The Brand Behind Trader Joe's Beloved Pre-Made Bellini Drinks

Made from a combination of prosecco and peach puree, a bellini is like a sweeter, more summery take on your usual brunch mimosa — and for $5.99, you can grab a premade bottle (or two) from your local Trader Joe's. Poured over blended, frozen peaches and garnished with fresh mint, T.J.'s Secco Peach Bellinis are your short cut to peachier brunch cocktails in a pinch. But who really makes them? Just like the rest of your favorite Trader Joe's snacks, drinks, and foods, there's a real brand behind these pink drinks. No, it's not Starbucks — it's Peter Herres, which Trader Joe's describes on its website as "a family owned German winery."

Established in 1954, Peter Herres may have started out as such, but with its innovation in the sparkling wine market, the company expanded quickly and relocated to a larger facility just five years after creating its first sparkling wine brand, Herres Cabinet. Within another five years, it made the first strawberry flavored sparkling wine and began developing export markets to other parts of the world. Its growth only expanded more rapidly over the next 10-20 years with the opening of the world's largest sparkling wine bottling plant in 1991. Today, Peter Herres operates out of four plants, exceeding 100 million bottles in sales per year. While Germany may be better known for its riesling, Peter Herres has certainly made a mark in the sparkling wine sector, receiving multiple DLG and Product of The Year Awards for its fruit-flavored sparkling and semi-sparkling wines.

Trader Joe's bellinis are by no means a recent discovery. The pink bottles have graced the grocer's shelves for years and have even been found in flavors like mango, grapefruit, and strawberry-raspberry. Even if you are late to the bandwagon, it's never too late to start sipping on these summery sweet drinks — and at $6 a bottle, why wouldn't you? These pre-made peach bellinis are made all the more peachier when poured over blended, frozen peaches. In fact, with a bit more of them and some ice, you have an easy hack for spiked summer snow cones.

Now, just because these bellinis are peach flavored doesn't mean you can't experiment with other fruity flavors. Go ahead and blend up some frozen strawberries, raspberries, or mangoes and add them to your cup instead. Or if you're looking for something more like the boozy slushies that are so hot in the summer, add the bottled bellini into a blender with frozen fruit and some ice like you would for frosé. At 8% ABV, it's sure to make the perfect boozy substitute for rosé; just remember to adjust the sugar accordingly. But things don't have to be that fancy. You can easily pour these bellinis into champagne flutes and chill them with whole pieces of frozen fruit — be it peaches, strawberries, or raspberries — and top them off with an extra splash of prosecco at brunch.