Why You’ll Probably Never See Cotton Candy Grape Wine – Tasting Table

According to Cain, via Per NPR, cotton candy grapes don't simply grow on vines. To generate growth, scientists have to extract the embryos from baby grape hybrids and fertilize them in test tubes. It probably won't come as much of a surprise, then, that they're notoriously expensive. At a Whole Foods Market in Brooklyn, cotton candy grapes run for $4.99 per pound, compared to $1.99 per pound for red seedless grapes. But, the high cost of production isn't the only reason this wine will probably never happen.

In 2016, Jim Beagle, CEO and co-founder of Grapery, said some grape farmers tried making cotton candy grape wine via Bon Apptit and it was a disaster. As Beagle puts it, "It's so bad. It tastes nothing like cotton candy... no acidity structure to give you [a] balanced mouthfeel. It tastes like the flabbiest Chardonnay you've ever had. And it smells like stale donuts." Scientifically, this feedback makes sense. Most wine grapes belong to the "Vitus vinifera" grape species, says Cain, but cotton candy grapes are a hybrid specie of V. vinifera and a yet-undisclosed Concord-adjacent specie. Therefore, not only do cotton candy grapes taste super unique, but they're also fundamentally different from other grapes at a biological level. So, perhaps cotton candy grapes should remain the super-sweet superstar of the fruit bowl and leave wine-making to the others. (If you're super into the idea, luckily, cotton candy-flavored dessert wine is still a thing.)

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Why You'll Probably Never See Cotton Candy Grape Wine - Tasting Table