O’Neill Vintners & Distillers Acquires FitVine Wines

O’Neill Vint­ners & Dis­tillers, a Cer­ti­fied B Cor­po­ra­tion, has acquired FitVine Wines, the cat­e­go­ry leader in the well­ness seg­ment, posi­tioned to appeal to con­sumers that want to live an active and bal­anced life. The acqui­si­tion of FitVine fur­ther extends O’Neill Vint­ners & Dis­tillers' port­fo­lio of brands in the grow­ing super-pre­mi­um wine segment.

“Our focus for the last sev­en years has been to build a port­fo­lio of great brands appeal­ing to the mod­ern wine drinker,” said Jeff O’Neill, Founder and CEO, of O’Neill Vint­ners & Dis­tillers. ​“We see a tremen­dous oppor­tu­ni­ty to con­tin­ue to strength­en and expand FitVine nation­al­ly dri­ven by our com­mer­cial team, dis­trib­u­tors, and trade partners.”

FitVine Wines is a col­lec­tion of vari­etal wines with fun­da­men­tal attrib­ut­es of low sug­ar, low tan­nins, and low sul­fites. The brand is also known for its no-non­sense, trans­par­ent approach to com­mu­ni­cat­ing with con­sumers, a great fit with O’Neill’s port­fo­lio focused on deliv­er­ing what con­sumers need and want to know about the wines they drink. FitVine was found­ed in 2015 by co-founders Tom Beat­on and Mark War­ren to dis­rupt per­cep­tions of wine not fit­ting into active con­sumer lifestyles and is a leader in the birth of the well­ness cat­e­go­ry, one of the lead­ing growth seg­ments in the wine industry.

One of the fastest-grow­ing wines in the US, FitVine is cur­rent­ly ranked in the top 100 brands in both the Liquor and Food chan­nels accord­ing to Nielsen end­ing Oct. 8, 2022. Addi­tion­al­ly, Nielsen named FitVine as ​“The Best of the Best” Growth Brand award win­ner and its ​“Top 5 Growth Brand Parade” award win­ner. In April 2022, M. Shanken Com­mu­ni­ca­tions named FitVine as a 2021 Impact ​“Hot Brand” award winner.

“The O’Neill port­fo­lio is a nat­ur­al fit and evo­lu­tion for FitVine, where the brand will accel­er­ate its expan­sion and recruit more pas­sion­ate con­sumers through­out the coun­try,” said Eric Bradley, Exec­u­tive Vice Pres­i­dent at BERKS Group, major­i­ty own­er of FitVine. ​“We are incred­i­bly proud of the well­ness brand we have built in part­ner­ship with Tom and Mark and are con­fi­dent FitVine wines will con­tin­ue to deliv­er excep­tion­al qual­i­ty and trans­paren­cy to con­sumers under the lead­er­ship of the tal­ent­ed team at O’Neill.”

FitVine is a nation­al spon­sor of the wide­ly-pop­u­lar Pro Pick­le­ball Asso­ci­a­tion, reach­ing over 4.8 mil­lion pick­le­ball play­ers in the Unit­ed States. ​“Pick­lers” span a wide age demo­graph­ic, cre­at­ing a fun, mul­ti-gen­er­a­tional, acces­si­ble sport. FitVine also part­ners with Barry’s Boot­camp, Cross­Fit events, and oth­er lifestyle sports where active con­sumers are find­ing community.

With the slo­gan ​‘We crush grapes. You crush life,’ FitVine pro­duces Cal­i­for­nia vari­etal wines SRP $16 to $20 includ­ing Sauvi­gnon Blanc, Chardon­nay, Pinot Noir, Syrah and Caber­net Sauvi­gnon, and Pros­ec­co from Italy. Zep­poni & Com­pa­ny served as the exclu­sive finan­cial advi­sor to the major­i­ty own­ers of FitVine, LLC.

About O’Neill Vint­ners & Distillers

O'Neill Vint­ners & Dis­tillers, a Cer­ti­fied B Cor­po­ra­tion™, was found­ed in 2004 by indus­try leader and entre­pre­neur Jeff O'Neill. The ver­ti­cal­ly inte­grat­ed win­ery is one of the fastest-grow­ing pre­mi­um wine and spir­its com­pa­nies in Cal­i­for­nia (over­all 10^th largest win­ery in the U.S.) with a rep­u­ta­tion for pro­duc­ing con­sumer-focused brands and being a leader in sus­tain­able oper­a­tions. O’Neill received the Green Medal Leader Award in 2021 from the Wine Insti­tute and achieved B Corp Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion in 2022. The company’s nation­al brands port­fo­lio includes Line 39, Harken Chardon­nay, Rab­ble Wines, Charles Woodson’s Inter­cept, Robert Hall Win­ery, Game Box, Alle­gro Cel­lars, Brandy­Lab, and Javelin Vod­ka. For more infor­ma­tion, please vis­it www​.ONeill​Wine​.com.

About FitVine Wine

Estab­lished in 2015, FitVine Wine offers deli­cious, low-sug­ar, full-alco­hol wines for those who seek bal­ance in life. FitVine is per­fect for peo­ple who want their wine to fit seam­less­ly into their well­ness-focused lifestyles, and to con­tain high-qual­i­ty, no-non­sense ingre­di­ents. FitVine offers red, white, and sparkling vari­eties that pair per­fect­ly with all of life’s best moments. FitVine wines are gluten-free and veg­an-friend­ly with no fla­vor addi­tives. Learn more at FitVineWine​.com.

About BERKS Group

The BERKS Group is a diver­si­fied port­fo­lio of com­pa­nies with hold­ings in edu­ca­tion tech­nol­o­gy, high-val­ue pre­ci­sion man­u­fac­tur­ing, tech­nol­o­gy infra­struc­ture, and bet­ter-for-you con­sumer brands. The Bradley fam­i­ly also owns the News-Press & Gazette Com­pa­ny which has media hold­ings in dig­i­tal, broad­cast tele­vi­sion, radio, and pub­lish­ing. www​.BERKS​Group​.com