Wines

Foreign Affair wines

Despite the pandemic affecting its consumer-tasting activities, walk-in customer and on-site retail store traffic (where most of its sales take place), and the overall decline of the wine category in Canada, our Foreign Affair winery was able to pivot and move sales through its e-commerce platform — to the extent that shipments grew 42% during the mandated shutdowns.

Acquired through our acquisition of Foreign Affair winery in 2017, our Foreign Affair brands represented Corby’s first foray into the VQA Canadian wine category. The winery offers signature appassimento-style wines such as The Conspiracy, Conspiracy Bianco, Amarosé and the award winning, winery staff favourite, Temptress.

Our first-ever sparkling rosé was an answer to consumers who wanted to taste all the elegance and complexity that our appassimento method is known for, but in a bubbly.

While we had started to develop a more robust direct-to-consumer e-commerce platform, the project was accelerated during the pandemic to support online sales. We also worked to increase our wine club membership.

With innovation key to success in the wine industry, Foreign Affair launched its first-ever sparkling rosé in time for the summer of 2020 and an anticipated post-pandemic thirst for local products. This was on the heels of the release of an inaugural Whisky Barreled Cabernet Sauvignon, aged in Corby’s own Pike Creek whisky barrels.

Pernod Ricard brands

Jacob’s Creek, Stoneleigh and Campo Viejo are the key Pernod Ricard wine brands Corby represents in Canada. While fiscal 2020 was a challenging year for wines, all three brands found creative and impactful ways to connect with consumers. In doing so, Jacob’s Creek and Stoneleigh both gained market share in their respective categories, while Campo Viejo maintained share in a competitive environment.

With wildfires raging in Australia, our Jacob’s Creek team ran a program across five provinces in which they donated $1 to Australian wildlife relief and recovery efforts for every bottle of Jacob’s Creek Double Barrel and Jacob’s Creek Reserve sold. In total, $36,088 AUD (roughly $34,000 CAD) was split between the Australian Koala Foundation and the Salvation Army Australia.

$1 of every bottle of Jacob’s Creek Double Barrel and Jacob’s Creek Reserve supported Australian wildlife relief and recovery efforts.

Stoneleigh remained a top performer in the relatively dynamic New Zealand category and continued to do well in the Ontario grocery channel. In keeping with consumer preferences for lighter options, Stoneleigh launched its Lighter Sauvignon Blanc, which has 25% less alcohol than the original.

For holiday shoppers, Campo Viejo opened Toronto’s first-ever wine yurt in the heart of Toronto’s Stackt Market in December. Guests were invited to take a break from shopping, kick back and enjoy some of Campo Viejo’s top wines at a cozy, one-of-a-kind pop-up.