I had never heard of this brand until 5 minutes ago, when I read Ciatti’s report on the California wine market. It states that Shanken’s Impact Databank Review and Forecast projects that this will become the largest wine brand by retail value in the U.S. this year!?!
I know, a board full of Hard-Core Geeks is also not extremely likely to be in close touch with this, but can anybody tell me what they sell, where they sell it, pricing, how the wines are?
It is in every grocery store and there are billboards all over for it. They make red, white, and pink and I believe there are several iterations of each. Never was tempted to try it. It’s in CVS, Wallgreens, and every place you would never look for wine.
It dominates in the urban markets. In Quincy, Massachusetts I would sell 10 cases a month. When I was in Acton, Massachusetts I would sell 3 cases a year. Think Roscato with artificial fruit flavors like grape, blueberry, watermelon, peach and mango. We had it in the shelf set next to our Burgundy wines. I broke a bottle once, it smelled negative.
Wow! Who wudda thunk? I had absolutely no idea that there was still a market for that kind of wine… at least not that big a market. I don’t see billboards where I live (I believe they are illegal in Maine… YAY!). Out of curiosity, I will look the next time I’m in one of my local supermarkets.
They’ve been right here in downtown LA since 1917, when Los Angeles was at the center of wine production. I’ve never had the wines, but I gotta tip my hat at them for staying true to SoCal for all these years.
I worked about 2 mikes from San Antonio Winery for around 15 years and we’d go there for lunch. It’s in the Lincoln Heights area of LA, near Dodger Stadium and Chinatown. We’d go to their restaurant for lunch sometimes. The wine wasn’t anything to write home about. Still isn’t.
We’ve got friends who NEVER drink wine, who now all of a sudden are drinking these wine cooler like things. I got them to at least try a Moscato d’Asti (which they liked) but those are not widely available outside dedicated wine/spirits shops in my area.
I learned something today. I thought that this was surely CA bulk market grapes but the Stella Rosa (San Antonio) web site does say made in and sourced from Italy. This is the only wine my father-in-law drinks. We took him to a tasting in downtown LA pre-Covid that consisted of a series of selfie backdrops each with a little table for tasting a different Stella Rosa wine out of little plastic cups. To my taste it is sugary and headache inducing but it is clearly very popular.
I do agree with Adam that I give major props to San Antonio winery for hitting it big with this one. San Antonio/Riboli is easily the real Old Guard in CA winemaking.
Hey Joe, Pleasantly surprised to see you mention Quincy, MA in your post. My hometown and I still live nearby, though I hardly recognize some parts of the city now. As for Stella Rosa, I do enjoy their bottling of Brachetto D’Acqui, but now I feel a little conflicted after reading some of these posts. I might have to switch to another producer.
I carry it at my store (don’t throw stones! There are some very nice folks who enjoy it, I’ll try to convert them to the good stuff.) This post has made me realize I’ve never tried it. I’ll pop a Stella Rosa “Black” in the fridge (bottle says serve chilled), and get some thoughts out later today. My rep says Black is the most popular in our area right now.
I did visit the San Antonio facility in downtown LA but it was at least 15 years ago. I recall them being solid wines but not something for which I have gone back. Poking around their website I see that they have several brands. The closest that they come to an AVA on those labeled San Antonio is California. Most of the other brands appear to come from Paso Robles with a couple of Monterey and Santa Lucia Highlands thrown in as well.