Cola Flavored Wine to Launch in France
David Swaddle's insight:
It looks like some people will stop at nothing to make money.
Haussmann Famille has launched a 75% wine, 25% cola pre-mix drink aimed squarely at children. The domestic French wine market has been shrinking for decades and now some producers are stooping a little too low in their quest to recruit new customers, IMHO.
It's not the product itself that's abhorrent, it's the name. "Rouge Sucette" literally translates as "Red Lollipop". If this isn’t aimed at a young demographic, then what is? Oh, and it's packed full of sugar and labelled to serve cold, ensuring that the alcohol characteristics are masked as much as possible. Go on kids, slurp it down.
The drink itself is effectively calimocho/kalimotxo - a traditionally homemade mix of cola and cheap read wine that's a popular pre-clubbing drink in Spain. There's nothing wrong with that. It has the same sugar, caffeine and alcohol lift as Red Bull and vodka, just with a nicer taste and a much lower price. People have even sold it pre-mixed before, just never aimed so clearly at kids.
I hope this beast is a commercial disaster. Can you imagine the reaction of the French if a Chinese company were doing this?