A wine cooler is wine mixed with fruit juice or flavor, sugar and carbonated water, bottled at about beer strength and served cold. For a few years in the 1980s it was the fastest-growing drink in America; at the 1987 peak the category was worth over a billion dollars and roughly a fifth of all the wine Americans drank. Then it collapsed, and most of what carried the name for the next thirty years was not made from wine at all. Here is what a wine cooler is under the rules, who invented it and what happened to it, which of today’s bottles are wine-based and which are malt, how many standard drinks are in one, and four ways to make your own.
Last verified September 14, 2026. Regulatory facts are from 27 CFR parts 4, 7, 24 and 25 and TTB’s 2005 flavored malt beverage rule; the excise tax history from TTB’s historical rate table and the Congressional Research Service; product facts from producer sites, with retailer listings labeled as such; history from Vice, the Lodi News-Sentinel, Wine Folly, Forbes and the sources listed at the end; standard drinks from NIAAA.
| Wine coolers | Fact |
|---|---|
| What it is | Wine plus fruit flavor or juice, sweetener and carbonation, usually 4 to 6% ABV |
| Legal status | “Wine cooler” is not a defined term in federal regulation; wine-based versions are “wine specialty” products, malt-based versions are flavored malt beverages |
| First commercial brand | California Cooler, Lodi, California, first sold in 1981 by Michael Crete and Stuart Bewley |
| Peak | 1987: over $1 billion in sales, about 20% of US wine consumption |
| What ended it | The January 1, 1991 federal wine excise tax increase from $0.17 to $1.07 per gallon, and the rise of clear malt drinks such as Zima |
| Wine-based today | Bartles and Jaymes (4%, relaunched on wine in 2019), Arbor Mist (6%, retailer listing), Capriccio (13.9%, retailer listing) |
| Malt-based today | Seagram’s Escapes (3.2%), most Boone’s Farm |
| Standard drinks per 12 oz | 0.64 at 3.2%; 0.8 at 4%; 1.0 at 5%; 1.2 at 6% |
What a wine cooler is, legally
The phrase does not appear anywhere in federal alcohol regulation. It is not in the wine standards of identity (27 CFR 4.21), not in the winery rules (27 CFR 24.10), and not in the malt beverage rules (27 CFR part 7). It is a trade name, and what sits behind it can be one of two very different products.
A wine-based cooler is, in TTB’s terms, an “other than standard wine” or “wine specialty” product: a wine base with added flavors, juice, sweeteners and carbonation, made under an approved formula. Most are bottled under 7 percent alcohol, and that number matters. The Federal Alcohol Administration Act’s definition of wine only covers products of 7 to 24 percent (27 CFR 4.10), so a 4 percent cooler falls outside TTB’s labeling rules and is labeled under FDA food rules instead, with a wider alcohol tolerance of plus or minus 0.75 points (27 CFR 24.257). That is why a wine cooler’s label looks more like a soda’s than a wine’s.
A malt-based cooler is a flavored malt beverage: legally a beer (27 CFR 7.1), brewed from malted barley and hops, stripped of most of its beer character and flavored. In 2005 TTB found that in most of the flavored malt beverages it studied, over 75 percent of the alcohol came from added flavorings rather than brewing, and in some cases over 99 percent. Its rule (T.D. TTB-21, effective January 3, 2006) capped that: for products at or under 6 percent ABV, no more than 49 percent of the alcohol may come from flavors. These products cannot be labeled as wine, and they are not, but they are still called wine coolers by almost everyone who buys them.
The history
Michael Crete and Stuart Bewley, friends from Lodi High School in California’s Central Valley, had been mixing white wine, fruit juice and club soda for beach parties through the late 1970s. In 1981 they began bottling it as California Cooler, in 12 oz beer-style bottles sold in four-packs. The first year’s volume was 850 cases. By 1984 they were shipping about 10 million cases a year, and in 1985 they sold the company to Brown-Forman for a price reported anywhere from $63 million to $146 million depending on how the contingent payments are counted.
Every large drinks company followed. Canandaigua Wine launched Sun Country in 1984 and signed Ringo Starr to promote it in December 1986. E. and J. Gallo launched Bartles and Jaymes in 1985 with Hal Riney’s television campaign built around two fictional old men on a porch, Frank Bartles and Ed Jaymes, played by an Oregon rancher named David Rufkahr and a Santa Rosa contractor named Dick Maugg, who signed off every spot with “thank you for your support.” Seagram’s Golden Wine Cooler ran ads with Bruce Willis in 1986 and 1987. Wholesalers shipped an estimated 15 million cases in 1984, about 7 percent of all wine sold; by the 1987 peak, sales passed $1 billion and coolers were around 20 percent of US wine consumption.
Why it took off
Timing. The drinks were low in alcohol, sweet, fizzy and sold in beer bottles, which made them easy to sell to people who did not buy wine, and the 1984 launch of DeKuyper Peachtree schnapps and the Fuzzy Navel shows how much of the decade’s drinking ran on fruit flavor.
Why it collapsed
Two things. The first was tax. The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 raised the federal excise tax on still wine from 17 cents to $1.07 per gallon on January 1, 1991, a sixfold increase, while beer went from $9 to $18 a barrel. A cooler built on a wine base suddenly carried far more federal tax than one built on a malt base, and Gallo moved Bartles and Jaymes and Boone’s Farm to malt that year; Seagram’s coolers eventually went the same way. The second was fashion. Sales had already fallen by double digits in 1988, 1989 and 1990, and the next fad was clear malt: Coors’s Zima, test-marketed in 1991 and launched nationally in 1993, sold 1.2 million barrels at its 1994 peak and was itself discontinued in October 2008.
| Federal excise tax | Through December 30, 1990 | From January 1, 1991 |
|---|---|---|
| Still wine, 14% ABV or less | $0.17 per gallon | $1.07 per gallon |
| Beer | $9 per 31-gallon barrel | $18 per barrel |
| Distilled spirits | $12.50 per proof gallon | $13.50 per proof gallon |
Wine coolers today
The wine-based cooler came back in 2019, when Gallo relaunched Bartles and Jaymes in 12 oz cans at 4 percent ABV and 120 calories, “made with real white wine,” in four flavors, and the producer’s own site now calls it a “premium wine cooler.” Arbor Mist, a Canandaigua brand since 1998 that Gallo bought in January 2021, is wine with fruit flavors; its site does not print the ABV, and retailer listings show 6 percent. Seagram’s Escapes, now made by the Seagram Beverage Company of Rochester, New York (owned by FIFCO USA since 2009), is a flavored malt beverage at 3.2 percent, with a “Spiked” line at 10 percent. Boone’s Farm is sold as a flavored malt beverage in many states and as flavored wine in others, so the base depends on where you buy it.
| Product | Owner | Base | ABV | Standard drinks per 12 oz | Source for ABV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bartles and Jaymes | E. and J. Gallo | Wine | 4% | 0.8 | Producer |
| Arbor Mist | E. and J. Gallo (since 2021) | Wine | 6% | 1.2 | Retailer listing |
| Seagram’s Escapes | FIFCO USA | Malt | 3.2% | 0.64 | Producer |
| Seagram’s Escapes Spiked | FIFCO USA | Malt | 10% | 2.0 | Producer |
| Boone’s Farm | E. and J. Gallo | Malt in most markets, wine in some | Varies by flavor and state | Varies | Retailer listings only |
| Capriccio Bubbly Sangria | Florida Caribbean Distillers | Wine and fruit juice | 13.9% | 2.8 | Retailer listing |
How strong a wine cooler is
NIAAA’s standard drink is 0.6 fl oz of pure alcohol, which is 12 oz of 5 percent beer or 5 oz of 12 percent wine. The formula for a cooler is (ounces x ABV) / 0.6. A 12 oz bottle at 4 percent is 0.8 of a standard drink; at 5 percent it is exactly one; at 6 percent it is 1.2. The point to watch is the outliers: Seagram’s Spiked at 10 percent is two standard drinks in one can, and a 750 mL bottle of Capriccio at 13.9 percent is 5.9, the same as a bottle of wine. USDA’s generic “wine cooler” entry lists about 67 calories per 100 g, or roughly 220 per 11 oz bottle, but that is a composite at about 5 percent; producer labels are more useful where they exist (Bartles and Jaymes 120 per can; Seagram’s Escapes 100 per can per a retailer listing).
Wine cooler recipes
The homemade version is the original one, and you control the wine, the sugar and the fizz. Standard-drink counts assume 12 percent wine, 9.5 percent white zinfandel, 40 percent brandy and vodka, 15 percent watermelon liqueur and 16.5 percent Chambord; check your bottles.
Peach wine cooler pitcher
Dry white wine, peaches, honey and a little brandy, topped with soda water. Makes about eight servings at about 1 standard drink each.
- 2 cups frozen unsweetened sliced peaches, thawed
- 1/2 cup brandy
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1/2 lemon, very thinly sliced
- 1 bottle dry white wine
- 1 1/2 cups carbonated water, chilled
- Ice
Combine the peaches, brandy, honey and lemon slices in a large pitcher and stir in the wine. Refrigerate for two to four hours. Add the sparkling water just before serving and pour over ice in wine glasses. The whole pitcher holds about 7.7 standard drinks (90 mL of alcohol from the wine, 47 mL from the brandy).
Watermelon white zinfandel cooler
One glass at a time; multiply for a pitcher. About 1.1 standard drinks.
- 4 oz chilled white zinfandel
- 2 oz watermelon liqueur or watermelon schnapps
- 4 oz lemon-lime soda
- Watermelon wedge for garnish
- Ice
Fill a glass halfway with ice, add the wine, liqueur and soda, stir and garnish.
Cucumber melon wine cooler
Frozen melon stands in for ice. Needs a few hours of lead time. About 1.5 standard drinks per glass, the strongest of the four because of the vodka.
- 1 cantaloupe
- 1 honeydew melon
- 1/2 large cucumber
- 1 cup vodka
- 4 oz dry white wine per glass
- Club soda, optional
Scoop the melons into balls with a melon baller, spread them on a tray and freeze for at least three hours. Put six to eight cucumber slices in a jar with the vodka and refrigerate for three hours or up to three days. To serve, drop four or five frozen melon balls into a tall glass, add 1 oz of the cucumber vodka and 4 oz of white wine, and top with club soda if you want fizz.
Raspberry rosé cooler
Works with an off-dry red as well. About 1.1 standard drinks.
- 4 oz rosé
- 4 oz club soda
- 1 oz Chambord or another raspberry liqueur
- Fresh raspberries for garnish
- Ice
Build over ice in a tall glass, stir gently and drop in the raspberries.
Frequently asked questions
Is a wine cooler actually wine? Sometimes. Bartles and Jaymes and Arbor Mist are wine-based today; Seagram’s Escapes and most Boone’s Farm are flavored malt beverages, legally beer. The label says which: a malt product cannot be labeled as wine.
How much alcohol is in a wine cooler? Usually 3.2 to 6 percent. A 12 oz bottle at 4 percent is 0.8 of a standard drink; at 6 percent it is 1.2.
Who invented the wine cooler? Michael Crete and Stuart Bewley of Lodi, California, who first sold California Cooler in 1981 and sold the company to Brown-Forman in 1985.
Why did wine coolers disappear? The 1991 federal excise tax increase on wine, from 17 cents to $1.07 a gallon, made wine bases expensive relative to malt, and the fad had already peaked in 1987. Most brands switched to malt or vanished.
Are Bartles and Jaymes wine coolers still made? Yes. Gallo relaunched the brand in 2019 in 12 oz cans at 4 percent ABV, back on a wine base.
What is the difference between a wine cooler and a spritzer? A spritzer is wine and soda water, nothing else. A cooler adds fruit flavor or juice and sugar and is sold pre-mixed at a lower strength.
Sources
- eCFR: 27 CFR 4.10, 4.21, 24.10, 24.257, 7.1 and 7.5, checked September 14, 2026
- Federal Register, T.D. TTB-21, Flavored malt beverage rule (January 3, 2005) and TTB, Do I need a formula (wine), checked September 14, 2026
- TTB, Historical tax rates and Congressional Research Service, RL30238, Federal excise taxes on alcoholic beverages, checked September 14, 2026
- Vice, The weird and wavy history of wine coolers (2018), Lodi News-Sentinel, Michael Crete: local boy becomes cooler king (July 23, 2000), Wikipedia, California Cooler and Encyclopedia.com, Brown-Forman Corp., checked September 14, 2026
- Wikipedia, Bartles and Jaymes, CBS San Francisco, Dick Maugg obituary (2015), UPI, Ringo Starr will promote wine cooler (December 6, 1986) and Encyclopedia.com, Canandaigua Wine Company, checked September 14, 2026
- VinePair (1984 case volume) and Wine Folly, The rise and fall of wine coolers, checked September 14, 2026
- Wikipedia, Zima (Brandweek 1994 figure) and NBC News/AP, MillerCoors stops making Zima (2008), checked September 14, 2026
- Forbes, on the 2019 Bartles and Jaymes relaunch and Bartles and Jaymes product page, checked September 14, 2026
- Seagram’s Escapes FAQ, PitchBook, 2009 sale of Seagram’s coolers to FIFCO USA, Arbor Mist, Gallo, acquisition of Constellation brands (January 5, 2021) and Food Republic, Boone’s Farm, checked September 14, 2026
- Retailer listings, used only for ABV where the producer does not print it: Arbor Mist, Capriccio, Seagram’s Escapes calories (H-E-B), checked September 14, 2026
- NIAAA, What is a standard drink and USDA FNDDS “wine cooler” (code 93404000, read via a mirror), checked September 14, 2026
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