Why Haribo Weinland could be Gen Z’s next viral treat
As Halloween approaches, Haribo may be sitting on an untapped goldmine. Weinland, its wine-inspired fruit gummy, has the provenance, packaging and story to charm a new generation of sweet-toothed consumers if it plays its cards right.
Weinland is made with real wine but carries no alcohol because “the alcohol in the wine fully evaporates during production”, according to Haribo’s own product information. That makes it family-friendly but also strangely poised for reappraisal.
Gen Z has already proved its appetite for drinks and treats with a backstory. BuzzBallz, for example, transformed from a Texan novelty into the UK’s fastest growing RTD brand, “sparked by consumers who can’t resist sharing videos” as per vice president Jess Scheerhorn, in comments to the drinks business in June. The runaway success came not only from the liquid inside but from its round, meme-ready packaging and TikTok virality.
Haribo has a product with similar narrative potential. The very word Weinland conjures up Rhine terraces and Mosel slopes, while each sweet is stamped with the name of a wine region river.
Where the sweets are sold today
At present, Weinland is sold widely in Germany through Haribo’s own online shop and supermarkets. It is also available across Europe, with Swiss retailers such as Candyshop.ch carrying the 175g bags. Beyond the continent, the sweets are shipped to North America through importers including Candy Funhouse and CandyCave, where they are marketed as “Made in Germany.”
In the UK, Weinland does not yet appear in mainstream supermarkets but is available to buy online. This patchwork of availability shows there is already consumer demand in Britain even without formal distribution and it gives Haribo a foundation to build a broader Gen Z-focused campaign.
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A bitesize wine education
Each chew carries the name of a German river central to winemaking, such as Mosel or Rhein. In that sense, Weinland offers a playful gateway to wine geography and culture. For a generation that is often accused, rightly or wrongly, of having short attention spans, these sweets provide a micro lesson in provenance every time a bag is opened.
Halloween and the viral opportunity
Gen Z already treats Halloween as a social media performance as much as a night out. With the right influencer partnerships, the sweets could surface on TikTok in the same way BuzzBallz became shorthand for pre-drinks culture.
Unlike alcohol led products, Weinland’s alcohol free status is also a safety net. Parents buy Haribo; students post about Haribo. The bridge between those two demographics is a marketing sweet spot that Weinland has never properly mined.
Brand protection and the competitive edge
Of course, Haribo has been wary of the alcohol candy crossover. As reported by the drinks business, in 2020, the company launched legal action against Spanish start-up Ositos & Co for producing alcoholic gummy bears. Haribo demanded the destruction of promotional material, cancellation of trademarks and even ownership of the ositosconalcohol.com domain. That case shows Haribo is serious about defending its confectionery turf against alcohol led imitators.
Here lies the irony. Haribo already owns a wine-led sweet in Weinland, but has so far positioned it conservatively as a nostalgic European classic. Gen Z’s hunger for provenance and storytelling could allow Haribo to take the fight to rivals by turning Weinland into a cultural moment rather than a legal footnote.
The packaging already whispers of vineyards, terroir and a dash of German heritage. Halloween offers a seasonal platform.
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