IRI Unveils Top 30 Table Wine Brand Performers List

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--IRI, the world’s leading global provider of consumer, shopper, and retail business solutions and services, released its third annual “2006 Table Wine Top 30 Brand Performers,” a revealing study that pinpoints the top 30 most influential table wine brands. These individual brands have experienced significant growth in U.S. supermarkets and drugstores across multiple variables during the 52 week period ending Dec. 31, 2006. IRI also unveiled its “2006 Table Wine Top 10 New Brands,” a list of emerging new brand entries.

“Pacific Wine Partners is thrilled with the IRI 2006 Table Wine Top 30 Brand Performers, which highlights the strength and breadth of our portfolio”

Leveraging its extensive beer, wine, and spirits vertical expertise, IRI analyzed volume growth, share of segment trends, merchandising effectiveness, everyday base pricing stability, profitability, distribution gains, incremental sales, and sales velocity growth to develop this distinguished list of leading brands. To qualify for the study, brands had to meet a minimum requirement of 100,000, nine-liter cases sold.

"We, at the E. & J. Gallo Winery, are thrilled to have our Barefoot wines recognized as the top-performing wine brand and three of our other brands—Mirassou, Five Oaks and Rancho Zabacco—place in the top 30 wines in the 2006 IRI Table Wine Ranking Report,” says Stephanie Gallo, senior marketing director, E. & J. Gallo Winery. “We are also happy to see one of our newest brands, Mattie’s Perch, named in the top 10 for new wine brands. We greatly appreciate this recognition and consider these rankings as a validation of our wine growing, wine making and wine marketing success."

The results of the extensive evaluation from IRI comprise the following Top 30 Table Wine Brand Performers, a distinguished list of table wine brands that are successfully leading the way:

The IRI 2006 Table Wine Top 30 Brand Performers
Rank	Table Wine Brand
1	Barefoot
2	Francis Coppola
3	Sterling Vintner’s Collection
4	Chateau Ste. Michelle
5	Crane Lake
6	Bogle Vineyards
7	Smoking Loon
8	J Lohr
9	Mirassou
10	La Crema
11	The Little Penguin
12	Rex Goliath
13	Kendall Jackson Vintner’s Reserve
14	Fish Eye
15	Pepperwood Grove
16	Blackstone
17	Lindemans
18	Five Oaks
19	Sutter Home
20	Clos du Bois
21	Rancho Zabaco Dancing Bull
22	Rodney Strong
23	Yellow Tail
24	Black Box Wines
25	Columbia Crest
26	Estancia
27	Chateau St. Jean
28	Cavit
29	Jacob’s Creek
30	Foxhorn

“Pacific Wine Partners is thrilled with the IRI 2006 Table Wine Top 30 Brand Performers, which highlights the strength and breadth of our portfolio,” says Pacific Wine Partners President Ben Dollard. “The Spanish category is demonstrating strong growth and significant potential, and Red Guitar has been an exciting launch for our company. A Spanish wine in the top 10 new brand launches for 2006 reflects a strong consumer desire for old world wines with new world appeal. The ongoing growth of Blackstone and Rex Goliath is very satisfying, and signals the ongoing potential for super premium wines. Finally, the emergence of the three-litre cask category is a highlight, and Black Box is a strong brand with tremendous consumer appeal.”

In addition to the top 30 ranking, the study also revealed the following key trends that are driving the growth of today’s rapidly evolving table wine marketplace:

An increase in merchandising support appeared to contribute to the success of the top 30 brands; all brands experienced an increase in weeks of support and the majority of brands had significant incremental sales gains from promotion
23 of the top 30 brands are domestic table wines from California
Imported table wine brands held five of the 30 spots, with Australia as the No. 1 import country of origin with four brands
The vast majority of brands, 83 percent, are premium priced at $5.50 and above
Nearly all, or 28 out of 30 brands, increased their presence at retail with an increase in distribution
26 of 30 brands that made the ranking grew double digits or more in dollar sales during the 52 week period; 26 out of 30 brands grew double digits in volume sales

“In 2006, we saw record sales again in the wine industry, which means that America is clearly still experiencing a wine boom,” adds Bump Williams, general manager, IRI Beer, Wine and Spirits Practice. “Wine makers do a great job of demystifying the product and are also having a little fun with it at the same time. Just like last year, we are continuing to see the trends of eye-catching packaging, advertising and grocery displays. And now, we’re even seeing some non-traditional premium box wine that is hitting the mark with consumers.”

Providing forward-looking insight about key brands to watch in the year ahead, IRI also announced the following Table Wine Top 10 New Brands:

The IRI 2006 Table Wine Top 10 New Brands(a)
Rank	Table Wine Brand
1	Trove
2	Cycles Gladiator
3	Little Black Dress
4	Bohemian Highway
5	Marq
6	Red Guitar
7	Lost Vineyards
8	Mattie’s Perch
9	Rubeus of Lore
10	French Rabbit

(a) Based on Dollar Sales in Total U.S. Food and Drug for the 52-week period ending

Dec. 31, 2006.

“Trove’s positioning truly resonates with consumers on multiple levels,” said Diana Pawlik, marketing director of Trove, Centerra Wine Company. “The combination of Trove’s packaging elements, combining stylish graphics, convenience, and portability with premium quality wine, drove the brands success. We feel the consumer base is largely ‘image seekers’ who are both sophisticated and adventurous as well as the savvy shopper who seeks the highest quality at the most attractive price.”

For more information about the study, contact Bump Williams at bump.williams@infores.com.

About IRI

IRI is the world’s leading provider of consumer, shopper, and retail market intelligence and insights supporting 95 percent of the FORTUNE Global 500 consumer packaged goods (CPG), retail and healthcare companies. Only IRI offers the unique combination of integrated market information, automated and predictive analytics, innovative enabling technologies, and domain expertise. With IRI, leading retailers and manufacturers are able to quickly discover breakthrough insights driving smarter decisions and actions across the enterprise for breakthrough results. Companies around the world depend on IRI for improved productivity, stronger brands, and dramatic revenue growth. For more information, visit http://us.infores.com.