Vignette Wine Country Soda: California Brut

Vignette Wine Country Soda, which was previously only available in 12 oz. bottles, has moved up to a larger 750ml size (aka a standard wine bottle). For this blend, which they call a “California Brut,” they’ve used muscat and chardonnay grapes along with sparkling water, citric acid, and natural flavors. From our perspective, the product certainly tastes good, but it is still sparkling white grape juice in our minds. Whereas a 750 ml bottle of wine probably pours four to five glasses, someone drinking this is probably only going to get two or three servings. That, combined with the fact that this is 40 percent juice and 60 percent water, seems to make this a product that is somewhat impractical for scenarios outside of holiday dinners and fine dining where it might be a fun option for kids or those who don’t drink. They’ve done a nice job of creating a package that will blend in with regular white wine. However, we’re not convinced that this strategy is the right way to go, unless they can come up with some way to make the liquid inside the bottle match the premium quality of the package (and sparkling muscat and chardonnay grape juice isn’t it, in our opinion). Overall, this is a technically sound product, but we suspect that this product will only excel in certain niche areas.