Branching Out

Want to invest in a vineyard because you love wine? Turns out the harvest can be used to turn a profit in the beauty industry as well

Want to invest in a vineyard because you love wine? Turns out the harvest can be used to turn a profit in the beauty industry as well

The joke about wine farms has been around for years. “How do you make a small fortune? Start with a large fortune and then open a winery.”

Tell that to the new crop of winery owners in France and the US, and they would probably laugh right back at you. Because as well as selling their vintages around the world and welcoming people to their properties, they have diversified into a very unexpected market. Many wineries are branching out into the beauty business, moving away from just food, drink and hospitality and into the hugely lucrative skincare sector.

It makes sense. Red wine is good for you (so long as you stick to a glass or two a day, of course), and that goodness can be harnessed by the body’s biggest organ. Or so say a growing number of highly successful skincare companies that are using ingredients you’d usually find in a glass of merlot, but this time to promote radiance.

The ingredient in question is resveratrol—the grape’s potent antioxidant, which fights pollution, minimises some of the effects of ageing and makes skin look firmer and healthier. France, unsurprisingly, has been a world leader in using resveratrol in skincare for over 100 years, but it is only in the last few decades that winery owners have turned their hand to the practice, putting the ingredient centre stage and building the entire brand around both the winery and the anti-ageing properties it promotes.