Water Infused With Wine, The 2018 Beverage Of Choice

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The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) defines what constitutes one beverage alcohol drink: for beer, it is 12 ounces (oz); malt liquor, 8 oz; wine, 5 oz; and 80-proof spirits, 1.5 oz. According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), drinking alcohol beyond one drink per day is a risk factor for cancer of the head and neck, esophagus, liver, breast and colon.

The government information is enough to make you want to drink something else with dinner or at a party. Is it any wonder, then, that new beverage products have been in the making? Indeed, in the latest Packaged Facts report, the focus was on the need for new food and beverage products for our health. Cited for this focus on new beverages was the health benefits of probiotics. As the Packaged Facts report indicates, cancer prevention is not the only reason to consume healthy beverages. A variety of health benefits can be derived from ingesting probiotics ...and there's heart disease to consider.

Until recently, moderate wine consumption was promoted as a heart-healthy beverage. But for some of us, the newly recommended "no more than one drink a day" puts a damper on that. What to do? Well, water may be the alternative—but not just any water.

Last week the retail food industry’s news guardian, The Shelby Report, gave forth this headline: “Napa Hills Turns Wine Into Water, Now Available Nationwide.”

It’s called Vineyard Enriched Water, produced by Napa Hills. Although the product has been on the market for almost a year, until recently it was available only in the Chicago area. According to Napa Hills, one glass of Vineyard Enriched Water delivers the antioxidant benefits of one glass of red wine, sans calories, sugar and alcohol. The water performs this feat with help from VitaRes, a proprietary product from red wine and grape skin extracts reaped from Napa Valley vineyards.

VitaRes includes resveratrol extracted from grape skins. Resveratrol is a natural chemical discovered in the 1930s in Japan. Good sources of the chemical include the skins of grapes, blueberries, raspberries and mulberries. It took 50 years for scientists to fully understand resveratrol's potential antioxidant qualities; then, in the 1990s, red wine gained a reputation as a leading resveratrol delivery system. That's because the heat generated by fermentation on grape skins is among the best ways to extract the chemical.

Resveratrol-rich Vineyard Enriched Water comes in two flavors: Cherry Rosé and Peach Grigio. It sells for about $3 per each 16.9 oz bottle—or $30 per case of 12 bottles. It can be found on Amazon.

At the same time VitaRes was being unleashed on the national market, an Israeli company, Practical Innovation, collaborated with an Israeli startup named Wine Water to work on a water project which they named O.Vine, which will be available as a still and sparkling alcohol-free wine-flavored water with antioxidants. O.Vine is being launched at the Specialty Food Association’s Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City, June 30 to July 2, 2018.

Which consumer group is the target for this healthy, flavorful water?

According to the Beverage Industry 2018 product development report, 62% of U.S. consumers seek “natural” in their beverage options. That group includes wine drinkers, about 32% of which are between ages 21-35.

It appears millennials are the target consumers for water-into-wine.

By Thomas Pellechia
June 22, 2018
Source: Forbes.com