Echo Falls box

Accolade Wines has added a three-litre double-variant bag-in-box pack for Echo Falls, and has poured three of its other brands into 50cl SKUs.

The wine giant’s Festi Falls pack (£15) contains two 1.5-litre bags of wine in Fruit Fusion Summer Berries and Fruit Fusion Peach & Mango, with an eye to tapping festivalgoers, picnics and barbecues as summer approaches.

It had been spurred on by the recent popularity of wine-on-tap, said Accolade brand manager Laurence Hinton, which was “transforming the image of boxed wine and is a much more enticing than the traditional offering”.

Meanwhile, Accolade has launched a range of Hardys, Kumala Reserve and Mud House varietals into a 50cl bottle, which the business said would “satisfy the need for moderation without wastage” and “encourage consumers to trial and trade up to better quality wines” due to the lower price point of £5-£5.50.

The smaller format “has to fulfil certain criteria” said Accolade category, shopper & insights director Andrew Nunney. “Alcohol consumption is going down, with drinkers wanting to maintain control over their intake. These occasions happen midweek when busy and stressed consumers are looking to unwind. They don’t want to drink a 75cl bottle between them but feel the wine will be wasted if they leave some in the bottle.”