Holiday preparations and celebrations in the Philippines are in full swing as early as now, and it’s only set to reach fever pitch as the week of Christmas and New Year’s Eve draws nearer. And what’s a holiday celebration with family and friends without a bottle (or two or three) of wine, especially if it’s Filipinos’ all-time favorite Moscato?
And when we think Moscato, one of the first wine brands that come to mind is Yellow Tail, Australia’s original famous brand with a yellow-footed rock wallaby (a kangaroo relative) on its label, which brought us the bestselling Pink Moscato—a popular choice for wine drinkers in the Philippines.
At the Yellow Tail 15th Anniversary Gala held recently at the Grand Ballroom of Fairmont Hotel in Makati, Speed learned that the Moscato range has been driving the success of Yellow Tail in the Philippines. Yellow Tail’s Moscato, a delightfully sweet and refreshing white wine made of 99% sweet muscat grapes, was first introduced in the country in 2009 and quickly gained popularity.
The impressive upswing of sales of Yellow Tail’s Moscato range, however, was largely driven by the Pink Moscato, which was introduced here in 2013—so much so that in 2020, the brand created the Red Moscato just for the Philippines.
“The whole Moscato range has seen enormous growth [in the Philippines], and most of that growth has been driven by Pink Moscato. It’s been an amazing market. We also introduced Red Moscato, and that was developed especially for the Philippines about three years ago. It still has similar characteristics of Moscato, but with a bit more of that red wine flavor coming out. But Pink Moscato has been going crazy in the Philippines, it really has,” shared Yellow Tail Export Manager for Asia Pacific & Emerging Markets Josh Gibbons during an exclusive interview with Speed at the gala.
“Moscato is the one that’s growing every year for our business,” added Sherwin A. Lao, partner director for sales and marketing of Golden Wines, Inc., the exclusive Philippines importer and distributor of Yellow Tail.
If you haven’t tried any of Yellow Tail’s Moscatos yet, the holiday season would be a good time to do so, as they have exciting gift packages and offers coming to supermarkets where Yellow Tail wines are available starting this November up to December, according to Lao during a chat with Speed.
For every three bottles of Pink Moscato you purchase, you’ll get another bottle free! And the bottles come nicely packaged, perfect for gifting. “It’s our Christmas gift to our consumers, along with the decision to not increase pricing on Australian wines,” said Lao.
Yellow Tail managed to keep their price well within the attractive mid-range, despite a lot of its competitors significantly increasing their pricing post-pandemic. Core varietals of Yellow Tail wines (Merlot, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and all Moscatos) are priced at SRP P535, while the Bubbles variety is at SRP P575, and the Reserve range (or their more premium varietals) at SRP P700. All are widely available at leading supermarkets and warehouse clubs, including SM and S&R.
Beyond the holidays, Yellow Tail teases “more exciting things happening with the Moscato range,” said Gibbons. “I can’t give away too much, but [I know Filipinos] will absolutely love it. It would take probably maybe 9 to 10 months to hit the market. But we’re looking at the Philippines as the driver of what we’re trying to do for Moscato.”
“It’s just an incredible market when it comes to Moscato. We don’t see that phenomenon in any other Asian market—at all—apart from here. Most of Asian market is very red wine-dominant, with Moscato getting maybe 5% of sales, very small. [Moscato] is a unique market, except in the Philippines,” he added.
You can look forward to ordering your favorite Yellow Tail wines at restaurants, too. “I want to thank everyone in the Philippines. It’s an amazing success story. We have a wonderful partner who’s done a great job for so many years. There are a lot of interesting things happening with the brand. We’re looking at selling Yellow Tail in restaurants. The brand is typically something you buy in the supermarket, in the liquor store, but we’re really trying to extend the brand here,” he shared.
While Yellow Tail has been in the Philippines for 15 years, Yellow Tail as a brand has actually been in the international market for over two decades. “Yellow Tail was an amazing overnight success. The prediction when it launched in 2001 was we were going to sell 30,000 cases. We actually sold over a million cases in a year. It has been a really unique success story from day one. And it continues to be that way today,” Gibbons enthused.
The Yellow Tail 15th Anniversary Gala was a thanksgiving party for its loyal customers, with majority of the invitees coming from the wine trad,. Among the free-flowing Yellow Tail wines served were Pink Moscato, Cabernet Sauvignon, Bubbles (a sparkling rose wine), and the Pure Bright Pinot Grigio.
The Pinot Grigio is the first varietal of the Yellow Tail Pure Bright range offered in the Philippines, where it was introduced just last year as Yellow Tail’s low calorie, lower alcohol, vegan-friendly, and gluten-free wine. White wines in this range have only 8%-9.5% alcohol and 80-85 calories—that’s 25% less alcohol content and roughly 40% lower calories versus regular wines.
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