Dragons’ Den Caan invests in wine that is sugar-free
DRAGONS’ Den star James Caan has given his backing to a new sugar-free wine.
It is aimed at those who enjoy a tipple but also want to limit their intake of calories.
SlimLine Wine is launching sparkling, red, white and rose wines in the UK next month.
As well as having no sugar, the wines are also carb-free. They range between 10 and 11 per cent in alcoholic strength, and have around half the number of calories contained in a typical bottle.
The sparkling and rose wines cost £10.99, while the red and white are £8.99 each.
SlimLine founder Paul Gidley, a wine entrepreneur, says customers will not miss out on flavour, due to the quality of the Pinot Noir, Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay grapes used.
SlimLine has just agreed a partnership with Hamilton Bradshaw Capital Partners, an investment firm partly founded by Caan, 56, who was a mainstay of the BBC TV entrepreneur series.
It is preparing its first shipment of 400,000 bottles to the UK from its vineyard in Piedmonte, northern Italy.
Gidley hopes his zero-sugar wines will appeal not just to slimmers, but also those with health problems such as diabetes. As well as ruling out added sugar, Gidley and his team say they have ‘developed a process’ to take out residual sugar from the grapes.
SlimLine is up against other low calorie wines including red and white versions from Marks & Spencer with a similar calorie count and an alcoholic strength of 8.5 per cent, costing £7.50 a bottle.
Aldi has a low calorie wine, priced at £2.99 a bottle.
It has alcoholic volume of 5.5 per cent and 12 per cent fewer calories than SlimLine and M&S.