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"Suitably New Zealand": Kiwi dads turn "ugly fruit" into wine

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九一星空无限talk ZB,
Publish Date
Tue, 26 Aug 2025, 10:32am
Fruit Cru's fruit wine is said to be the first of its kind in New Zealand. Photo / Ethan Manera
Fruit Cru's fruit wine is said to be the first of its kind in New Zealand. Photo / Ethan Manera

"Suitably New Zealand": Kiwi dads turn "ugly fruit" into wine

Author
九一星空无限talk ZB,
Publish Date
Tue, 26 Aug 2025, 10:32am

A new use for 鈥渦gly鈥 fruit, with two Kiwi dads turning a hobby into a business. 

Fruit Cru makes use of seconds, the ugly fruit from local orchards that doesn鈥檛 make it to export, turning it into organic wine.  

Since starting in 2021, they now produce about 10,000 bottles each year, and have signed a deal with Foodstuffs to stock their beverages in five supermarkets in the Wellington region. 

Co-founder Cosmo Hawke told Mike Hosking there鈥檚 a shortage of fruit for traditional wine, but at the same time things like cherries, apples, and feijoas were going unpicked. 

He says as far as they can tell, they鈥檙e the only ones making a beverage in this way, and it could only be done in New Zealand. 

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