Grants of St James's is pushing its Stowells of Chelsea wines upmarket with the addition of six premium styles to the range. The wines will retail at between £4-£6 and are aimed at the one in three consumers who buy wines over £4. "There is significant growth in this category and Stowells is well placed to exploit the potential and drive the category," said marketing manager Clare Griffiths. The new additions are a Viognier and Merlot from France and a Chardonnay from Chile, all retailing at £4.99, a French Pinot Noir and an Australian Chardonnay which will sell at £5.49, and an Australian Shiraz at £5.99. MD John Mills said: "By working closely with the retailers, we are confident we have developed some fantastic wines, attractively presented that will move consumers through to a higher average purchase price." The brand is best known for its wine boxes which it launched 20 years ago, although its move into the bottled market two years ago has been highly successful. Griffiths said its bottled sales reached 1.2m nine-litre cases in 2001 and had the highest rate of sale of the top five brands in multiple grocers. She said volume sales of the brand grew 43% last year [ACNielsen]. The wines are being presented to buyers now and are expected to go on shelf in July and August when they will be backed by promotional support. {{DRINKS }}

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