Casella Winery launches two beers
Casella Wines, the family-owned winery whose Yellow Tail wine label rose from scratch to become the most popular imported wine in the U.S. in almost no time, has moved into beer with the mid-June launch of two beers: Arvo 34 and Arvo 51.
What can Arvo mean? It’s Australian lingo for “afternoon”, as older Australians will remember. So it’s probably as Australian as kangaroo.
Targeting the 25-34 year-old male age/gender bracket, Arvo is a brew aimed squarely at the Australian market and Australian tastes.
BRAUWELT International reported that the launch of the beers was preceded by a consumer survey which asked respondents to describe the beer they would love drinking.
With over 7000 responses to their survey, Casella’s brewers set about creating beers that they felt best matched the demands of their would-be consumers.
In a clever marketing stunt, Casella then decided that they would have a dual release with voters to decide on the ultimate winner.
Describing the two beers, John Casella, the owner, said his brewers had kept the bitterness low with ‘‘more fruitiness rather than floral hoppy characters’’.
Our correspondent in Australia, John Harvey, conducted several taste panels between 25 June and 2 July 2012 and the tasters showed a clear preference for Arvo 51 (4.9% abv) because it had a better balance and foam appearance with a good full hop finish than Arvo 34.
Following the initial responses to the beers, Mr Casella said that the public was almost evenly split between the two beers, currently (10 July 2012) approximately 54/46 in favour of Arvo 51.
So it is highly likely that both beers will eventually be produced in their own right.
Six-packs and cases containing both premium-priced beers are on sale at major liquor retailers for AUD 18.99 (EUR 16) per six-pack and AUD 49.99 (EUR 42) for a carton.
Casella brings in group revenue of about AUD 400 million (EUR 335 million) a year from its wine operations, it was reported. That’s why the Casella family could easily afford to build a 300,000 hl brewery right next to its winery in Griffith, New South Wales.
Still, Casella may face some big challenges when it comes to breaking into the Australian beer duopoly.
Lion and Foster’s account for more than 90 percent of the 17 million hl Australian beer market, while Coopers, the largest Australian-owned brewer, has a 4 percent market share.
In early July 2012, Coopers’ Chairman Glenn Cooper commented that the ambitious newcomer to the beer category, Casella Wines, will have its work cut out.
"There’s a big difference between having a capacity of that size and actually selling at that size," he was quoted as saying.
"If they want to take on SABMiller and Lion… there’s a trail of deaths behind, I can tell you."
Coopers’ Managing Director Dr Tim Cooper expressed concern that, if Casella struggles to get traction with its own Arvo brand of beers, the winemaker may end up using its huge brewing capacity to supply private label brands to the supermarkets.
"One can only wonder if they find it difficult to get their brands established whether they will then end up supplying Coles and Woolworths, which of course we would think is regrettable," Dr Cooper said.
We cannot but agree.
