Viña Concha y Toro unveils first travel retail-exclusive range

Leading Americas wine producer Viña Concha y Toro (Concha y Toro) has launched its first travel retail-exclusive range.

The ‘Route of Cabernet Sauvignon’, from the company’s flagship Casillero del Diablo brand, features a trio of Cabernet Sauvignons from three wine-growing valleys in Chile. The range will roll out into travel retail in April.

Viña Concha y Toro Global Travel Retail & Duty Free Director Diego Baeza said the Route of Cabernet Sauvignon launch “marks a tremendous milestone” for the winemaker.

“For the first time in our history, we have produced something exclusively for travellers – something original, storied and of exceptional quality. This is a confident step in Concha y Toro’s travel retail journey, and we’re very excited about our fantastic wines bringing new energy to the channel and helping to drive wine category growth.”

Baeza said the brand extension followed efforts by the winemaker’s team in the Asia Pacific region to identify a “significant gap” between the offer in domestic markets and that in travel retail.

“The Route of Cabernet Sauvignon range is the solution to this, bringing together Asia’s favourite wine variety, Chile’s expertise in Cabernet and a powerful global brand in Casillero del Diablo.”

Casillero del Diablo is regarded as the world’s leading Chilean wine brand. It claimed second spot in the 2018 Global Wine Brand Power Index by Wine Intelligence. Concha y Toro said the new range offers consumers a “tasting journey” to the Devil’s Cellar in Pirque, where the ‘legend’ of its flagship Casillero del Diablo began.

According to the winemaker, folklore has it that Casillero del Diablo wines are protected by the devil. The story stems from a rumour spread by of Viña Concha y Toro Founder Don Melchor de Concha y Toro to discourage pilferage from the original cellar in Pirque over 130 years ago.

Viña Concha y Toro Head of Marketing Asia Pacific Nani Mulet commented: “In the development of this range, we have considered not just the attributes of each of these fantastic wines, but also how we guide the consumer through the range.

“The use of different ageing statements is a cue that many travel retail consumers will equate with other categories, such as malt whisky, where longer equals better, and the same is true here. We look forward to showing this in innovative and engaging ways at the point of sale when we launch in April.”

 

Part of a ‘tasting journey’, Casillero del Diablo Maule offers flavours of plums and black cherries.

The ‘Route of Cabernet Sauvignon’ range

Maule (RRP US$25) is aged in French and American oak barrels for ten months and offers flavours of plums and black cherries.

Its grapes are sourced from Cauquenes, a sub-region of the Maule Valley, one of the first Chilean regions planted with vines and one of the best areas in the country for Cabernet Sauvignon.

Rapel (RRP US$40) is aged for 12 months in French oak barrels and foudres. The Rapel Valley, between the Andes and the Coastal Range, is sheltered from the cold influences of the Pacific Ocean, resulting in a Mediterranean climate that produces rich red wines.

Viña Concha y Toro describes the wine, which offers aromas of toasted cassis, cedar and blackberry, with hints of black pepper, as “dark and deep as the devil’s cellar”.

Casillero del Diablo Rapel: “As dark and deep as the devil’s cellar”.

Maipo (RRP US$65) is aged for 16 months in French oak barrels and 5,000-litre casks. It is sourced from two vineyards in Alto Maipo in the Maipo Valley, which, according to Concha y Toro, is one of the best places in the world to produce Cabernet Sauvignon.

The wine is presented in a premium gift box.

Viña Concha y Toro, founded in 1883, is one of the world’s largest wine companies. It holds around 11,000 hectares of vineyards in Chile, Argentina and the USA and its wine portfolio includes Don Melchor and Almaviva, Casillero del Diablo, Trivento from Argentina, and Fetzer and Bonterra brands from California.

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