Surely they add chemicals to make the grapes taste so sweet, right? Wrong. How do Cotton Candy grapes taste like cotton candy? He and his team developed the Cotton Candy grape by hybridizing two existing grape species (kind of like a pluot, which is a cross between a plum and an apricot). It took around 100,000 tries with test tube plants before they happened upon the cotton-candy flavored grapes. Horticulturalist David Cain wanted to bring back the natural flavors of grapes, which he believed had been stripped away by decades of breeding fruit to withstand shipping and storage. But back to Cotton Candy grapes: According to NPR, they came about not as a nod to junk food, but the opposite. There’s also Tear Drops, which are extremely juicy and look like fingers, and Moon Drops, which are tubular and highly flavorful. (We find red seedless grapes to be sweeter and crunchier.) But bite into one and you’ll be surprised at the ultra-sweet flavor that tastes remarkably like the blue, sticky, sugary stuff you had to beg your mom to buy you at the fair.Ĭotton Candy grapes are actually a varietal specific to fruit distributor Grapery, which grows an assortment of new grape varietals with cheeky names and, sometimes, funny shapes. They look like a regular old green grape, which, if we’re being honest, isn’t our favorite of the bunch. The name says it all: Cotton Candy grapes are grapes that taste like cotton candy. So, what exactly are cotton candy grapes in the first place? And why do they taste so sweet? What are Cotton Candy grapes? But Cotton Candy grapes are as popular as ever, and surprisingly, they really do taste like the spun-sugar fair treat. It also has notes of cherries, plums and raspberries.Maybe you’ve seen them at the grocery store…and maybe you passed them off as a total gimmick. This medium sweet vino has aromas of cotton candy and bubble gum. This is a sparkling wine with the aroma of cotton candy and flavors of sweet strawberries and melons. This is an award-winning sweet wine made predominantly of Diamond grapes (similar to Niagara in fruit and Concord in vine). This is a blend of white and red grapes with added natural cotton candy flavor. It has flavors of strawberry, raspberry and bubble gum with a cotton candy finish. This is a medium-bodied white blend primarily made with the naturally sweet Niagara grape. It has natural cotton candy flavors that are maintained through their slow fermentation process. This is a sweet white blend made from grapes in the Great Lakes region. Here are some of the most popular brands that have made their own version of wine with that familiar spun sugar taste. Others have the essence, the aroma and/or the finish of cotton candy. Some of them have been made to taste just like cotton candy. There are a number of wineries that make a cotton candy-flavored wine. Many of these varietals are used to make sweet or dessert wines. Schiava grapes are also known as Vernatsch, Black Hamburg in England and Trollinger in Germany. These include Cotton Candy grapes, North American Niagara grapes and Italian Schiava (pronounced SKEE-ah-va) grapes. Are there any varietals that naturally taste like cotton candy?Ĭertain types of grapes do have an inherently sweet, candy-like flavor. Usually, these wines are made from grapes that yield a naturally sweet flavor that is likened to the popular fluffy treat. Cotton candy wine is a type of wine that is known to taste like cotton candy.