april 2012 INSIDE THIS MONTH Volume 40 Issue 4 The No.1 choice for global drinks buyers FEMALE TOUCH COGNAC ATTEMPTS TO WOO WOMEN COCKTAIL CHALLENGE PULL-OUT GUIDE TO THE FINALISTS CHILEAN WINE QUALITY OFFERINGS HIT HOME Contents 26 Agile Media Ltd, Zurich House, East Park, Crawley, West Sussex RH10 6AS +44(0) 1293 590040 drinksint.com Balancing act ometimes judging cocktail competitions feels like you’re sitting Son the side of the runway at a fashion show. Bold creations make their appearance on the cocktail catwalk, often sporting fabulous glassware and sometimes wearing ill-advised headdresses (garnishes). But, at the end of the day, what you want to see is the haute couture of cocktails. Not simple serves or drinks that are years-established with just one new ingredient. You long for the truly original. At this year’s Cocktail Challenge (full report on I-XII), there were a couple of drinks that had all the charm of a flat-chested gazelle tripping in high heels and falling off the end of the catwalk. And some looked like one model was trying to display the designer’s entire collection single-handedly. However, there were many that could grace the front cover of Vogue. These were a testament 17 I to the professionalism of the brand ambassadors Shutterstock who created them. To achieve the level of balance and understanding of flavour, you have to know News 19 From our own correspondent your brand inside out. You’re not just a bartender, 05 Business News The latest instalment from the WSET you’re a salesperson and it’s your job to wrap up 07 What’s New launchpad your product in a package that will impress. 10 Travel retail News 20 Chilean Wine But should high-quality entries be a surprise, Christian Davis looks at how the given the amount of investment that companies Analysis established region is stepping it up a gear – large and small – throw at cocktails? I don’t 6 Beaujolais new foe? think a month goes by without news of a cocktail Hamish Smith looks at the pros and cons 24 Tequila Cocktails competition. And prizes aren’t small – trips to the of the new Burgundy AOC Lucy Britner ponders life beyond the US for Bulldog Gin, $10,000 for Angostura and Margarita Diageo’s just-unveiled Rio as the destination for Features its World Class final. 17 premium asian Beer 26 World’s Best rum Bars If you’re entering, remember that balance is key As brands make the journey from east to The global rum ambassador Ian Burrell – not just sweet and sour but aroma and taste – west against the tide, Hamish Smith waits shares his favourite rum bars and that the appearance both of yourself and the on the shore drink are important. The best fashion designers In the Zone create original pieces that inspire those further 12 Cognac 32 Bar Zone down the chain to create something similar, yet How do you get women to drink more Fred Noe on tattoos; Diageo’s World Class simplified, for the high street. This is how I see a cognac? David Longfield attended the final destination revealed; cocktail comps brand ambassador’s job in cocktail competitions annual summit to find out – a chance to show the rest of the trade how your 34 pure Gould brand looks (and tastes) on the cocktail catwalk. i-Xii Cocktail challenge Patience Gould explores the mystery of Shake, rattle and roll – it’s Cocktail the upcoming US cognac launch from Lucy Britner Deputy editor Challenge time again Bacardi april 2012 DRINKSINT.COM DRINKS INTERNATIONAL 3 For BrEaKinG nEwS viSiT DrinksinT.CoM News Brazil in plans to ‘safeguard’ wine he Brazilian Ministry of ‘organic’ or ‘biodynamic’ on wine labels, Development Industry & Foreign unless certified by a Brazilian agency. TTrade (MDIC) has proposed Paul Medder, country manager for Brazil ‘safeguarding’ measures to protect national at global research agency Wine Intelligence, wine production from imported wine said MDIC’s proposal failed to consider the Diageo GTME americas has launched Johnnie walker platinum label and “attacking the Brazilian market”. positive effects imported wines can have on Johnnie Walker Gold reserve ahead of a The measures include: consumption of quality domestic wines, or the global roll-out in travel retail. platinum n Raising the tariff on imported wines from healthy influence competition can provide. label (US$86 for 75cl) is described as a 27% to 55% He said: “For the future development of “delicate smoky blend that embodies the characteristic full flavours of Johnniew alker n Introducing country-by-country quotas the Brazilian wine market, one can only blended scotch whiskies, reflecting a strong, n Imposing a minimum price on imported hope that sufficient pressure is applied on sweet and elegant Speyside style”. Gold wines the government, both from within Brazil label reserve (US$60 for 1 litre) is created using ‘favoured casks’ including those from n Making it compulsory to have front and from concerned producers and wine- the Clynelish distillery and is targeted at labels in Portuguese lovers abroad, to head off such short- “up-and-coming affluent male and female n Making it illegal to use such terms as sighted protectionist measures.” consumers”. UK faces 40p unit Drinks profits healthy hree sets of annual results show drinks minimum price Tsector profits managed to maintain he UK government has proposed a minimum alcohol price of a healthy level during 2011, despite T40p per unit and the ban of buy-one-get-one-free deals in a bid to what Stock Spirits Group refers to as a counter binge drinking. ‘challenging market backdrop’. Prime minister David Cameron said: “We’re consulting on the Stock recorded an increase of 4% to actual price, but if it is 40p that could mean 50,000 fewer crimes each €63.9 million in earnings before interest, year and 900 fewer alcohol-related deaths per year by the end of the taxes and amortisation (EBITDA), although decade.” revenue dropped from €301.9m in 2010 to Andrew Cowan, country director, Diageo GB, said: “Rather €295.1m in 2011. than being a targeted intervention, it simply hits consumers hard, Gruppo Campari reported an increase in Peretti Francoise particularly those on low incomes. There is no credible evidence from EBITDA of 10.3% in 2011, with net profit anywhere in the world that it is an effective measure in reducing rising from €156.2m in 2010 to €159.2m alcohol-related harm.” last year. The news came within days of the UK budget announcement that The Scotch Whisky Association has saw 41p added to a bottle of spirits (37.5% abv), 11p to a bottle of announced export value grew 23% in 2011 wine and 3p more on a pint of beer (inclusive of VAT). to £4.2bn, with shipments to the US, the The Champagne Bureau’s latest results The Wine & Spirit Trade Association said the tax increase adds largest export market by value, increasing show total shipments rose 1% last year from 319.5 million bottles in 2010 to to the pressure on a sector that has seen “volume sales continue to 31% to £654.9m, and France, the second 323 million in 2011 decline in the past year as consumers reined in spending”. biggest, growing 27% to £535.4m. CEDC has signed a new Berry Bros & rudd has The Distilled Spirits Council The China Securities three-year deal with Gallo appointed Cask liquid of the United States has regulatory Commission has News Vineyards to distribute Marketing to replace in- appointed Patrón Spirits given regulatory approval Barefoot wines in Poland. Spirit Global Brands as UK chief operating officer John to Diageo’s planned The deal also sees the distributor for The King’s McDonnell chairman of buy-out of the Chinese In Brief continuation of the group’s Ginger liqueur and The the board of directors for Shanghai Stock Exchange- rights to market Carlo Rossi. pink pigeon vanilla-infused a two-year term. DISCUS’s listed Shui Jing Fang. rum in its spirits portfolio. member brands include Diageo’s maximum offer Industry stories from Patrón, Bacardi, Diageo, stands at £630m. and, since last month, around the globe Campari America. april 2012 DRINKSINT.COM DRINKS INTERNATIONAL 5 News Analysis Focus on Beaujolais s the third consecutive “great” By Hamish Smith Beaujolais vintage readies Afor market and glasses, the talk in the region has turned to The long-standing decline of another newcomer, the newly formed Beaujolais Nouveau, also a product of appellation of Coteaux Bourguignon. the south, has hit revenue streams in A rebirth of the now-defunct the past 10 years, dropping from 50% Bourgogne Grand Ordinaire to 31% of the region’s production. appellation, AOC Coteaux Jean Bourjade, managing director Bourguignon is a new entry-point of Inter-Beaujolais, explains that, Burgundy that can be sourced from while the idea hatched in Burgundy, anywhere in the Grande Bourgogne his own region could stand to benefit. region, from Auxerrois in the north, “In the southern half of Beaujolais where Chablis is produced, to the producers suffer from people mixing southern tip of Beaujolais. The wines up Beaujolais and Beaujolais Village are in red, white and rosé styles. with Beaujolais Nouveau, so Coteaux Beaujolais is likely to contribute Bourguignon is an opportunity to much of the volume to the appellation, extend the range of wines they offer particularly benefiting producers to market. Along with red, white, in the sizeable but less marketable crémant and rosé, it is another option southern appellations of Beaujolais of a diversification strategy.” (17% of total production) and Favourably, Coteaux Bourguignon Beaujolais Village (16%).