Winetail Hour: Our Favorite Wine-Based Drinks

Innovation and product extensions are a good strategy for business growth. Many beverage companies are doing just that by adding wine based beverage options to their portfolio of product offerings. Wine based beverages originate from wine, but have undergone sweetening, coloring and aromatization, that are then combined with juices or other flavorings. This combination creates a delicious, unique flavor offering that is different from traditional alcohol based cocktail drinks.

There are numerous cocktail recipes online for you to experiment with at home, but beverage companies that are at the forefront of the winetail trend are doing the premixing for you and offering ready-to-drink wine-based beverages.

Cocktails in a box: Wine-based cocktails typically use orange wine as a base and mix it with sweet flavors to create a refreshing drink. Companies like Beatbox Beverages mix wine with other flavors to create four different combinations like, Blue Razzberry Lemonade, Cranberry Limeade, Box A’Rita, and Texas Sweet Tea.

Chocolate Wine: Chocolate flavored wine contains blends of white, red or orange wine that is then infused with chocolate flavorings. Companies like ChocoVine blend flavors that compare to the taste of the popular Bailey’s Irish Cream liquor.

Wine-aritas: Believe it or not some margaritas are also wine-based. Kirkland Signature Golden Margarita is a ready-to-drink cocktail fermented in agave wine, then mixed with cane sugar, lime juice and fresh fruit.

Wine-based beverages appeal to many consumers who want a lower alcohol level with each sip. Some of these cocktails also contain fewer calories making it a popular choice for customers who are calorie conscious.

In addition to becoming a popular choice to drink at home, wine-based cocktails have become signature items on restaurant drink menus. Serving wine-based cocktails instead of liquor allows restaurants without a hard-liquor license to serve delicious cocktails that taste like they’re liquor based. Remember the next time you’re out that you don’t have limit yourself by ordering wine from the bottle, instead try a wine-based cocktail and let us know what you think.