Cosmo Hawke: Co-founder of Fruit Cru on their business turning ugly fruit into wine

A new use for “ugly” 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’t 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’s 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’re the only ones making a beverage in this way, and it could only be done in New Zealand. 

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