• Ad Age, Friday, August 25, 2006 12:16 PM

Wine marketers will begin touting new single-serve bottles this coming holiday season as part of a new and growing trend among younger wine drinkers. The single-serve bottles traditionally available on airplanes and hotel mini-bars are known as "187s"--the number of milliliters in each bottle. Last year, sales in the category jumped 17 percent to $75 million. Driving the trend are younger consumers who don't view wine drinking as only for special occasions. They are willing to mix and match wines with food, and want to sample new varieties without buying a whole bottle. Peggy Fox, vp-marketing at Centerra Wine, part of Constellation brands, says these consumers are "expanding the times, places and events at which wine can be consumed," noting that the company's single-serve products--ranging from Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi to Arbor Mist--are growing at three times the rate of its base business.

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