I enjoyed everyone's presentations on Thursday, and - like Becca - found Michael very thoughtful and engaging.
As I sat there listening to his statistics on Rosé and Frosé, and watched as numerous teams shared their new twist on the beverage (cans, juice boxes etc), I found myself wondering if this was a bubble waiting to burst. If so, when would the bubble burst and what would the producers do with all that excess wine?
A quick google search suggests that most consumers use their leftover wine in food; they marinate meat in it, poach pears in it, bake desserts, create vinegar/sauces/reductions... you get the idea. However, producers would arguably have a tougher time adopting a similar strategy. Creating a new food product in-house would mean building up new production facilities, and launching new branding activities. For wine producers without a presence in grocery, this would arguably require new sales and distribution capabilities as well. Even creating a new food product through a joint venture would be problematic, as it would require them to establish partnerships with a new set of food companies with whom they may never have worked.
One interesting article I stumbled on spoke about Gose - a pale yellow to deep gold beer that is slowly gaining popularity in craft beer circles. According to the article, this beer - unlike its other cousins -pairs really well with rosé to form (you guessed it), Gosé. This drinks surprisingly well in winter (or so the article claims!). If rosé were ever to hit a saturation point, I wonder if there would be an opportunity for thoughtful rosé producers to quickly create a new beverage in partnership with some of their craft beer cousins. This would save them a lot of the time and effort they would otherwise have needed to put into branding and distribution, since the responsibility would arguably lie with the craft brewery instead.
For wineries like Long Meadow Ranch that sell food supplies in addition to wine, and deliver a surprise with each wine club shipment, another possibility would be to create packaged sauces and marinades with the leftover wine. They could then include that as the bonus item of the next shipment, and use this as an opportunity to delight customers.
That said, I hope rosé doesn't go out of style any time soon. I for one am still looking forward to a few more summers of #roséallday.
Trish - I agree, I love summer alongside a glass of rose, but am equally curious to see if the current craze is simply a trend. An article published in Vogue last summer was already suggesting that the rose bubble might burst and highlighted signs of the potential tipping point: "Popular confectioner Sugarfina launched a line of “rosé all day” gummy bears last year that alleged to have a 12,000-person waiting list." 12k people on a wait list for gummy bears?! Yet, the article notes that an entire culture has formed around rose, something that doesn't happen and stick for multiple years when a product is simply a trend. I personally love rose, but would love to see similar revivals of other varietals. https://www.vogue.com/article/rose-trend-tipping-point
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