This past year has been a rough one for many in the drinks and hospitality industry, and our port and wine client Symington Family Estates felt the strain as they postponed celebrations for Graham’s bicentenary and sought to support on-trade partners forced to close during lockdown.
However, in a rare piece of good news, Symingtons saw a real boost in sales in the off-trade, as people stayed at home and reached for a bottle of port to provide a little bit of everyday luxury and comfort.
Off-trade sales of Graham’s increased by 22.6% driven by their limited edition bicentenary LBV, while Cockburn’s saw 11.6 bottles sold every minute at its peak in the last three months of 2020.
We announced the remarkable sales success to the media, and landed some top quality pieces, including an exclusive with the Daily Telegraph and trade pieces across Drinks Business, Harper’s Wine & Spirit and Drinks International.
The Sunday Telegraph then commissioned a follow-up feature on the Symingtons, which included an interview with Rob Symington, and went to print a couple of weeks after our news was out in the wild.
So if you’re reaching for the port to get you through this lockdown, you are not alone!
