California Cooler is a brand of alcoholic beverage. The product is a sangria packaged in a 12 fl. oz. glass bottle. Although sangria's existence predates wine, the

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

Cooler formula and packaging was the first to be known as a

wine cooler A wine cooler is an alcoholic beverage made from wine and fruit juice, often in combination with a carbonated beverage and sugar. Traditionally home-made, wine coolers have been bottled and sold by commercial distributors since the early 198 ...

. Originally named Canada Cooler, the California Cooler package was re-designed by Glenn Martinez and Assoc, which was eventually also sold in a 2-liter bottle. After its founding in 1976, the origina
California
Cooler exploded on the beverage market when Lodi High School friends, Michael Crete and R. Stuart Bewley, and their original partners (mostly friends and family) raised $140,000 to begin commercial production. By 1985, it was selling a reported 12.3 million cases a year worth $125 million. In 1985, Crete and Bewley sold the company to liquor giant Brown-Forman Inc. in a deal valued up to $146 million. Brown Forman were national distributor of wine and spirits brands such as Jack Daniels and Korbel Sparkling wines. Soon after, the competition began from wine maker giants E&J Gallo Winery who started strong marketing of its Bartles & Jaymes coolers and Seagram's own brand of wine coolers, California Cooler's market share began to slide. The cooler craze of the mid-eighties was celebrated with an

Ad campaign An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ideas, beliefs, and conc ...

by Chiat Day "The Chairman" (Kailo Messier) featuring beach life scenes. Bartles & Jaymes, the second entrant into the wine cooler marketplace quickly came and took market share. Their ad campaign featured two actors playing the fictitious Frank Bartles and Ed Jaymes " Bartles and Jaymes" saying "Thank you for your support". Overall wine-cooler sales dropped 98 percent in 1987 from 1976. California Cooler volume had dropped to 5 million cases, less than one-third of what

Seagram's The Seagram Company Ltd. (which traded as Seagram's) was a Canadian multinational conglomerate formerly headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. Originally a distiller of Canadian whisky based in Waterloo, Ontario, it was once (in the 1990s) the la ...

and Gallo each were moving. On 30 March 2007, Majestic Brands, a Danville beverage company, announced plans to try to revive the California Cooler brand.

References

{{Alcoholic drinks Alcoholic drink brands Premixed alcoholic drinks Californian cuisine 1970s fads and trends Products introduced in 1976 Food and drink companies based in California Companies based in Danville, California American companies established in 1976 Food and drink companies established in 1976 1976 establishments in California American brands Wine coolers