Chocolate wine takes US and UK by storm

12th March, 2012 by Patrick Schmitt

Slideshow - 0 pages

Slideshow

A chocolate infused wine called Chocolate Shop has surprised its creators with surging demand from a wide range of consumers in the US and UK.

“We thought the market would be female and young, but we’ve found that it has much broader appeal,” said Andrew Browne, founder of the product, citing demand from men and women, as well as older and experienced wine drinkers.

The Chocolate Shop is owned by Washington-based Precept Wine and was launched in January last year in the US using a Bordeaux blend from California, mixed with sugar and natural chocolate.

“We called it the chocolate lover’s wine,” explained Browne, although in the UK, where the product was introduced in November, it must also be classed as an “aromatised wine-based drink”.

In 2011, as….

Share170

Tweet

Pin

Share26

Continue reading

Get unlimited access to The Drinks Business, from just £10.75 per month

Join The Drinks Business
Already a subscriber? Login

Slideshow - 0 pages

Slideshow

Featured in the latest newsletter from db

click here to sign up

Charges mount up against e-commerce platform Winebuyers

10 new Masters of Wine for 2021 with first in Italy

One-of-a-kind D’ussé Cognac bottled in honour of Jay-Z’s birthday set for auction at Sotheby’s

Wine trade writes open letter to Under-Secretary of State Victoria Prentis

DeAille Tam named Asia’s Best Female Chef 2021

The week in pictures

Argentinian winery Wapisa reveals ‘stunning’ results of ocean wine ageing experiment

Vera Wang releases limited edition vodka

Kate Thornton calls for end to gender bias on alcohol duty for wine drinkers

7 Responses to “Chocolate wine takes US and UK by storm”

1. Timothy smith says:

   March 13, 2012 at 10:12 pm

   If this product is doing such a great sales growth, then how come there is a ton of it stacked all over and deeply descounted in all the Grocery Outlet Stores for distress merchandise?????

   Reply
2. J Nicol says:

   March 16, 2012 at 8:57 am

   The chocolate lover’s choice I think not. I was drawn in by the design and the concept, but within 15 minutes of having opened the bottle I had to remove it from the room – it tastes and smells like the old plastic chocolate toys we used to play with as kids. I love chocolate and I love wine but this wine is vile!

   Reply
3. HRL says:

   March 16, 2012 at 6:39 pm

   I would imagine that Timothy is correct and that the sales in the U.S. were shipments to retailers, not sales through the register. I am seeing cases gathering dust in my local liquor stores as well.

   This looks more like a PR piece than a news item.

   Reply
4. T. Stark says:

   April 2, 2012 at 9:31 pm

   I just don’t get this trend. I think certain combinations of wine definitely go well with chocolate, but mixing them together in some sort of wine-chocolate cocktail just seems wrong to me.

   Reply
5. Sarah says:

   November 22, 2012 at 10:50 pm

   I agree with j nicol. This smells and tastes vile. One sip was more than enough. Yuck yuck yuck.

   Reply
6. Josephine says:

   December 6, 2012 at 8:27 pm

   Well I don’t know where all these people are from or what they tasted cos to me I love it and it is soooooooo lovely.

   Reply
7. Dawn says:

   December 11, 2012 at 1:46 pm

   I had a bottle last year and liked it very much, bought another bottle last week and still love it…..getting a couple of bottles to take to my parents for Christmas….

   Each to their own….obviously a lot of people do like it judging by the sales figures…. 🙂

   Reply