Pink Moscato the solution for UK market

Pink Moscato will unlock the potential for Moscato sales in the UK market believes Stephanie Gallo, vice president of marketing at Gallo Family Vineyards.

Pink Moscato is the solution for the UK market according to Stephanie Gallo

The sweet and grapey wine style has been slow to take off in the UK, but has been booming in the US, where it now accounts for 6% of total wine sales from almost nothing less than five years ago.

However, speaking to the drinks business in California last week, Stephanie said that she expected the advent of rosé variants to drive Moscato sales in the UK.

“I think the way in to the UK will be through pink Moscato… pink Moscato is the solution,” she commented.

As previously reported by db, Gallo has launched a sparkling pink Moscato in the UK under its Barefoot brand, with Barefoot Bubbly Pink Moscato hitting the shelves in August this year.

Considering the US market, Stephanie pointed out that Gallo has a 47% share of Moscato sales in America, and traced the start of “Moscato madness” back to a trend spotted within the country’s armed forces.

“When we looked at what was selling in our military channel, we saw that it was Moscato,” she said, adding that this was probably Moscato d’Asti discovered by soldiers travelling to Europe.

The emerging trend encouraged Gallo to launch its first Moscato, which it did in 2008 under the Barefoot brand – and it is this product which is credited with kick-starting the surge in Moscato sales in the US.

Stephanie also noted that like the White Zinfandel consumer, the Moscato drinker rarely strays from the distinctive sweet wine style.

“White Zinfandel has the highest loyalty of any wine in the US – White Zin drinkers just want White Zin – and it’s the same with Moscato, they just want that.”

However, this has meant consumers of both these sweet wines have failed to switch to other wine styles.

“We thought the White Zin drinker would gravitate to more sophisticated wine, but they never did, and there are a lot of them, and god bless them,” said Stephanie.

She also said, “I take offence to the idea that White Zin is not a serious wine because to the consumer of White Zin, it is a serious wine.”

Finally, she commented, “I’m passionate about bringing new consumers into the wine category,” noting that both White Zin and Moscato have brought a lot of additional drinkers to the wine category in the US – a market which she believes still has enormous potential for growth.