7-Eleven toasts premium private brand wines

Voyager Point is the latest of Irving, Texas-based 7-Eleven's private wine brands, aimed to let wine lovers trade up in quality at an affordable price. The company says the premium varietals include Cabernet Sauvignon and Red Blend from California and Sauvignon Blanc from the Marlborough region of New Zealand. The wines were benchmarked against the top-selling premium wines in each varietal. In testing, customers preferred Voyager Point over the higher-priced national brands, 7-Eleven stated in a press release. The wines are value-priced at $9.99 a 750 milliliter bottle. The Sauvignon Blanc will be found chilled, while the Cabernet and Red Blend will be held ambient on store shelves, the company said.

“More and more wine drinkers are willing to pay a few extra dollars to move up to higher quality, higher price point wines,” said Tim Cogil, 7‑Eleven senior director of private brands. “We need to have options for our wine-drinking customers when they decide to trade up to one that is better quality than the top national brands and at a better price.”

Priced between $9 and $12, the premium wines category is the top trending price segment in the industry, 7-Eleven said in its press release, with red wines specifically growing in popularity. IRI data through April has Cabernet and Red Blend varietals up 6 and 9 percent, respectively, in dollar sales growth over prior years.

Voyager Point joins the retailer’s recently introduced Trojan Horse wines and value-priced Yosemite Road wines. The company said it wants to build its wine selection horizontally, offering quality wines across all price segments, adding that Voyager Point fills a gap for a premium-priced option.