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The drinks everyone is talking about in GTR

07 October 2024 By Jessica Mason

Five drinks turning heads in global travel retail all share a unique proposition: each of them was presented with a story that resonates with consumers and taps into a key trend.

Themes such as nature, exploration, the future, authenticity, transparency and relevance were all on display across GTR with each brand owner indicating how integral they were to the marketing of their current hero launch.

Chabot Armagnac – Explorer and adventurer
One example was seen from French armagnac business Chabot which unveiled how its union with the explorer Mike Horn came to be and revealed how what began as an idea turned into a new release of Armagnac in its own right.

Mike Horn, explorer and collaborator with Chabot told db: “I crossed the North Pole with a small little bottle of Armagnac. For all big expeditions, I usually take a little bit of alcohol to celebrate the moment and the achievement. Because explorers, we don’t win medals and there’s nobody applauding like in a stadium. So, we kind of have our moment alone in the tent just having a bit of whatever you take along with you.”

Horn explained: “On the last expedition, I celebrated the first ever crossing of the North Pole with Chabot Armagnac after meeting Kathleen [King Gentzbourger, owner of Chabot Armagnac].”

Horn said: “Really, she had said: ‘Let’s do something that tells the history of the brand through the history of exploration and sailing around the world, that connection with nature’ [and so] the bottle is in the form of a wave. And that’s what we are showcasing while telling a story about exploration.”

Brockmans Gin – Nature meets the future
Brockmans Gin also unveiled an ultra-premium and exclusive expression named WŸLD which will be released next year with a total of 3,000 bottles and retailing at £350 for 70cl, but the really compelling element of the much talked about launch was its presentation in a futuristic decanter and being a genial nod to the future, with the big reveal of its launch party being its martini.

The expression also hits another trend in its stride with nature in mind since the spirit has been infused with 15 botanicals that have been ethically hand-foraged by local communities.
Brockmans has also said that it will unveil a new vintage every year – to essentially bottle the natural changes in the ingredient’s soil type, microclimate and climate to give each rare bottle a distinctive narrative and story.

Accolade Wines – Authenticity and genuine affection
Accolade is making its range of wines it has made with Dolly Parton a key part of its messaging, taking full advantage of the fact that the country singer and actor is relevant to such a broad demographic due to her authenticity.

Speaking to db, Jeff Bond, channel director, distributors and GTR at Accolade Wines said: “Dolly’s wine is our biggest innovation launch and we’ll roll it out into Q1 next year.”

Bond explained how the messages about Parton were steeped in authenticity and as such her following spanned generations and the trend for being genuine and honest. He told db: “Dolly Parton kind of has a very broad church – you talk to anyone that has heard of Dolly Parton and they’re 18 year olds to 80 year olds. When we launched in the States, we got 3.2 billion impressions in the first round of PR. There’s a Prosecco and a Rosé in Europe and in America, we have a Prosecco and an American Chardonnay. For Australia, we have a Australian sparkling wine.”

Bond added that the marketing was also 100% Dolly and admitted that this will help the brand too. He added: “The Dolly Parton chose everything. So she went over it all and we did about two years of development with her. She’s chosen the wines. She’s very specific about the style that she wants.”

Champagne Lanson – Remaining relevant
Champagne Lanson, which revealed its new release Le Rosé Création, was also the talk of the show as it met with attendees to showcase its continued success.

Champagne Lanson President Francois Van Aal told db that the sector “has always been key for Lanson” and revealed that even though “over the last five to six years, the Champagne industry has been a bit bumpy in general” and “of course, 2020, as a Covid year, was a cyclone or a hurricane in the travel industry, with Champagne going down to 240 million bottles shipped across the world” it still recorded 2022 as “the second highest historical record year for Champagne shipments” and said that despite the challenges, the GTR sector is “very resilient”.

Van Aal reminded that even though: “Le Rosé Création was first launched last July in the Wimbledon Royal Box for the first time in the UK” and reinstated how the business builds very real and solid relationships and partnerships with revered companies. He also added that he can now confirm that “it is going to be rolled out to all markets and travel retail” to show how “Champagne remains relevant”.

Silent Pool – transparency and storytelling
William Grant & Sons presented a Silent Pool masterclass to the sector, illustrating the merits of the Surrey-made gin brand and captivated GTR buyers and distributors with its newest variant “the Mediterranean Expression”.

Speaking to db, Silent Pool global brand ambassador Marion Zoelle said: “Here we come bigger and stronger with a new product called ‘the Mediterranean Expression’, and, of course, we are showing our Classic Expression too.”

Zoella told db: “Today, I’m doing a little masterclass because I want to take the people on a journey to understand our gin and see the way we produce it and where it comes from as well.”

Amplifying the product’s natural elements as well as its quality with its story woven through about the pool, Zoelle added: “We are all about provenance [and the product is] full of botanicals, full of nature” and highlighted how Surrey in the UK is “one of the most densely wooded areas in the UK” to remind that the product has direct links to the natural world.

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