Major companies soon wanted in, especially those in the food business: Nestlé, Pepperidge Farm and French’s Mustard, as well as soft drink companies like Pepsi. The big companies bought venerable names in the nation’s wine business and all-too-quickly converted them into commodity companies. In 1978, Coca-Cola bought Sterling and Monterey Vineyards in California as well as New York’s mighty Taylor Wine Company. Coca-Cola right away set out to build a separate entity on the West Coast called Taylor California Cellars, and it was an immediate success: from zero sales in 1978 to about eight million cases of Taylor California Cellars wines in 1981. Now, more than 35 years after its first foray into alcohol, Coca-Cola is getting back into it — this time in Japan.

Source: Forbes March 09, 2018 18:22 UTC