French non-alcoholic wine producer Moderato is aiming to more than quadruple sales volumes of its 0.0% abv wines in two years’ time, following a recent €3m ($3.3m) fundraise.
Speaking to Just Drinks, CEO Fabien Marchand-Cassagne said the business was expecting to sell 300,000 bottles in 2024, increasing to 800,000 bottles next year and “between 1.5 and 2 million bottles [by] 2026”.
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The alcohol-free winemaker secured €3m last month in a round led by early-stage venture capital firm and majority stakeholder Eutopia.
Local agricultural cooperative Vivadour, Moderato’s main supplier, also contributed to the round.
Earlier this year Vivadour group partnered with the company to inject a €1m sum into building a specialist production site for “de-alcoholised” wines called Chai Sobre (‘sober winery’ in English), located in the Occitanie region of south-western France.
Other investors in the latest investment round included Xinomavro Ventures and the Andromède VC firm, a subsidiary of the Heriard Dubreuil family office which is majority shareholder of Remy Cointreau.
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By GlobalDataWhen asked how Moderato planned to use the latest raise, Marchand-Cassagne said a portion would go towards developing research into de-alcoholising techniques and improving the quality of alcohol-free wines at Chai Sobre.
The space, which is expected to be up and running by January, will be used to produce its own wines as well as de-alcoholise private-label wines for third party manufacturers.
Up until now, there has been no de-alcholisation facility in France, with Moderato removing the alcohol from its wines at third-party sites in Belgium and Germany.
Marchand-Cassagne said the remainder of the €3m sum will be used to bolster marketing and sales, predominantly in France followed by north-west Europe, the US and Canada.
Moderato is also working on launching limited edition products across its markets “every three to six months” in a bid “to inspire the category”. These include a 0.0% wood barrel-aged Chardonnay, coming out in November and a Pinot Noir, due to for release “in a few months”.
The group’s current portfolio includes de-alcoholised Merlot, Sauvignon, Colombard wines and a range of blended varieties, all sold either under the Original Cuvée or Cuvée Révolutionnaire labels.
On its website, the wines are sold at a RRP ranging from €9.90 for Original Cuvee to €14,90 for the Cuvée Revolutionnaire.
When asked whether offering non-alcoholic wines at a more up-market price point was a key factor to growing the non-alcoholic wine category, Marchand-Cassagne said: “I think that we need to make the market believable, so we need to start with a premium quality and with a premium price product, whatever… the category.”
