For much of the wine industry, 2024 provided few reasons to pop corks. Reports of declining overall consumption, falling grape prices, and continued soft demand on the horizon made 2024 a year to forget while clouding the outlook for 2025.
For Josh Cellars, on the other hand, the year provided plenty of reasons to raise a glass. Known for turning out large quantities of reliable West Coast classics like Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Zinfandel at reasonable prices, the California-based brand enjoyed a moment of viral celebrity at the beginning of 2024 when its humble branding was turned into a gently ribbing but mostly affectionate social media meme. In a surprise to no one in the industry, Josh’s Cabs and Chardonnays continued to dominate at their sub-$20 price points. And as the year wound to a close, Josh found one more reason to hoist a glass of bubbly: its own.
According to scan data provided by the company, for the four weeks preceding Dec. 1, Josh Prosecco for the first time overtook Ruffino to become the No. 3 Italian sparkling wine in the U.S., putting it behind only Mionetto and La Marca in terms of volume sales. Since launching its base Prosecco in 2019 (and adding a Prosecco Rosé offering the following year), the very American winemaker has quietly made significant inroads into the U.S. market for this very Italian sparkling wine. Over the last five years Josh Prosecco has doubled its case volume, while its sparkling rosé has grown 114.6 percent since its debut in 2020. With Prosecco sales still booming and Josh’s own brand recognition arguably at its apogee, the California winemaker has promptly emerged as one of the largest — and some might say most unlikely — sellers of Italian bubbly in the U.S.
Bubbly Boom
Sparkling wine in general enjoyed a significant jump in sales during the onset of the pandemic. According to IWSR data, during the two-year stretch from 2019 to 2021, U.S. Champagne sales grew by 11 percent annually while Prosecco saw a slightly slower 10 percent growth rate during the same period. But following that initial period of lockstep growth, Champagne and Prosecco diverged. From 2021 to 2023, Champagne sales declined by 7 percent annually while Prosecco maintained an annual growth rate above 5 percent.
In an IWSR report, Marten Lodewijks, president of IWSR’s U.S. Division, ascribes Prosecco’s continued growth to its versatility across a wide range of occasions and its much more competitive price point when compared with Champagne. In 2020, Prosecco’s regulatory body also granted approval for winemakers to begin producing Prosecco Rosé starting with that year’s vintage, providing the category with a splashy new product.
Whatever the underlying cause, Prosecco sales have remained strong in the U.S. over the past half-decade even when sales of other sparkling wines have flagged.
“Prosecco has established itself as the brand in the U.S.,” says Brian Gelb, VP of European wine & master data at Total Wine. “Consumer desire isn’t necessarily tied to one specific producer, which has helped it grow distribution and love with U.S. consumers.”
Consumers broadly may not differentiate between Mionetto, La Marca, or Freixenet. But if Josh’s sales data are any indication, the company’s legions of loyal fans do know the difference between Josh and not-Josh, and that distinction often drives their purchasing decisions. So when Prosecco sales began taking off in the U.S., it wasn’t a stretch for the company to reason that U.S. consumers would embrace a Josh Prosecco if only one were on the shelf.
280,000 Cases and Counting
Prior to launching its Prosecco in 2019, Josh Cellars didn’t have a sparkling wine in its portfolio. But it did have plenty of goodwill associated with its brand, which has carved out a significant niche for itself in the premium wine category (those costing roughly $14-$20 per bottle at retail). According to Impact Databank, Josh’s 2023 sales volume reached 6.2 million 9-liter cases in 2023, a 14 percent increase over the year prior. And while consumers might occasionally poke a bit of lighthearted fun at Josh’s humble name and branding, they do so while posting pics of the Josh bottles they’ve purchased. Consumers — at least a sizable cohort of them — genuinely like Josh Cellars’ wines at the prices they willingly pay for them.
“Josh is pretty unique in the wine business,” says Dan Kleinman, the chief brand officer for Deutsch Family Wine and Spirits, which has owned Josh Cellars since 2014. “We have the highest percentage of consumers that regularly drink two or more varietals from the same brand. They will drink across our portfolio.”
“I think everyone was expecting Prosecco Rosé to have that meteoric growth that still rosé did when it first became a trend in the U.S., but it didn’t quite happen in this category. We’re one of the few that’s had real success with both.”
The decision to jump into the Prosecco market wasn’t taken lightly, but once it was made the Josh team — led by winemaker Wayne Donaldson — moved quickly. They found enthusiastic Italian partners in the father-son duo Daniele and Matteo Pozzi and took partial ownership of a winemaking facility in Tarzo, just north of Conegliano in the heart of Prosecco’s DOC.
The Prosecco produced there now makes up more than 4 percent of the brand’s total sales, a number that is growing by the year (year-over-year Josh’s Prosecco sales are currently up 18 percent for the base Prosecco and 9 percent for the Prosecco Rosé). If 4 percent feels like a small number, consider Josh’s total sales volume. It all adds up to some 280,000 cases of Prosecco and Prosecco Rosé sold under the Josh name, outpacing all but the two biggest Italian Prosecco brands in the U.S.
Josh’s Prosecco Rosé has proven particularly successful for the brand. Though it makes up just a quarter of Josh’s total Prosecco sales, for most brands the ratio is more like 90 percent base Prosecco to 10 percent rosé, Kleinman says.
“A lot of people rushed into the [rosé] space, but there are very few players who are seeing significant volume as a portion of their base Prosecco business,” he says. “I think everyone was expecting Prosecco Rosé to have that meteoric growth that still rosé did when it first became a trend in the U.S., but it didn’t quite happen in this category. We’re one of the few that’s had real success with both.”
Cracking All Occasions
That a California brand has, at least for now, claimed the No. 3 spot in the competition for America’s best-selling Prosecco is a feat unto itself. But for Josh, pushing into the Prosecco space wasn’t just about catching a ride on a boosting rocket.
“Prosecco has been a real bright spot for getting younger drinkers in,” Kleinman says. If Josh truly has a knack for coaxing its customers to drink across its portfolio, any entry point into that portfolio is worth exploring.
Josh launched the brand’s first-ever non-alcoholic beverage, a NA sparkler derived from Glera grapes and produced by the same Italian winemaking team that makes Josh’s Proseccos.
Josh has leveraged its significant revenues into a marketing push for products aimed at legal-age Gen Z and Millennial drinkers, including those designed to slot into occasions where wine isn’t the most obvious beverage choice. Those products include Seaswept, a light, lower-ABV blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio that’s meant to be consumed away from the dinner table, and Hearth, a Cabernet Sauvignon that Josh is marketing as an anytime around-the-house red rather than something that begs for a food pairing.
Prosecco is also part of that strategy, given its versatility in uses ranging from cocktails to celebrations to brunch. The wines are reasonably priced, fizzy, and fun, Kleinman says, so there’s no reason Prosecco can’t be an anytime wine. To that end, this month Josh launched the brand’s first-ever non-alcoholic beverage, a NA sparkler derived from Glera grapes and produced by the same Italian winemaking team that makes Josh’s Proseccos.
“One of the key areas that wine needs to press into is casual, higher-energy gatherings where wine really doesn’t compete versus spirits, beer, and RTDs or seltzers,” Kleinman says. “That’s the next frontier for wine, and we think Prosecco does that well.”
The article How Josh Cellars Created One of America’s Most Popular Proseccos appeared first on VinePair.