Brands
Grape juice brands
Who makes the grape juice on your table? Meet Brazilian and international brands, with links to articles and original sources.
This content is informational and independent; it is not paid advertising. Information comes from news articles, brands' official sites and public sources, always linked below.
The Proteste ranking has moved
The Proteste test ranking now lives on the Favorites page, alongside The Public's Choice.
Vinícola Aurora — Brazil
Founded in 1931 in Bento Gonçalves, in southern Brazil, by 16 grape-growing families, Aurora is today the country's largest winery and operates as a cooperative, bringing together about 1,100 member growers who farm roughly 3,000 hectares of vineyards in the Serra Gaúcha region. The brand leads the national whole grape juice market, with about 38% market share.
Read more: Aurora turns 95 with record revenue (Aurora Blog, in Portuguese) · Vinícola Aurora's cooperative journey (Revista Sabores do Sul, in Portuguese) · Wikipedia (in Portuguese)
Salton — Brazil
Salton's story starts in 1878, when Italian immigrant Antônio Domênico Salton settled in what is now Bento Gonçalves, Brazil. The company was formally established in 1910 by the founder's sons. Today it's one of Brazil's best-known wine and juice brands: it was the first Brazilian wine brand to reach #1 in the international Wine Brand Power ranking by Wine Intelligence, a list traditionally dominated by foreign brands.
Read more: The Salton family (official site, in Portuguese) · From a small inn to a sparkling-wine market leader (Portato Vino, in Portuguese)
Cooperativa Vinícola Garibaldi — Brazil
Founded on January 22, 1931, when 73 growers struggling after the 1929 crisis joined forces, the cooperative grew fast: within four years it had 416 members. Today it brings together about 450 member families who harvest more than 30 million kilograms of grapes across 1,200 hectares in 18 municipalities of the Serra Gaúcha, spread across more than 80 products and 15 brands, including biodynamic grape juice lines that were pioneers in the Brazilian market.
Read more: Cooperativa Vinícola Garibaldi celebrates 85 years (APEME, in Portuguese) · Meet the brand's history (Topview, in Portuguese)
Casa Valduga — Brazil
The Valduga family's story in Brazil begins in 1875, when Italian immigrant Luiz Valduga planted the first vines in what is now the Vale dos Vinhedos (Bento Gonçalves, RS). One of the country's most awarded wineries, with more than 300 national and international prizes, Casa Valduga is the founding company of the Famiglia Valduga Group, which also includes Casa Madeira, the group's grape juice brand (with whole, organic and kosher lines) and gourmet products. Casa Madeira, in fact, placed 3rd in the Proteste grape juice test cited above.
Read more: Famiglia Valduga celebrates 150 years since the family's immigration to Brazil (All4Wine, in Portuguese) · About (Famiglia Valduga, in Portuguese)
Casa Perini — Brazil
The story starts in 1929, when João Perini, the son of Italian immigrants in the Trentino Valley (RS), began making wine by hand for community gatherings. Casa Perini was formally established in 1970 by his son, Benildo Perini, who still runs the winery today. Based in Farroupilha, it was the first Brazilian-owned winery to produce sparkling wine, in 1998, and today also makes grape juice alongside its wines and sparkling wines.
Read more: Casa Perini: a visit to the award-winning winery of Farroupilha (Classe Turista, in Portuguese) · Casa Perini (Brasil de Vinhos, in Portuguese)
Cereser — Brazil
A story that began by accident: in 1926, João Cereser brought two cartloads of Niagara grapes to sell to a winery in Jundiaí (in São Paulo state), but the buyer backed out of the deal. Back home, the family decided to turn all the grapes into wine themselves, giving rise to the Fábrica de Vinhos Humberto Cereser. Today, under the name CRS Brands, it's one of the largest beverage makers in Latin America, with factories in Jundiaí (SP) and Suape (PE) and exports to more than 45 countries; its portfolio includes wines, sparkling wines, ciders and grape juice.
Read more: Cereser (Wikipedia, in Portuguese) · Santo Cereser, the Italian who became synonymous with sparkling drinks (Italianismo, in Portuguese)
Welch's — United States
Perhaps the most famous grape juice brand in the world, Welch's was born out of a religious motivation: in 1869, physician and dentist Thomas Bramwell Welch, a Methodist opposed to alcohol use, developed a pasteurization process to stop grape juice from fermenting, creating an alternative to communion wine. He and his son gathered 40 pounds of Concord grapes from their own yard for the first batch. The company was officially founded in 1893, and Concord (dark purple) grape juice remains the brand's signature to this day; it's that same variety that shows up in much of the memory research on grape juice cited throughout this site.
Read more: Welch's (Wikipedia) · Welch's Grape Juice Started Out as a Substitute for Sacramental Wine (Today I Found Out) · Communion and Welch's Grape Juice (United Methodist Church)
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