountain winery in China for six vintages.

A passionate Chardonnay and Malbec advocate, Grafton says he is looking forward to working with the Ferngrove Great Southern and Margaret River vineyards to express the fruit purity of each vineyard site.

“My philosophy will be to proudly make Ferngrove wines of longevity, purity and freshness, true to their region and true to their site.”

Ferngrove Managing Director, Andrew Blythe said the appointment comes at a time where the business has been undertaking a transformation.

“Ferngrove’s long recognition as a quality Great Southern producer followed by Craig’s passionate and extensive winemaking knowledge throughout Australia, as well as the strength of his award-winning winemaking at Pernod, will be a credit to our wine brands,” Blythe said.

Grafton’s appointment has already reaped substantial rewards for Ferngrove, picking up Gold and Trophy at the Brisbane show for best Shiraz of the show.

WINE NEWS

HEARTBREAK GRAPE A WINNER FOR HANDPICKED WINES The heartbreak grape has delivered a heart-warming result for Handpicked Wines in the 2018 Australian Pinot Noir Challenge. Handpicked has won the Challenge with its 2017 Collection Mornington Peninsula Pinot Noir.

The Handpicked Collection wine scored 97 points to take out the 2018 Australian Pinot Noir Trophy for best wine of 250 entered from nine premium Australian wine regions, as well as the trophy for Best Mornington Peninsula Pinot Noir. Also vying for the top spot was Handpicked’s single vineyard Mornington Peninsula wine, 2017 Capella Vineyard Pinot Noir, which scored 96 points.

Accepting the trophies at the awards dinner in Melbourne, Director of Winemaking Peter Dillon said it was a highlight for Handpicked Wines and personally gratifying.

“The Australian Pinot Noir Challenge is the biggest collection of Pinot Noir wines in Australia, it is a prestigious prize and one we are thrilled to win. On a personal level, these trophies mean an immense amount; Pinot Noir is certainly a passion project for me.”

Handpicked has invested heavily in the grape, acquiring two premium

Pinot Noir vineyards in the past 18 months – one in the Upper Yarra Valley and one in the Tamar Valley, Tasmania.

In keeping with the Handpicked philosophy of making classic wines from the world’s best wine regions, the Handpicked Collection portfolio includes Pinot Noir wines from Mornington Peninsula, Yarra Valley, Tasmania and Central Otago, and there are plans for an Oregon wine in the coming northern hemisphere vintage.

“It was inspiring to visit Oregon and see the calibre of its vineyards and wineries. The Willamette Valley has some incredible Pinot vineyards and we have made valuable partnerships with premium growers there,” Dillon said.

Dillon paid tribute to Handpicked Owner and Managing Director William Dong, as well as his vineyard and winemaking teams, including Assistant Winemaker Jonathon Mattick and Capella Vineyard Manager Karl Roberts.

“William Dong has provided unwavering support in chasing the dream of making the best wines in Australia and the world. Our hard work and attention to detail is paying off.”

NEW RELEASES PIERRE D’AMOUR ROSÉ VIN: NV RRP: $19.95 Aromas of delicate rose petals entwined with fairy floss and musk sticks lead to a crisp, vibrant and easy drinking style. The palate bursts with alluring flavours of fresh red berries.

Dry and classic savoury notes with a refreshing finish.

Distributed by: Calabria Family Wines

LAMBROOK ‘SEED’ SAUVIGNON BLANC VIN: 2018 RRP: $20

LAMBROOK ‘SEED’ PINOT GRIS VIN: 2018 RRP: $20

LAMBROOK ‘SEED’ ROSÉ VIN: 2018 RRP: $20

With grapes harvested in the cool of the night and gently transported for crushing, the zesty fruit flavours have been retained.

Vibrant and fresh with citrus notes melding with honey and tropical flavours.

Distributed by: Lambrook Wines

A first release of this wine, it is light to pale in colour with textbook aromas of pear and white peach. The palate is fine in texture and well balanced leaving a clean, crisp finish.

Distributed by: Lambrook Wines

Pale pink in colour with aromas of raspberry and strawberry. A lively, finely textured palate displaying red berry fruit flavour is complemented by a soft mineral acidity and a hint of sweetness.

Distributed by: Lambrook Wines

52 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

WINE NEWS

VIN DE CHAMPAGNE AWARDS WINNERS NAMED Champagne Bureau Australia announced the two winners in the 43rd biennial Vin de Champagne Awards, which recognise the long-standing relationship between France’s Champagne region and Australia.

The Vin de Champagne Awards are organised on behalf of the Comité Champagne in Epernay which represents the Houses, Growers and Co-operatives of Champagne. The aim is to promote the enjoyment of Champagne in the Australian market.

Following a grand final judging, which included an interview and blind tasting, the winners in each category, Professional and Amateur, were named at a black tie dinner at Sydney’s Quay Restaurant.

The Professional winner was named as Leanne Altmann the Wine Director for Andrew McConnell Restaurants in Victoria, while Nicole Smith Practice Manager at the Sunshine Eye Clinic in Queensland took out the Amateur award.

John Noble, Director of the Champagne Bureau Australia, praised the submissions of the two winners.

“Both Leanne and Nicole’s written submissions were considered excellent by our team of preliminary judges, and their knowledge of the Champagne region and descriptions of the selected three Champagnes served during the judging was incredible; especially since they had absolutely no information about the wines, aside from what was in the glass.”

The dinner at Quay Restaurant was attended by senior Champagne industry members, media and educators, along with Hannelore Rima from Comité Champagne and judges Huon Hooke, Peter Bourne and Bernadette O’Shea.

The grand prize for Altmann and Smith is a two-week educational tour through the Champagne region where Comité Champagne will present them with their medal at Maison du Champagne in Epernay.

The awards program has established a network of over 40 Champagne specialists who act as ambassadors and educators to promote the Champagne Appellation Australia-wide by sharing their knowledge and appreciation of the wine.

“All of our finalists from the 2018 competition were outstanding, but the two winners were really stand out candidates – they absolutely exemplified what the award is about and will make great Champagne Ambassadors,” added Noble.

The roll call of past winners of this prestigious award includes Australia’s most knowledgeable and respected wine industry people, including winemakers, journalists, restaurateurs, sommeliers, commentators and Champagne educators.

LAMBROOK ‘PLANT’ CHARDONNAY VIN: 2017 RRP: $35

LA LA LAND GARNACHA VIN: 2017 RRP: $18

LA LA LAND VERMENTINO VIN: 2017 RRP: $18

ST LEONARDS VINEYARD ROSÉ VIN: 2018 RRP: $28

Youthful and approachable with citrus notes, yet creamy and rich with vanilla characters to finish. The flavour is soft and lingering and has been applauded for its excellent value.

Distributed by: Lambrook Wines

Aromas of cinnamon, spice, strawberries and cherries and a smooth and rich palate. Vibrant red berries and a trademark hint of herbs and spices.

Distributed by: Wingara Wine Group

Wine with attitude.

Vibrant flavours of tangy lime, pear, nectarine. Dry, textural and very drinkable.

Styled after Vermantino from Sardinia - aromatic and slightly richer.

Distributed by: Wingara Wine Group

A seductive pink colour, it is beautifully refreshing with soft berry fruit and lovely spice aromatics with a crisp, clean dry finish.

Distributed by: St Leonards Vineyard

L-R: Leanne Altmann and Nicole Smith

NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS OCTOBER 2018 | 53

WINE NEWS

TWE EXPLORES NEW WINE DRINKING OCCASIONS Over the past three years Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) has conducted its largest ever usage and attitudes study, speaking to 3,000 consumers to better understand how they shop and why they drink.

Speaking at the 2018 ILG Conference in Bangkok, Kylie Farquhar the State Sales Manager at TWE told delegates how TWE was using the findings to introduce more people into the wine category.

The study showed a shift in the way Australians are drinking wine. In 2011, 6.1m Australians drank wine at least twice a week but in the last six years, 9.8 Australians drank wine, but just once a week.

The age bracket found to have the lowest level of engagement and therefore which presents the greatest opportunity, is the group from legal drinking age through to 34 years, aka millennials.

“We can see that from legal drinking age through to 34 years of age, 34 per cent of the people we surveyed had only drunk once in six months, and 20 per cent of them every week. There’s actually quite a significant difference as it comes through the age brackets. From 35 to 54 you’ve got 44 per cent of wine consumers that drink every week, and then in the 55 plus group there is 36 per cent,” said Farquhar.

“What this is showing us is that from legal drinking age through to 55 plus, it’s actually more and more important that we start engaging millennials into the wine category.”

So how can we engage more millennials? According to Farquhar the first step is understanding how and where they drink.

WHERE ARE PEOPLE DRINKING? The TWE study showed a decline in wine consumption at home and while at home is still the most important place for consumption, more people are shifting towards the on-premise.

“When you just look at spend, there has been a decline in wine consumed at home with a meal and that’s something we’ve actually felt so we’ve done a lot of work through our promotions to try and get people to enjoy a wine at home.

“Interestingly enough there seems to be a trend at the moment for people to go back out for those less involved occasions, so things like those Sunday sessions are really starting to play a key part. There is definitely a balance that’s shifting, so while wine at home is by far the most important place for consumption we are definitely seeing a really big shift towards that on-premise channel.”

In retail, the digital age has shifted the way consumers are making their choices as they are able to do price comparisons on their phones while in-store. And the survey found that more than 60 per cent of shoppers are actually deciding what brand of wine to purchase while in-store.

“It’s interesting that wine has the highest influence in-store than any other category in the liquor industry. When you have a look at things like beer and RTD, the majority of consumers that come into your stores already have a pre-decided brand that they are definitely going to purchase. It’s a little bit different when it comes into cider and spirits, but the significant influence is really more on the wine side.

“Then of course what is most important to all of us is when it comes to pure margin and profit, wine is the second largest category and it’s in the highest growth, but it also has your highest retailer margin as well. So we try to trial as many things as we can to get more people into the wine occasion and to allow more profit to come to your business overall.”

IT’S ALL ABOUT REFRESHMENT Farquhar said that TWE took the findings of the study and decided that a focus on refreshment would help to bring new and younger drinkers into the wine category.

“One of the key segments that we’re focusing on, not only this year

54 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

Kylie Farquhar, TWE but into the future, is all about refreshment and of course rosé, which is pretty much the biggest growth segment at the moment at more than 10 per cent of the market. We believe that bringing wine into that whole refreshment category is the biggest incremental growth activity that we could do in the next 12 months and beyond,” she said.

“Looking at the statistics, the number one growth brand with 82 per cent growth is Great Northern. The number one NPD in alcohol in the last 12 months is Iron Jack. The number one beer SKU in $21m worth of growth is Corona. RTD, which was in decline for a long time is now returning to growth and worth $94m.

“And we also look at something that has had the highest growth over the last 12 months with 80 per cent growth and that is the Aperol Spritz.

“So what is it about every single one of those products? They are clean and crisp, they are sessionable, they are spritzed and they’re chilled. So we believe that this is where opportunity knocks within the wine category.”

NEXT STEPS FOR TWE Over the last few weeks, TWE has launched a range of wine in cans under the brands of A’tivo, Squealing Pig and T’Gallant.

“In the US they currently sell about (40m cases) $15m of wine in a can per year and a majority of that in the US is still wine, so it is Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Cabernet – and it is quite a significant segment. They also sell wine in a can in the UK but they do quite a lot of Prosecco over there and it’s actually in 38 per cent growth in the UK market at the moment.”

Taking all of their findings from the US and the UK, TWE found that the top selling wine in can from around the world was always either sparkling or spritzed and very varietal driven.

“From that, all of the cans that we’re launching into the market right now are spritzed. They’re all 250ml serves, they’re all eight per cent alcohol and they’re all wine, so they’re not an RTD. They are 100 per cent wine based and something very new to the market.

“We are going to put a campaign together over summer which is all about opening up that afternoon refreshment session and giving people an opportunity to potentially move away from the dominance of beer and into canned wine as an alternative.

“Our campaign is what we’re calling ‘The Big Chill’ so chill it, ice it, share it. By doing that, we believe together we will drive wine into more occasions, we will drive more foot traffic into stores and venues and then obviously a key part of this is trying to inspire new consumers into the wine market.”

Distributed Nationally by Red + White: 1300 780 074

WINE NEWS

AUSTRALIA’S WINE REGIONS TO BE MAPPED ROW-BY-ROW Wine Australia is set to engage artificial intelligence to accurately map the vineyards across Australia’s 65 wine regions for the first time.

High-resolution satellite images and advanced machine learning will be used by Consilium Technology’s world leading agricultural artificial intelligence software GAIA (Geospatial Artificial Intelligence for Agriculture) to deliver a row-by-row census of all of Australia’s vineyards.

Wine Australia Chief Executive Officer Andreas Clark said: “The national scan is an exciting opportunity as it will allow Australia for the first time to have a scalable and repeatable method to measure vineyard area.

“Through the investment, the maps will also be delivered in an online interface that will be able to be accessed by Australia’s grape growers.”

The first scan will be completed by mid-2019 and will then be repeated for two years to produce maps for three consecutive vintages.

Wine Australia’s agreement with Consilium Technology follows a successful pilot undertaken earlier in 2018, which returned an outstanding accuracy of more than 90 per cent for scans of the two trial regions Margaret River and Tasmania.

“GAIA’s pilot of Margaret River and Tasmania demonstrated the technology can deliver accurate, timely and cost-effective information about Australia’s vineyards and it is exciting that its capabilities will continue to grow as it learns from the information it receives. We are extremely pleased with the results,” Clark said.

GAIA’s first test was conducted in Margaret River where vineyard locations were already known, and a quantitative analysis of accuracy performed on the results. A second demonstration was then run using the trained algorithm from the previous analysis to demonstrate its learning capability, which showed a five per cent improvement on the previous scan.

Tasmania provided GAIA with an unknown space to work with and the added complication for the software of other crops that have a very similar appearance to vineyards.

“GAIA stood up to the challenge and we’re excited to see how it performs against similar obstacles in other wine regions,” Clark said.

The first national scan will include the geolocation of every vineyard block in Australia, the area of vineyards for each geographical indication and the length of the vineyard rows in each region.

It is anticipated that the information from the scan will also be beneficial to Australia’s biosecurity activities and wine label integrity. To improve the quality of the reporting, grape growers will be asked to identify the varieties of the vineyard plots from the scan.

CHAMPAGNE LAURENT-PERRIER CELEBRATES 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF CUVÉE ROSÉ Laurent-Perrier has collaborated with Australian artist and illustrator Kerrie Hess to create a limited edition Cuvée Rosé Gift Box to celebrate its cherished Cuvée Rosé and the 50th anniversary of this iconic Champagne.

Hess’ illustration for the gift box was inspired by her time in Paris and captures the Parisian romance of enjoying Cuvee Rosé among the city’s most well-known landmarks including the Eiffel Tower and The Pont Alexandre III Bridge. The pink water-coloured tones are inspired by the hues and sensory characteristics of the Champagne.

Paul Stenmark from Laurent-Perrier says: “We are delighted to release this beautiful, limited edition gift box for Cuvée Rosé. The unique gift box is a celebration of the elegance and freshness of Cuvée Rosé. Kerrie’s style aligns perfectly with the origins of the brand and its subtle richness.”

Hess said: “Laurent-Perrier Cuvée Rosé has always been one of my favourite Champagnes. I wanted to evoke the romance of Cuvée Rosé through the Parisian setting and soft rose coloured tones. I also wanted to pay homage to the time 50-years-ago when this Champagne first launched with a slightly vintage feel; while still being fresh and modern.

Just like the Champagne itself.”

As part of the collaborative process Hess visited Maison LaurentPerrier in Tours-sur-Marne, in the outer regions of Champagne where she toured the vineyards and cellars of Laurent-Perrier.

Only 500 units have been released nationally and are available now through selected independent retailers for RRP $140.

56 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

WINE NEWS

The 100th vintage of The Iconic was launched in Shanghai, China

CALABRIA FAMILY WINES LAUNCHES 100TH VINTAGE OF THE ICONIC Calabria Family Wines has proudly released the 100th vintage of its Grand Reserve Barossa Valley Shiraz, The Iconic 2014.

The milestone of this exceptional old vine vineyard, classifies the vines as ‘Barossa Centenarian’; equal or greater than 100 years of age.

To promote the launch of the wine, the Calabria family held the event in Shanghai, China. “China is a significant market for Australian wines,” says Andrew Calabria, Sales and Marketing Manager of Calabria Family Wines.

“We chose to hold the event in China to solidify the importance of the Australian wine industry in the growing Chinese market.”

The grapes for Calabria’s 100 Year Old Vines Shiraz come from the family’s ‘William’ vineyard located in Barossa Valley’s Nuriootpa. The Barossa Centenarian Vines were carefully hand-harvested by Owner Bill Calabria, vines that were originally planted by the Hahn family in 1914.

“These precious vines have truly withstood the test of time and are a living symbol of traditional values,” said Bill Calabria, Owner and second generation of the Calabria Family.

“Our Calabria The Iconic Shiraz, is symbolic to our family but also the Barossa land. Australia is home to some of the oldest vines in the world and this vineyard plays a vital role in the world history of viticulture and I am just fortunate enough to be able to nurture this vineyard site.”

Chief Winemaker of Calabria Family Wines, Emma Norbiato, commented on the Calabria family’s commitment to the vineyard.

“Bill’s goal in restoring the centenarian vineyards was really just about putting the love back into the vines. They are old, brittle and incredibly fragile, they have survived drought and floods and at times they had been neglected, but they are still in the ground and we all feel privileged to be able to not only touch and care for something that is 100-years-old, but to be able to then develop a superb wine. Not many plants in agriculture last 100 years and the fact that they are still producing makes them incredibly special.”

Norbiato continued: “The 2014 vintage release represents the hard work of all those that have toiled this land before us, resulting in a culmination of 100 years agriculture, art and science in every glass.

Aromas of black liquorice and blood plum weave through subtle layers of spicy oak. Powerful and concentrated yet pure and divine – true to its Barossa heritage. Crafted with longevity in mind, The Iconic can be cellared for 10 to 20 years.”

58 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

PENFOLDS BRINGS RECORKING CLINICS BACK TO AUSTRALIA Penfolds is bringing its recorking clinics back to Australia in November, with its winemakers offering ‘the ultimate wine health-checks’ on aged Penfolds wines.

The clinics allow anyone with any Penfolds red wine aged 15 years or older, the opportunity to have their prized bottles opened and visually inspected, quality assessed, topped, certified, and re-capsuled, arresting any further deterioration due to leakage or low levels.

Penfolds has been providing the clinics around the world since 1991, and so far close to 150,000 bottles have been certified globally. Wine owners must make a clinic appointment to give them the chance to meet the Penfolds winemaking team and have their bottle registered and assessed.

Penfolds Chief Winemaker, Peter Gago, said: “Penfolds has offered this extraordinary after-sales service for more than 26 years and we are still surprised by the rare and special bottles that are presented to us for assessment around the world.

“It’s not just early and rare vintages of Grange that excites our winemaking team, some of my most memorable moments from Clinics past include assessing pristine bottles of 1976 Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet, Bin 28 from the early 60’s and St Henri’s from the 1950’s.

“As winemakers, it’s very rewarding to meet with collectors from around the globe who are willing to share their personal stories about their wine’s history. It’s both comforting and humbling to know our wines are being cellared with great care, passed down through generations and often enjoyed many decades later.”

All bottles that are recorked will be certified and signed by the winemaker. An optional valuation service is also available in parallel to the Clinic for collectors wanting to know the value of their bottle by leading Australian fine wine auction house, Langton’s.

Penfolds 2018 recorking clinics: • Melbourne: 12th – 14th November at Grand Hyatt Hotel • Sydney: 22nd – 24th November at Primus Hotel • Adelaide: 29th November – 1st December at Magill Estate Kitchen Registrations are now open for Penfolds Re-corking Clinics via the Penfolds website (Penfolds.com) and bookings are essential.

MALBEC GREAT SOUTHERN, W.A. Most often, we talk about wines to pair with food, however at Ferngrove we talk about pairing a glass of Malbec with the backdrop of a roaring fire – there’s something about the smell of the smoke, the crackle and pop of the fire, the orange glow of the flames reflected in a glass of Malbec that soothes the soul.

“Ferngrove Great Southern Malbec exhibits the true character of its grape variety – velvety-textured, richly coloured and truly delicious to drink.

A wine perfect for every-day consumption or as a great fireside addition with friends”.

CRAIG GRAFTON - CHIEF WINEMAKER

Live the life we love

WWW.FERNGROVE.COM.AU

WINE NEWS

WINE EXPORTS COPYRIGHT CONSULTATION PAPER LAUNCHED Australia’s wine industry is being urged to give feedback on a consultation paper that has been released, which is looking at a proposal to develop a new Wine Export Label Directory.

The paper comes after the Winemakers Federation of Australia (WFA) has spent a number of months working with the Australian Government looking at options to strengthen the country’s wine export regulatory system to deal with potential intellectual property infringements.

Tony Battaglene, WFA Chief Executive said: “I welcome the proposal put forward by the Australian Government. The Australian wine sector has stringent export control measures in place to protect our brand overseas, and this is another string in our bow.

“This is a highly important additional step in strengthening our industries risk management and brand integrity. This is not only important for big brands, but provides an important part of our risk mitigation strategy for exports from all companies, no matter their size. All Australian wine brands should welcome this proposal.”

The consultation paper has been released by the Australian Department of Agriculture and Water Resources, and the department has called for industry feedback on its proposal to develop the Wine Export Label Directory.

WFA said that the intention of the new directory is to enable brand owners to protect against the export of ‘copy-cat’ products by monitoring potential infringements to their intellectual property.

The development of a new national Wine Export Label Directory of publically searchable wine label Intellectual Property (IP) will enable brand owners to identify infringements of their IP and to take action to protect their rights. It will also allow for closer regulatory cooperation with the authorities in major export markets.

WFA said that it believes this is an important step to the protection of the Australian Wine brand and that the directory has the potential to

WINE INDUSTRY EYES ASSOCIATION REFORM Two of Australia’s key wine industry bodies, the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia (WFA) and Australian Vignerons (AV) have entered into formal discussions on a potential amalgamation.

The move would see the two industry bodies join to create a single united peak body, to represent the Australian grape and wine sector at the federal level.

60 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

deliver increased integrity for export control systems. The proposal would build on Wine Australia’s increased regulatory powers which came into force in April 2018.

The proposal and information about providing feedback are available at: https://haveyoursay.agriculture.gov.au/wine-labels

WFA Chief Executive, Tony Battaglene, said that the move is something that has been mooted in the past and that it could help the wine industry have a stronger voice on the federal stage.

“There have been discussions over the years for reform of the grape and wine representative bodies, to deliver greater unity and representation of the sector as a whole,” Battaglene said.

“It has been made clear to me, that political parties of all persuasions would welcome representation from a single body for the grape and wine sector and our advocacy efforts would be much stronger.”

AV Chief Executive Officer, Anna Hooper said that WFA and AV have been holding discussions on how to achieve better service delivery for the whole sector.

“The creation of a single body will provide stronger representation for our members, improve efficiency and increase positive outcomes for the entire grape and wine sector,” Hooper said.

“This proposal demonstrates a fantastic example of collaboration and leadership that Australian Vignerons is proud to be part of. We look forward to the prospect of being able to deliver more for our members, and the sector as a whole.”

WFA and AV are now in formal discussions on the structure of a single organisation, with the objective of a vote on the amalgamated body to be presented to Members in November 2018.

Both WFA and AV Boards support these moves and believe that this is an important first step in better delivering outcomes for the sector as a whole, and will enable the delivery of a program of work that will benefit all sector participants.

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WINE NEWS Neil McGuigan

AVL PROFITS UP BY 79 PER CENT Australian Vintage Limited (AVL) has posted its full year results showing a 79 per cent increase in profit to $7.7m, as well as improvements in revenue, cash flow, sales and net debt.

Chief Executive Neil McGuigan told National Liquor News that this result was a “good step” for the business, which has done “quite well”, that it vindicates the decision to focus on the UK market after the Brexit vote and that the company was confident about what was going to happen in the future.

“What pleases us greatly is the decision we made two years ago when the Brexit vote occurred in the UK,” McGuigan said. “A lot of companies retreated from the UK but the Brits love Australian wine and we decided to do the opposite to a lot of other companies and we actually invested in the market.

“We put more people on, we worked very hard to get exposure in every major supermarket and we also put people on in the UK’s independent division.”

McGuigan also said that the company had some help with exchange rates, which had hurt AVL’s results in recent years.

“The performance of the UK business was better by $5.4m and $1.6m of that was exchange rate. So we’ve had a bit of a kicker with the exchange rate which has helped the business, but we have also increased our sales.

“Our sales were up 25 per cent, McGuigan was up 18 per cent over there, so we’ve done particularly well. But we do have a foreign exchange policy within the business that we adhere to and that de-risks the business, but when the Brexit vote occurred, no-one saw that coming and no-one had enough coverage.”

He added: “We made our commitment in the UK and now we have come out the other end and now we are the third largest global brand by volume in the UK, which we’re very proud of. And in the independents we’ve gone from 21 to 12 and we want to be in the top five.”

62 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

While the company has focused on the UK market, and McGuigan said they are there for the long haul over there, he was keen to re-iterate how important the Australian market is to AVL. “We are working very hard with the independents as well as Woolworths and Coles; we’re going to continue to do NPD, and new packaging options, new label options and of course new varietals.

“We’ve got to embrace new consumers, don’t just assume that the new drinkers will simply drink what their parents were drinking. So we’ve released Prosecco under Tempus Two, we’ve got a Grüner Veltliner coming out of Adelaide Hills for Nepenthe, we’ve got Montepulciano, which we’ve planted at our Barossa Valley vineyard under McGuigan.

We’re planting Carménère this year as well and of course Malbec.

“Malbec is a variety that we have got a position with in the UK, it has worked very well for us there and we are going to be releasing that in Australia as well.”

Overall AVL reported that sales of McGuigan, Tempus Two and Nepenthe were up 14 per cent, with McGuigan saying that Tempus Two is “on fire” and “going incredibly well” in Australia.

He added: “McGuigan was basically flat this year, and that was because we had to take a strategic decision on the price point of Black Label. Black Label red is Australia’s number one selling red wine and as a result the range was targeted on price point because it is so successful.

“If you are not going to respect your brand then no-one else is, so we did not want to start that downward spiral on discounting on a brand which is so important to us. So we took a strategic decision and we made sure we didn’t support promotional activity and as a result we’ve got Black Label priced at $9 and $7 on special, which is where it should be.”

In terms of looking to the future and the shift in wants and needs of new consumers and legal age drinkers, McGuigan welcomed the challenge saying: “We are always evolving and always looking for new opportunities and we are filling the NPD pipeline.”

CHAMPAGNE & SPARKLING

NV ANDREW GARRETT SPARKLING SHIRAZ

AZAHARA MOSCATO

The Andrew Garrett name is synonymous with original, approachable and authentic Australian sparkling wine. Established in 1983 Andrew Garrett Sparkling Shiraz is an iconic, highly recognised and marketleading Australian sparkling wine. It is rich, full flavoured and complex. It displays soft tannins and plenty of sweet berry fruit flavours, finishing dry on the palate.

Award winning Azahara Moscato is light in alcohol with zingy acidity and a refreshing spritz to balance the delicious, sweet fruity flavours. Sourced from family-owned vineyards interspersed with citrus groves, Azahara is Spanish for ‘orange blossom’ and symbolises the unique location of its vines. Vibrant, approachable and fashionable, Azahara Moscato is perfect with brunch, desserts and on summer days. Order now.

LUC: $8.50 Distributor: Vok Beverages

LUC: $8.06 Distributor: Red + White

Vok.com.au

Azahara.com.au

OYSTER BAY SPARKLING CUVÉE BRUT Don’t wait for the moment. Make it. This holiday season, delight your customers with the elegant and dazzling Oyster Bay Sparkling Cuvée Brut. Notes of radiant lime, citrus and white peach, accentuated by a finely bubbled palate with a crisp, refreshing finish, make it one of Australia’s most sought after premium sparkling wines.

LUC: $14.04 Distributor: Delegat Oysterbaywines.com

’Tis the season TO START PLANNING FOR CHRISTMAS

64 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

CHAMPAGNE & SPARKLING

BABYDOLL PINOT GRIS SPARKLING BLUSH Just like the little sheep that Babydoll wines are named after, this sparkling wine is something special and unique.

A blushed, sparkling Pinot Gris with a delicate peach and floral scent and a delightful pear and ripe berry flavour on the palate. Babydoll is excited that this, along with the rest of the Babydoll range of wines is now available for the first time to Australian retailers.

LUC: $17.74 Distributor: Young & Rashleigh (NSW) The Wine Company (VIC/QLD) Off The Vine (WA) Chace Agencies (SA) NT Agencies (NT)

IRVINE THE BARONNESS This is a blend of two classic Champagne varieties. Petit Meslier and Chardonay.

Irvine Wines owns one of only two vineyards of Petit Meslier in Australia, and to show it at its best has decided to keep the wine Pétillant Naturel (on lees and bone dry).

This is a zesty, fresh expression of these varieties with a lovely creamy complexity on the palate.

LUC: $18.81 Distributor: Domaine Wine Shippers

HENKELL BLANC DE BLANCS A must have this season, Henkell Blanc de Blancs adds a little sparkle to every occasion. A premium cuvée created from only white grapes, this sparkling displays a fresh, elegant and well-rounded palate. With a distinctive painted white bottle Henkell Blanc de Blancs offers a contemporary sparkling for those who seek a stylish alternative.

LUC: $16.71 Distributor: McWilliam’s Wines Group

Irvinewines.com.au Contact: 1800 800 584

Babydollwines.co.nz

NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS OCTOBER 2018 | 65

CHAMPAGNE & SPARKLING

Ready to pop: EXCITING TIMES FOR BUBBLES

THE RUN-UP TO CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR IS A HUGELY IMPORTANT TIME FOR THE SALE OF ALL SPARKLING WINES AND CHAMPAGNE, ANDY YOUNG LOOKS AT WHAT RETAILERS NEED TO DO TO MAKE SURE TO TAKE FULL ADVANTAGE OF THE SALES SPIKE. Champagne Lanson’s Green Label is about purity and freshness

C

hampagne and sparkling wines have never been more popular in Australia and while those growth trends continue in a positive direction, this is a crucial category for retailers, and one they should ensure they are capitalising on.

Over the last 10 years exports of Champagne to Australia have seen huge growth, and as the quality of Australia’s sparkling wine improves and Australian consumers become more knowledgeable about homegrown products, the opportunities continue. In addition, with the growth of the spritz and other Prosecco-based cocktails that segment is also becoming increasingly important to retailers.

While these styles and occasions are presenting more opportunities, Charlotte Agard, Business Development Manager ANZ at Champagne Lanson, suggests there are further opportunities for retailers to help consumers think a little differently about their bubble buys.

“When consumers are searching for a wine to go with a meal, sparkling or Champagne doesn’t often come to their mind,” she says.

66 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

“Rather than fighting for the best price on the Brut, what would bring value to the consumer is a good price on one of the more premium cuvées,” Charlotte Agard, Champagne Lanson

CHAMPAGNE & SPARKLING “The retailer has a role to play here, by suggesting a different pairing association. Bubbles go very well with fish, seafood and desserts – those are the classics – but also with cheese, veal and richer meats like duck, prosciutto and pasta. The possibilities are endless and it completely changes the whole food experience.”

However, while the cocktail and spritz occasion are important to the category, Annelie Mitchell, Marketing Manager with the Wingara Wine Group, says that the understanding Australian consumers are having about sparkling wines is developing and maturing.

“There still appears to be a retail push to promote sparkling together with cocktails and spritz drinks which signifies ‘celebration’,” Mitchell says. “However sparkling wine consumption is changing from special occasions to everyday drinking.

“As consumption frequency increases and palates mature, similar to Europe, Australian consumers will increasingly realise that sparkling wine is one of the most food friendly wines.

“In Spain it is custom to drink cava with daily meals as the floral, citrus, and mineral characters and lower alcohol are refreshing and work to complement, not overpower, the flavours of the food.”

The Champagne Taittinger house and vines

“The key to unlocking growth in sparkling wine is calling out more casual occasions in-store, and educating consumers to see sparkling wine as a choice for refreshment,” Caroline Brown, Brown Family Wine Group The Brown Family Wine Group has seen tremendous success recently within the sparkling category, driven by its Prosecco and other innovations. In 2016 and 2017 the Brown Brothers Prosecco was the standout driver of Prosecco’s ongoing momentum in Australia, accounting for 30 per cent of all the segment’s growth.

Caroline Brown agreed that if retailers can pre-promote sparkling and help consumers to take a slightly different view of the wine, then there are huge opportunities.

“The key to unlocking growth in sparkling wine is calling out more casual occasions in-store, and educating consumers to see sparkling wine as a choice for refreshment.”

That concept of Champagne being an excellent food-matching wine, is one very close to the heart of Champagne Taittinger’s Clovis Taittinger. And while it is important to him that consumers understand this, he believes it is also important that everyone remembers what is at the core of Champagne.

“Champagne is definitely a drink of celebration and, to my opinion, we should never forget this fundamental aspect,” Taittinger says. “To celebrate has been, is and always will be a key component of our lives. It is important to celebrate every single thing in life and not take a certain ‘well-being’ for granted.

“Things can unfortunately change and we have to celebrate when it is time to.”

He adds, “If Champagne is very successful it is because it goes very well with gastronomy too and lots of people are continuing to discover this. More can be done on this aspect, maybe. But to me I would leave it to everyone’s appreciation and choice. It is wrong to influence the consumers too much and I prefer that everyone keeps their free spirit.”

For Trina Smith, the White and Sparkling Winemaker at Jacob’s Creek, the complexity of sparkling wine is what opens up more occasions and makes it a great food wine.

“Sparkling does have the reputation as a celebratory drink, however I have always been a big believer that sparkling wine matches beautifully with food also,” she says.

“A young sparkling or Prosecco with prosciutto, seafood or spicy Asian dishes is a great way to celebrate the end of the week or get ready for a night out.

Champagne on lees in the Taittinger cellar

NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS OCTOBER 2018 | 67

CHAMPAGNE & SPARKLING “Sparkling wines that are more complex work well with more robust meal occasions. Jacob’s Creek Reserve Chardonnay Pinot Noir with grilled salmon or fresh oysters and Jacob’s Creek Sparkling Shiraz complements dishes such as roast duck or BBQ ribs.”

The Taittinger grapes are handpicked off the vines

TRENDS IN BUBBLES Sparkling and Champagne are without doubt popular wines in Australia.

This country is the seventh largest for Champagne exports and, discounting a pipeline filling discrepancy in 2015, exports to Australia have grown every year since 2009. Since 2001 Champagne exports to Australia have grown ten-fold.

Part of the reason behind this growth is the premiumisation trend that has occurred for several years across the whole of Australia’s alcohol market. Taittinger explains why he believes this is relevant in Australia’s Champagne category.

“The clear trend I have seen for years is that people are more and more looking for The right of Australian winemakers to label quality, for consistency and for brands that their wines as Prosecco is being challenged by are representing these values. Our mission Italy. The Italian Prosecco industry has seen is to assure our clients that our brands are the growing success story that is happening in offering pleasure, excellence and consistency.”

Australia and has decided to challenge the use of At Lanson, the Champagne House avoids the term Prosecco. The issue is part of the Free malolactic fermentation, and Agard says this Trade Agreement negotiations happening between adds to the purity and freshness and also its Australia and the European Union, with the latest release in independent retail, its organic, Government saying it’s “working closely with the Green Label NV. Australian wine industry on this issue”. Caroline “Being organic this cuvée goes one step Brown says, “the King Valley is the premium further, the grapes are grown in the most growing region in Australia for Prosecco and we traditional way and respectful of nature, are proud to be part of this region. We bought the using no herbicides and pesticides. The wine vines as Prosecco and we will continue to make, expresses the quality and uniqueness of the and label it as top quality Australian Prosecco”. terroir to its fullest and is characterised by its mineral purity.”

Mitchell adds that part of the consumer journey of looking for more and more quality is the exploration of different styles of sparkling wine.

“Australia is continuing to bat above its average in sparkling wine consumption. We still can’t get enough Prosecco but consumers (especially younger, legal-age drinkers) are more willing to explore across the sparkling category such as Spanish cava – and we are seeing Freixenet cava export sales building. Especially imported sparkling at the mid-tier price point where it is not just about brand name.”

The popular King Valley Prosecco from Brown Family Wine Group

THE PROSECCO FIGHT

“Prosecco’s strong growth, even outside of the key celebration periods, proves that consumers are embracing this as an everyday drink, not one just reserved for celebrations,” Greg Philipp, Kollaras & Co The theme of strong Prosecco growth is one that Greg Philipp, Executive General Manager of Domestic Sales at Kollaras & Co has seen and he attributes the movement to bubbles becoming a more regular choice for consumers.

“Prosecco, both Italian and domestic, is in strong growth in both volume at over 50 per cent and value over 55 per cent, and now represents over 10 per cent of sparkling wine sales in Australia,” Philipp says.

“Prosecco’s strong growth, even outside of the key celebration periods, proves that consumers are embracing it as an everyday drink, not one just reserved for celebrations.”

Looking in more detail at that Prosecco growth, IRI’s MarketEdge data, MAT to 5 August 2018, shows that at $79m, Prosecco’s sales represent 13 per cent of overall sparkling wine sales, but the segment has delivered 86 per cent of the growth. In fact, Prosecco growth of $27m, or 50 per cent, is greater than five times overall sparkling wine growth.

68 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

2018

8

8

MAKING THE VOYAGE TO AUSTRALIA SINCE 1855 The House of Lanson has been crafting fine champagnes using traditional methods avoiding malolactic fermentation for 258 years. Our most recent addition to the family is cuvée Père et Fils Brut NV which is available exclusively through the On-Premise and selected independent wine stores. An enriched evolution of the classic Lanson Black Label it pays homage to the uniquely mouth-watering House style.

On searching our archives, we discovered that Lanson Champagne has been available in Australia since 1855. Let’s raise a glass to celebrate the arrival of the new kid on the block 163 years later… www.lanson.com

#THEPERFECTSTART

Please drink responsibly.

Distributed by Wine DNA, a network of Australia’s top independent wine distributors NSW-ACT:Young & Rashleigh Wine Merchants, 02 9967 5900 VIC-TAS: Santé Wines, 03 9429 1990 QLD: Cuttings Wines, 07 3262 1455 SA-NT: Options Wines, 08 8346 9111

CHAMPAGNE & SPARKLING IRI says that Prosecco is the leading growth varietal and that there is no indication that its growth momentum will stall any time soon.

SEASONAL PEAK

THE GROWTH OF CHAMPAGNE

Despite sparkling wines and Champagne becoming more everyday drinks, there is little doubt that the wines within this category enjoy a seasonal boost. The expectation is that the trends While home-grown sparkles are increasingly experienced throughout the year will continue popular, Champagne is also seeing great growth into the latter part of the year, with key drivers in Australia, with the number of Australians including the warmer weather, Spring Racing and drinking Champagne once a month or more the festive season. increasing from 13 per cent in 2013 to 28 per In fact the 2018 Australian Liquor Stores cent in 2017.

Association (ALSA) and IRI State of the Industry In recent years the amount of Champagne Report highlighted that the strong seasonal exported to Australia has steadily increased, as growth for sparkling and Champagne was detailed below: evidenced by dollar growth of 9.2 per cent in the • 2009 – 2.93m bottles week ending 24 December 2017, with a 5.7 per • 2010 – 3.69m bottles cent uplift in the year’s final week.

• 2011 – 4.86m bottles The report adds, “Seasonal trends have been • 2012 – 5.41m bottles broadly similar on the last two years, with a • 2013 – 6.02m bottles high of 12.4 per cent of dollar sales occurring in • 2014 – 6.52m bottles December and a low of 6.7 per cent in February.”

• 2015 – 8.11m bottles So the time is right for retailers to get ready for • 2016 – 7.39m bottles the seasonal boost and take full advantage of an • 2017 – 8.53m bottles increased consumer desire for sparkling wines and Champagne. But what can you do to make sure you are part of the seasonal peak?

Taittinger says, “Christmas and New Year celebrations are generally important times for re-conciliating, reuniting families, friends and people.

I do believe that Australian retailers have always been very good at promoting Champagne through good online or in-store promotions.

“I do also believe that these times are an opportunity for the retailers to ‘up sale’ and make their consumers discover new cuvées from our brands, above and beyond the classic assortment.”

Brown adds that if retailers can plan some of their sparkling promotional activity at this time, it will make a big difference.

“Sparkling is a traffic driver for retailers, when it’s promoted pre-store.

Retailers should also look to focus their investment in-store, helping to inspire and inform shoppers. With exploration and quality being Katnook Sparkling wine important to shoppers, highlighting new and premium brands will also help, and remember that sparkling shoppers will spend more once they are in a store.”

Philipp also has solid advice, and reminders, for what retailers need to be looking at with the peak season for these premium products starting now.

“Retailers should look to place high margin SKUs front and centre, flanked around the low margin traffic drivers. It’s also important to encourage your staff to know and recommend the high margin brands.”

He adds, “Focusing on the growth sectors, like domestic and Italian Prosecco will help, and retailers should also ensure they have adequate stock weight and facings for increased sales rates. This includes thinking about smaller format products. Finally remember that consumers pantry stock at this time of year especially in this category. So have full cases available and priced; maybe even consider having six-packs of sparkling and Prosecco in the cool room as a ready-to-go option.”

Agard suggests retailers think a bit differently about their promotional strategy with Champagne in the coming months.

“Champagne is a classic at that time of the year so rather than fighting for the best price on the Brut, a game that is hard to win against some larger retail players, what would bring value to the consumer is a good price on one of the more premium cuvées. All the more if that cuvée isn’t available to the wider market.

“A special occasion like Christmas and New Year’s Eve calls for an even more special bottle of Champagne, so a vintage, multi vintage or rosé are Cordon Negro Brut

70 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

A MODERN TAKE ON A CLASSIC. NEW PACKAGING SAME GREAT TASTE Mateus Rosé has always stood out from the crowd with its iconic, unique cantil bottle shape. In 2018, we have invigorated the classic Mateus with a fresh new look but with the same great, quality wine.

A strong performer in the Australia market delivering 12% growth, Mateus is the #1 Rosé wine under $11.99*

A MUST HAVE THIS ROSÉ SEASON!

NEW LOOK COMING SOON!

*IRI data MAT 15/4/2018

For more information, please contact your McWilliam’s Wines representative or the Customer Contact Centre on 1800 800 584.

CHAMPAGNE & SPARKLING very good options to impress the family and friends. The festive season is an excellent opportunity for a sales trade-up so retailers ought to seize it and spend time promoting and educating on the higher-end cuvées.”

ROSÉS IN BLOOM With rosé and sparkling being two of the big growth drivers within the overall wine category, bringing the two together, should also offer growth opportunities for retailers, as Rebecca Appleton, Head of Public Relations, ANZ Brands at Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) points out.

“Sparkling rosé is gaining momentum and is currently growing at 4.4 per cent and we really see this as a premiumisation opportunity for retailers. Sparkling rosé really This is the time of year when sparkling red is a growth varietal, capitalising on the still becomes more and more popular as Rebecca rosé phenomenon and Squealing Pig, which Appleton from Treasury Wine Estates explains, is now Australia’s number one rosé, has a “Christmas is the most important time of the new offering in this space, which will help see year for sparkling red with more 35 per cent of growth from still rosé into sparkling.” the style’s volume going through the months Mitchell adds that with more and more of November and December. It’s a great wine consumers eyeing rosé occasions, there is a for the celebratory occasion of Christmas”. But huge opportunity for retailers, and brands, Annelie Mitchell at Wingara adds the future for when it comes to sparkling options. the style could lie overseas, “We are enjoying “Pink drinks, both still and sparkling are growing interest from Japan and China for our selling extremely well. It seemed to start Australian Sparkling Shiraz, where it is seen as with millennials but has now spread to other a genuinely good wine to pair with their cuisine demographics,” she says. all-year round”.

SPARKLING RED

Sparkling red is much more popular in November and December

“Sparkling rosé is gaining momentum and is currently growing at 4.4 per cent, we really see this as a premiumisation opportunity for retailers,” Rebecca Appleton, Treasury Wine Estates “Sparkling rosé is not just fun but can have real depth of flavour and good acidity, making it a great wine to drink with the many different cuisines available in Australia. Freixenet has recently launched a Sparkling Italian rosé in the UK which sold out immediately and we plan to release it in Australia in 2019.”

Philipp agrees that sparkling rosé is a “fantastic opportunity to grow value in the sparkling category, combining two large trends in wine”.

He adds, “We feel this year will become a launch pad for the category, hence our decision to extend the Maschio Del Cavalieri range with a sparkling rosé, which is coming this month.”

Agard also highlights the opportunities that exist for rosé in Australia.

“Globally rosé Champagne represents 9.5 per cent of the total volume and 11.5 per cent of the total value of Champagne exports, while in Australia it only represents 3.3 per cent and 3.8 per cent respectively.

There is a huge opportunity for growth in that market. The Australians have just started appreciating the quality and versatility of the still rosé wine so rosé Champagne is definitely the next trend on the list.”

Meanwhile Taittinger says that their rosé has always been important, and that he believes consumers who fully engage with the category, will discover these kinds of expressions as part of their journey and exploration.

“Champagne Rosé has always been an important success for our houses and is still growing every year,” Taittinger says. “I not only believe in the potential of rosé in particular but more in the potential of ‘Champagne’ in general. We shall never rest on our laurels and our mission is really to help more people discover Champagne, its history, its culture and its wine. Once people are ‘in’, they generally tend to discover Champagne’s complex world, its brands and its colours by themselves.”

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The Brown Brothers Prosecco Spritz

CHAMPAGNE & SPARKLING

“The spritz trend is only just beginning and we foresee this to be a new and exciting category in wine,” Caroline Brown, Brown Family Wine Group Sparkling red is another wine that works with many different types of food

THE SPRITZ Another huge opportunity within the category is the spritz, following the rise of the aperitivo in Australia and there are a number of brands who have moved to meet this consumer desire.

One of those is the Brown Family Wine Group, with Brown saying, “The spritz trend is only just beginning and we foresee this to be a new and exciting category in wine. We have recently launched Prosecco Spritz in both a 750ml bottle and a 250ml can format. Prosecco Spritz is a refreshing twist on Prosecco with orange aromatic bitters and it is perfect for more casual occasions”.

Jacob’s Creek has also launched a Prosecco Spritz, and Smith says it has proved to be a huge success so far.

“With the signature serve of Prosecco Spritz, it is an ideal drink to have in the warmer months, but it is also suitable for occasions throughout the year. The original Prosecco Spritz (Blood Orange) has been a tremendous hit with Australian consumers. We’re excited to launch Prosecco Spritz Rosé with delicious pink grapefruit flavours just in time for summer, adding a new twist on the aperitivo occasion.”

So with the key selling period fast approaching and many brands looking to capitalise on growth trends like Prosecco, rosé and spritz, this is an exciting time for sparkling and Champagne. It is also an exciting time for retailers, with the opportunity to increase As sparkling and Champagne becomes a more sales of high margin, high value brands over popular ‘everyday’ drink, one of the drivers of the coming months. that is understanding its amazing compatibility With Australian consumers looking to explore with food. This can often be missed, as when it all aspects of the category, staff knowledge and is served as a celebration drink, it can be served understanding will definitely help as a guide. As with sweet cakes, which are actually one of the Australian consumers understand more about incompatible foods for Champagne. Because sparkling wine and Champagne, the momentum sparkling wines and Champagne contain high to purchasing more and not just for celebrations levels of acidity and smaller amounts sugar, it builds. With the coming months offering has extremes that complement elements in many opportunities to increase sales, there is also the different types of food from simple seafood and opportunity to build on this momentum and shellfish dishes through to curries and duck take Champagne and sparkling wines forward delights. Then there are the bubbles, of which strongly in the new year.

Master Sommelier Andrea Immer says, “I call them scrubbing bubbles for your palate”.

BUBBLES AND FOOD

Cordon Negro and Paella Sparkling wine works with many food types

NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS OCTOBER 2018 | 73

CANNED WINE

CAN YOU DIG IT?

AUSTRALIA INVENTED THE HILLS HOIST, CREATED THE WINE CASK AND CHAMPIONED SCREWCAPS – IS CANNED WINE NEXT? ANDREW GRAHAM EXPLORES THE GROWING TREND.

W

hile it was once considered just a passing fad, wine in a can is now the fastest growing segment in the US wine industry, up by 43 per cent in the year to June 2018 (BWW 166). That growth has also been seen in the UK, where canned wine is up by more than 30 per cent.

Importantly, while the canned wine segment is still tiny – just 0.2 per cent of total wine sales in the US (Nielsen data) – the growth is most obviously seen in millennial drinkers, a part of the market often ignored or more actively targeted with RTDs and cider.

Regardless of the international success, canned wine locally is still seen as a novelty – a product segment that is yet to have an audience. Still, with producers both big and small investing in the format, and can technology expanding rapidly, the question is not whether cans will be ‘a thing’ but who will be first to capitalise on their success.

TREASURY TURNS TO TINS Of the larger wine producers dabbling in the segment, it is Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) with one of the most significant investments.

In September, TWE released six different wines in cans, across the A’tivo, Squealing Pig and T’Gallant brands. Notably, all of them are either sparkling or spritzed.

As Kylie Farquhar explained at the 2018 ILG Conference in Bangkok, this release has been led by international experience – particularly the UK market, where Prosecco cans are proving very popular.

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“All of the cans that we’re launching into the market right now are spritzed,” she said “They’re all 250ml serves, they’re all eight per cent alcohol and they’re all wine, so they’re not an RTD. They are 100 per cent wine-based and something very new to the market.”

Beyond the convenient packaging, the appeal of cans is that consumers associate them with outdoor dining and, most importantly, refreshment.

The giant TWE Usage and Attitudes Study suggested that while ‘refreshment’ drives 30 per cent of drink choices, wine only makes up one in 10 of those decisions.

In other words, even a small move towards wine as a ‘refreshment choice’ can increase sales, particularly across the all-important millennials age group.

Farquhar also set out how TWE will be backing the push.

“We are going to put a campaign together over summer which is all about opening up that afternoon refreshment session and giving people an opportunity to potentially move away from the dominance of beer and into canned wine as an alternative.”

THE BATTLE OF CANS While TWE envisage considerable growth for canned wine, they face one challenge that might stymie that growth – the can technology itself.

Canned wine is not really a new idea, with the concept seen way back in the 60s when Sydney wine merchant Doug Lamb imported cans of Beaujolais (and the 30s before that). Yet

the nature of wine itself meant that these early cans typically had a short shelf life, plagued by problems with stability and corrosion.

In 2001, Australian inventors Greg Stokes and Steve Barics instead patented a canned wine solution known as Vinsafe that instead would allow for wine to be stored safely for longer periods in aluminium can. Their company, Barokes, famously protects this patent vigorously and has pursued anyone who has produced wine in cans regardless of whether it uses the Vinsafe parameters.

TWE, however, is one of many Australian winemakers that is unhappy about the broadness of the patent and has taken Barokes to the Federal Court to have the patent put aside.

Conversely, Barokes claims that this is just a tactic employed by TWE as they “don’t want to pay the royalty fee”, noting that negotiations went on for five years until TWE launched the A’tivo brand without an agreement in place.

Barokes, however, is on a less-than-stable footing itself, with the Japanese partners in the business Daiwa ordering it to be wound up in proceedings in the Supreme Court of Victoria.

MAKING CANNED WINE COOL While Barokes and TWE battle it out in court over canned wine intellectual property, there are a squad of producers who are using Vinsafe can technology and winning over drinkers.

Riot Wine Co. is one business that is no stranger to alternative methods of wine

CANNED WINE packaging. First launching as a wine in a keg business (with rosé on tap) in 2017, they’ve now successfully branched out into cans.

What the team at Riot has found is that cans are really just an alternative method of packaging that’s not glass. A packaging that, thanks to Barokes’ Vinsafe technology, now has a shelf life of 18 months.

As Co-founder Tom O’Donnell explains, the battle to make canned wines mainstream has similarities to other Australian wine challenges.

“Remember screwcaps? When first introduced they were the anti-establishment of a traditional industry that’s never really changed. Fast forward a decade and the majority of wine consumed in Australia is under screwcap,” he said.

“Wine in can is awesome, when there is awesome wine in can. No light, no oxygen, no reason to add masses of preservatives. It’s fast, fresh accessible wine.”

The perfect seal of cans – and lack of light – makes them a surprisingly good option for ensuring freshness. It’s a key reason why the beer industry has fallen back in love with cans for the most aromatic, hop-driven styles.

Indeed for Riot, it was the fragrant and crisp rosé that first showed the potential of canned wine. A sparkling Chardonnay and a Sauvignon Blanc followed, and they’re about to release a premium McLaren Vale Grenache, just to prove that the concept can support true premium wine styles.

The next step for O’Donnell and business partner Joe Cook is to take Riot global, all while “enjoying a few cans along the way”.

FINE WINE, CANNED Another producer exploring the canned wine segment with gusto is Fourth Wave Wine. Now sporting seven different wines in a can, what sets this range apart is that it is biased away from sheer convenience and instead into more premium wine.

As Co-founder Nicholas Crampton explains, this was a deliberate move.

“People are trying to do two things with wine in a can: Either creating a new beverage for casual drinking that is likely easy, sweet, bubbly and basically a wine cooler, or providing dry table wine in a more convenient format for certain occasions – that is, the same wine but more convenient.

“I am not sure where the first option goes but on option two which is what we are doing,” he said.

“Looking at other categories I think the future of wine packaging is a greater diversity of options. Wine will still be anchored and dominated by 750ml glass but with 250ml and 375ml cans having a solid role along with keg, half bottles or even Tetrapak. “(Still) cans should certainly play a clear role, give convenience and can be a third of a

NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS OCTOBER 2018 | 75

CANNED WINE bottle for a third of the price which other small formats can’t.”

While Crampton has seen early success with sparkling wine (just like TWE noted), he also sees the growth in pure table wines.

“So our Mascareri Prosecco sells well as people get it, there is less stigma and it suits parties and picnics. But the big surprise is that our Take it to the Grave Shiraz sells almost as well.”

There is just one intriguing problem that Crampton has seen with cans so far – and it lies with retailers.

“Overall the cans are performing solidly – a useful addition to the category... hampered a bit as no one knows where to put it in-store.”

CANS OR BUST Still, while makers like Crampton have found early success there remains scant evidence that cans will make a difference for premium wine.

Will Figueira of Wine Selectors isn’t sure.

“I think it will be very hard to manage and strategise how (canned wine) is sold to premium wine drinkers. Do these buyers even want wine in a can?

“Cracking a can open to pour out a premium glass of wine loses a lot of the romanticism and ‘moment’ you get in pouring a wine out of a bottle,” he said.

“I don’t see a situation right now where people will be picking up a can of Penfolds Bin 389 on the way home to have with their dinner.”

NO CAN BYSTANDER Despite the challenges, there’s no denying the success of the right wine in cans.

Especially for makers with proven success in non-glass packaging options, like Innocent Bystander.

Renowned for its market-leading Moscato, Innocent Bystander has been experimenting with different formats for some time now, with six years of wine in kegs and a brief dabble in cans more than five years ago.

As Head of Innocent Bystander Mat Janes explains, cans were only given away due to local perceptions.

“The main issue, similarly to screwcaps, is established views around wine packaging,” he said.

“In Australia, we love our 750ml bottles and wine drinkers, retailers and on-premise outlets have struggled to adopt new formats for selling wine.”

But things have changed more recently, and the relaunched Innocent Bystander Moscato cans are already proving popular. “(With) markets like the USA, wine in cans have seen significant adoption over the last couple of years and I think Australian wine lovers are ready to get on board.”

76 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

CANNED WINE Janes believes that cans offer for drinkers more than just a good drink, but a fresh one.

“Wine in cans is about convenience and portion control,” he said.

“We’ve all endured a stale glass of wine from a bottle that’s been open too long, or ‘polished off the bottle’, rather than letting it go to waste, especially with sparkling wine. “(With cans) there’s the convenience of not having to drag glass bottles around to picnics and parties and there’s the ability to just have a glass without opening a whole bottle and feeling the need to finish it rather than wasting it.”

Despite the can appeal, Janes still believes glass is king.

“However, when it comes to the joy of a shared wine occasion, enjoying a bottle over a

“WE ARE GOING TO PUT A CAMPAIGN TOGETHER OVER SUMMER WHICH IS ALL ABOUT OPENING UP THAT AFTERNOON REFRESHMENT SESSION AND GIVING PEOPLE AN OPPORTUNITY TO POTENTIALLY MOVE AWAY FROM THE DOMINANCE OF BEER AND INTO CANNED WINE AS AN ALTERNATIVE,” KYLIE FARQUHAR, TWE meal with friends and family, bottled wine will still come up trumps.”

CANS FROM THE CREEK It’s not just Innocent Bystander enjoying success with canned Moscato, with Jacobs Creek also seeing strong demand, as Pernod Ricard’s Eric Thomson notes.

“The slight spritz of Jacob’s Creek Moscato works perfectly when served in a can or poured into a glass,” he said.

“We launched them in Australia in June this year however we have been selling them since 2017 in Canada where they have been enormously successful.

“We are currently investigating what other wines would be suitable for cans, with a focus on light and fresh styles across Pernod Ricard Winemakers’ portfolio.”

THE FUTURE As a segment, canned wine is in flux.

The industry expectations are that the phenomenal growth will level out within the next five to 10 years, not unlike how long it took for screwcaps to achieve serious significance.

Still, this is one format that retailers can’t miss. The potential to convert more drinkers into lovers of premium wine remains alluring for producers and retailers too. Even if it means reconfiguring the wine fridge.

If you’re stuck on what to do next, let’s cross to O’Donnell for advice: “Simply rip the lid and enjoy.”

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RTD FEATURE

RTD

BACK ON THE

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RTD THE RTD CATEGORY HAS REVERSED THE DOWNWARD TREND OF THE LAST FEW YEARS, TO RECORD SOLID GROWTH OVER THE LAST 18 MONTHS. AVA GREEN LOOKS AT HOW RETAILERS CAN RIDE THE WAVE AND WHAT KEY TRENDS THEY NEED TO KNOW.

T

here was a time when the RTD and pre-mix category was a bit like the poor cousin that no one wanted to discuss especially alongside the fast-growing stars of categories like craft beer. However, that has all changed with the news that the RTD market is in solid growth, with 2017 being a standout year for the $2.4 billion retail RTD market.

According to the ALSA-IRI State of the Industry Report, released in March this year, the RTD category added dollar growth of 4.1 per cent in 2017. In real terms, that is $94 million in added value, and makes for the most significant RTD category expansion in almost a decade.

James Johnstone, Senior Brand Manager for Southern Comfort, says that there is a lot of development in the RTD category, with pre-mix diversifying to cater to a wider range of drinkers.

“There is a lot of innovation in the RTD market with high ABV offerings in various can sizes, above and below the standard 375ml size, being a key driver,” he says. “In addition to this, different flavour offerings, beyond the standard cola, are also aiding to the strength of the category.”

Playing into that dollar figure growth is the fact that premiumisation has a key role in the category – the average price per litre is reportedly up 2.9 per cent (versus 2015 figures), as more sophisticated expressions of pre-mix make their mark on the retail market.

According to Oliver Dos Remedios, Marketing Manager Spirits at Pernod Ricard Australia, this trend in the market shows that there is plenty of growth opportunities to come. “[It] presents a strong opportunity for our premium spirits brands Jameson and Absolut, that are well placed to capitalise on this growth,” he says.

“There is a lot of innovation in the RTD market with high ABV offerings in various can sizes, above and below the standard 375ml size, being a key driver,” James Johnstone, Southern Comfort

RTD THE DARK SIDE IS CALLING The new growth in the premix category is undeniably being driven by the darker spirit base end of the spectrum, with those RTDs accounting for nearly 81 per cent of category value in 2017. Similarly, eight out of the top 10 growth driving brands sit in the dark spirits segment, a segment which recorded a four per cent dollar value rise in 2017 in Australia, according to ALSA-IRI. According to Johnstone, there is still much to be capitalised on in the dark spirit segment, which is what led Southern Comfort to launching Black, it’s 40 per cent ABV SKU, and accompanying high ABV premix in February this year.

“With the high ABV new product development, beyond mainstream brands, continually growing, Southern Comfort

82 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

launched a Black 40 per cent SKU in February 2018 and also extended our offering with a six per cent Cola RTD offering,” he says.

“We are always working tirelessly to innovate at SouthTrade International and launching Black 40 per cent and six per cent has been great for us, and we want to continue this positive momentum for Southern Comfort in the on and off-premise.”

According to the ALSAIRI report, brands adding “a layer of complexity/ sophistication” to the flavour profile and styles of RTD offerings across the dark pre-mix category has coincided with growth across the segment as the new products have resonated with consumers. According to Dos Remedios, it is this focus on flavour that should be driving innovation in the category.

“Taste is an RTD key driver and a focus for us across our portfolio, something that is

PREMIUMISATION STILL A BUZZ WORD There has a been a slew of new premium RTDs entering the market, with appeal aimed squarely outside of the consumer groups that would traditionally drink premix. Asahi Premium Beverages launched a bartender-driven spiced rum at the end of last year, with both a full-bottled spirit and a range of pre-mix options. Developed by prominent local bartenders, Untold takes advantage of the current premiumisation trends, as well as the consumer trend for recreating on-premise experiences at home.

Similarly striking on shelf are the Tanqueray & Tonic RTDs launched by Diageo at the beginning of 2018. Created to resemble the iconic gin bottle, the premium RTD straddles the consumer trends of premiumisation and health consciousness, with the smaller 275ml pack size meaning that each serve is only 93 calories per serve and 1.1 standard drinks, despite weighing in at 5.3 per cent ABV. According to ALSA-IRI, the overarching trend in consumer groups toward preferring higher ABV pre-mixes with a subjectively “premium and authentic spirit base” and a “more refined flavour experience” means that consumers are more willing to pay an “above average” price across the category, compared to previous years.

This is something Southern Comfort has focused on with its new offering.

“To dial up its authentic whiskey story, Southern Comfort launched Southern Comfort BLACK, a robust whiskey-forward profile with subtle spice and fruity accents that takes the original Southern Comfort experience up a notch for those that like their extra-smooth whiskey, extra bold,” Johnstone explains. “The arrival of Southern Comfort BLACK into market, is another example of the kind of exciting innovation that we believe is needed to reframe the whiskey category in Australia and drive further growth in today’s growing high-ABV RTD market.”

IRISH WHISKEY STILL DRIVING GROWTH

“Eighty-six per cent of RTD consumers are purchasing on evening or day [of consumption], so if their brand is not cold, the sale could be missed,” James Johnstone, Southern Comfort not only important for our consumers’ initial engagement but for potential for re-purchase intent,” he says. “Australia has one of the highest per capita consumption rates of RTDs globally. RTD recruits consumers to the master brand with flavour and format being key drivers to the category.”

“Jameson will be giving away a Triumph Bonneville Bobber, valued at $19,990, to one very lucky winner,” says Dos Remedios. “In addition, we will be giving away hundreds of $50 gift cards to be redeemed on the Young Henrys online shop to celebrate their Tinnie Mates partnership.”

SUMMER IN FULL SWING

MAKING THE MOST OF THE GROWTH

Summer is a key time for RTD sales, with parties and barbeques sending people in-store in droves. And the ALSA-IRI figures reflect this, with seasonal consumption trends in RTD remaining broadly similar over the last two years and reflecting this rise in consumption over the traditional holiday party period. There is a high of nearly 12 per cent of dollar sales occurring in December, which dips to a low of around seven per cent in February.

To capitalise on this trend, Johnstone believes that promotions need to be relevant to consumers and not always to brand, which is why he says that Southern Comfort will be tailoring its promotions towards consumers this summer.

“We want to continue to be forward thinking,” he says. “We don’t believe a one-sizefits-all works in this category and as a distributor we continue to work closely with our retail customers, in all parts of Australia, to build successful programmes and brands for everyone.”

There are also plenty of partnerships that are being leveraged by brands to achieve cutthrough with target consumers.

This summer, Jameson Irish Whiskey will be partnering with Triumph Motorcycles and Young Henrys to launch a new summer promotion, beginning 3 December.

84 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

According to Johnstone, retailers need to focus on RTD to capitalise on the growth that the category has been enjoying, particularly in the dark spirits category.

If the recent international furore and subsequent stampede into stores the world over for Conor McGregor’s freshly launched Proper 12 Irish Whiskey isn’t enough to convince you, then perhaps Jameson’s double-digit dollar growth for the two consecutive years to the end of 2016 will. Irish whiskey is a serious business, with exports forecast to double by 2020 according to Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board. Interestingly, in 2017, the glass spirit dollar value for Jameson grew 18 per cent, while its RTD dollar value surged 39 per cent, in Australia.

“We’ve placed a strong strategic focus on sponsorships and collaborations, such as St Jerome’s Laneway festival, to create unique experiences for consumers to enjoy which has led to a significant impact on sales,” says Dos Remedios.

“Flavour and format are equally drivers for growth, where cans now represent over 80 per cent of our volume across four and 10-packs across Dry & Lime and Cola.”

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RTD

“Shoppers are often looking for new products driven by emerging light and fresh trends such as low sugar and healthy flavours/additives, so retailers should ensure shelf space is carved out to promote these adequately,” Oliver Dos Remedios, Pernod Ricard Australia “Maintain higher numbers of stock on floor level versus in fridge displays; and provide clear promotional frequency and visibility of focus SKUs,” he says. “And ensure that stock is cold. Eighty-six per cent of RTD consumers are purchasing on evening or day [of consumption], so if their brand is not cold, the sale could be missed.”

While a lot of the strategies to convert customers to sales are tried and tested, with the lack of RTD growth in recent years, it may have slipped off the radar in favour of trending items like craft beer and rosé. However, it’s important to ensure high promotional visibility in-store, utilising a full suite of POS from brands – including fridge stickers, posters, bollard covers, security gate covers and floor decals – as well as making sure new product lines are visible.

“Retailers can capitalise on RTD in-store via continually looking at providing new innovations and ensuring the product is available both in the fridge and at shelf,” says Dos Remedios. “Shoppers are often looking for new products driven by emerging light and fresh trends such as low sugar and healthy flavours/additives, so retailers should ensure shelf space is carved out to promote these adequately.”

86 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

HEALTHIER CHOICES A key emerging trend from the past few years that has had a large effect on the RTD category is the consumer preference for serves that are perceived to be healthier. That can mean lower ABV; packaging cues that indicate “cleaner and more natural” products; as well as a more modestly sweet flavour profile.

Riding the wave of this trend since its launch in 2015, is the Absolut Botanik range – available in both cans and premium glass bottles. With no artificial colours, the lightly sparkling RTD gives all the cues that health conscious drinkers are looking for – clean, stripped-back branding, clear liquid and only 1.2 standard drinks per bottle in their clear glass offering.

Eschewing the bright colours or traditional light spirit RTDs, Botanik is the adult RTD that light spirit drinkers are looking for.

“Absolut set out to capitalise on the growth of the premium segment, implementing a high quality RTD with Botanik,” says Dos Remedios. “Our ambition for Botanik was to recruit new consumers to the brand and retain existing RTD consumers for longer.”

Sitting alongside newer premium RTDs, like Tanqueray & Tonic and Gordon’s Pink & Soda, these pre-mix options are capitalising on the consumer interest in sugar restriction, refreshment and improved drinkability, making them vastly more appealing to health-conscious consumers looking for an easy drinking option in the fridge.

ASIAN BEER

ASIAN BEERS

k c a p e h t

Leading

THINGS ARE LOOKING UP FOR THE AUSTRALIAN BEER MARKET, WITH GROWTH ACCELERATING OVER THE PAST YEAR THANKS TO A NUMBER OF KEY TRENDS. ASIA’S BEER BRANDS ARE ONE STEP AHEAD, REPORTS MADELINE WOOLWAY.

ASIAN BEERS

R

ecent years have seen pessimistic narratives develop around Australia’s beer market. But data from 2017 tells a different story, with ALSA and IRI’s State of the Industry report stating Australia’s $6.5 billion retail beer market had accelerated.

Unsurprisingly, premiumisation continues to be a key trend across the industry and the beer segment in particular continues to be driven by increasing emphasis on wellbeing and moderation.

And no category is more perfectly poised to capitalise on this trend than Asian beer. While volume growth has slowed a little according to IRI MarketEdge figures covering the 12 months up to August 2018, many Asian brands are continuing to perform very well when it comes to dollar value – on a dollar per litre basis Asian beer increased 3.8 per cent to $6.87 compared to a total beer dollar litre increase of 2.9 per cent to $5.76.

Leading the charge is Asahi. The Japanese juggernaut’s three sub brands – Asahi Super Dry, Asahi Soukai and Asahi Black collectively deliver $6.70 of every $10 spent on Asian beer according to IRI. Digging deeper, the ‘better for me’ trend’s affect becomes apparent. Low carb, mid-strength offering Asahi Soukai delivered the highest growth of any Asian beer brand over the last 12 months.

WHY IS ASIAN BEER POPULAR? Michael Vousden, Beer Marketing Manager at Asahi Premium Beverages (APB), has a few ideas as to what makes the category so popular with consumers.

“Asian beers are popular for their refreshing crisp style,” he told National Liquor News. “But, Asian beers are not one homogenous category. Generally, Japanese beers have a higher premium perception… this is driven by the Japanese brewing know-how and attention to detail in every facet of the brewing process.”

Importantly, the category offers consumers a combination of both premiumisation and differentiation says Vousden. “The European green bottle beer has historically been quite large in the international category and consumers are seeking new experiences in beer, so it is Asian beers that are coming of age.”

Brands, like Asahi, are jumping on the willingness of consumers to try new things. “The demand is also brand driven, with Asahi Super Dry investing to grow awareness and consumer perception,” says Vousden.

One way brands are growing awareness is through on-premise placements. Asian beers have long profited from the popularity of Asian cuisine in Australia. This is especially the case with Japanese exports.

Serge Costi, Premium Category Manager - Marketing at Lion, the distributor of Kirin, said: “the popularity of Japanese food is increasing each year with over 100 new Japanese restaurants opening nationwide, and beers such as Kirin match perfectly with Japanese food due to their crisp, refreshing ale”.

On top of the booming on-premise trade, Asian beers are buoyed by tourism; with 500,000 Aussies visiting Japan each year it’s no surprise to see that translate into the consumption of Japanese beers.

Kirin leverages this trend by emphasising its first press brewing method with high quality glassware, advertising and point of sale materials backing up the premium quality product.

“Kirin sells over four million litres annually trade wide and has performed ahead of the category in the most recent periods (IRI AusWtd to July 2018), in what has been a declining and very competitive

ASIAN BEERS

“The European green bottle beer has historically been quite large in the international category and consumers are seeking new experiences in beer, so it is Asian beers that are coming of age.”

– Michael Vousden, Asahi Premium Beverages

international premium segment,” says Costi. “In these market conditions it is as important as ever to give consumers reasons as to why they should pay extra for your premium brand… it is crucial for brands to showcase what makes them special.”

When it comes to Kirin that means educating consumers about the beer’s history – the first press method sets the brand a part. While most brewers use a blend of first and second pressed malt liquid, Kirin uses just the first press and it’s the only beer in the world to do so.

Attention to detail is ingrained in Japanese culture and it’s an attitude that’s reflected across the nation’s suite of premium beers. While each brand can boast a superior product thanks to it, Japan’s breweries have all developed their own approach.

“Sapporo Premium Beer is a perfectly balanced golden lager reflecting the Japanese brewer’s attention to detail,” says Cam Pearce, Sales and Marketing Director at Coopers Brewery. “Slow, cool fermentation balances delicate hops and esters with full malt character, making it attractive to Australian consumers.”

Japanese brews aren’t the only ones to reap the rewards of strong on-premise presence and tourism; Thai brand Singha has also seen the influence that product placement in restaurants has on consumer preferences.

“Obviously the top handful of brands sell more as they have big advertising budgets, but Asian beers mostly sell from taste alone,” says Joe Molinari of Combined Wines & Foods, which imports Singha to Australia. “The power of the dollar will always set the trend in any category…[but] our best resources

90 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO PLACE AN ORDER, PLEASE CALL YOUR ASAHI PREMIUM BEVERAGES REPRESENTATIVE OR CUSTOMER SERVICE ON 1800 090 378

ASIAN BEERS are the many Thai restaurants where the consumer can buy Singha and Thailand is the most popular destination for Australian tourists.”

Those resources have translated into positive growth for the brand every year, with Molinari predicting 2018/19 will be the best yet.

There’s no doubt that some of the category’s growth can be explained by adventurous consumers, but brands can’t rely on the whims of punters – it might be natural for on-premise sales to flow into off-premise, but brands are putting in the hard yards to make sure curious drinkers are exposed to their products.

ORGANIC GROWTH MEETS ACTIVE SELLING Sapporo has also seen sales continue to grow as more Australians discover the brand. Although some of this growth was organic, brand discovery was aided by Sapporo Brand Ambassador Shimo Shinichiro who undertook significant work in developing relationships with Asian restaurants.

“Draught sales continued to perform strongly with 50 litre kegs, sold through traditional pubs, bars and restaurants rising 4.3 per cent, while 20 litre kegs, sold through the Japanese food channels, were up 23 per cent,” says Pearce. “Active promotional work, such as that by Coopers’ Sapporo Beer Ambassador Shimo Shinichiro, has also helped encourage people to taste and purchase Japanese beers.”

In fact, all brands have benefitted from strong promotional activity – with everyone doing their bit to boost visibility of the entire category, resulting in gains across the board.

Asahi, for example, will launch its biggest ever campaign for Asahi Super Dry in November. Running through to February 2019, the campaign will continue over the summer with more media and activity planned.

“It is an exciting new TV ad and large scale out of home campaign – something that will really get the Asahi brand top of mind for the next generation of international beer drinkers,” says Vousden. “Keep an eye out and prepare to Enter Asahi…”

Next year is set to be a big one for all brands, with Kirin launching a new advertising campaign that will run for the duration of 2019. However, it’s not just advertising campaigns that will build awareness.

“Kirin has always performed ahead of the market in blind taste tests, so we will continue our focus on the Kirin core variant by driving trial wherever we can, whether that’s in the off-premise, on-premise or at events,” says Costi.

“We have some great event partnerships coming up over the summertime, such as the St George Open Air cinema.”

Sapporo also has a number of promotions being put in place.

“The most notable is Sapporo’s sponsorship of the Laneway Festival with events in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Fremantle in February 2019,” says Pearce. “These music festivals

are expected to attract crowds of up to 100,000 at each venue.”

In off-premise trade, businesses can take advantage of these partnerships by ensuring they have adequate stock weight positioned prominently in-store at the right times.

FRONT OF MIND Bottle shops are perfectly primed to take advantage of the capital brands are putting into promoting their products. In fact, it doesn’t take much for off-premise traders to realise the potential of Asian beers.

Bottle shops can do their bit to make the most of fresh stock and price promotions by building enticing displays and forward positioning to increase brand awareness in bottle shops. Just as consumers will ask for Singha when they see it on a restaurant menu, they’ll reach for a six-pack when it’s visible and accessible at the bottle shop. Molinari hopes a Singha packaging and labelling refresh planned for 2019 will make this even easier for off-premise businesses to action.

While on-premise trade has been key to driving the growth of Asian beers in Australia, new consumers can be won over by clever off-premise selling too.

“Exploration is a key motivation for the international beer shopper and Japanese beers are a very safe way to explore premium beers given their easy drinking taste and exceptional quality,” says Costi. “I would recommend that retailers encourage trial of these beers, such as Kirin, through more frequent price promotions and sampling in-store.”

Asian beers also provide a great way for off-premise businesses to upsell, with crosscategory promotion recommended.

“Beers like Asahi are dominant in the Asian category, so retailers are recommended to range Asahi next to other international brands,” says Vousden. “It is also a recommended strategy to range international mid-strength beers like Asahi Soukai next to domestic mid-strength beers in order to encourage trade up into these higher margin products.”

Prime positioning is just one approach Vousden encourages. “Engaging brand stories, food matching suggestions and the right solution for the right consumer is important,” he says. “Pack and bottle sizes all play an important role in growing brands for new consumption occasions. We’ve had success over the last year or so with our Asahi Super Dry 500ml can, which continues to drive volume.”

Ultimately, the category is benefitting from a push and pull between brands and consumers.

“People are more willing to experiment with beers from different countries, while increased tourism to Japan has also had a flow-on effect and increased demand for beers like Sapporo,” Pearce reiterates.

On the other hand, active promotional work – like the advertising campaigns and partnerships implemented by brands, as well as the use of brand ambassadors like Shinichiro – is driving awareness.

With brands and bottle shops working together to promote Asian beers to a receptive audience, sales should continue to grow at the same rate for next 12 months.

“Exploration is a key motivation for the international beer shopper and Japanese beers are a very safe way to explore premium beers given their easy drinking taste and exceptional quality.” – Serge Costi, Lion

92 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

COMBINED WINES & FOODS 02 9533 7955

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W W W. C O M B I N E D W I N E S . C O M . A U

BEER TASTING

TINA PANOUTSOS

NEAL CAMERON

JUSTIN FOX

MICHAEL CAPALDO

GRAHAM WRIGHT CHARLIE WHITTING

TAM ALLENBY

IN THIS ISSUE OUR PANELISTS TASTE THE LATEST NEW RELEASE BEER AND CIDER. HERE ARE THE RESULTS.

BATCH METHOD MANDARIN SOUR ALE 4.4% ABV, 640ml bottle A symphony of citrus and cream biscuits floating through the air, this wonderfully balanced and adventurous beer from the reliably good brewers at Batch is worth every sip.

Style: Sour Batchbrewingco.com.au

NEWSTEAD BREWING JOHNNO APPLE CIDER 5.5% ABV, 375ml can It’s a bit hard to distinguish between many of the ciders on the market currently. All are essentially made with the same dessert apples and we’re mainly reliant on the skill of the brewer in teasing out good apple flavour and good fermentation characters from happy yeast. Newstead have showcased the apples well, some zingy apple skin flavours and crunchy acidity; elevated alcohol doesn’t hurt none either.

Style: Apple cider Newsteadbrewing.com.au

CLARE VALLEY BREWING RED IPA 6.9% ABV, 355ml can Clear and inviting chestnut colour, good and retained head and a good and honest malt driven nose.

Clean and simple. And the taste? A good toasted start, moderate length with a mildly bitter finish. The fruity hops get a little dominated by the malt. Still, a good session beer.

Style: Red IPA Cvbc.beer

WAYWARD SLAP SHOT BLACK IPA 6.5% ABV, 640ml bottle This is a rich, dark brown beer with flashes of red when held up to the light. On the nose, one gets the hoppy notes, malty sweetness and roasted nuts that one expects from a Black IPA. The mouthfeel is smooth and rounded, but there is not the hop dominance that one might expect from this style.

The malt takes centre stage, with juicy hops relegated to adding fruitiness in the background. As close to a porter as it is to a Black IPA. Style: Black IPA Waywardbrewing.com.au

94 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

MODUS OPERANDI CASCADIAN HOWL BLACK IPA 8.1% ABV, 500ml can Black with a bright white creamy head. Stick your nose in and it’s all about gentle roasted malt, citrus flavoured hops, clean and fresh. What a joy. And all these flavours are in on the very long and lasting palate. Its texture is rich but in superb balance and there is a very pleasing dry almost tannic grippiness. The finish has hints of a fine macchiato coffee about it.

And did I mention the high alcohol? Nope, because it is so well integrated.

Style: Black IPA Mobrewing.com.au

RIVERSIDE BREWING CO MILK MOUSTACHE 5% ABV, 640ml bottle Provocatively rich and intense, from every angle this milk stout is both bold and well balanced. Its full of the rich fig and molasses that is perfectly delectable to all beer drinkers alike.

Style: Milk stout Riversidebrewing.com.au

DAINTON BREWING INDIA PALE ALE 6% ABV, 355ml can A refreshing and balanced IPA, the hops are really well used throughout the entirety of the brewing process and create a great balance.

Sessionable and another great beer from this brewery.

Style: IPA Daintonbrewing.com.au

DAINTON BREWERY BIG BAD BOURBON BARREL AGED BELGIAN BARLEY WINE WITH RYE 14% ABV, 355ml can Another huge mix of very different styles in one can. So be warned, you’re in for a rollercoaster of a ride. There’s flavours of bubblegum and blue cheese, there’s confectionary fruit flavours, a big dose of American oak and a note of germinal esters. Didn’t get the rye though. And the alcohol?

Hot and obvious.

Style: Barley wine Daintonbrewing.com.au

STOMPING GROUND BUNKER PORTER

TWO HEADS INDIA PAPA ALPHA IP

6.1% ABV, 355ml bottle A thick beer with creamy pudding sensations that just oozes of a winter’s night in front of a warm fire. A lovely tipple and well worth a dabble.

Style: Porter Stompingground.beer

6% ABV, 375ml can A rich, dark amber colour in the glass, this beer has only minimal head. A first sniff gives a good blast of grassy hops, alongside stone fruit, citrus and a slight tropical tinge. The main flavours in the mouth seems to come through its bitterness, which is pleasant if a bit basic. The mouthfeel is very light and the aftertaste fleeting. It’s possible there were some carbonation issues in the canning process.

Style: IPA Twoheadsbrewing.com

BEER TASTING

4 PINES KELLER DOOR IMPERIAL IPA

THE HILLS CIDER COMPANY HOP EDITION CIDER

DEVILS BREWERY SMOKEY MOLL PORTER

8.0% ABV, 330ml bottle With a couple of years in the market, this hopped cider continues to showcase balance in fruit and hop flavour. The hop aromatic is skilfully integrated, with pineapple and grapefruit amid a traditional grassy background that resides just above the underlying wafts of fresh apple. The higher alcohol content serves to support the heavier body. The true merit is in its simplicity, allowing both apple and hops to shine and please in harmony.

Style: Hopped cider Thehillscidercompany. com.au

5.8% ABV, 330ml bottle Before the advent of gasfired maltings, all beer would have tasted smoky from the wood fired drying ovens used in the process.

However, despite the seemingly inexhaustible creativity of modern brewers, few seem to use smoked malt. The problem is, it’s an overpowering flavour, but used well it adds complexity and depth. The guys at Devils Brewery in Tasmania have used the smoke well.

Overall, it’s an interesting beer and a good intro to smoked beer.

Style: Smoked porter Devilsbrewery.com.au

BRIDGE ROAD MAYDAY HILLS BRETTANOMYCES SOUR AMBER ALE

NEWSTEAD BREWING THE BALLYMORE QUEENSLAND LAGER

HOLGATE EMPRESS IMPERIAL MOCHA PORTER

6.2% ABV, 330ml bottle You would expect this beer to reveal amber gold colourings with a hint of haze, and this doesn’t disappoint. The brett provides a slightly musty, farmyard aroma, but there is sprightliness there too.

Nothing has gone over the top here, though and this is very balanced for a sour – everything is in its place.

There’s good malt body followed by a pleasant sour kick that’s backed up with a little fruity, hoppy twang from the Galaxy hops. Tart, then sweet, then sour. Good stuff.

Style: Sour Bridgeroadbrewers.com.au

3.5% ABV, 375ml can Produced with Queensland Rugby Union, the premise of this beer is thus. The game of rugby is more professional and modern, but you’re still drinking the same old beer. This is rugby beer 2.0 and there’s no doubt the future of midstrength is safe in Newstead Brewing’s hands. All the hallmarks of an Aussie lager are there, light on alcohol and malt character, high on fermentation esters and fresh fruity hops. Clean and well-made, but with a 4K vibrancy and freshness.

Style: Mid-strength lager Newsteadbrewing.com.au

9% ABV, 500ml bottle Pours clear with a rich, deep bronze colour. The smell is pretty intense on the nose, malt and hop elements fight for attention, with a tropical fruit aroma just winning over.

There’s a sweetness in the smell and taste that brings preserved fruits to mind – the citrus elements come across as marmalade. That 9% alcohol is well hidden though in a smooth beer that goes down easily despite the big flavours. Alcohol warmth, juicy hits and moderate bitterness finish off this scarily drinkable beer.

Style: Imperial IPA 4pinesbeer.com.au

10% ABV, 500ml bottle A tribute to the Holgate Temptress, this beer is bigger in every way. The beer poured a little like motor oil. From the first whiff, you know this is a big beer – raisins, dark chocolate, black coffee. And then from the first sip there is a lot going on! Vanilla sweetness blends with coffee and hop bitterness, all wrapped up in a warming alcoholic embrace. One could almost imagine we’re drinking an espresso martini – but with rum in place of vodka. Who needs bartenders when you’ve got brewers? Crack this out and share it with some close mates.

Style: Porter Holgatebrewhouse.com

4 PINES EL DORADO IPA

COOPERS 2018 VINTAGE ALE

6% ABV, 500ml bottle One of 4Pines’ old beers rereleased by poll to celebrate the brewery’s 10th birthday, and it’s a cracker! You can tell this is a beer from 4Pines’ archives because of its superb clarity in the glass. This is a fruity bomb without the haze. A faintly sweet and candyish aroma, with tropical hints of mango and passionfruit.

Maybe some apple and pear? It has good body, with sweet and fruity notes continuing. Late in the piece comes a nice bracing bitterness, just enough to encourage another sip. El Dorado is really a lovely hop as displayed in this beer.

Style: IPA 4pinesbeer.com.au

7.5% ABV, 355ml bottle This tempting beer is a ruby russet colour and has a delicious and enticing frothy head. The nose is full of apricots, dried fruit and spices, and upon first sipping those stone fruit flavours continue to come through alongside a touch of burnt caramel and slight spice. This is a full and malty beer, but that body is balanced by a drying bitterness. It goes down easily despite the 7.5% ABV. It will be interesting to see how the beer develops in a cellar (if you have that capability).

Style: Vintage ale Coopers.com.au

NEWSTEAD BREWING A LONG STORY STRONG WHEAT ALE

STOMPING GROUND SOUR RED SAISON

7.2% ABV, 375ml can A 100% wheat ale that could only have been conceived of by a madman. This is a full, full bodied ale with residual sugar aplenty and heaps of structure and vanillin from the barrel. But what really hits you is the bourbon character. Its not subtle, you really must like bourbon to get on with it. Fortunately, we do and by the time we were half way through we realised the genius of having your beer and bourbon chaser served in the same glass. A QLD boilermaker perhaps.

Style: Barrel-aged strong wheat ale Newsteadbrewing.com.au

5.0% ABV, 355ml can The style suggests an emphasis on caramel malts, farmhouse yeast and pronounced acidity – a complex enough charge before throwing in a collaborative hop note!

The result is a delightfully complex brew that delivers on all counts. Toffee and candy malt notes are supported by spicy yeast and hops that bring a swag of grass and dank fruitiness. The sourness is pronounced but not overwhelming, allowing the complex flavours to linger and develop. A really skilful execution of complexity.

Style: Sour saison Stompingground.beer

This tasting was originally conducted for the Spring Issue 46 of Beer & Brewer.

NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS OCTOBER 2018 | 95

WINE TASTING

THE CHAMPAGNE AND SPARKLING TASTING THE PANEL

1. Daryl Fisher, General Manager, Fisher Fine Wine

3. Elizabeth Schoen, Retail Sales Manager NSW/ACT,

Samuel Smith & Son 2. Andrew Graham, Online Communications Manager, Cracka Wines 4. Samantha Payne, Sommelier and Wine Educator

5. Deborah Jackson, Editor, National Liquor News 6. Andy Young, Editor, TheShout

THE PANEL’S PICKS Champagne Lallier Blanc de Blancs Region: Champagne VIN: NV LUC: $68.80

D’Arenberg Pollyanna Polly Region: Adelaide Hills VIN: NV LUC: $23.22

“The Champagne Lallier Blanc de Blancs stood out for me. It displayed amazing fruit and multi layered complexity” – Daryl Fisher

“This is a wellbalanced and very well made Australian sparkling. Great flavour, bright acidity and freshness” – Andrew Graham

Distributed by: The Leckie Group

Distributed by: D’Arenberg

Maschio Dei Cavalieri Prosecco Extra Dry Region: Treviso VIN: NV LUC: $11.01

“I thought this wine was great value for money. Complex characters with a well-balanced acid amongst the fruit with delicate structure and bubble” – Samantha Payne Distributed by: Kollaras & Co

THE SYSTEM 95-100 Classic: an exceptional wine

90-94 Outstanding: a wine of remarkable character

96 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

85-89 Very good: a wine with impressive qualities

WINE TASTING LUC $30 AND OVER Champagne Vadin-Plateau Chêne la Butte Region: Champagne, France VIN: 2013 LUC:$96.80 “Lemon curd, green apple. Dry, bright, fresh and complex.

Oxidative/aldehydes in a controlled way. Juicy lemon and lime notes” – Samantha Payne “Bright juicy fruits and a creamy/buttery texture with lovely length” – Deborah Jackson

Champagne Lallier R.014 Brut Region: Champagne, France VIN: 2014 LUC: $55.90 “Vegemite, paw paw, rockmelon, green apples, citrus” – Daryl Fisher “Green apple, fresh, good structure and lively” – Elizabeth Schoen

Distributed by: The Lackie Group

Distributed by: Decante This

Segura Viudas Reserva Heredad Region: Penedes, Spain VIN: NV LUC: $35.48 “Distinctly different to the previous wines with long length and quality bead” – Elizabeth Schoen “A noticeably different nose to any of the other wines, but I like it. Good fruit and acidity, a very well structured wine” – Andy Young Distributed by: Crush Wines (VIC,NSW,QLD, SA) Off the Vine (WA)

“Some of the Champagnes are looking really good this year with a great balance of fruit and lees. A welcome relief from last year” – Daryl Fisher

Champagne Vadin-Plateau Renaissance Region: Champagne, France VIN: NV LUC: $60.50 “Intense mouthfeel and hints of honeycomb. Good length” – Elizabeth Schoen “Really attractive sweetness on the nose and lovely fine beading” – Andy Young

Champagne Vadin-Plateau Blanc de Noirs Region: Champagne, France VIN: NV LUC: $56.95 “Oyster shells, cheesy/leesy, complex on the nose. Dry, bright and fresh. Mineral driven, delicate and ethanol on the palate” – Samantha Payne “A slightly lean Champagne with acidity that’s a fraction sharp” – Andrew Graham

Distributed by: Decante This

Distributed by: Decante This

Champagne Vadin-Plateau Intuition Region: Champagne, France VIN: NV LUC: $65

THE CHAMPAGNE CATEGORY • Champagne is worth $274m in sales delivering growth of $11m or 4.2% • Champagne accounted for 6.0% of Total Wine $ sales from only 1.0% of Total Wine volume.

• Average price per unit was $54.99, an increase of 2.9% versus year ago.

• Champagne White accounted for 96% of Champagne sales however there was a small share shift towards Champagne Rose of +0.6 share points.

“Toasted brioche, walnuts dipped in honey, parmesan rind.

Bright acid, lemon pith. Pink grapefruit peel” – Samantha Payne “Great mouthfeel and lively beads. Long length with a clean and dry finish” – Deborah Jackson

Distributed by: Decante This

THE SYSTEM 95-100 Classic: an exceptional wine

90-94 Outstanding: a wine of remarkable character

85-89 Very good: a wine with impressive qualities

NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS OCTOBER 2018 | 97

WINE TASTING LUC $15 TO $30 Rotari Riserva Brut Region: Trentino Alto Adige, Italy VIN: 2010 LUC: $19.35 “Big yeasty, toasty and of course vegemite. Lots of fruit with a long honey finish” – Daryl Fisher “Oaky on the nose, good structure and acidity. A nice wine” – Andy Young

“The best wines are seriously fine sparklings with complexity, freshness and flavour” – Andrew Graham

Distributed by: Single Vineyard Sellers

Nepenthe Chardonnay Pinot Noir Prestige Cuvée Region: Adelaide Hills VIN: NV LUC: $16.25

Fox Creek Arctic Fox Grand Cuvée Region: McLaren Vale VIN: NV LUC: $17.61 “Pale in colour but a medium body and well-structured sparkling” – Elizabeth Schoen “An attractive nose that draws you in. Floral, green capsicum, sherbet, walnut” – Daryl Fisher

Distributed by: Pure Wine Co (SA/NT/QLD/NSW), Nelson Wine Company (VIC), DWS (TAS), Terra Wines (WA)

“Lovely fruit, soft mouthfeel, medium length” – Elizabeth Schoen “Nutty almond, lemon, floral, bursts of lemon, nutty finish” – Daryl Fisher

Distributed by: Australian Vintage Limited

Coombe Farm Tribute Series Nellie Melba Blanc de Blancs Region: Yarra Valley VIN: 2014 LUC: $24.71

Irvine The Baroness Region: Eden Valley VIN: NV LUC: $18.81

“Honey, pear, lime. Well balanced fruit with complexity” – Daryl Fisher “Dry lemon curd, medium length, soft bead” – Elizabeth Schoen

“Very intense yeasty, toasty character. Rich, creamy palate with chalky acidity” – Daryl Fisher

Distributed by: McWilliam’s Wines Group

Distributed by: Domaine Wine Shippers

“I found wines in the $15-$30 bracket really lacking in complexity and vibrancy, which at this price point there should be no excuse for” – Samantha Payne

“Sherbet on the nose with a light, interesting palate.

A lot of yeast present” – Andy Young

Lambrook Emerson Sparkling Region: Adelaide Hills VIN: 2013 LUC: $27.95 “Crisp and fresh with hints of apple and tropical fruits” – Elizabeth Schoen “Toasty, lemon, orange blossom with a nutty finish. There are a lot of flavours going on” – Daryl Fisher

Distributed by: Lambrook Wines

THE SYSTEM 95-100 Classic: an exceptional wine

90-94 Outstanding: a wine of remarkable character

98 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

85-89 Very good: a wine with impressive qualities

WINE TASTING LUC $15 AND UNDER Gapsted Wines High Country Prosecco Region: King Valley VIN: NV LUC: $12.47 “Frothy and citrusy style with honest flavour and gentle acidity” – Andrew Graham “There’s a strange juxtaposition to this wine – equal parts residual sugar and dry astringency. Lemon curd and lime cordial” – Samantha Payne

“The wines that were well made/crafters in the sub-$15 category really stood out and were a pleasure to try” – Samantha Payne

Distributed by: Gapsted Wines

Katnook Founder’s Block Chardonnay Pinot Noir Region: Coonawarra VIN: NV LUC: $14.51 “Lemon, floral, citrus, cedar, vegemite, toasty finish, good length” – Daryl Fisher “Dry, medium length, very pale in colour, subtle fruit” – Elizabeth Schoen Distributed by: Fesq (VIC, NSW, QLD) Muster (SA) Off the Vine (WA)

“It was difficult to differentiate between the LUC under $15 category. The general styles were a true reflection of ‘you get what you pay for’” – Elizabeth Schoen

Dee Vine Estate Estate Range Brut Cuvée Region: South East Australia VIN: 2018 LUC: $9.99 “Minimal expressions on the nose – toasted rye and oatmeal. Orange blossom. Nice bright acid and minerality.

Pleasing freshness, textural, dry finish” – Samantha Payne “Lively persistent beads. A dry style with nice long length” – Deborah Jackson

Distributed by: Dee Vine Estate

Thorn-Clarke Brut Cuvée Region: Eden Valley VIN: NV LUC: $13.67 “A dry style with hints of green apple” – Elizabeth Schoen “Vegemite, toasty, stalky, complex palate, toasty nutty finish” – Daryl Fisher

Distributed by: Mezzanine

Azahara Moscato Region: Murray Darling VIN: NV LUC: $7.74

Lambrook Spark Region: Adelaide Hills VIN: 2018 LUC: $14.51

“Overly floral Moscato-esque flavours. Rounded with slightly residual sugar sweetness on the finish” – Samantha Payne “A fresh and simple Moscato, although slightly on the sweet side” – Andrew Graham

“Strawberry, lime, slight almond. Clean, lingering cherry finish” – Daryl Fisher “Dry style with notes of fresh strawberry. Blush in colour with consistent bead” – Elizabeth Schoen

Distributed by: Red+White

Distributed by: Lambrook Wines

THE SYSTEM 95-100 Classic: an exceptional wine

90-94 Outstanding: a wine of remarkable character

85-89 Very good: a wine with impressive qualities

NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS OCTOBER 2018 | 99

WINE TASTING SPARKLING ROSÉ Tempus Two Sparkling Rosé Region: Limestone Coast VIN: NV LUC: $9.46 “Blush pink in colour, fairy floss aromas, medium length” – Elizabeth Schoen “Attractive pink colour, sweet palate, fruity nose” – Andy Young

“For both Champagne and Sparkling Wine it appears that drinkers are trading up in line with the general liquor trend” – Stephen Wilson, IRI

Distributed by: Australian Vintage Limited

Jansz Vintage Rosé Region: Tasmania VIN: 2014 LUC: $34.40

Babydoll Sparkling Blush Region: Marlborough, New Zealand VIN: NV LUC: $17.74 “Salmon blush in colour, delicate floral aromas” – Elizabeth Schoen

“Blush pink, hints of strawberry. Good length and mouthfeel” – Elizabeth Schoen

“Strawberry, lime, orange blossom. Good fruit, citrus, strawberry sherbet” – Daryl Fisher

“Cedar, old wood, watermelon. Complex but a little bit short” – Daryl Fisher

Distributed by: Young & Rashleigh (NSW) The Wine Company (VIC/QLD), Chace Agencies (SA) Off the Vine (WA), NT Agencies (NT)

Distributed by: Samuel Smith & Son

Rotari Gran Rosé Millesimato d’Italia Region: Trentino, Italy VIN: 2012 LUC: $19.35

Champagne Jacquart Rosé Mosaique Region: Reims, France VIN: NV LUC: $70.95

“Blush, salmon rose in colour. Persistent length. Delicious” – Elizabeth Schoen

“Salmon pink colour. Under ripe strawberries, cranberries. Fresh and dry on the finish with bright acid” – Samantha Payne

“Strawberry, rose, big palate, creamy, good balance” – Daryl Fisher

Distributed by: Single Vineyard Sellers

“Very firm. Hard acid. Good length but perhaps not enough delicacy” – Deborah Jackson

Distributed by: Single Vineyard Sellers)

Champagne Taittinger Prestige Rosé Region: Champagne, France VIN: NV LUC: $92

THE SPARKLING CATEGORY • Sparkling Wine is worth $607m in sales delivering growth of $31m or 5.4% • Sparkling Wine accounted for 13.2% of Total Wine dollar sales and 10.7% of Total Wine volume

“Dark pink in colour. Strawberry, melon with medium body and length” – Elizabeth Schoen “Dark pink in colour. Strawberries and almonds. Overall a very well balanced wine” – Andy Young

• Average price per unit was $10.72, an increase of 3.6% versus year ago • Drinkers are trading up with growth coming from Sparkling Wine $15 and above

Distributed by: McWilliam’s Wines Group

IRI MarketEdge data MAT to 05/08/18

THE SYSTEM 95-100 Classic: an exceptional wine

90-94 Outstanding: a wine of remarkable character

100 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

85-89 Very good: a wine with impressive qualities

WINE TASTING SPARKLING RED

WHERE IS THE GROWTH?

Andrew Garrett Sparkling Shiraz Region: McLaren Vale VIN: NV LUC: $8.59 “Slightly port-like on the nose. Chalky and musky. Olive tapenade. Nicely balanced between fruit and dry finish” – Samantha Payne “Plum and red berries with some spice and pepper notes.

Soft tannins and very well balanced” – Deborah Jackson

•A ustralian Sparkling Wine dominates local consumption accounting for a whopping 85% of dollar sales •S parkling White dominate sales generating 65% of dollar sales however the growth driver is Prosecco •P rosecco sales at $79m represent 13% of sparkling wine sales but have delivered 86% of dollar growth • I n fact Prosecco growth of $27m or 50% is greater than five times sparkling wine growth IRI MarketEdge data MAT to 05/08/18

Distributed by: Vok Beverages

Syn Rouge Sparkling Shiraz Region: Coonawarra VIN: NV LUC: $11.61 “Plums, blackberry, cassis. Good fruit, chocolate, rich silky texture” – Daryl Fisher “Opaque and purple hues. Blackcurrant and Ribena sweetness” – Elizabeth Schoen

Fox Creek Vixen Region: McLaren Vale VIN: NV LUC: $17.61 “Opaque purple hue, cherries, blackcurrant and spiced mocha characters on the palate with long length” – Elizabeth Schoen “Dark fruits, dark cherries, plums, tannins, dry, firm” – Daryl Fisher Distributed by: Pure Wine Co (SA/NT/QLD/NSW), Nelson Wine Company (VIC), DWS (TAS), Terra Wines (WA)

Distributed by: Leconfield Wines

“The expectation is that the trends experienced through the year will continue into the coming peak season driven by warmer weather, Spring Racing, football finals and the festive season” – Stephen Wilson, IRI

D’Arenberg The Peppermint Paddock Region: McLaren Vale VIN: NV LUC: $21.07 “Port-like on the nose. Dry and juicy. Nice finish. Apple skin flavours” – Samantha Payne “A little sweet and sour but has depth of flavour” – Andrew Graham

Distributed by: D’Arenberg

Gapsted Limited Release Sparkling Saperavi Region: Alpine Valleys, King Valley VIN: NV LUC: $25.37

Andrew Garrett Sparkling Shiraz Region: McLaren Vale VIN: 2013 LUC: $12.50 “Oak and slightly port-like. Dark fruits, cinnamon, opulent and sweet. Nice structure and tannin structure” – Samantha Payne “A really well structured sparkling Shiraz with great balance between dark fruits and oak. Slightly spicy notes” – Deborah Jackson Distributed by: Vok Beverages

“Red currant, Christmas cake, spice. Orange peel, a little sweet on the finish” – Samantha Payne “Rich, sweet fruit and oak. Love the depth of flavour quality” – Andrew Graham

Distributed by: Gapsted Wines

THE SYSTEM 95-100 Classic: an exceptional wine

90-94 Outstanding: a wine of remarkable character

85-89 Very good: a wine with impressive qualities

NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS OCTOBER 2018 | 101

EVENTS

1

The Urban Alley Brewery

1

1. URBAN ALLEY BREWERY OPENS

1

Melbourne’s newest brewpub, Urban Alley Brewery opened for business last month, with 500 VIP guests attending its launch party. Guests were the first to trial the Urban Alley core range, which included its signature Urban Ale (4.5%). The core range also includes Urban Lager (4.7%), Urban Dark (5.4%) and Urban APA (5.5%). Guests at the launch rubbed shoulders with MasterChef 2018 winner Sasha Cheliah and Real Housewives of Melbourne’s Lydia Schiavello. Urban Ale cans are available now across Victoria.

Monika Radulovic and Alesandro Ljubicic

2

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2. LAURENT-PERRIER HOLDS INTIMATE CHAMPAGNE HIGH TEA

Laurent-Perrier hosted an intimate Champagne high tea to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Cuvée Rosé and the launch of the limited edition Kerrie Hess illustrated gift box. Food, fashion and lifestyle media, influencers and VIP’s were treated to a roaming high tea in The Langham, Sydney’s Bistro Remy. Decadent high tea stands were placed throughout the room and Laurent-Perrier ice buckets filled with bottles of Cuvée Rosé were highlighted by abundant soft pink florals of enormous open roses and sweet peas by Hermetica Flowers.

Key attendees included; Alessandro Ljubicbic, Monika Radulovic, Paul and Georgia Stenmark.

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EVENTS 3. CAPI CONNECTS INDUSTRY LEADERS IN CHINA AND MELBOURNE TO FUEL EXPORT

Last month CAPI brought the best and brightest of China’s hospitality scene to Victoria, immersing them in a unique tour of our world-class hospitality scene.

The intense three-day event showcased the people and places that are regarded as the best in the business, with the objective to help our local industry to build networks and open more export opportunities. China is one of Australia’s most sought-after export markets and remains one of the biggest bottled water and soda markets. CAPI launched its export business 12 months ago and has seen steady growth across multiple regions that could be exploited further. Emma Evans, CEO of CAPI is driving the international expansion to China and said she is proud to be helping such connectivity programs for both CAPI and other Australian brands. “Our objective is for CAPI to lead the charge in connecting companies to China and inspiring them with the opportunity at hand. It’s a particularly challenging market to crack and we hope this program will result in increased export connections and international trade for all partners involved.”

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Chinese representatives and the CAPI team at Craft & Co

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Karen Black

4. HANDPICKED WINES HOSTS ART BAR Last month Handpicked Wines held an immersive ‘art and wine’ bar with renowned Australian artist, Karen Black at Australasia’s biggest art fair - Sydney Contemporary. The Handpicked team worked closely with Black to pull together a space that was experiential and showcased a curated list of wines from Australia’s top regions all made by Handpicked. Assistant Winemaker Jonathon Mattick, said: “Is wine art?

Oftentimes the simplest things in life are also the most complex. In that way, defining whether wine is art is not easy, or whether winemaking is an art form. And if it is, is it an art along the lines of a great painting or sculpture. There are those who insist winemaking isn’t art, but is more a skill, or craft, or merely a process. Others insist wine is an artform since it involves the creativity of using a medium in much the same way a sculptor or painter would. Wine is truly subjective and whether or not it is art I dare not say but rather defer to those more cultured than myself.”

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Deb Jackson, Andy Young, Craig Hawton-Butcher, Tam Allenby

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4 5. SYDNEY BEER WEEK PROGRAM ANNOUNCED

The Sydney Beer Week (SBW) 2018 program was announced last month, with more than 130 events across Greater Sydney to take place from 26 October to 4 November. Sydney’s biggest celebration of beer kicks off with the SBW Gala Opening at the Australian National Maritime Museum on Friday 26 October. With a city skyline backdrop, over 30 breweries from Sydney, around Australia and overseas will be pouring their best beers including crowd favourites and special brews created exclusively for SBW 2018. In addition to sampling sours, lapping lagers and appreciating ales, lucky patrons will be fed by Sydney’s finest food trucks.

Festival highlights will include a yoga, beer & BBQ brunch at Four Points Central Park, an opportunity to win Goose Island IPA for a year at a cornhole tournament and a beer and cheese matching with the Stinking Bishops at the Taphouse. Full SBW 18 program available at sydneybeerweek.com.au.

NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS OCTOBER 2018 | 103

EVENTS

6. FIXATION BREWING’S INCUBATOR OPENS IN COLLINGWOOD, MELBOURNE

Collingwood heralded the arrival of the Fixation Brewing Company’s Incubator, the freshest, hoppiest venue to open on Smith Street. Australia’s only IPA dedicated brewery, Fixation Brewing opened the doors of its Incubator tasting room on Wednesday 5 September. True to its name, the Incubator is where the Fixation brewers can create and hatch their hoppiest ideas, sharing them over the bar for all to try. You’ll find the Fixation award-winning beers alongside Incubator exclusives, such as The 86 IPA and Easey Street IPA, served fresh from the tanks.

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7 7. PYRMONT FESTIVAL RETURNS FOR EIGHTH YEAR

This year, The Pyrmont Ultimo Chamber of Commerce announced two major changes to the annual Pyrmont Festival – moving the event to spring, and collaborating with a new wine region. Now in its eighth year, the Pyrmont Festival paired with the award-winning Orange Wine Region, launching their partnership on 15 September. Festivities began at Pirrama Park, where the annual two-day food and wine festival welcomed crowds of thousands to taste the best of Pyrmont and Orange.

An event designed for the whole family, with live music, local and Orange region artists showcased in the renowned Tap Gallery Pyrmont Festival Art Prize, art classes in the park, rides and children’s entertainment, and there were approximately 100 stalls where guests mingled with winemakers, participated in tastings and sampled an extensive range of gourmet bites and regional produce. The Pyrmont Festival has quickly become one of Sydney’s premier cultural events and a favourite among foodies and wine lovers.

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EVENTS

8 8. THE TERNARY RESTAURANT HOSTS CHAMPAGNE TAITTINGER BRUNCH

8 9. INTRODUCING PIERRE D’AMOUR ROSÉ

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Australian family wine producer, Calabria Family Wines has launched Pierre D’Amour; a bespoke Rosé wine, styled with a Rose Quartz healing stone. Wine writers and media gathered on Thursday 20 September at Sydney Harbour’s luxury vista bar, Hacienda Sydney, for the official release of Pierre D’Amour Rosé, which is French for ‘The Stone of Love’.

The wine bottle is entwined with a Rose Quartz crystal, which is a healing stone that promotes love. “Love is more easily felt and experienced than defined in words,” says Elizabeth Calabria-Staltare, Marketing Coordinator and third generation family member. “We have designed this gorgeous packaging with millennial drinkers in mind. The power of rosé is continuing to grow in popularity and we wanted to add a layer of personality to our packaging, allowing our customers to experience the love story by incorporating a rose quartz crystal.” Pierre D’Amour Rosé will be available through independents and online for a suggested retail price of $19.95. The launch will be supported in-store, online, digital and social media campaigns.

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On Wednesday 12 September The Ternary Restaurant hosted a Champagne Taittinger brunch on the Ternary Terrace in celebration of Clovis Taittinger visiting from France. Guests were treated to free flowing tipples including Taittinger Prestige Rosé and the limited edition Champagne Taittinger Les Folies de La Marqueterie accompanied by delicious bite sized eats created by Culinary Director, Anthony Flowers.

Andrew Calabria

NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS OCTOBER 2018 | 105

SHOP TALK

Shop Talk WE TALK SHOP WITH DAN EVERITT FROM PERNOD RICARD AUSTRALIA AND TOM BEECH FROM THE HIGHWAY IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

Meet...

DAN EVERITT, Account Manager SA, Pernod Ricard Australia

TOM BEECH, Bottle Shop Manager, The Highway, SA

Dan Everitt and Tom Beech

Q ABOUT US: DAN: My day-to-day work involves proudly representing and selling our amazing wines, spirits and Champagne brands to my independent trade customers. I have been with Pernod Ricard Australia for 13 years, starting as an IT engineer.

I then moved into viticulture and now currently work in the field sales team.

TOM: One of the first drive-through bottle shops in South Australia, The Highway, remains to this day one of the largest and most successful independent outlets in the state. I’ve worked here off and on since 2007, taking over the role of manager in mid-2016.

Q HOW ARE YOU FINDING THE CURRENT MARKET? DAN: The market can sometimes be tough. There are many suppliers with strong brands working across numerous categories so it’s important for us to remain consumer-led so that we ensure our brands are relevant in today’s marketplace.

TOM: Exciting. The sales mix has changed drastically in the last few years. Customers are far more receptive to purchasing outside their repertoire and usual price range, leading to expanding product ranges and bias towards locally produced or small batch products, which in turn leads to increased profitability for the store.

Q WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES YOU ARE FACING? DAN: In South Australia I find that we are very spoilt when it comes to wine, there are so many choices for consumers these days and this can sometimes prove difficult for us as a supplier to gain market share with NPD. TOM: Storage and freshness of stock is our

trickiest task at the moment. With the explosion of craft beer and the importance the market puts on freshness and cold storage, we’ve had to undertake large and expensive re-fits of our back of house storage.

Q WHAT DEALS OR PROMOTIONS ARE WORKING FOR YOU AT THE MOMENT? DAN: A consistent performer from my perspective are promotions that involve memberships where consumers earn points on purchases that can be redeemed at a later date. We often offer these kinds of promotions.

TOM: The same rules that were applicable to drive-through stores 20 years ago are still relevant today: competitive and consistent everyday pricing. That’s our strength and that’s what keeps the customers coming back.

Q WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT THE JOB? DAN: Being out in the trade and where the action is has been great fun. I also enjoy working with my customers to solve problems in creative ways.

TOM: I enjoy the ever changing product mix and getting staff to acknowledge and form a passion for these changes.

Q WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT WORKING WITH EACH OTHER? DAN: The Highway as a customer are a great way to get a read on what is happening trend-wise in the marketplace. I get a lot out of understanding what has been happening in terms of their trade.

Tom has been in the industry for a number of years and is great to talk to about what’s been working well.

TOM: I have always had a good relationship with

106 | OCTOBER 2018 NATIONAL LIQUOR NEWS

“Customers are far more receptive to purchasing outside their repertoire and usual price range, leading to expanding product ranges and bias towards locally produced or small batch products,” Tom Beech Dan as well as Pernod Ricard. As a company they’re in sync with the independent trade and Dan is always willing to tailor activity to suit our sometimes ‘ahead of the market’ trends.

Q HOW DO YOU APPROACH THE RETAILER/ REP RELATIONSHIP? DAN: My approach is to be positioned as a business partner for my customers and to ensure the longevity of the relationship is a priority.

TOM: We’ve always put an importance of having strong relationships with our suppliers – we want to be a venue that suppliers want to deal with. We have just under 200 different suppliers we purchase from, so managing those relationships efficiently can sometimes be tricky, but it’s something we successfully do. Being receptive to compromise, on both sides, is the key I believe.

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