http://e.nikkei.com/e/ac/tnks/Nni20120508D08JSN03.htm
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
[SIZE="5"]Mercian To Boost Sales By Promoting Wine On the Rocks[/SIZE]
TOKYO (Nikkei)--Mercian Corp. aims to expand its wine sales in retail stores, as well as in restaurants and bars, by encouraging imbibers to drink wine on the rocks.
The Kirin Holdings Co. (2503) group company will add new products specifically designed for drinking with ice.
[SIZE="2"]"I'll have that shaken, not stirred."[/SIZE]
The red and white offerings will join a family of wines with a low alcohol content. The products contain 6% alcohol, slightly higher than their peers because they are meant to be drunk on the rocks. It will be sold in 300ml bottles priced at around 400 yen.
It is also launching a marketing campaign for its Franzia brand of California wine, which is offered at restaurants. It will distribute logo-festooned glasses, posters and other materials touting the drinking of wine with ice and a spritz of carbonation. Its goal is to stock Franzia wines in 38,000 restaurants and bars this summer, or 15% more venues than last summer.
Mercian aims to increase the number of retail stores handling its wines by 30% to 5,000 shops this year. To help promote retail sales, it will supply special drinking glasses and other promotional materials for in-store display.
(The Nikkei Business Daily, May 9 edition)
