Perhaps 5 percent of the estimated 450 spirits labels in this country sell a million cases a year:

So what makes inimitable spirits veteran Michel Roux think he can sell a million cases annually five years from now of a new flavored aquavit being introduced to the U.S. in July?

"Consumers buy brand names and feelings," insists Roux, who was in Chicago Monday on a cross-country trip unveiling O.P., a new spirit that includes a mixture of orange, peach and ginger flavors.

Reaching that 1 million case annual sales level is challenging for any spirits marketer, there being a mere 22 topping that volume in the U.S. in 1999, according to IMPACT's annual spirits survey.

Roux's credentials include making a big winner out of Absolut vodka in the U.S. in the 1980s and early '90s, then taking over distribution for rival Stolichnaya.

O.P. will be introduced by V&S Spirits, a Swedish firm for which Roux's Crillon Importers in Ft. Lee, N.J., already distributes several aquavit brands.

Significant is that V&S is the producer of Absolut vodka, now distributed by Seagram Co. in this country.

Roux has worked with V&S over the last two years in developing O.P., a spirit he and the Swedish company believe will appeal to a broad segment of consumers.

Granted, Crillon is a decidedly smaller spirits business than Carillon Importers, which distributed Absolut, only to lose that brand to Seagram before taking on Stoli.

For 2000, Roux thinks that Crillon overall can sell 75,000 cases -- not a big deal, except that it's a big improvement from the 40,000 cases in 1999, sales also including a variety of spirits from France, such as Absente, an herbal aperitif; Soi Sant Neuf Ice Brandy; Henri Bardouin Pastis, an anise-flavored liqueur; and Rhum Barbancourt, a rum from Haiti.

Roux is running much harder than ever before, because he and his associates continue to work on building distribution, having recently taken on Stoller Wholesale in Franklin Park, whose president, Randy Stoller, joined Roux in making calls Monday on such retailers as Binny's and Sam's Wine & Spirits.

Roux, a savvy veteran of the spirits wars, knows how to promote.

O.P. is being viewed as an opportunity to once again showcase his brand-building prowess, much as he did with once obscure Absolut in the 1980s, broadening its sales base with massive, offbeat advertising that included artist depictions of that bottle.

Can he work his magic once again on O.P.?

"Michel can make things happen," says Frank Walters, senior vice president, director of research for M. Shanken Communications, the Manhattan-based publisher of trade journals.  "If anybody can make a winner of a new product launch, it's Roux."