Panther Rock Wine Company Launched by Fourth Generation of the Franzia Family

The Franzia family has announced the creating of Panther Rock Wine Company, a new wine company created by the fourth generation descendants of the Franzia family that first produced wine in the United States in 1896. Panther Rock is based in Napa, California.

Thirteen children of the fourth generation (siblings and cousins) have started and own the company with three of the group, Joey Franzia, Damon Franzia and Brian Franzia, as managing partners.

Panther Rock Wine Company has launched with release of three new wine brands nationally: Masked Rider (NSRP $9.99 per 750ml), Motos Liberty (NSRP $8.99 per 750ml) and Wild Hare (NSRP $6.99 per 750ml) are represented nationally by Antares Wine Company, a division of Bronco (877-411-NAPA, extension 4041).

"We have created visually-compelling, high-impact wine labels that capture the imagination of wine lovers for these affordable brands," said Joey Franzia, General Sales Manager of Panther Rock Wine Company, "The wines are the most popular varietals and made to appeal to consumer price points and demands. There is an extremely high quality-to-value ratio in every bottle of wine produced by our company."

"What we've done at Bronco is that ownership is supporting the next generation to create the wine brands we want to target which are a little more edgy," Franzia told winebusiness.com.

 
Franzia said the brands have features expected to be popular with young Gen X and Gen Y consumers, including grip handles on the wine case boxes, and tear tabs on the back labels with fun quotes such as cowboy quotes on Masked Rider.
 

Franzia said that when people go to the store and they want to buy a case of wine, lifting 36 pounds is sometimes awkward, hence for the "grip handles." He said the design idea is used by beer manufactuers.

The Motos Liberty wines are sealed with screw cap closures. It's the first time a wine produced by the Franzia family has been sealed with screw caps for national distribution.

The Wild Hare label was recently purchased from Rabbit Ridge owner Erich Russel.

The new brands have been in production for about 14 months and roughly 50,000 cases recently shipped.