Constellation Brands has picked up a Just Drinks Excellence Award for the acquisition of direct-to-consumer platform Empathy Wines.
The purchase was judged to be the most innovative of the year, securing Constellation ownership of the online-only start-up that ships red, white and rose expressions of its namesake brand across the US. Empathy Wines was co-founded in 2019 by the creator and host of Wine Library TV, Gary Vaynerchuk, along with business partners Jon Troutman and Nate Scherotter.
Vaynerchuk is the founder of VaynerX, a digital marketing agency that counts Anheuser-Busch InBev and PepsiCo among its clients.
Just Drinks called the acquisition an enterprising move into the D2C channel at a time when all beverage companies are trying to up their digital retail focus.
“Empathy is a young company but has so much going for it, including a management team with serious experience,” Just Drinks managing editor Olly Wehring said. “The purchase will give Constellation a greater foothold in online wine sales, and allow the group to build stronger D2C channels for other brands.”
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By GlobalDataConstellation fought off competition from a shortlist of three other M&A deals to take the award. The other contenders were:
Just Drinks announced its first annual Excellence Awards this week. To read the full list of nominations and winners, click here.
