Americans turning backs on “skinny” wine

American consumers have lost their appetite for low calorie “skinny” wines, forcing Treasury Wine Estates to pull its The Skinny Vine brand off the shelves.

As reported by The Wall Street Journal, US drinkers are ditching low calorie wines due to doubts over quality and a desire not to compromising on flavour.

“With alcohol, along with things like chocolate, people are buying into the full flavour, full taste experience – they don’t want winemakers to remove things from their wine,” said Simon Marton, chief marketing officer at Treasury Wine Estates.

Treasury entered the low-calorie wine market a decade ago with Beringer White Lie, which was discontinued shortly after, launching The Skinny Vine in 2013.

The Skinny Vine range includes a Chardonnay, Moscato and Zinfandel rosé with each bottle said to contain 30% fewer calories than regular wine.

Despite its changing attitude towards low calorie wines, America remains the number one market for lower-alcohol wines, ahead of France in second place, which saw a 31% increase in consumers buying skinny wines last year.

In 2013, Accolade launched The Light Grape in the US in collaboration with Weight Watchers with an ad campaign promising 80 calories per 5-ounce serving.

“In the US, consumer tastes can change very quickly and it’s a matter of staying on top of things, otherwise you end up with stock in warehouses instead of in consumer hands,” Anita Poddar, Accolade’s head of global external affairs, told TWSJ.

Keen to push the low calorie wine agenda in the UK, Accolade launched an Echo Falls branded tea-infused alcohol free sparkling drink in Britain this January.

Not all low calorie wines have flopped in the US – reality TV star Bethenny Frankel has enjoyed huge success with her Skinnygirl brand targeted at women, which was bought by Beam Suntory for $US8.1m in 2011.

With the range including a Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio and Cabernet Sauvignon, each of the wines claims to boast 100 calories per 5oz serving.

In 2013 Frankel launched Skinnygirl Prosecco to capitalise on the global thirst for the Italian sparkling wine.