The huge success story of bottled limoncello spritz Zoncello has been highlighted at Endeavour Group’s first Supplier Forum of 2024.

A record number of suppliers registered for the forum, with more than 1200 joining online.

Endeavour Group’s Buying and Merchandising Director Tim Carroll said: “We are seeing rapid changes in customers’ tastes and preferences, and the trend of consumers seeking out and trying new drinks is showing no signs of abating even in a higher cost of living environment.

“There have been $850 million of sales generated by new products in the last two years and 1900 new products added to our range in the last year alone.”

Carroll said Yarra Valley wine producer Zonzo Estate had seen “exponential growth” in recent months of its limoncello spritz Zoncello.

“Zonzo Director Rod Micallef has been creating the Italian classic Limoncello at home for more than two decades before he decided to make it commercial and luckily he did,” Carroll said.

“Its soaring popularity has resonated not only with younger audiences with sweeter palettes but also older drinkers who see it as a nod to Italian history. This has been an incredible example of innovation, following consumer trends feeding back into an established brand story.”

Micallef said: “We are lucky to have a great relationship with our category manager who we often email about ideas or
changes to branding. He has been an amazing sounding board in assisting us with growth. He went above and beyond with us
getting this on the market as quickly as we could get it bottled.”

Read Micallef’s interview in Distilled magazine here.

This year’s Supplier Forum will be followed by four category-specific deep-dive sessions to be held throughout April.

“We are really pleased to launch this series of category deep-dives across wine, beer, spirits and premix to showcase new and emerging customer trends to a market demanding new taste profiles, moderation and options to ‘drink better’, all while staying responsive to macroeconomic conditions,” Carroll said.

The innovation that’s put the wine category back in growth

In February Endeavour Group CEO Steve Donohue said the wine category was back in growth for the retailer following the release of Zoncello.

Endeavour announced sales of $6.7 billion during the first half of FY24, an increase of 2.5% from the prior corresponding period, with growth driven by lemon flavoured drinks such as limoncello and Hard Rated.

Endeavour Group Managing Director and CEO Steve Donohue told analysts: “People are loving anything that is refreshing and lemon flavour is one of the most refreshing drinks out there.

“What we’ve also seen is an explosion in demand for limoncello, for example. We just about doubled our sales in limoncello in Dan Murphy’s in December.”

He said Zoncello was performing particularly well.

“It is an Australian wine product, which is sensational, it is very appealing to Gen Z and is now part of what is driving growth in the wine category again.”

“We are back in growth in the wine category thanks to that innovation.”