Treasury Wine Resurrects Dying U.S. Brand for Women Drinkers

(Bloomberg) -- Treasury Wine Estates Ltd. plans to turn a discarded label from the U.S. into one of the group's top worldwide brands as it focuses on female drinkers.

Truvee, rolled out in Australia on Friday, will go on sale in Europe, Asia and the U.S. and be a global brand within 18 months, Chief Executive Officer Michael Clarke said in an interview. The brand could then overtake popular Treasury labels such as Coldstream Hills, Seppelt and Devil's Lair, he said.

Treasury, the maker of Penfolds Grange, acquired Truvee when it bought most of Diageo Plc's U.S. and U.K. wine assets for $600 million in January. It was set to be discarded. Now Clarke, a former Coca-Cola Co. and Kraft Foods Inc. executive, is targeting female drinkers aged 30 to 40 with the label because they typically control household spending.

“The consumer may be male, or male and female, but the shopper is the key person to connect with,” he said. “And the majority of our shoppers are female.”

A team of seven women from Treasury are behind the brand launch. There's a “significant opportunity” targeting females, Clarke said.

“We're not trying to alienate men,” he said. “This will be generally be drunk by women. But blokes will also drink it when the wife puts it on the table.”

Treasury shares have climbed 26 percent this year, valuing the Melbourne-based company at A$7.7 billion ($5.9 billion).

To contact the reporter on this story: Angus Whitley in Sydney at awhitley1@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anand Krishnamoorthy at anandk@bloomberg.net, Peter Vercoe, Edward Johnson