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Business Wire
10-07-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
O'Neill Vintners & Distillers Launch Catalyst Energy Drink, Entering the Functional Beverage Market
LARKSPUR, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- O'Neill Vintners & Distillers, a Certified B Corporation, boldly enters the fast-growing functional beverage market with the launch of Catalyst, an energy drink designed for today's health-conscious consumer. This strategic expansion marks a pivotal moment for the family-owned organization, evolving its portfolio beyond wine and spirits to enter the intersection of energy drinks and functional beverage. Catalyst is entering this market to meet evolving consumer preferences for healthier, great-tasting energy drinks that combine moderate caffeine with low-to-no sugar and added natural vitamins and supplements. Share The U.S. functional beverage market is seeing strong growth, particularly in the energy and sports drinks categories, with the segment expanding by 15.4% this year. Catalyst is entering this market to meet evolving consumer preferences for healthier, great-tasting energy drinks that combine moderate caffeine with low-to-no sugar and added natural vitamins and supplements. Catalyst aligns with these preferences, offering 120mg of caffeine, 10 calories, zero sugar and no artificial sweeteners, colors, or flavors. Catalyst delivers sustained performance, without the sugar load or 'spike and crash' effect, through an innovative formula of premium nootropics that work synergistically to sharpen focus, enhance mental clarity, and sustain cognitive performance. Powered by plant-based caffeine and fortified with essential vitamins B12 and B6, Catalyst also supports elevated metabolism and natural energy production. 'Our goal with Catalyst is to offer an energy drink that doesn't compromise on health, flavor, or efficacy,' said Jeff O'Neill, Founder and CEO of O'Neill Vintners & Distillers. 'We're proud to introduce a product that embodies our commitment to innovation and quality.' Housed in a sleek, modern can, Catalyst is available in six flavors, SuperBerry, PomPower, Grapefruit Frost, Fruit Fusion, Citrus Spark and Orange Dream, at a competitive price of $32.99 for a 12-pack and $2.99 for a single 12-ounce can. Catalyst can be purchased online at or at select retailers. About O'Neill Vintners & Distillers O'Neill Vintners & Distillers, a Certified B Corporation, is a family-owned, vertically integrated wine and spirits company dedicated to crafting exceptional wines and spirits while setting a new standard for sustainability in the industry. Founded in 2004 by visionary Jeff O'Neill, the company has emerged as a true leader in environmental stewardship—proving that scale and sustainability can go hand in hand. O'Neill has earned some of the highest honors in the field, including B Corp Certification, Regenerative Organic Certified® status, and the prestigious Green Medal Leader Award from the California Wine Institute. These accolades reflect not only a deep commitment to regenerative farming and climate-smart practices, but also a bold vision for the future of wine and spirits. With winery estates in Sonoma and Paso Robles and a winery facility in Parlier, O'Neill's diverse portfolio includes Ram's Gate Winery, Robert Hall Winery, Line 39, Wines of Substance, FitVine Wine, Harken Chardonnay, Rabble Wine Company, Charles Woodson's Intercept, No. 209 Gin, and BrandyLab. To learn more, visit
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
America's struggling wine industry is getting crushed by global tariffs and Canada's retaliation to them
Canada's break from American-made wine and the Trump administration's global tariffs have compounded the struggles of the United States' already-stressed wine industry to the point that it may be difficult for much of it 'to come back from,' an American wine organization leader told NBC News. 'Canada is the single most important export market for U.S. wines with retail sales in excess of $1.1 billion annually,' Robert Koch, the California Wine Institute's president and CEO, said in a statement. Last month Canada united to boycott American wines — taking all U.S.-made vino and alcohol off its liquor and wine store shelves and out of restaurants across the country — as an aggressive retaliatory response to Trump's tariffs on its political ally north of the border. The boycott started in Ontario, and every other province responded in kind. When Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew announced his territory would ban American wine and alcohol, he mocked Trump's signing an executive order in a social media video. 'This order, it's a wonderful order, it's a beautiful order,' Kinew said sarcastically. 'This order is pulling American booze off the liquor market shelves.' His staff, lined up behind him, applauded as he held up the order for all to see. It has become a point of national pride not to buy American. 'Their people are now motivated' because of the tariffs, Kaiser said. The results have the potential to be catastrophic for the wine world in the United States. 'We understand the reasoning behind some of these tariffs,' said Mike Kaiser, the executive vice president and director of government affairs for Wine America, a group that advocates for wine industry policies in Washington, D.C. His industry has been 'caught in the crossfire' of a trade war, and even if the tariffs were reversed tomorrow, he said, 'I think the psychological damage with the consumer might be really hard to come back from, even if these disputes are ironed out.' He added that some exporting winemakers 'may be able to absorb this tariff.' But losing $1 billion a year to 'unsold wine that was already in Canada, it really disrupts the domestic wine market here from top to bottom.' The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the tariffs' effects on the wine industry. The Liquor Control Board of Ontario, which controls the sale and distribution of alcohol in Canada's second-largest province, also did not respond. Before Trump issued tariffs on other countries, America's wine business had already been facing headwinds. 'We are struggling,' said Christi Coors Ficeli, CEO of Goosecross Cellars in the Napa Valley of California. After the Covid-19 pandemic, wine consumption went down in the United States, sales dipped and visits to wineries became inconsistent. Alcohol-based drinks like White Claw and High Noon have become popular alternatives to wine, Ficeli said. In addition, in January, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy suggested wine could be harmful, even in small quantities, which Ficeli believes turned away drinkers. Last, the cost of wine — to buy it and to visit wineries — increased because of inflation and, in some cases, wineries' trying to make up for the slowdown. 'It has gotten fairly expensive for tourists to come here,' Ficeli said. Wanda Newman Johnson, a frequent Napa Valley visitor, said the tariffs have put her in a 'wait-and-see mode' about whether she will continue to have wine shipped to her home in Atlanta. 'I feel really bad, because many of these wineries are small businesses, which are the heart of the country,' said Newman Johnson, who has memberships at Brown Estate and Turnbull Wine Cellars in Napa. 'They're getting impacted and hurt, and I don't know how some of them are going to be able to survive the tariffs.' Ficeli also said Napa has become less affordable to visit in recent years. 'A lot of us had to raise prices, because after Covid, pricing was insane, for especially getting glass,' she said. Most wineries import bottles from China, she said, because U.S.-made bottles are substandard. The price of shipping them out of China also increased by 'double or triple' the amount pre-Covid. 'So most of us made price increases just to cover our cost increases,' she said. But with Trump's 145% tariffs on China having initiated a 125% tariff on products made in China coming into the United States, getting bottles from Asia has become cost-prohibitive. Throw in the 10% tariffs on European imports — under which American wineries buy French oak barrels to cultivate wine and bottle corks from Spain — and a financial quagmire has emerged. 'Some of the barrel suppliers are telling us that they'll eat the tariffs and they'll just give us similar pricing to last year, with a slight increase,' Ficeli said. 'And some are telling us that it could be a 15, 20% increase in barrel prices, which for a small winery like us is a lot to handle, especially when you're spending $1,200 a barrel.' Ficeli said she is concerned about the prospect of having to pass along the increases to her customers, whom 'we don't want to rip off.' But the tariffs will affect the cost of bottles, barrels and even corks. 'It's going to be a struggle,' she said. And the struggle is not just in California, the largest wine-growing area in the country. In New York's idyllic Finger Lake region, for example, where there are more than 100 wineries near Canada, the impact of the tariffs is punishing. Scott Osborn, owner of Fox Run Vineyards in Penn Yan, on Seneca Lake, said Canada accounts for 10% of his sales. But his winery experienced a 20% drop in Canadian business in March. 'The tariffs will have a huge negative impact on wine in New York,' Osborn said. 'The Canadians come here and drink the wine at our café and buy bottles to have with dinner. They don't take wine across back to Canada, but when they're here, they enjoy it until it's time to go back. Not having that business is a big deal.' The tariffs have angered Europeans who 'are canceling their trips here,' Osborn said. 'It's going to have a huge impact this summer when they don't come here. And we're concerned. The damage is already done. It's going to be at least a year, if not longer, for my industry to recover.' Osborn said a friend in Antwerp, Belgium, who owns a wine bar that specializes in American wine is in a dire position because of the Trump-generated trade war. 'The Europeans will not buy American wine,' he said. 'She has a pallet of Finger Lakes wines that she cannot sell. That's going to ruin her business.' Kaiser said that Wine America is not in favor of tariffs and that it has pleaded its case to Congress. 'But the way things stand right now, Congress doesn't really have much ability to curb the administration from doing these things,' he said. 'We would like — if there are going to be tariffs — for them to be targeted at certain things,' Kaiser said. 'We'd like the administration to work with other countries to make sure we're not targeted, not caught in the middle. That's the biggest thing. Leave us out of it, if you will.' Kaiser said he and his organization are seeking face-to-face meetings with the U.S. Trade Representative's Office 'and others in the administration just to let them know how this really does impact us. It's really bad right now, but we hope cooler heads will prevail, although the damage done will be hard to overcome.' This article was originally published on
NBC News
17-04-2025
- Business
- NBC News
America's struggling wine industry is getting crushed by global tariffs and Canada's retaliation to them
Canada's break from American-made wine and the Trump administration's global tariffs have compounded the struggles of the United States' already-stressed wine industry to the point that it may be difficult for much of it 'to come back from,' an American wine organization leader told NBC News. 'Canada is the single most important export market for U.S. wines with retail sales in excess of $1.1 billion annually,' Robert Koch, the California Wine Institute's president and CEO, said in a statement. Last month Canada united to boycott American wines — taking all U.S.-made vino and alcohol off its liquor and wine store shelves and out of restaurants across the country — as an aggressive retaliatory response to Trump's tariffs on its political ally north of the border. The boycott started in Ontario, and every other province responded in kind. When Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew announced his territory would ban American wine and alcohol, he mocked Trump's signing an executive order in a social media video. 'This order, it's a wonderful order, it's a beautiful order,' Kinew said sarcastically. 'This order is pulling American booze off the liquor market shelves.' His staff, lined up behind him, applauded as he held up the order for all to see. It has become a point of national pride not to buy American. 'Their people are now motivated' because of the tariffs, Kaiser said. The results have the potential to be catastrophic for the wine world in the United States. 'We understand the reasoning behind some of these tariffs,' said Mike Kaiser, the executive vice president and director of government affairs for Wine America, a group that advocates for wine industry policies in Washington, D.C. His industry has been 'caught in the crossfire' of a trade war, and even if the tariffs were reversed tomorrow, he said, 'I think the psychological damage with the consumer might be really hard to come back from, even if these disputes are ironed out.' He added that some exporting winemakers 'may be able to absorb this tariff.' But losing $1 billion a year to 'unsold wine that was already in Canada, it really disrupts the domestic wine market here from top to bottom.' The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the tariffs' effects on the wine industry. The Liquor Control Board of Ontario, which controls the sale and distribution of alcohol in Canada's second-largest province, also did not respond. Before Trump issued tariffs on other countries, America's wine business had already been facing headwinds. 'We are struggling,' said Christi Coors Ficeli, CEO of Goosecross Cellars in the Napa Valley of California. After the Covid-19 pandemic, wine consumption went down in the United States, sales dipped and visits to wineries became inconsistent. Alcohol-based drinks like White Claw and High Noon have become popular alternatives to wine, Ficeli said. In addition, in January, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy suggested wine could be harmful, even in small quantities, which Ficeli believes turned away drinkers. Last, the cost of wine — to buy it and to visit wineries — increased because of inflation and, in some cases, wineries' trying to make up for the slowdown. 'It has gotten fairly expensive for tourists to come here,' Ficeli said. Wanda Newman Johnson, a frequent Napa Valley visitor, said the tariffs have put her in a 'wait-and-see mode' about whether she will continue to have wine shipped to her home in Atlanta. 'I feel really bad, because many of these wineries are small businesses, which are the heart of the country,' said Newman Johnson, who has memberships at Brown Estate and Turnbull Wine Cellars in Napa. 'They're getting impacted and hurt, and I don't know how some of them are going to be able to survive the tariffs.' Ficeli also said Napa has become less affordable to visit in recent years. 'A lot of us had to raise prices, because after Covid, pricing was insane, for especially getting glass,' she said. Most wineries import bottles from China, she said, because U.S.-made bottles are substandard. The price of shipping them out of China also increased by 'double or triple' the amount pre-Covid. 'So most of us made price increases just to cover our cost increases,' she said. But with Trump's 145% tariffs on China having initiated a 125% tariff on products made in China coming into the United States, getting bottles from Asia has become cost-prohibitive. Throw in the 10% tariffs on European imports — under which American wineries buy French oak barrels to cultivate wine and bottle corks from Spain — and a financial quagmire has emerged. 'Some of the barrel suppliers are telling us that they'll eat the tariffs and they'll just give us similar pricing to last year, with a slight increase,' Ficeli said. 'And some are telling us that it could be a 15, 20% increase in barrel prices, which for a small winery like us is a lot to handle, especially when you're spending $1,200 a barrel.' Ficeli said she is concerned about the prospect of having to pass along the increases to her customers, whom 'we don't want to rip off.' But the tariffs will affect the cost of bottles, barrels and even corks. 'It's going to be a struggle,' she said. And the struggle is not just in California, the largest wine-growing area in the country. In New York's idyllic Finger Lake region, for example, where there are more than 100 wineries near Canada, the impact of the tariffs is punishing. Scott Osborn, owner of Fox Run Vineyards in Penn Yan, on Seneca Lake, said Canada accounts for 10% of his sales. But his winery experienced a 20% drop in Canadian business in March. 'The tariffs will have a huge negative impact on wine in New York,' Osborn said. 'The Canadians come here and drink the wine at our café and buy bottles to have with dinner. They don't take wine across back to Canada, but when they're here, they enjoy it until it's time to go back. Not having that business is a big deal.' The tariffs have angered Europeans who 'are canceling their trips here,' Osborn said. 'It's going to have a huge impact this summer when they don't come here. And we're concerned. The damage is already done. It's going to be at least a year, if not longer, for my industry to recover.' Osborn said a friend in Antwerp, Belgium, who owns a wine bar that specializes in American wine is in a dire position because of the Trump-generated trade war. 'The Europeans will not buy American wine,' he said. 'She has a pallet of Finger Lakes wines that she cannot sell. That's going to ruin her business.' Kaiser said that Wine America is not in favor of tariffs and that it has pleaded its case to Congress. 'But the way things stand right now, Congress doesn't really have much ability to curb the administration from doing these things,' he said. 'We would like — if there are going to be tariffs — for them to be targeted at certain things,' Kaiser said. 'We'd like the administration to work with other countries to make sure we're not targeted, not caught in the middle. That's the biggest thing. Leave us out of it, if you will.' Kaiser said he and his organization are seeking face-to-face meetings with the U.S. Trade Representative's Office 'and others in the administration just to let them know how this really does impact us. It's really bad right now, but we hope cooler heads will prevail, although the damage done will be hard to overcome.'
