Top Ten online news stories for the quarter by Alana House

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Top 10 in under 10 minutes

HERE’S A ROUND-UP OF THE LATEST NEWS STORIES TRENDING ONLINE. VISIT WWW.DRINKSTRADE.COM.AU FOR DAILY DRINKS INDUSTRY UPDATES.

1. THE MOST VALUABLE BEER BRAND IN THE WORLD

AB InBev’s Budweiser recently claimed the top spot as the world’s most valuable beer brand for the first time, overtaking long-standing leader Bud Light.

Brand Finance’s annual report on the most valuable and strongest beer brands found Budweiser’s brand value was $US7.5 billion. It attributed the brand’s rise to No.1 to the immense success of its global sponsorship of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with sales increasing Q218 revenue by 10.1% outside of the US. The report revealed “accelerated growth in new markets including South Africa, Colombia, China and Australia”.

2. THE BEER BRAND THAT ENTICED ASAHI TO BUY CUB

AB InBev agreed to divest Carlton and United Breweries in July to Asahi Group Holdings for $AU16 billion.

Asahi later revealed the success of Great Northern was one of the big reasons it decided to buy CUB.

Executive chairman of Asahi Beverages Peter Margin told the Australian Financial Review it gave Asahi confidence by showing there was life in the beer category.

3. WOOLWORTHS OUTLINES ITS PLANS FOR ENDEAVOUR FOLLOWING DEMERGER

Woolworths announced in July that it would spin off its liquor and hospitality businesses into a new company called Endeavour Group. Endeavour Drinks and ALH will combine to form Endeavour Group prior to it either being spun off to shareholders or sold to a new owner in 2020.

Among the priorities for the Endeavour Group moving forward will be simplifying into a more customer-centric operating model; further developing its retail drinks and hospitality network to capitalise on network growth opportunities, ramp-up its renewal program and continue new store openings; leverage the store network and digital capabilities to increase online penetration; curate range for local customers and selectively build out the portfolio of exclusive Pinnacle brands; and unlock the property development potential of its existing real estate and develop key existing venues into large-scale mixed use and accommodation properties.

4. KAUFLAND PREPARES TO OPEN ITS FIRST PUB IN AUSTRALIA

An application has been submitted to Toowoomba Regional Council to build the first Kaufland hotel and hypermarket in Queensland.

The inclusion of a pub is a result of Queensland liquor laws stipulating that to obtain a liquor licence for a bottle shop, the owner must already hold a commercial hotel licence for a pub within 10km.

The German supermarket giant had previously been focusing its development efforts on Victoria and South Australia. In March, Kaufland Australia received planning approval for its first three stores in Victoria at Chirnside Park, Dandenong and Epping. In April, the retailer was granted development approval to build its first South Australian store in Prospect, Adelaide.

5. $15 SHIRAZ TAKES OUT MAJOR WINE TROPHY

Western Australia’s Deep Woods Estate took out a wine trophy and Gold at the first awards show for 2019 with its $15 Cabernet Shiraz. The Deep Woods 2017 Ebony Cabernet Shiraz won Best Shiraz/ Cabernet Blend Wine of Show at the Royal Queensland Wine Show. Deep Woods has gone on to win Best Cabernet Sauvignon with its 2017 Estate Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon at the 2019 KPMG Sydney Royal Wine Show.

It also won Best Wine in Show for its Deep Woods Estate Reserve Chardonnay at the Royal Hobart Wine Show, plus the trophies for Best Cabernet Sauvignon for the Deep Woods Estate Hillside Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 and Best Blended Red for the Deep Woods Estate Single Vineyard Cabernet Malbec 2017.

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6. AUSTRALIA’S BOOMING PROSECCO SALES UNDER THREAT

The National Vintage Report 2019 has revealed prosecco crush volume has increased by an average of nearly 50% each year since 2015 and is now the 10th largest white variety by production volume in Australia.

However, producers are deeply concerned that EU efforts to stop them using the name “prosecco” will have catastrophic effects on the industry.

Italy wants “prosecco” to be classified as a geographic indicator similar to Champagne and changed the grape name from prosecco to glera in 2009.

Michele Geraci, Italy’s undersecretary of state for economic development, told ABC News he expects Australia to give up the name as part of the latest round of EU trade negotiations. The Australian wine industry claims being unable to use the name will jeopardise up to $200 million in wine sales within four years.

7. HUGE MEDAL SWEEP FOR KOLLARAS AT MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL WINE COMPETITION

Kollaras & Co brands is celebrating winning 21 awards at the Melbourne International Wine Competition including a gold medal for its Mo-Town brand. This year’s judging panel included buyers from top retail stores, sommeliers, distributors, and importers from Australia and the greater Asia Pacific Region. Judges are instructed to only grant awards or medals to wines that they would import, distribute, buy or sell themselves.

“This brings Kollaras & Co’s 2019 medal tally to 41 medals with another 13 wine shows still to be awarded this year,” Georgia Kollaras told the Illawarra Mercury. “Our family is beyond proud of our committed staff who work so hard to produce and source wine of outstanding quality and value for consumers. To say we are appreciative of their efforts is an understatement. To think these achievements are coming out of a humble business based in Wollongong is something we can all be proud of.”

8. PUBS AND CLUBS TRIUMPH AT AUSTRALIA’S WINE LIST OF THE YEAR 2019

The winners of Australia’s Wine List of the Year 2019 have proven that Australia’s pubs and clubs have come of age, scooping up six of the prestigious trophies.

Best Hotel Restaurant Wine List went to Berts at The Newport hotel, with the list curated by Andres Aragon Perez.

Other winning pubs and hotels included Wickens at Royal Mail Hotel for Best Listing Of VIC Wines; and Margaret River’s Settlers Tavern, which took out Best Wine List WA and Best Listing Of WA Wines.

Meanwhile, The Newcastle Club was awarded Best Club Restaurant Wine List and Best Club Restaurant Wine List.

Victoria’s The Avoca Hotel won Best Beer List in 2018 and took out the honour again this year.

Drinks Trade is the trade media partner of Australia’s Wine List of the Year.

9. WOOLWORTHS ANNOUNCES IT’S SHUTTING DOWN WINEMARKET

Woolworths Group recently revealed it will close its discount online wine business WineMarket.

Dan Murphy’s interim MD Faye Ilhan said the closure was the result of a decision to focus on premium wine customers as it “sets up our wine business up for success in F20 and beyond”.

“The next step for us is to improve our eCommerce offer to ensure we can provide our customers with a convenient and effortless experience. In order to do this, we need to simplify the way our customers shop with us and in particular make our wine category easier to shop online.

“With this in mind, we have made the decision to close the WineMarket business to focus solely on trading the Dan Murphy’s website and giving our wine customers the best possible offer via Dan Murphy’s.”

10. MORE BARS & PUBS FACE FINES FOR UNDERPOURING

Secret agents are going undercover at bars and pubs around the country to ensure consumers aren’t being ripped off by under pouring.

National Measurement Institute staff will visit an extra 2000 premises in 2019, with fines for selling incorrect amounts ranging from $1000 up to $210,000.

In 2017-18, around a third of audited businesses were found to have breached measurement guidelines. That included more than 30 licensed premises around the country being caught under pouring spirits in cocktails.