Affordable wines with accessible and appealing flavor profiles are driving the wine industry overall, as demonstrated by Technomic’s Top 250 Wine Brands and its roster of the 50 Fastest Growing Wine Brands. Diving into its database of more than 1,500 wine brands, Technomic identified the 250 wine brands leading in volume and in retail sales in 2011, as well as the 50 achieving the fastest rates of volume growth.

Both rosters are included in Technomic’s soon-to-be-released 2012 Wine TAB Report.

As a group, the Top 250 Wine Brands grew 4.8 percent in 2011, slightly outpacing the growth rate of total wine, and accounted for 83.7 percent of the 329.3 million 9-liter cases of wine market. As expected, domestic table wines dominated the list. Among imported table wines, Italian wines have the most entries, followed by wines from Australia.

Ten domestic sparklers made the list, along with five Italians and two French. Five fruit wines and five sakes appear on the Top 250, indicating that those segments are gaining traction with consumers.

Looking at the top 10 brands, Franzia Winetaps, producers of wines in box packaging featuring taps, maintained its number one ranking with 25.0 million 9-liter cases. Barefoot Cellars moved into the number two slot on a 30 percent increase in 2011; the brand recorded 13.0 million 9-liter cases.

Five of the top 10 brands reside in the E & J Gallo Winery portfolio. In terms of retail sales, the top five brands are Carlo Rossi, Barefoot Cellars, Beringer, Yellow Tail, and Sutter Home.

Technomic identified the 50 Fastest Growing Wine Brands by volume, which reveals emerging trends in wine. The list is dominated by table wines, although two Sangrias and three sparklers also show up. E & J Gallo’s Apothic, a blend, tops the list with a 566.7 percent increase, followed by the Italian prosecco La Marca with a 500 percent gain. Daily’s, the line of wine-based cocktails, enjoyed a 223.1 percent increase, while two attractively priced table wines, Cupcake Vineyards and William Hill, both logged triple-digit expansion rates.

The Five Fastest Growing Wine Brands
Ranked by Percentage Increase in Volume 2011 vs. 2010
(000s of 9-liter cases)

Rank	Brand	Segment	Marketer/Importer	2011 Volume	Percent Change
1.	Apothic	Table	E & J Gallo Winery	800	566.7%
2.	La Marca	Sparkling-Imports	E & J Gallo Winery	150	500.0%
3.	Daily's	Fruit Wine	American Beverage Corporation	2,100	223.1%
4.	Cupcake Vineyard	Table	The Wine Group	2,400	140.0%
5.	William Hill	Table	E & J Gallo Winery	200	100.0%

These volume and sales rankings indicate that today’s wine consumers favor affordably-priced wines,” says Donna Hood Crecca, senior director, Technomic Adult Beverage Resource Group. “What’s more, the fast pace of growth for Apothic shows the growing appeal of blends to today’s consumer. The number of Italian sparklers and strong performance of La Marca showcases that these attractively-priced wines are striking the right chord, as well. Barefoot’s double-digit volume gain speaks to wine drinkers embracing brands that fit their casual lifestyles.