Buckingham Schenk sees Argentina and Prosecco sales soar

By Gemma McKenna

Published: 18 September, 2014

Buckingham Schenk see sales of its Argentinian Viñalba brand rocket, with Prosecco also leading the charge while pre-filled goblets hit sales of 1 million.

The company's joint venture Argentinian brand Viñalba is going from strength to strength and has doubled sales, according to managing director Jon Pepper MW.

"It's 98% up on last year. That's thanks to a combination of extra distribution - it's now listed across all the major supermarkets except Tesco, and that helps volumes."

Buckingham Schenk Buckingham Schenk sees sales of its Argentinian brand rocketBuckingham Schenk's managing director Jon Pepper says Vinalba has doubled sales on last year.

He said consumers seem to like the brand, which has an "interesting proposition". It comes in around £8.99, which is a "significant step-up" from most other branded wines. Also Argentina is performing very well, with Malbec becoming a really well-known grape variety, he said. "It ticks a lot of boxes," added Pepper.

The firm is also having a lot of success with Prosecco, since its parent firm Schenk bought Bacio della Luna three years ago. It totally gutted the existing winery and installed state of the art equipment in the winery - which even allows winemakers to work remotely. It has gone from selling zero bottles to 9 million in about 18 months. Buckingham Schenk has sold 3 million of those in the UK - "from a standing start - and that doesn't include the Frizzanti".

Buckingham Schenk is on target to sell 1 million pre-filled goblets - it list Intrepid Fox and M&S Le Froglet brands. Pepper believes this has so far "hardly scratched the surface", saying this category will continue to grow for a while.

The group now has over 40 on-trade accounts, from when it started targeting the sector 18 months ago, and has just released the second version of its portfolio.

Buckingham Schenk, based in Slough, Berkshire, sells around 15 million bottles of wine per year. Its European parent firm Schenk sells around 250 million bottles of wine per year, as well as owning a host of wine estates across the continent.

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