Watermelon wine, anyone? Sweeter, fruit-flavoured plonk set to be best-seller among younger drinkers following success of infused ciders and beer
Wine sellers are hoping to emulate the success of fruit beers and ciders
Fruit-flavoured wines are set for a major boost on supermarket shelves, according to a new report yesterday.
Younger Britons have fuelled a boom in fruit-flavoured beers and now the wine industry is attempting to entice the drinkers to its sector using the same methods.
Accolade Wines is to roll out 'fruit-fusion' wines -- grape-based drinks enhanced with fruit extracts -- under its Echo Falls brand. It has already devised a lemongrass, mint and aloe flavour, with more to come, including watermelon.
Targeting a new generation of wine consumers was one of the biggest challenges facing the wine industry, according to Accolade general manager Paul Schaafsma, who added that the growth of cider had made it harder to attract new wine drinkers to the category.
And while you might be forgiven for thinking all wine was intrinsically 'fruit flavoured' - being made from grapes - the new types of wine will have a much sweeter and more distinctive taste of many different fruits.
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He told trade magazine The Grocer: 'If enhanced fruit-flavour drinks have worked in the beer and cider categories, we should look at this for wine.
Would you want watermelon, strawberry or pear wine? New flavours will aim to woo the younger generation of drinkers
'This will help the wine category be relevant to consumers at the start of their wine journey. "
Chris Wisson, of market analysts Mintel said that fruit-style wines have proved popular in France and the potential in the UK was 'huge.'
He told the magazine: 'Bringing wine into direct competition with fruit-flavoured ciders is a good move.'
The Grocer said that Enotria launched its first fruit-flavoured wine last September and will be rolling them out to a multiple retailers this summer.
A spokesperson for Alcohol Concern warns: 'By not tasting strongly of alcohol, these drinks can potentially lead to an unhealthy drinking culture, where young people can drink more than they realise'
Femail's wine expert and author of The Knackered Mother's Wine Club Helen McGinn is in favour of the idea.
She says: 'I think the idea of adding a fruit infusion to wine is great, as long as it tastes good.
'Obviously they're not going to appeal to everyone but if it means that someone who normally drinks beer or cider tries wine and loves it, then that's fantastic.
'But for now, the only thing I'm adding to my glass of rose is a couple of ice cubes.'
However Emily Robinson, Director of Campaigns, Alcohol Concern told Mail Online: 'The ranges of new drinks being brought to the market such as fruit-flavoured wines and ciders could be seen as a way to recruit young drinkers who don’t naturally like the taste of alcohol by tempting them with flavours more likely to be found in soft drinks.
'By not tasting strongly of alcohol, these drinks can potentially lead to an unhealthy drinking culture, where young people can drink more than they realise.
'Over the past ten years, admissions to hospital for alcoholic liver disease for the under 30s has increased by 112 per cent and we’re seeing people dying from liver disease now in their twenties and thirties which used to be completely unheard of.
'This is why Alcohol Concern has persistently called for Government action on minimum unit pricing and greater restrictions on alcohol advertising.'
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