Sparkling wine arrives on Brazilian beaches

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil - With temperatures reaching between 95ºF and 104ºF, Brazilians are enjoying the hottest season with a twist.

Caipirinha and beer, the traditional drinks for beachgoers, are competing against sparkling wine in what's becoming a hotly contested battle of beverages.

The trend was started by Miolo vineyards, which picked the beaches of Santa Catarina - a perennial favorite among Brazilians and Argentines - to start selling its cool product.

The sparkling wine, which is kept in hand-pushed refrigerator coolers by vendors similar to the ones used to sell ice cream cones, is sold in 250-milliliter (8.4 ounce) bottles labeled "Terranova." They sell for R$10 (US$5.50) apiece.

Miolo sold about 400 bottles daily when it debuted the product in Santa Catarina. But now it also is available at kiosks along the coast of the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

"The Brazilian consumer is developing the habit of drinking sparkling wine in churrascarias (steak houses), pizzerias, and, now, at the beach," Marcelo Toledo, CEO of the Miolo Wine Group, says. "Our challenge is bringing about a change in people's habits."

The vineyard sold 40% more of its bubbly in 2009 than during the previous year. It's made in Bento Gonçalves, in Rio Grande do Sul, and along the banks of the São Francisco river, in the state of Bahia.

Carlos Paviani, director of the Brazilian Wine Institute (Ibravin), says Miolo's efforts to promote sparkling wine have paid off because the product is no longer stereotyped as a seasonal drink.

"The sale of sparkling wine in October, November and December, spurred by year-end festivities, [still] represents about 50% to 60% of the [annual] total," Paviani says. "[But] not so long ago, that number was closer to 80%."

Daniel Salton, the head of the Salton vineyard, claims that 30 years ago sparkling wine was consumed almost exclusively by the wealthiest families, and even then, only on important occasions.

Salton is the top seller among Brazil's sparkling wines. In 2009, the company sold six million bottles - almost 4.2 million liters (1.1 million gallons). The goal for 2010 is to increase sales by 15%.

In the first 11 months of last year, Brazil produced nearly 10.5 million units, which represented an 18% growth from 2008. From that total, about 9.5 million were bottled in Rio Grande do Sul, with the rest being made in Santa Catarina and Bahia. In 2010, production is expected to reach 11.5 million bottles.

"The product has not lost its cachet: It simply has become more [widely] disseminated through the efforts of wine merchants, in a move similar to that which took place in Europe," Salton says. "The result is that we have more and more of these vineyards popping up throughout Brazil, as well as greater consumer interest."

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