Andrew Browne, founder of chocolate wine, said: "We thought the market would be female and young, but we’ve found that it has much broader appeal," Be it men or women, and even older and experienced wine lovers, people are raving about the product.

The Chocolate Shop is a brand owned by Washington-based Precept Wine. It was introduced January last year in the U.S. with the use of a Bordeaux blend coming from California, with some sugar and natural chocolate added.

"We called it the chocolate lover's wine," says Browne. In the UK, it was released last November. Here the product would be classified as an "aromatised wine-based drink".

About 1.2 million bottles have been sold out in 2011 across retail markets in America. Lewis Jones, managing director at D&D Wines which imports Chocolate Shop in Britain was reportedly expecting to sell as many as 50,000 cases in 2012.

They believe that the sales only keep getting better. He shared that the company came up with line extensions for America like strawberry and chocolate version, which also sparked interest in many people. "We made 10,000 cases [of the flavored wine] for Valentine's Day and sold out," he added.

The Chocolate Shop was meant to resemble conventional French confectionary and contains has 70 g/l residual sugar and a 12.5% abv. It sells for about $15 in the U.S. and £8.99 in Britain.

For the British market, the base wine is actually a Tempranillo of Spain. On the other hand, Australia uses Shiraz. Just like in Britain, the Chocolate Shop in Australia started last November.

Browne said: "Initially, the feeling from the gatekeepers was skepticism, but the consumer embraced it from day one," As a matter of fact, there are customers who come into their shops who want some traditional wine but opt for the Chocolate Shop instead.

Precept Wine actually plans on developing sales for the Chocolate Shop with the use of branded tulip-shaped glasses as it continues playing around to come up with new and exciting flavors like white chocolate, caramel and Chardonnay.

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Joanna Maligaya

Staff Writer/Content Developer at Chocolate University Online

Ever since she can remember, Joanna has always considered chocolate as the ultimate food for her soul. She believes in the saying, “9 out of 10 people love chocolate, and the 10th always lies.”

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