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| Wine & Spirits |
The New Luxury
Anthony Giglio
04/01/2004
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Naturally, once Millennium and Phillips opened the floodgates, the
competition came at them with a fury, with seemingly dozens of new $30, $40 and
even $50 vodkas being introduced quarterly. Then, Grey Goose, a French vodka,
won a taste test conducted by the Chicago Beverage Tasting Institute against
Belvedere and Chopin, among others. Suddenly, Grey Goose was on top. According
to Adams Handbook, in 2002 Grey Goose broke into the ranks of the 1-million-case
club, more than tripling its case sales since 2000. Despite this phenomenal
market penetration, at least three Davids stand poised to take their turn at
toppling this new Goliath of luxury vodka: Van Gogh, Three Olives and ZYR.
David H. van de Velde—of Ketel One fame—recently came out of retirement to
form Luctor International, creator and importer of Dutch brand Van Gogh, which
grew by 40 percent last year. “My experience with Ketel One was that it would
take quite a few years in this big country to come off the ground,” he remarks.
“And we’re following the same pattern—not that I’m saying we’ll be as big as
Ketel One, but from startup to roll out, the growth last year and the expected
growth for this year is 100 percent.”
Paul Coulombe, owner of White Rock
Distillers, credits the creation of his English import, Three Olives, to one of
his Florida sales reps, Lee Atherton, who convinced him to invest in the luxury
vodka segment in 1999. “We did about 25,000 cases the first year and sold
250,000 cases in 2003,” he says. “We expect to sell 400,000 cases in 2004.” What
does that mean in retail dollars? “About $250 million for last year, and we
forecast $400 million for this year.”
Dave Katz, the president of Symphony
Importers, which developed ZYR Russian Vodka in 2002, says of the competition,
“In this field today, you either need to be the very best, or come out with
something unusual.” ZYR resonates because it is Russian, says Katz, who lived in
Moscow for five years dreaming up the brand, which he and his team of 10
hand-sell to only high-end bars and restaurants on the East Coast of the United
States—for the moment. “Contrary to what many people might believe,” he says,
“if you have better liquid, a truly better liquid, with a good concept, in a
great bottle, then it is just a matter of time before it is a best seller.”
While Katz’s numbers are considerably smaller than his competitors’ (he projects
sales of 22,500 cases this year), ZYR has witnessed a 500-percent increase over
its first year’s sales. “I believe I’ll outsell Belvedere in Miami, Manhattan
and New Jersey by the end of the year,” he predicts.
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