Daniel Marsteller

Aiming to replicate the success it’s had in luxury Cabernet with icon wine Don Melchor, Viña Concha y Toro is carving out its Viña Amelia Pinot Noir and Chardonnay into a standalone subsidiary centered on the Quebrada Seca vineyard in Chile’s Limari Valley. According to the company, the move marks another step in its strategy emphasizing premiumization and special points of origin.

Pernod Ricard has posted nine-month sales down 4.4% organically to €7.2 billion ($8.5b), as the company noted improved performance across its global regions, despite continued declines in the key markets of the U.S. and China. In the third quarter, Pernod eked out a net sales increase of 0.1%. Pernod added that its talks with Brown-Forman toward a potential merger are ongoing.

Southern Glazer’s is folding its Domaine & Estates Artisanal Wine teams across Washington, Florida, Texas, New York, and California into the Signature Fine Wines & Spirits division within those markets. The company says the integrated structure deepens its fine wine coverage, “strengthens on-premise engagement, and improves alignment across Southern Glazer’s fine wine strategy.”

As Sazerac reportedly prepares a $15 billion all-cash offer for American whiskey rival Brown-Forman, the latter’s controlling Brown family is said to prefer a potential merger with France’s Pernod Ricard, with talks between the two parties ongoing. The latest reports indicate that Pernod has an inside track to culminate a deal with Brown-Forman because an agreement between the two would likely allow the Brown family to retain some control over the merged company from its Louisville base.

Bennett Glazer, who spent more than a half-century in the drinks industry, ultimately merging his family’s Texas-based distribution business with Miami’s Southern Wine & Spirits to create Southern Glazer’s, has passed away at age 80. Following the merger in 2016, Glazer had served as executive vice chairman of the nation’s largest distributor up to his death.

A new bipartisan bill introduced by Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar and backed by Republicans Rand Paul and Joni Ernst seeks to allow states to opt out of the pending federal ban on hemp THC that’s slated to take effect in November.

Following President Trump’s executive order from December directing the Justice Department to accelerate its rescheduling of cannabis from a Schedule I drug to Schedule III, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche this morning signed an order to place state-legal medical cannabis under the latter designation.

Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits saw its Gray Whale gin brand rise 10% to 40,000 cases in the U.S. last year, according to Impact Databank, leveraging eye-catching packaging and coastal-themed marketing. Now the company is extending Gray Whale into the vodka category, aiming to enter a bigger arena with what’s proven to be an attractive brand proposition.

As Sazerac continues its pursuit of Brown-Forman in competition with Pernod Ricard, the company is continuing to make bolt-on moves. This morning Sazerac announced a strategic partnership and undisclosed financial investment in the 818 Tequila brand, founded by Kendall Jenner. According to Impact Databank, 818 ($30-$50 at retail) has been above the 100,000-case mark in recent years.

Brown-Forman has unveiled a slate of new distribution agreements across 11 control states, parting ways with RNDC, which earlier this week announced a letter of intent to sell its control state business to Martignetti Cos.