In fact, our strong performance to date gives us the confidence to increase guidance for our beer business as we now expect to achieve 9 to 11% net sales growth and 4 to 6% operating income growth for fiscal '22.
Since then, we've made significant progress in reducing debt and achieving our goal of returning 5 billion in value to shareholders by the end of fiscal year '23 through a combination of dividends and share repurchases.
In fact, to date, this fiscal year, we have repurchased 1.4 billion of our shares.
And when combined with our dividend, we have achieved nearly 60% of our 5 billion goal.
During the quarter, the Modelo brand family posted depletion growth of 17% for the quarter and single-handedly drove total import share gains in IRI channels on a dollar basis.
2 beer brand in dollar sales in the entire U.S. beer category, Modelo Especial is the only major beer brand growing household penetration and is leading the way as the No.
1 share gainer among high-end brands.
2 brand family in the Chelada space, posting depletion growth of more than 50% and for the second quarter.
1 loved brand in the import category, driven by a return to growth in the on-premise, which currently represents approximately 11% of our beer business volume.
This business continues to drive growth from recently launched innovations, including Meiomi cabernet sauvignon, Kim Crawford Illuminate, the Prisoner cabernet, and chardonnay, all of which are among the top 10 innovations across high-end wine in IRI channels during the quarter.
For example, Constellation's fine wine share has expanded significantly in the latest 12 weeks due to the robust growth of the Prisoner on Instacart and Robert Mondavi Winery on wine.com.
In fact, e-commerce and DTC sales are up nearly three to four times versus 2019, and they comprise roughly 3 to 5% of our business versus 1% pre pandemic.
harvest, which is about 70% complete at this point, while our production facilities, wineries, and tasting rooms remain untouched by recent wildfire activity.
The nonalcoholic segment of total beverage alcohol grew almost 40% in 2020 in dollar sales through IRI channels.
And according to IWSR research, 60% of consumers are switching between nonalcoholic or low alcoholic and full-strength drinks within the same occasion.
The overall U.S. mezcal category grew 14% in 2020 according to IWSR, and super premium mezcal priced above $30 per barrel is projected to be the largest and fastest-growing segment within the category.
More than 90% of Americans are in favor of cannabis legislation for medical purposes and two-thirds of those are in favor of legalizing for recreational use as well.
In fact, nearly two out of three Americans already have legal cannabis access as 37 states have legalized for medical use and 18 states for adult use.
Canopy's U.S. business grew 91% year over year in their most recent quarter, driven by robust consumer demand for their CBD and CPG products, including Martha Stewart-branded products, quatro beverages, stores and vape products, and BioSteel's new RTDs.
1 share gainer in the beer category, Modelo Especial, which we feel has ample runway for growth well into the future, given the steadily increasing household penetration rates among non-Hispanic consumers and continued strong velocity.
We remain committed to our goal of returning 5 billion in value to shareholders by the end of fiscal year '23 through a combination of dividends and share repurchases.
And through September, we've repurchased 6.2 million shares of common stock for $1.4 billion.
As a result, we've increased our full-year fiscal 2022 comparable basis diluted earnings per share target, and we now expect to be in the range of $10.15 to $10.45.
Net sales increased 14%, driven by shipment volume growth of nearly 12% and favorable price partially offset by unfavorable mix.
Depletion volume growth for the quarter came in above 7%, driven by the continued strength of Modelo Especial and Corona Extra, as well as the continued return to growth in the on-premise channel.
As Bill mentioned, on-premise volume accounted for approximately 11% of the total beer depletions during the quarter and grew strong double digits versus last year.
As a reminder, the on-premise accounted for approximately 15% of our beer depletion volume pre COVID and accounted for only 6% of our depletion volume in Q2 fiscal 2021 as a result of the on-premise shutdowns and restrictions due to COVID-19.
Beer operating margin decreased 530 basis points versus prior year to 37.2%.
The increase in COGS was driven by several headwinds that include the following: First, a Q2 obsolescence charge of $66 million.
Third, a step-up in depreciation expense, largely due to the incremental 5 million hectoliters at Obregon.
Marketing as a percent of net sales increased 150 basis points to 9.9 versus prior year as we returned to our typical spending cadence, which is weighted more heavily toward the first half of the fiscal year.
Lastly, the increase in SG&A was primarily driven by an increase of approximately $12 million in legal expenses, as well as higher compensation and benefits.
We are now targeting net sales growth of 9 to 11%, reflecting the strength of our core beer portfolio and pricing actions that are higher than initially planned.
Furthermore, we are now targeting operating income growth of 4 to 6%, which implies operating margin in the low to midpoint of our stated 39 to 40% range.
As such, we are now estimating total beer depreciation expense to approximately $250 million, an increase of approximately $55 million versus last year, or a $10 million decrease versus our original planned estimate.
Conversely, due to the slowdown in the hard seltzer sector, excess inventory resulted in a fiscal year-to-date obsolescence charge of approximately $80 million.
From a marketing perspective, we continue to expect full-year spend as a percentage of net sales to land in the 9 to 10% range, which is in line with fiscal 2021 spend of 9.7% of net sales.
I'd like to remind everyone of the difficult buying overlaps we will encounter as we're facing a 28% and 12% growth comparison for shipment volume and depletion volume, respectively.
Q2 fiscal 2022 net sales declined 18% on shipment volume down 36%.
Excluding the impact of the wine and spirits divestitures, organic net sales increased 15%, driven by organic shipment volume growth of nearly 6%, favorable mix and price and smoke-tainted bulk wine sales.
Depletion volume declined 2% during the quarter and was additionally impacted by the challenging overlap the consumer pantry loading behavior especially for our mainstream brands that experienced robust growth during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Operating margin decreased 620 basis points to 19.7% as mix benefits from the existing portfolio and divestitures combined with favorable price were more than offset by increased marketing and SG&A spend, higher COGS, and margin-dilutive smoke-tainted bulk wine sales.
For full-year fiscal 2022, the wine and spirits business continues to expect net sales and operating income to decline 22 to 24% and 23 to 25%, respectively.
This implies operating margin to approximately 24%, which is flattish to prior year on a reported basis, which shows significant margin expansion on an organic basis.
Excluding the impact of the wine experience divestitures, organic net sales is expected to grow in the 2 to 4% range.
From a Q3 perspective, keep in mind that we are lapping unfavorable fixed cost absorption of $20 million in the prior year resulting from decreased production levels as a result of the 2020 U.S. wildfires.
Fiscal year-to-date corporate expenses came in at approximately $117 million, up 7% versus last fiscal year.
We now expect full-year corporate expenses to approximate $245 million, driven by increase in compensation and benefits.
Comparable basis interest expense for the quarter decreased 4% to approximately 96 million versus prior year primarily due to lower average borrowings.
We now expect fiscal 2022 interest expense to be in the range of 355 to $365 million.
The slight decrease versus our previous guidance reflects early redemption of higher interest rate debt, as well as $1 billion of senior notes issued in July at attractive rates.
Our Q2 comparable basis effective tax rate, excluding Canopy equity earnings, came in at 21.8% versus 16.9% in Q2 of last year, primarily driven by the timing of stock-based compensation benefits and a higher effective tax rate on our foreign businesses.
We now expect our full-year fiscal 2022 comparable tax rate, excluding Canopy equity and earnings, to approximate 20% versus our previous guidance of 19%.
As a result, we expect our Q3 tax rate to be higher than our full-year estimate at approximately 21%.
We also now expect our 2022 weighted average diluted shares outstanding to approximate 192 million, reflecting the impact of our September year-to-date share repurchases previously discussed.
We generated free cash flow of $1.2 billion for the first half of fiscal 2022, which is flat to prior year, reflecting strong operating cash flows offset by an increase in capex.
Capex totaled $353 million, which included approximately $295 million of beer capex, primarily driven by expansion initiatives at our Mexico facilities.
Our full-year capex guidance of 1 to 1.1 billion, which includes approximately 900 million targeted for Mexican beer operation expansions, remains unchanged.
Furthermore, we continue to expect fiscal 2022 free cash flow to be in the range of 1.4 to $1.5 billion.
This reflects operating cash flow in the range of 2.4 to $2.6 billion and the capex spend previously outlined.

Summary:
In fact, our strong performance to date gives us the confidence to increase guidance for our beer business as we now expect to achieve 9 to 11% net sales growth and 4 to 6% operating income growth for fiscal '22.
In fact, e-commerce and DTC sales are up nearly three to four times versus 2019, and they comprise roughly 3 to 5% of our business versus 1% pre pandemic.
As a result, we've increased our full-year fiscal 2022 comparable basis diluted earnings per share target, and we now expect to be in the range of $10.15 to $10.45.
For full-year fiscal 2022, the wine and spirits business continues to expect net sales and operating income to decline 22 to 24% and 23 to 25%, respectively.
Excluding the impact of the wine experience divestitures, organic net sales is expected to grow in the 2 to 4% range.
Furthermore, we continue to expect fiscal 2022 free cash flow to be in the range of 1.4 to $1.5 billion.