Treasury Wine ‘well-positioned’ to recruit next generation of US drinkers

Australian wine giant Treasury Wine Estates said it is well positioned to tap into US drinker’s shift to more expensive wines, as it looks to innovate its 19 Crimes label to stem the brand’s sales slow-down.

TWE chief executive Tom Ford said the company had an opportunity to “recruit the next generation” of US wine drinkers, though relationships with the right distributors and retail partners in the larger wine-drinking states, coupled with its increasing premiumisation of its wine portfolio.

In the last few years, the company’s Americas division has seen the proportion of sales generated from its premium and luxury wines rise from 69% in 2020 to 92% in 2022, The Australian reported.

However, the lower-priced 19 Crimes wines – which are made from Australian grapes and retail for US$8 – 11 “didn’t fire as expected in the lead-up to Christmas”, he told investors last month, as reported by the Australian Financial review.  In addition the US$11 – 15 per bottle category in the US didn’t grow as fast as Treasury Wines in the three-months to December 31, with its 19 Crimes Cali Collection – fronted by American rapper Snoop Dogg – not generating the sales that were anticipated.

Ford said that the “execution” in market of the 5 million case brand would improve in the US. “We’ve learnt from that and we’ll fix it,” he told a group of investors, adding that he expected the brand to “gather momentum”.

Treasury Wine US portfolio includes brands such as Beringer, Stags’ Leap, Frank Family vineyards, Etude, Beaulieu Vineyard along with its iconic Australian brand, Penfolds.