Shannon Family of Wines Wins 100% Organic Certification

Posted on July 13, 2022 by Joel Whitaker

The certification makes the Lake County, Calif., producer one of the largest 100% certified organic mountain-grown vineyards in the country.  Shannon has adopted a wide variety of sustainable practices displayed by the winery, from regenerative farming practices to the elimination of all herbicides and fossil fuel-based fertilizers, the use of 100% renewable corks, the utilization of grape varieties that use less water and the use of 100% organic farming materials.

“As a winery owner, I take my job as steward of the land very seriously, which is why I am excited about our recent organic certification and all of the other sustainable efforts that are in the works,” said Shannon Family of Wines owner Clay Shannon. “This certification is just the beginning for us. We are committed to continuing to reduce our carbon footprint and to advocate for sustainability in Lake County and beyond.”

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Chopin Vodka Introduces USDA Organic Rye Vodka to U.S. Market

Posted on July 13, 2022 by Joel Whitaker

Chopin Vodka, the world’s first super-premium vodka, is releasing Chopin Rye Organic, its first organic single-ingredient vodka in in California, Florida, Texas, Colorado, and Washington.

The spirit is made from a heritage rye variety called Dankowskie Ruben, which is certified 100% organic and sourced from a multi-generational farm within 20 miles of the Chopin Vodka distillery in Poland. Chopin Rye Organic is hand-crafted in small batches, following traditional distilling techniques and strict requirements for ecological processing, and is blended with natural spring from Chopin’s own well on property. The spirit is then rested for six months to bring out its full flavor before bottling.

The Chopin team works with one organic farm to grow the organic rye with naturally fertile soil without using synthetic chemicals such as human-made pesticides, artificial fertilizers, or genetically modified organisms (GMOs). As a result, organic rye has a yield of about half of regular rye and has an increased cost of 40% relative to non-organic rye. The farmers closely monitor the fertility of the soil, the optimal sowing time, peak conditions for development, and the ideal harvest time, which together guarantee the perfect raw material to produce Chopin’s Rye Organic.

The Organic Trade Association reports that 82% of American households buy organic products on a regular basis and total organic food sales amount to $40 billion in annual spending. Despite the prevalence of organic consumption,  Nielsen found less than 1% of commercial spirits, beer, and wine are certified organic because the majority of the crops needed to make these products are not produced organically in the U.S.

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Economy Watch: Recession Threat Is Rising, ING Says

Posted on July 13, 2022 by Joel Whitaker

“U.S. inflation is above 9%, but it is the breadth of the price pressures that is really concerning for the Federal Reserve,” says James Knightley, chief economist at ING Economics. “With supply conditions showing little sign of improvement the onus is the on the Fed to hit the brakes via higher rates to allow demand to better match supply conditions. The recession threat is rising,” it adds.

Food prices are up 10% year-on-year (1% month-on-month).  Our family of four weekly grocery bill at a military commissary is above $300, which means our four-person-family neighbors are probably close to $400.  Gasoline was up 11.2% MoM (59.9% YoY), shelter, 0.6% MoM, apparel 0.8% MoM, used cars 1.6% MoM.

Knightley is “hopeful that this marks the peak for headline inflation,” but suspects “the descent will be slow given the ongoing upward pressure on food prices and the long time it takes for turning points in house price appreciation to feed through into the shelter components of CPI.”

What does this mean for bev/al?  Maybe not much.  Bev/al has always been viewed as an affordable luxury and notes that “people appear prepared to run down accumulated savings and pay higher prices to do things they missed out on over the past couple of years.”

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Who & What —

Posted on July 13, 2022 by Joel Whitaker

Kentucky Distillers’ Association announces several staff promotions:

  • Adam Johnson, 47, becomes the KDA’s first VP-State Relations. He has led the KDA’s Kentucky Bourbon Trail experiences since 2012.
  • Colleen Thomas, 47, is the KDA’s first VP-Operations. She has been with the KDA since 2016 and most rcently was Senior Director of Marketing and Member Services.
  • Mandy Ryan, 33, is named Director of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. She has been Director of Marketing.
  • Marielle McElmurray, 29, is named Operations Manager and Executive Assistant. She has been Special Projects Manager since 2021. She also is Assistant Secretary-Treasurer to the KDA Board of Directors. 

Jiant, a Los Angeles hard kombucha brand, hires David Macon as chief sales officer.  He joins from Firestone Walker, where he was chief sales officer.

Early Mountain Winery promotes Maya Hood White to winemaker from associate winemaker.

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What We’re Reading —

Posted on July 13, 2022 by Joel Whitaker

Most Expensive Bottle of Champagne Sold for $2.5 Million—NFTs Included

The buyers, Italian brothers with wealth from crypto and fashion, don’t plan to pop the cork. ‘I think it will be a good investment.’ (Wall Street Journal)

Champagne Bottles Filled with Liquid MDMA Discovered Being Sold on the Open Market in Europe

A dozen people have become ill and one man died after unsuspectingly drinking from the adulterated bottles of Moët and Chandon. (Food & Wine)

 

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Diageo Promotes Debra Crew to Global COO, Names Claudia Schubert President, North America

Posted on July 12, 2022 by Joel Whitaker

Crew is currently president, North America and Global Supply.

Debra Crew was appointed President, Diageo North America in July 2020.

Debra Crew

As Chief Operating Officer, Crew will take accountability for driving continued performance momentum across Diageo’s markets, brands and supply operations globally, and will continue to report to Ivan Menezes, Chief Executive.

In July 2020, Crew was appointed President, North America. She has embedded greater external focus and connectivity across the market’s teams and strengthened commercial execution, resulting in market share gains and 20% organic net sales growth in fiscal 21, and 13% organic net sales growth in the first half of fiscal 22.

She is the former president and CEO of Reynolds American, Inc. Before that, Crew spent five years at PepsiCo, where she served as president, North America Nutrition; president, PepsiCo Americas Beverages; and president, Western Europe Region. Prior to PepsiCo, Debra held positions with Kraft Foods, Nestlé S.A., and Mars, Inc. She currently serves on the board of Stanley Black & Decker, Inc.

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Claudia Schubert

Schubert will join the Diageo executive committee.  She has been president, U.S. Spirits and Canada since 2018, and reshaped the market’s strategy, put in place a strengthened route to market and built trusted partnerships with Diageo’s distributors to deliver strong growth. In fiscal 21, organic net sales grew 24% in US Spirits, and 15% in the first half of fiscal 22*. Claudia brings 20 years of market and category experience at Diageo, having led the company’s Continental and Eastern Europe, US Wines and US Control States businesses. She began her career as a management consultant with Boston Consulting Group.

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