Rioja now allows naming of village on labels →
In addition to the newly added Viñedos Singulares classification, the Regulatory Council of the Designated Origin Denomination of Origin has gone a step further by introducing village or zone wines, extending labelling privileges to indications of a specific municipality or town with the aim of giving greater visibility to these smaller geographical regions. This comes after 150 producers arguing that the current appellation system was “oblivious to soil differentiation and levels of quality” and calling for “deep changes” to boost the country’s heritage.
Whisky, tequila, and gin to drive global spirits category growth to 2021 →
Just released data from the IWSR 2017-2021 Forecast suggests global volumes of whisky, gin and tequila are expected to make gains of 55.2m, 7.1 million and 5.8 million nine-liter cases respectively over the next five years, following their rapid growth in 2016. These categories together with baijiu (+48.2m cases between 2016 and 2021), will contribute the most in the overall total global spirits category growth, which is expected to reach 3.19 billion cases by 2021.
Tequila will make its largest gains on the US market, with additional growth forecast in its domestic market, Mexico. In America, the total US alcohol market is forecast to decline by 37 million cases over the next five years, as they cite the forecasted growth in wine, whisky, and tequila is not enough to offset declines in beer, cider, and mixed drinks.
BrewDog secures $7 million in crowdfunding campaign →
Scottish beer company BrewDog crowdsourced contributions of $7 million from nearly 9,000 investors. They initially had a goal of $50 million, but will use the the money to pay for BrewDog USA’s new 100,000 sq. ft. production brewery in Columbus, Ohio, and to continue expansion into the U.S. market.
Sazerac starts Tennessee whiskey production →
Sazerac, owners of Buffalo Trace Bourbon brand have began whiskey production. In 2016, they purchased a craft distillery in Newport, Tennessee, and spent the year improving the premises. During the process, they retained John Lunn, previous master distiller, and master blender Allisa Henley, who worked on the Popcorn Sutton portfolio of whiskeys.
