Beverage alcohol market research firm BW 166 LLC says retail wine sales in the U.S. between June 2017-June 2018 were flat at $3.3 billion. During the same period, however, sales of wine in boxes rose by 7% and sales of wine in cans jumped a whopping 43%.
It may seem like a new idea, but wine in cans in the U.S. dates back to about 1936, produced by the Acampa Winery of Lodi, California, and again in the 1950s with wine in cans produced on the West and East Coasts. But canning wine proved a small disaster, especially after wine’s acidity ate little holes in the tin, a problem that had apparently been remedied by 1980 when, operated then by Coca-Cola, the Taylor California Cellars brand released wine in short aluminum cans intended for U.S. airlines.
One wonders whether or not 24 year-old Anish Patel knew the history of wine in cans in the U.S. when he brashly set out to market his own brand in a can, Tinto Amorio, which he bills as a low-calorie sparkling red wine cocktail with lemon. The inspiration for Tinto Amorio is the age-old Spanish Tinto de Verano (literally, red wine of summer): generally, one part red table wine and one part low-sugar, carbonated lemonade.
Leaving behind a position as an investment banker at BMO Capital Markets in San Francisco, Patel launched Tinto Amorio in the fall of 2017. He had gotten it into a few shops in New York City, but New York State’s alcohol control laws that forbid individual stores from centralized buying makes building brand volume a monumental task. He turned his attention to the more welcoming Southern California market.
Patel signed with a small local distributor for warehousing and delivery only—sales and merchandising would be his domain. He did it this way because, as he says, “The traditional distribution method is broken…So many people had advised me that I would fail because I'm not working with Southern or Breakthru.”
Instead of sending hourly paid distributor reps with auto expense accounts to spend valuable time stopping at each store to take inventory, Patel says, “I get a weekly report from the chain showing me sales for the week and then subtract that from the number of units I have sent every store. This allows me to count inventory in every store in five minutes every Monday morning, and then I call on the stores that are running low.” His method gives him the time needed to maintain a sales relationship with buyers, which he believes is the brand owner’s responsibility.
Patel quickly got his brand into Pavilions, a Southern California grocery store banner of the Vons supermarket division of Albertsons, and just at the right time—Pavilions had expanded its wine and alcohol offerings in February 2017.
In under 12 months since its introduction, Tinto Amorio is No. 1 in sales against 70 other like-category items across 26 Pavilions stores. Patel says he just received word that by next spring Tinto Amorio will rollout in more than 300 Albertsons’ affiliated stores.
Patel says Tinto Amorio is produced from a Northern California red wine blend; a 250-mL can delivers 110 calories, 14 grams of sugar and 4.4% alcohol by volume. A four-pack costs $19.99.
Patel matches his entrepreneurial spirit with social responsibility: Barbara Wartman, director of marketing & PR at Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County, and Roger Castle, chief development officer at Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, confirm their organizations share 5% of the revenue from Tinto Amorio sales.
