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WINE IS THE EPITOME of romance. It’s a grape-based drink from the gods that is all about tradition and terroir. So what happens when you add passion fruit and peaches to it? What happens when you slap a colourful label on it and sell it in a six-pack? It might be sacrilege to some, but it sells.

We’re not talking fruit wines. We’re talking grape wines with flavours added. Dominic Rivard, wine production consultant for Wineplanet Consulting, explains the difference: “The biggest challenge is the confusion consumers have between a naturally fermented flavoured wine – called ‘fruit wine’ all over North America – and RTD style wines that are grape based. The average consumer is confused and often both wine types are sold in the same section in retail, often side by side.”

In the UK, consumers are lapping up the latter. The fruit fusion category is now worth more than £51.9m in retail sales volume (Nielsen to 27/02/16). The biggest player by far, Accolade Wines’ Echo Falls Fruit Fusions accounts for 91% of all sales within this category a very respectable £46.8m in the year– not bad for a brand that’s only in its second year.

Accolade marketing director Amy White says: “The growth and success of Echo Falls Fruit Fusions has certainly exceeded all our expectations when we launched the range in 2014. We’ve now sold more than 9m bottles and the range is listed in all major retailers and continuing to perform well.”

Raspberry & Cassis, Summer Berries, and White Peach & Mango form the still Echo Falls range, with sparkling variants of the latter two.

Accolade might be the biggest, but it has competition. White says: “The fruit fusion category is still in its early stage of development and new products are constantly entering the market. The category has huge potential for further growth and expansion but no one can really predict how big it will get.”

MILLENNIALS ARE KEY

Reh Kendermann export sales director Alison Flemming says: “Fruit flavoured wines tend to be purchased by newbies to wine who generally aren’t keen on the taste. The highly aromatised styles with marked levels of sweetness appeal to this type of palate.”

Jo Taylorson, marketing controller at Kingsland Drinks, says flavoured wines has a lot to thank fruit ciders and cocktails for. She says: “In the UK, consumers’ palates have been moving towards a sweeter taste profile. This has been seen by the surge in popularity of fruit ciders and cocktails in both the on and off-trade over recent years.

“An increasing number of wine consumers reach out to these drinks when the occasion arises, so wine fusion drinks – which are more similar in taste profile to ciders and cocktails – give them the opportunity to try something new, while staying in the wine category.”

It might not be highbrow or welcomed with open arms by the more traditional wine consumer, but this sweeter and more approachable product is winning over drinkers and introducing them to the wine category.

“The fruits category is extremely important for recruiting new consumers into wine,” says Accolade’s White. “Despite being in market for more than 18 months, 49% of Echo Falls Fruit Fusions sales are coming from consumers who are incremental to the wine category as a whole.”

According to Kantar Worldpanel (52 weeks to 28/02/2016), 40% of spend is from shoppers under the age of 45, compared to only 21% for total still wine.

Kingsland’s Taylorson picks up the point: “Wine fusion drinks can be viewed by consumers who’d usually turn to cider and cocktails as a new way of entering the wine category. This could therefore be a chance for the wine category to take back some market share, which in recent years has migrated to ciders and cocktails.

“The sweeter flavour profile of flavoured wines will engage predominantly with consumers currently buying into cocktails in the on-trade and fruit-flavoured ciders both in the on and off-trade. It is a way into the wine category which is less traditional and more approachable for consumers who might currently find wine a confusing category to shop.”

Converting consumers might be easier said than done, according to Reh Kendermann’s Flemming. “It’s a challenge to encourage the fruity drinker to move on to ‘real’ wine once his or her adventure at this entry level has been satisfied.”

POSITIONING

Accolade’s White says the fruit fusion category is fast growing, so retailers should consider giving the appropriate level of space to these products. “Where possible, they should also merchandise whites and rosés in chiller units to fully maximise on the impulse purchase occasion,” she says.

Taylorson seconds this. She says: “Currently, the biggest challenge for flavoured and fusion wines is where to merchandise in store. As the target consumer is more likely to shop the cider fixture, ranging this new style of product within wine is likely not to be the most effective way to promote sales.”

This poses an additional problem. “Communicating the product and how it will taste to the consumer in an appealing way can be a challenge for marketing,” Taylorson says. “At Kingsland we are working on a number of exciting launches, which we believe will connect with consumers in a new and motivating way.”

PRICING

Pricing is also a stumbling block. Flemming says: “It’s difficult to keep the retail price buoyant as market pressure has led to very low pricing, no doubt with an accompanying reduction in retailer margins and a need for more SKUs to keep absolute margin at a similar level.”

FUTURE

Kingsland Drinks thinks the flavour furore has legs. So much so that it has led to it investing in regenerating its winery. “The regeneration will allow us to offer an additional service to our customers and gives us the flexibility to blend, infuse and ferment wine, spirits and cocktail-based products,” Taylorson says. “Providing they are marketed so they appeal to the right consumer, the future for fusion and fruit-flavoured wines could be very bright.”

Kingsland is currently working on developing new and innovative products which target this growth area of the market. Taylorson was tight-lipped, but did say more will be revealed at the London Wine Fair later this month.

Reh Kendermann is also adding to its portfolio. The company introduced a range of wine and fruit juice products as part of its lower alcohol ‘B’ by Black Tower range last year. Lower in alcohol at 5.5%, they contain 55 calories per 12.5cl glass – 30% fewer calories than a standard glass of wine.

Following the success of these wines, the company will release a further three varieties into the UK market in June. The passion fruit blend will also include a touch of pineapple and there will be two completely new flavours – strawberry with a touch of raspberry and blackberry with a touch of strawberry.

FLAVOURS

It’s not just berries and soft fruit that have entered the arena – exotic fruits have joined the mix and are adding to the appeal of the category. Reh Kendermann’s Flemming says: “The market leader has quickly increased into different flavour profiles, many of them rather exotic, to satisfy retailer expectations and beef up the category.”

In terms of fruit, Flemming says: “There are a few other fruity entrants, none, as yet, on an own label, although this could change. The expectation is that there will be a shake-up in the variations as ranges bed down. Growth will almost certainly slow down in comparison to the rapid growth we have seen in the past year.”

Exotic might be appealing, but it doesn’t always translate to sales. “We have seen very quickly a huge increase in the available flavour range but more commonly known fruit flavours tend to be leading the way. The lesser-known fruits or more exotic flavours are offering consumer interest, but they are not necessarily the most frequently bought,” Flemming says.

Keeping ahead of the trends and offering something that appeals is a juggling act. Kendermann says it keeps abreast of the types of flavours both in the wine market and other related food and beverage markets that seem to have the greatest consumer uptake. “We also conduct regular panel tastings to understand which flavour combinations actually work,” adds Flemming.

MARKETS

It might currently be mainly about the UK when it comes to flavoured wines but it would be a mistake to discount other markets.

“A few years ago, Wine Intelligence released a report regarding the success of flavoured wines in Europe, especially in France,” Taylorson says. “Grapefruit-flavoured rosé wine is seen by the younger European consumer as an approachable style and can be easily drunk as an aperitif. For example, Castel’s successful brand Very was born from the French tradition of adding a touch of grapefruit juice to a glass of rosé wine, with the fruit aromas enhancing those of the wine.”

Flemming says Reh Kendermann’s flavoured wines have been, and are still, available in a number of mature markets. “It is possible that less mature markets will open up to the flavoured wines trend as consumers become more adventurous,” she adds.

Consumers are becoming more adventurous and the wine industry might increasingly have to place slightly less emphasis on tradition and start looking at the opportunities other fruits have to offer. If the UK is anything to go by, consumers are having more than just a fling with fruit fusions and flavoured wines.