Despite poor weather and shipment challenges, Campari experienced 9.6% growth in Australia in 2022, driven by Wild Turkey Bourbon, Aperol and Campari.

Explosive fourth quarter growth (+31.1%) was attributed to strong shipments recovery in Wild Turkey RTD (+35.7%) following persistent ocean freight challenges, as well as strong growth in Wild Turkey Bourbon (23.5%), Aperol (11.9%) and Campari (52.4%).

Three-year cumulative organic growth was +31.9%.

“We were very affected by poor weather conditions as well as significant ocean freight constraints, which impacted in particular the availability of the Wild Turkey ready-to-drink business,” CEO Bob Kunze-Concewitz said.

“As you know that’s about two-thirds of our total Australian business. So clearly, that was quite meaningful.”

Australia is now a top 10 global market for Aperol. The aperitif enjoyed global organic growth of 28.2% and now makes up 22% of Campari Group sales.

“Aperol Spritz has gone beyond the aperitif moment and it’s actually now an integral part of informal lunches and dinners, not only in Italy, but this is spreading across the globe,” Kunze-Concewitz said.

Campari experienced 23.8% organic growth and now makes up 11% of Campari Group sales. Growth was driven by consumers embracing cocktails including the Campari spritz, Negroni, Negroni Sbagliato and Boulevardier.

The Negroni Sbagliato craze was in full swing this winter in the US after it was revealed during an interview to be the favourite drink of Hollywood star Emma D’Arcy. Searches for the Negroni variant skyrocketed, with Google searches for the cocktail up over 50 times the average since the interview.

The classic Negroni cocktail is made with equal parts gin, vermouth and Campari. The Negroni Sbagliato was invented in 1972 when a bartender accidentally poured prosecco instead of gin while making a classic Negroni. Lighter than the classic Negroni, it was named after the Italian word ‘sbagliato’ meaning mistaken.

Wild Turkey core bourbon grew +26.2% in FY2022, mainly driven by the core US (+22.6%), South Korea (+144.9%) and Australia (+23.7%), thanks to a combination of classic cocktail revival in the on-premise channel and at-home mixology as well as strong pricing.

Kunze-Concewitz said Wild Turkey was continuing to benefit from a strong association with Matthew McConaughey.

“Looking ahead into 2023, we remain confident about the positive business momentum across key brands and markets thanks to strong brand equity, in particular aperitifs,” Kunze-Concewitz said.

“We will continue to leverage adequate price opportunities in specialties as well as portfolio premiumisation in brown spirits.

“To satisfy future demand, we are accelerating our investments in supply chain with the aim to double our overall production capacity in key aperitifs, bourbon and tequila categories.”