Chocolate wine, vodka tasting of green tea and lemon and sparkling wine with a perfume of violets were just a few of the unusual drinks offered at ProWein, the global wine fair in Dusseldorf.
The Netherlands company Team Products BV showcased ChocoVine, which has a wine base enhanced with chocolate flavours, plus a choice of optional aromas such as whipped cream, espresso or raspberry.
Another Dutch company, Van der Linde Nijhof Dranken, was offering a vodka, Teashu, that comes with a flavour of green tea, pepper and the Japanese fruit yuzu, combining to create a rather tangy-fresh taste.
One of the sparkling wines on show was created by the Austrian firm Spitz and has been perked up with flavours from hibiscus flowers.
It is an extension to a type of fizzy cocktail popular in upscale German and Austrian bars, the hugo, which has an elderberry flavour.
"We were on the look-out for an addition to elderberry," says Spitz export manager Timotej Pesut.
Spitz's new hugos have a choice of aromas from real violets and from real hibiscus flowers, but the drinks' pink colours are artificial.
The Cupcake Martini and Salted Caramel Martini from US company The Modern Cocktail give what it calls "a new twist" to the traditional martini by adding the flavours of favourite snacks. Both martinis need no mixing and will be sold ready to drink.
