Are alcohol-free wines drinkable (by wine drinkers)?

We have recently been told that the biggest growth segment in the wine industry is low-alcohol and alcohol-free wines (Rising trend: low alcohol and alcohol free wine). Estimates of growth over the past few years are in the region of  25% (Trend towards low and no alcohol gathers pace, outstripping overall wine category) to 33% (The majority of non-alcoholic drinkers in the US also buy booze) and on to 45% (Low- and no-alcohol category gets a boost from consumer wellness trends).

This does not, of course, mean that such wines are taking over the industry, as the segment apparently still accounts for less than 1% of the market (Non-alcoholic beer, wine and drink sales soar as quality improves). However, this does mean that the current state of the art is worth looking at.

Low-alcohol wines seem to include everything that is below the common alcohol concentration for any given wine type — eg. <11% ABV for reds and <10% for whites. This seems more like “lower” rather than “low”. It is often achieved, in practice, by choosing grapes from varieties that naturally produce wines with the desired alcohol level (eg. Gamay, Riesling, Moscato, or the Vinho Verde varieties such as Alvarinho).

Alcohol-free wines are another thing entirely. Here, we need to remove the alcohol from the fermented grape-juice, getting it to <1% ABV — without impairing the expected wine sensory perception, including mouth-feel (texture), balance (acidity), and typicity (aromas and tastes).

On the face of it, this seems to be a hopeless task. What we do first is convert the grape sugar into alcohol (by fermentation); and then we try to remove that alcohol from the resulting juice (eg. by spinning cone technology, or by reverse osmosis). It seems to me that this is likely to leave us with strange-tasting sugar-free grape juice.

Apparently I am not the only one to think this (What are the opportunities for the no- low-alcohol wine category?): “The consumer data collected by Wine Intelligence over the past 5 years has been telling a similar story: no- and low-alcohol wine is a good idea in theory, but consumers are often disappointed by the taste profile of products in these categories”.

So, some manufacturers subsequently add a bit of grape concentrate at the end (eg. 5%), in an attempt to improve matters; and some makers even add a bit of flavoring, and even gum arabic for texture. All of these things can be produced organically, of course, so that the resulting alcohol-free wine can legitimately be labeled “organic”. Mind you, I have noticed that several wineries do not actually mention their alcohol-free wines on their websites!

However, would a wine drinker want to drink the result? This is a question I asked myself recently; and I decided to find out. [Updated: 18-Nov-21.]

To find out empirically, I bought most of the wines available in my local Swedish liquor chain (Systembolaget), as well as my local supermarket (ICA), which cover a range of styles, and a range of prices (40 unique brands). I expect these wines to be representative of those available elsewhere, and many of them are also available in other countries. None of them are actually made here in Sweden, although they are quite popular here — for example, the data on Exports of Australian reduced alcohol wine by market show that 47% of their total goes to Sweden.

My long-suffering wife and I then drank all of them, one per day. Here, I report on the results, which are summarized in the table at the bottom of this post. Our thoughts focus on the taste, because without alcohol there is not much aroma. Interestingly, the amount of residual alcohol (0%—0.5%) seemed to make no difference to the wines.

Starting with the reds (9 wines), all of them tasted awful, although the Domaine de la Prade is drinkable. They all tend to taste the same, irrespective of grape or geographic origin — that is, they taste like grape juice, not wine. The producers describe this as “bursting with bright red fruits”! It's like discovering that all of red-wine diversity has been reduced to Beaujolais Nouveau. There is nothing wrong with Beaujolais Nouveau, but there is more to red wine than solely this. Interestingly, like Beaujolais Nouveau, the wines do taste better chilled.

The whites (9 wines) are definitely a step up, as they can handle the grapey fruitiness, by being chilled. However, they also tend all to taste the same, irrespective of grape or origin — they do not taste anything like the nominated grape, unlike wine. This is not to say that they are not a refreshing beverage, of the simple and fruity type (although the Santa Monica was a bit acidic).

The rosé drinks (5 wines) are very similar to the whites, and thus similar comments apply. In this case, for the cheap alcoholic versions, no-one expects rosé to taste like any particular grape; so, the lack of diversity is no surprise. You would not, however, mistake any of these for a real rosé.

This brings us to the sparkling versions (17 wines). These are far and away the best of the segment. The bubbles can handle the grape fruitiness, by cutting through it. They are all carbonated, of course, and the cheapest ones go flat fast. However, as a refreshing aperitif, or even with a meal, most of these are quite acceptable. In terms of flavors, they tend to taste more like pear or apple than anything else. However, the top-7 in terms of price were a step above this, and actually tasted a bit more like wine.

I am not the first to note that the sparklings do better than the others ( “the carbonic acid provides freshness and mouthfeel”). Indeed, it is reported that Brut sparkling wines demand to dominate, yielding a third of the global revenue share.

Overall, I remain unimpressed. Alcohol-free wine may be good for your health, but that does not make it is good for your taste buds. It has been reported that quality is increasing (Pleasure without remorse: the best non-alcoholic wines; Best non-alcoholic wine 2021), and I hope so.

However, I would probably much prefer just to drink fresh fruit juice, rather than trying to consume doubly-processed grape juice. After all, making wine and then de-alcoholizing it is more complicated than just making the wine in the first place, and yet most alcohol-free wine is less expensive than its alcohol-containing counterpart — that should give you a hint about what to expect in terms of quality.

To test the idea of preferring fruit juice, I also purchased two of the ones in wine bottles, available on the same shelves in the shops:

• Azienda Iris P.Lex Pure Sparkling Glera (Italy; $7.50) (carbonated grape juice)
  
• Le Petit Béret Organic Chardonnay (France; $10.25) (grape extract, grape juice, apple concentrate)
  

These both tasted like grapes, although the latter had a hint of apple. They were the equal to fruitiness of the de-alcoholized whites.

We tasted all of these wines so that you don’t have to. The best summary is indicated by my wife's expression of relief when she got a real wine with her dinner, after five evenings of drinking the de-alcoholized stuff (and several more nights afterwards). If I want grape juice, I will just buy unprocessed grape juice. If I want still wine, then in order to cut down on my alcohol intake I may be better off choosing ones that are naturally lower in alcohol (eg. Gamay, Alvarinho). However, the top-level sparkling wines would probably pass muster even with a (co-operative) wine-preferring guest.

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Producer   Reds Jacob’s Creek Carl Jung Les Grands Chais de France Enjoy Wine & Spirits Treasury Wine Estates Treasury Wine Estates Sommestad & Malmnäs Oddbird Edenvale   Whites Carl Jung Henkell Freixenet Casa de la Ermita Miguel Torres Enjoy Wine & Spirits Treasury Wine Estates Jacob’s Creek Josef Leitz Edenvale   Rosé Carl Jung Jacob’s Creek Reh Kendermann José Maria da Fonseca Josef Leitz   Sparkling G. Patritti Henkell Freixenet Henkell Freixenet Les Grands Chais de France Treasury Wine Estates Treasury Wine Estates Arc-en-Ciel Enjoy Wine & Spirits Henkell Oddbird Pernod Ricard Domaine Wines GodDryck i Sverige GodDryck i Sverige Oddbird Oddbird GodDryck i Sverige

Wine name     UnVined red Carl Jung JP Chenet So Free Barrels and Drums Lindeman’s Rawson’s Retreat Cognato Domaine de la Prade Premium Reserve     Carl Jung Chapel Hill Santa Monica Natureo Barrels and Drums Lindeman’s UnVined white Eins Zwei Zero white     Carl Jung Rosé UnVined Rosé Black Tower Rosé Periquita Rosé Eins Zwei Zero     Billabong Brut Chapel Hill Chapel Hill Rosé Nozeco Lindeman’s Rawson’s Retreat Rosé Mousseux Brut Barrels and Drums Mionetto 0.0% Spumante Campo Viejo Gran 0% Richard Juhlin Blanc de Blancs GodDryck No 1 Sparkling White GodDryck No 2 Sparkling Rosé Rosé Blanc de Blancs GodDryck No 1 Prestige Cuvée

Grape(s)     Shiraz Merlot Cabernet sauvignon + Syrah Merlot Cabernet sauvignon Cabernet sauvignon Cabernet sauvignon + Cinsault Merlot + Shiraz Pinot noir     Chardonnay Chardonnay Viognier + Macabeo Muscat Chardonnay Semillon Chardonnay Mostly Riesling Riesling Pinot gris     unspecified Shiraz Grenache + Tempranillo + Syrah Syrah Pinot noir     unspecified unspecified unspecified unspecified Chardonnay + Pinot noir + Muscat Chardonnay + Pinot noir + Muscat Grenache Chardonnay Glera Glera Xarel-lo + Macabeo + Parellada Chardonnay Sémillon + Airén + Sauvignon blanc Cabernet sauvignon + C. franc + Merlot Chardonnay + Pinot noir Chardonnay Chardonnay + Sauvignon blanc

Source     South-eastern Australia Germany (Spain) France Germany (Spain?) South-eastern Australia South-eastern Australia South Africa France South-eastern Australia     Germany (Spain) Hungary Spain Spain Germany (Spain?) South-eastern Australia South-eastern Australia Germany South-eastern Australia     Germany (Spain) South-eastern Australia Germany (Spain) Portugal Germany     South-eastern Australia Hungary Hungary France South-eastern Australia South-eastern Australia France Germany (Spain?) Italy Italy Spain France Spain + France France France France Spain + France

Alcohol ABV   0.5% 0% 0.3% 0% 0% 0.5% 0.5% 0% 0.5%     0% 0% 0.5% 0% 0% 0% 0.5% 0% 0.5%     0% 0.5% 0% 0.5% 0%     0.3% 0% 0% 0.4% 0% 0.5% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0.2% 0.2% 0% 0% 0%

USD     $4.50 $5.00 $4.50 $6.50 $6.50 $6.75 $8.00 $10.25 $11.50     $4.75 $4.75 $6.50 $6.50 $6.50 $6.50 $6.75 $8.00 $9.25     $4.75 $5.75 $5.75 $5.75 $8.00     $4.50 $5.00 $5.25 $5.75 $6.75 $7.00 $7.00 $7.00 $9.25 $9.25 $10.25 $10.25 $10.25 $10.25 $11.00 $11.00 $14.00