7-Eleven is expanding its wine offering with Voyager Point, the convenience store retailer's first premium vintage.This lets wine-lovers trade up in quality at an affordable price, according to the company.Varieties for Voyager Point include Cabernet Sauvignon and Red Blend from California, as well as Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand's Marlborough region. A 750-milliliter bottle sells for a suggested retail price of $9.99.The Sauvignon Blanc variety is stored chilled, while the Cabernet and Red Blend are held ambient on store shelves.The bold, modern label was designed to appeal to millennial wine drinkers. Bottles come with an easy-to-open Stelvin closure, a screw top that preserves freshness.The Voyager Point wines were benchmarked against the top-selling wines in each variety. Customers preferred Voyager Point over the higher-priced national brands in testing, 7-Eleven reported."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, senior director of private brands at 7-Eleven. "We need to have options for our wine-drinking customers when they decide to trade up — one that is better quality than the top national brands and at a better price," he added.The premium wines category, priced between $9 and $12 per bottle, is the top trending price segment in the industry. Red wines in particular are growing in popularity. IRI data through April 2018 shows Cabernet and Red Blend varietals up 6 percent and 9 percent, respectively, in dollar sales growth over prior years, according to 7-Eleven.Voyager Point wines are sourced from notable growing regions that are known for their winemaking traditions. The three varietals' taste profiles are:Cabernet Sauvignon: A bold, expressive wine cultivated in the sun-soaked vineyards of California. Its vibrant notes include ripe, dark fruits such as blackberries, plums and cherries.Red Blend: The smooth, balanced flavor profile has rich, complex tones of dark cherries, chocolate and vanilla. A combination of Merlot, Zinfandel and Petite Sirah, it hails from West Coast locales for an authentic Californian wine-drinking experience.Sauvignon Blanc: The crisp white wine from Marlborough, New Zealand, offers tantalizing aromas of citrus zest and vibrant notes of Key limes and Meyer lemons.Voyager Point joins 7-Eleven's value-priced Yosemite Road and the more recently introduced Trojan Horse wines. The company has a goal to build its wine selection horizontally, offering quality wines across all price segments.
