TWE launches new wine brand targeting millennials

By Andy Young

Treasury Wine Estates has launched a new wine brand, Samuel Wynn and Co, which Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand, Angus McPherson, said is part of the company’s continuing portfolio evolution.

The range launches with a Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon and McPherson says it will give retailers the opportunity to engage with millennial consumers who like wine, but are not necessarily loyal to the category.

“This is the continued evolution of Treasury Wine Estates and its portfolio as consumer dynamics change and the role of millennials continues to grow within the wine category,” McPherson told TheShout. “They are now the second biggest segment and we need to make sure that we adjust our portfolio for that.”

In terms of creating the Samuel Wynn and Co brand, McPherson explained the thinking behind it.

“We had this wonderful story in our business, which was Samuel Wynn; he was a Polish immigrant who came to Australia in 1913 and started as a wine merchant in Melbourne. He played a wonderful role in developing the wine scene, not just in Melbourne, but also in Australia. He pushed the boundaries, challenged the status quo, he took a path that was very different to what was the traditional path in the wine category.

“When we look at millennials today and what they are doing, we thought the two really resonated and we felt it was important as we look to transform the portfolio that Samuel Wynn and Co was this wonderful brand idea that we’ve had within the business for a long time and we are bringing it to life.”

The bottles for the new wines have an unusual, angular shape which TWE hopes will help them to stand out on the shelf, and the launch will also be supported with a significant marketing campaign.

“It has a unique and differentiated packaging that I think looks wonderful,” McPherson said. “I’m exciting about this proposition, it’s going to have a major marketing campaign behind it, we plan on reaching over 10 million consumers and that will be through out of store media, which will really be targeted around close-to-proximity of stores, social media and also using the power of influencers, which is especially important with this millennial consumer.”

The launch will see a range of Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon and while McPherson revealed there are plans for other wines, TWE felt it was important to keep it “tight” for launch.

“In the future we’ll definitely look to expand, but I think it is really important to launch with a tight range. Shiraz is such a powerhouse in the Australian wine industry that is still growing at 10 per cent, it’s the biggest red wine varietal, and with Cabernet Sauvignon it just made sense to launch with the two powerhouses in the reds. In the future we’ll look at Chardonnay as well, but we have this tight focus on two SKUs across the trade, across key independent retailer banner groups and also across the majors.”

In recent months TWE has launched also launched the 19 Crimes and The Stag wine ranges and McPherson told TheShout, that this reflects the company’s attitudes towards adjusting its portfolio for the modern wine market and wine consumer.

“There’s no one-stop-shop for millennials and there’s no one-stop-shop for a baby boomer consumer, there is not one brand that resonates to them. To put all consumers into one little box and say they are all the same would be a mistake, but equally to say that they only have interest in one brand would also be a mistake, so we need to make sure we have a portfolio of brands.”

And in terms of the actual wine in the bottle, McPherson was understandably very happy with what the TWE winemakers have produced for this launch.

“They are two beautiful South Australian reds, lovely rich wines and I think one thing that Treasury Wine Estates has a wonderful history of is making first-class wines and I’m confident that this Shiraz and this Cabernet will deliver on that again.”

McPherson also said that this new range was about helping retailers to make sure they were able to offer the right wines to the right consumers.

“We have to make sure we have the right portfolio for the consumers that come into stores. We need to continue to evolve the portfolio that we offer and that’s what we are doing with the Samuel Wynn and Co and being very targeted around the millennial consumer.”

The Samuel Wynn and Co ‘The Man From Nowhere’ Shiraz and ‘Last Rites’ Cabernet Sauvignon are available to all retailers from TWE, with a $18.99 RRP.