Placeholder. An industry award body named a brand 'Innovator of the Year' specifically for creating an entirely new wine category from scratch — a high-ABV wine drink explicitly designed to attract people who don't currently drink wine at all, rather than competing within any existing wine style.
What we've found so far: XXL Wines won the 2026 Wine Star Awards' Innovator of the Year specifically for creating what the company describes as an entirely new high-ABV wine drink category.
Open research: Interview XXL Wines directly on the actual product specs and target consumer; get comment from a wine-industry analyst on whether 'inventing a category' claims like this typically hold up commercially.