UF study: Blueberry wine has more antioxidants

On Feb. 1, the University of Florida published a study that found blueberry wine to have more antioxidants than many wines made from grapes.

Wade Yang, a researcher with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, led the study that compared antioxidant levels in a Florida-produced blueberry wine to previously published antioxidant content studies among grape wines.

“Blueberry [wine] is in the market competing with other wines,” Wade says. “I wanted to know exactly how the blueberry wine compares to the grape wine so that these companies can tell their potential customers and bring in some money.”

According to the UF news website, Wade’s team tested the antioxidant qualities of blueberry wine using the oxygen radical absorbance capacity method. A local blueberry wine company contributed $5,000 to help fund the study that was recently published in Sustainable Agriculture Research.

He says that blueberry wine has penetrated the markets and is growing quickly but there are still few in the Gainesville area.

Bluefield Estate Winery is located in Gainesville and specializes in the antioxidant rich blueberry wines. The winery, located in East Gainesville, started the production of blueberry wines in the summer of 2006.

Bradley Ferguson, the owner of the winery, wanted to find a way to save the blueberry crop that would usually be thrown out because of their softness. He found that he could use the extra blueberries and ferment them into wine.

“We’re not the first for there are a lot of wineries that are catching on, but we took the blueberry and made it our signature,” he says.

Bradley says Bluefield Estate Winery has a dry blueberry wine, a sweet blueberry wine and something that falls in the middle.

The research that proves the antioxidant qualities in blueberry wine has become a major selling point for his winery. He says that he expects to see sellers and advertisers nationwide using this information to sell their blueberry wine products.

Bunky Mastin, an employee at The Wine & Cheese Gallery in Gainesville, says that his store has recently picked up blueberry wine.  He says they are selling the wine but there is a relatively low demand for it at this time.

Bunky, an experienced wine taster, said the wine was “a little fruity, like a picnic.” He would suggest pairing it with a dessert or a light cheese appetizer.

Bunky says he could see the wine becoming a novelty item for someone who is already a grape-wine consumer. However, the item is so new, it still needs to be developed more within the next few years.

“It’s important for people to find out if they like it. It’s different,” he says.

-KM