Ready for 2021: The three new Fruitscato flavors will be launched on a staggered basis. Blueberry is already available in Indiana and soon will be in other states in the Midwest and Northeast. Mango arrives in February, followed by Pineapple in June. Images courtesy of E. & J. Gallo
The fruit-flavored, Moscato-based line is booming—and adding flavors for 2021
By Jack Robertiello
Americans talk dry but drink sweet. It’s been proven time and again in all beverage categories. In fact, sweet wines, aggregated across types, represent the third largest table wine category in the U.S. today—right behind Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, according to the makers of Barefoot wines.
Perhaps more important, Barefoot—and parent company E. & J. Gallo—have discovered that fruit-flavored sweet wines are also welcome, especially for the new-to-wine consumer. Introduced in 2018, featuring best-seller Peach along with Apple, Strawberry, and Watermelon, Barefoot’s Moscato-based Fruitscato grew over 600% in 2020, according to IRI data. As a result, in 2021 Barefoot will roll out three new expressions of the booming spinoff line: Blueberry, Mango, and Pineapple.
There is no end in sight, either: Sales of sweet wines have grown faster than traditional wines during the COVID-19 pandemic, says Anna Bell, VP Marketing, amounting to “a massive category in terms of size and growth.”
Hot Where It Counts: Entry Level
The team behind Fruitscato realized that, just as sweet Lambrusco, Liebfraumilch, and Sangria were once wine entry points for legal age drinkers, Fruitscato’s sweet-fruit flavors pack tremendous appeal for drinkers new to any sort of wine. One in four Fruitscato buyers are newbies, according to Bell. “At Barefoot we pride ourselves in welcoming everyone into the wine category with a variety of options and approachable flavor profiles,” says Bell. “We make more ‘first wine’ than most wineries make wine.”
Fruitscato’s target consumer is the younger legal age drinker unfamiliar with wine and often a bit intimidated by the category, who may think of wine in general as fancy and too expensive. Keeping the brand’s flavor messaging super clear, each expression showcases its fruit-based identity graphically on the front label.
While fruit-flavored wines are viewed as artificial by some, Barefoot avoids the critique, says winemaker Jen Wall. “We actually blend the natural fruit flavors into the wine right before bottling to ensure the fruit is fresh and vibrant,” says Wall. “Another interesting point is that we infuse the Fruitscato wines with just enough CO2 to lift the fruit, and provide a lively mid-palate and perfect balance when served chilled.”
Fruitscato’s alcohol by volume is 7.5 percent, and while the wines are perceptibly sweet, they are less so than many Italian Moscato d’Asti expressions. Line-priced with the other Barefoot bottles, there will be extensive promotion—colorful in-store displays, social media campaigns, Youtube videos, ads on Hulu, billboards, and some localized media. There will also be Spanish language promotion, with Spanish back labels included on the pineapple and mango extensions.
Some reluctant merchants say their stores aren’t suitable for sweet wines, or that carrying Moscatos serves them well. Barefoot counters that stores offering both Moscato and Fruitscato sell 12 percent more Moscato. Consequently, the brand recommends Fruitscato be displayed alongside the rest of the Barefoot line.
Sage advice from America’s sweet wine experts. Indeed, if Barefoot has proven anything, it’s that every wine market is not just potentially a sweet wine market—it already is. And the next big thing for sweet-toothed American wine drinkers may well be not just “fruit forward,” but actually fruit-flavored.
Fruitscato could not be much simpler: natural fruit flavors are blended into a Moscato wine base right before bottling, and the fruit is displayed on the label. Images courtesy of E. & J. Gallo
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