Try blending your non-alcohol wines, if you want to make them more drinkable

I have recently written a few posts about wine and its affect on our health, such as:

• Who started the current WHO completely negative attitude towards alcohol?
• Has WHO got it wrong with its new zero-alcohol policy? Probably.
• Wine affects us differently from other forms of alcohol

None of these posts finds a great deal of issue with consuming wine, provided that it is done responsibly. Intoxication is not the point of the exercise. Indeed, it has been argued that We don’t drink wine just for intoxication (Patrick Schmitt), because “looking at only the public health and intoxication issues of alcohol misses one of the main reasons why we drink it: nothing can match wine’s ability to enhance both food and mood.”

Nevertheless, there seems to be a growing market for people who want to replace their (proper) wine for a non-alcohol version. So, it is a topic worth looking at in this blog. Here is a graph showing us what some (self-selected) people did during last month, to avoid consuming alcohol. Note that about one-fifth of them chose a non-alcohol beverage.

I will start by saying that it seems to me to be very easy to argue that “no-alcohol wine” is a contradiction in terms — wine, by definition, has alcohol in it, just as does beer, and scotch whiskey. That is, dictionary definitions usually specify that wine is the alcoholic product of fermented grapes (or other fruits, although these are often termed cider).

Indeed, I am not alone in thinking that Zero alcohol wine is not wine (Huon Hooke):

I have been diligently tasting the zero alcohol ‘wines’ that breathless PR people send me, and those that I buy off the supermarket shelves out of my own curiosity, but I have yet to find a red wine that tastes anything like wine. I have tasted one or two whites that had some appeal ... but on the whole they are seriously disappointing. They are no more an alcohol-free substitute for wine than any other soft drink or fruit juice.

In one tasting of 16 samples, I noted the residual sugar content of these beverages ranged between 25 and 45 grams per litre. And some confessed they contained ‘flavourings’ and ‘thickeners’. Sugar is evidently used in a vain effort to inject palate weight and flavour.

It is worth noting that non-alcohol wines are first made as normal (alcohol-containing) wines, and the alcohol is then removed, often by a more-or-less aggressive method of de-alcoholisation, such as centrifugal separation (eg. spinning cone) or reverse osmosis (see The challenges of making low/no alcohol wine). The result is then “adjusted” in order to make it drinkable, and hence the additives cited above. People are still working on gentler methods (eg. vacuum distillation), in an attempt to preserve some more of the key aroma and flavour compounds (eg. How Oddbird alcohol-free wines are revolutionising the No/Lo market).

So, I decided to check this out for myself, and recently got together with a few relatives and neighbors to try some wines: 4 non-alcohol whites, 4 non-alcohol reds, 2 non-alcohol sparkling, and a couple of alcohol-containing wines for comparison. * This isn't a wine review, so I won’t give any tasting notes, but I can note the overall results.

The wines were all fairly inexpensive ($5.60 to $10.30 per standard bottle), but they cost enough to potentially taste like wine. Here they are listed by increasing price within each group:

Non-alcohol whites

1. Hardy’s Zero Chardonnay 2022
2. Leitz Eins Zwei Zero Riesling 2022
3. Edenvale Pinot Gris
4. Zeno Alcohol-Liberated White 20222

Alcohol white

1. Hardy’s Nottage Hill Chardonnay 2022 (bag-in-box)

Non-alcohol reds

1. Rawson’s Retreat Cabernet Sauvignon
2. Oddbird Domaine de la Prade (Merlot & Shiraz)
3. Edenvale Premium Reserve Pinot Noir
4. Oddbird Grenache Shiraz Mouvèdre (Carignan)

Alcohol red

1. Rawson’s Retreat Cabernet Sauvignon 2021

Non-alcohol sparkling

1. Oddbird Veneto Spumante Rosé
2. Thomson & Scott Noughty Sparkling Chardonnay

To put it bluntly, of the non-alcohol wines only the sparkling ones tasted like anything other than fruit juice. Sweetness was a recurring theme, as also suggested by Huon Hooke above. The Oddbird wines did not taste any better, in spite of their hype. The alcohol-containing wines tasted perfectly nice.

Since I was unimpressed, I tried some experiments. First, I mixed the alcohol and non-alcohol versions of the same producer/type (ie. the two Hardy’s whites, and the two Rawson’s Retreat reds). The results tasted like a low-alcohol wine, which was certainly an improvement (eg. it reduced the sweetness). I then mixed the other three non-alcohol wines of each type together (ie. the three whites, and the three reds). The resulting complexity increased greatly, and they were no longer just fruit juice. As suggested by this post’s title, this is what I would do if I was to make a habit of drinking non-alcohol wines — buy several and blend them.

So, do yourself a favor — if you want to replace your wine at any time, do it with some other drink, as wine really does need alcohol in order to be wine. If you want to reduce your alcohol intake, then choose wines that are made naturally lower in alcohol, in the first place (eg. originating in a cool climate).

Looking at the bigger picture, alcohol is not the only cultural thing with potential negative side effects. After all, there's inherent risk in almost all human activities. For example, cars can have a very bad effect on people (as can trains), because many people die every week, and their exhausts create air pollution. However, we have not banned cars, but we have instead tried to reduce their negative effects. The same logic applies to alcohol, which can have both positive and negative effects (eg. alcoholism). So, alcohol can exist in the same world with people, provided that it is used responsibly.

Part of the issue here seems to be younger people, who are the people most influenced by the anti-alcohol media (SVB State of the US Wine Industry Report 2024). It has been noted (Results of Consumer Survey on U.S. Wine Market Trends and Challenges) that:

The reported participation in “Dry January” or “Sober October” in 2023 was highest among respondents in the ages 21–39 segment, with over half of the cohort reporting participation by cutting back their wine consumption in those months or abstaining from wine altogether. Nearly two-thirds of the same age group indicated they intend to participate in one or both of these events in 2024.

If you want to read further on the subject, then here are some useful links:

• Nolo: Wine's final frontier
• 13 things Millennial and Gen Z wine pros say will reach young drinkers
• Who is drinking low/no? – Analysis
• Christine Parkinson on the future of low and no-alcohol wine – Interview
• The remarkable rise of zero-alcohol fizz
• BevAlc Insights’ 2024 non-alcoholic wine, beer, and spirits category forecast
• 8 reasons to get excited about the no-alcohol category
• Europe's heaviest drinkers: These are the countries that are drinking more alcohol than before

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* Some of them were chosen from among the following lists:

1. The 23 best non-alcoholic wines
2. The best nonalcoholic wines
3. The 10 best non-alcoholic wines

How on earth are we supposed to use “glasses” to control alcohol intake?

I have written recently about wine intake and the effect of the alcohol on us (eg. last week’s post: The effect of red wine is different from white). One aspect of this topic has been recommendations for the maximum alcohol intake per day or week, for any given adult person. This intake is often expressed in “standard glasses” (eg. one glass per day on average). This is meant solely to be an approximation to actual intake, of course. As a guide, 1 Standard Drink is usually taken as being roughly equal to 12 ounces (350 ml) of beer, 5 ounces (150 ml) of table wine, and 1.5 ounces (45 ml) of 80-proof liquor.

There are three possible issues with using this approximation, in practice, for wine drinkers. The first is the variation in alcohol content of the wines of the world, which can vary from c.8% to c.16% (ABV). * Clearly, the latter wines involve the consumption of twice as much as alcohol as do the first ones, if we go by number of glasses. It is assumed, I guess, that in practice a standard glass has a standard percent alcohol, say 11—13% (Here's how much alcohol is in wine, from lowest to highest).

This issue has been discussed by the general media (Alcohol levels can make a big difference). In particular, it has been noted that we all differ in the rate at which our liver breaks down the alcohol we have consumed, and that this is also more problematic for females, on average — this means that the actual amount of alcohol does, indeed, matter.

The second possible issue is the size of the glasses that you are using. For example, it is easy to mis-judge the amount of fluid in larger glasses compared to smaller ones. The third possible issue is the shape of the glasses. That is, it is easy to mis-judge the amount of fluid in glasses of some shapes compared to others.

I have written about wine glasses a couple of times before:

• What do wine glasses and hamburgers have in common?
• How do so-called alternative wine packagings compare?

However, this is worth re-visiting, given the current state of discussions about health and wine.

So, let’s take a look at some wine glasses. Here is a selection for you. As suggested by the figure legend, these glasses are different in both size and shape, but they all contain the same amount of red wine. Does it look like it to you?

Clearly, half-filling most of these glasses would drastically mis-estimate the amount of wine contained. In particular, glasses often hold more fluid than we think. It is commonly reported that drinkers under-estimate the amount of alcohol they consume, thinking that a standard drink is of greater volume than it actually is, which is called the “over-sizing effect”.

We do, of course, need personally to take into account the shape and size of the serving vessel, when we try to judge the amount of wine being consumed (as shown above). This is not a trivial suggestion. For example, an experiment in 21 pubs, bars and restaurants in England (Impact on wine sales of removing the largest serving size by the glass. PLOS Medicine 21(1): e1004313) has reported that:

Removing the largest serving size of wine by the glass from those available reduced the volume of wine sold. This promising intervention for decreasing alcohol consumption across populations merits consideration as part of alcohol licensing regulations.

In other words, we really do mis-judge our own wine consumption when we try to base it on the number of glasses that we have consumed. In particular, it is reported that: Risky drinkers underestimate their own alcohol consumption. (Note that, in the extreme, the Riedel “Sommelier” Burgundy glass is famous for holding a full 750 ml bottle!)

This topic has also been discussed in the general media (The accidental binge drinker: how much we really pour). It has been suggested that drinkers should actually count each glass as being two servings, not one, when drinking out. At home, you can keep track of the bottle contents, not the number of glasses (although, in contradiction, see: Extra-large wine bottles are having their big moment). Just to confuse things, U.S. restaurants can vary a lot in how much they give you (You're not crazy, wine pours at restaurants are shrinking).

Other online reports are listed at The Stealth Syndromes Project: Sources, under-reporting of alcohol consumption.

We also need to behave responsibly, of course, since alcohol does not mix well with many human activities, driving being the most obvious one. In my lifetime, I have been subject to the following restrictions on my blood alcohol content (BAC) while (allegedly) in control of a motorized vehicle:

• 0.08 (back when I was a teenager in Australia)
• 0.05 (currently in Australia — government slogan: “Under oh-5 or under arrest”)
• 0.02 (currently in Sweden).

For a person of my weight, these roughly correspond to 3, 2 and 1 Standard Drinks, respectively. Now all I have to do is get my estimation technique right!

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* Less than this is Low Alcohol Wine, and greater than this is Fortified Wine.

The effect of red wine is different from white: did you know that?

Last week, I discussed the fact that Wine affects us differently from other forms of alcohol consumption, which seems to me to be rather an important point for the wine industry to broadcast, in the face of current neo-prohibitionist attempts to eliminate all alcohol consumption (just like a century ago in the USA). So, we would be remiss to ignore it.

Well, this week I will discuss the various reports which note that the personal effect of red wine is different from that of white wine, and better. As you may suspect, it is chemicals in the red skins that make all the difference. *

This idea should not actually come as a surprise to you. After all, there has long been the idea of The French Paradox, which suggests that the French have lower levels of heart disease than (for example) Americans because they drink red wine. Well, it is quite likely to be true — so, read on.

The most relevant scientific publication relating to this topic is this review article:

Lukas Snopek, Jiri Mlcek, Lenka Sochorova, Mojmir Baron, Irena Hlavacova, Tunde Jurikova, Rene Kizek, Eva Sedlackova, and Jiri Sochor. 2018. Contribution of red wine consumption to human health protection. Molecules. J23(7): 1684.

Wine consumption has been popular worldwide for many centuries. Based on in vitro and in vivo studies, a certain amount of everyday wine consumption may prevent various chronic diseases. This is due, in part, to the presence and amount of important antioxidants in red wine, and, therefore, research has focused on them. Wine polyphenols, especially resveratrol, anthocyanins, and catechins, are the most effective wine antioxidants. Resveratrol is active in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases by neutralizing free oxygen radicals and reactive nitrogenous radicals; it penetrates the blood-brain barrier and, thus, protects the brain and nerve cells. It also reduces platelet aggregation and so counteracts the formation of blood clots or thrombi. The main aim of this review is to summarize the current findings about the positive influence of wine consumption on human organ function, chronic diseases, and the reduction of damage to the cardiovascular system.

Ultimately, these authors conclude that drinking red wine in moderation has positive links with:

• Cardiovascular diseases
• Atherosclerosis
• Hypertension
• Certain types of cancer
• Type 2 diabetes

This article has been expanded upon in the general medical literature, notably by this one from Medical News Today, which adds information:

Is red wine good for you?

Red wine contains powerful antioxidants, and many sources claim that drinking red wine may be good for health. However, drinking too much red wine may cause problems. This article explores the benefits and risks of drinking red wine, including the safe amount to drink for males, females, and different age groups.

It adds other possible beneficial associations of resveratrol, including:

• Blood pressure
• Brain damage after stroke
• Vision loss
• Liver disease

There is another general summary article in Very Well Health: Can wine protect you from having a stroke? So, there are at least nine ways that red wine can help you, medically.

Interestingly, the benefits of resveratrol first made it into the Romanian news, quoting Dr. Vlad Ciurea:

Băutura alcoolică ce previne AVC-ul. Vlad Ciurea: Creierului îi place. Desface vasele cerebrale

Singura băutură alcoolică pe placul creierului: “Previne AVC și atacul de cord”

From there, it made its way into the English-language news:

The only alcoholic drink that pleases the brain: ‘Can prevent stroke’

Even better, in addition to all of the above, I also noted last week that there is another, quite unrelated, report specifically about the effect of red wine on our stomachs (How does alcohol affect the gut microbiome?):

What does alcohol do to the trillions of microbes living in your gut? ... It’s clear that happy microbes are essential for proper digestion, immune function and intestinal health ... Researchers found that those who drank red wine — or to a lesser extent, white wine — had greater gut microbial diversity than those who did not. No such link was found with beer or liquor. The researchers hypothesized that polyphenols, compounds found in grape skins that are in high concentrations in red wines, might explain their results.

So, there you have it. There is nothing here against white wine, but red wine does appear to be superior, medically. The public needs to be told this. Many people think that it tastes better, but it is also turns out to be better for you. What better advertising could there be?

The wine-makers have only slightly caught on, as the world has 56.4% of red grape area (Red winegrape varieties as a share of national vineyard 2016), but France (notably!) has 65.5%, with the USA (63.9%) and Australia (63.5%) not fare behind. Interestingly, wine production in Bordeaux was >50% white prior to 1960 but has been 90% red this century (Red and white wine production in Bordeaux 1931–2019).

Finally, it is worth noting the concept of Skin-contact white wines, a.k.a. Orange wine, in which white grapes are vinified using the red-grape fermentation procedure. * It would be interesting to know whether these wines also have extra benefits compared to “normal” white wines.

For a more general review article about the beneficial effects of wine-making, you could consult:

Alexandros Tsoupras, Victoria Ling Jun Ni, Éimhín O’Mahony, and Maria Karali. Winemaking: “With one stone, two birds”? A holistic review of the bio-functional compounds, applications and health benefits of wine and wineries’ by-products. Fermentation. 2023, 9(9): 838.

This paper provides a comprehensive examination of the health benefits and applications of wine and its by-products. The focus is on the bio-functional compounds found in wine, particularly those with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-thrombotic properties, and their role in promoting health when consumed in moderation.

And we do not need to worry about the alleged down-side of drinking red wine: Scientists now know why some of us suffer headaches after drinking red wine; and remember, the articles quoted above do emphasize moderate intake.

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* In the case of white wine, the grapes are pressed and the juice is then fermented into wine. For red wine, the grapes are first crushed to produce a mash of grape juice, fruit pulp and skin. This mash is then fermented into wine, and the colorants are pressed from the grape skins and transferred into the liquid (ie. pressing occurs after fermentation) (see White wine vs. Red wine: What’s the difference?).  It is thus the red-wine processing that is of interest in this post.

Wine affects us differently from other forms of alcohol, and the wine industry needs to advertize this

It is nice to be able to write something positive for a change. Over the past couple of months I have written several posts about the effects of alcohol consumption on health, questioning the basis for the current World Health Organization (WHO) campaign to reduce alcohol consumption to zero. People are probably sick of hearing about this by now.

However, on a much brighter notes, this week I will point out that alcohol is not just alcohol, but the effect on us of consuming it is different depending on the source. In particular, the bodily effects of wine alcohol are, in several ways, different from other forms of alcohol.

I base this suggestion on this recent publication in the scientific literature:

Moderate wine consumption and health: a narrative review. Silvana Hrelia, Laura Di Renzo, Luigi Bavaresco, Elisabetta Bernardi, Marco Malaguti, and Attilio Giacosa. Nutrients 2023. 15(1): 175.

This is a review paper, discussing the results of previously published work (as detailed in the figure above). The authors’ summary of their paper is this:

Twenty-four studies were selected after PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar searches for the evaluation of moderate alcohol / wine consumption and health effects: eight studies concerned cardiovascular diseases, three concerned type 2 diabetes, four concerned neurodegenerative diseases, five concerned cancer and four were related to longevity ... The analysis clearly indicates that wine differs from other alcoholic beverages, and its moderate consumption not only does not increase the risk of chronic degenerative diseases, but is also associated with health benefits, particularly when included in a Mediterranean diet model.

There is, of course, a lot more to the paper than just this simple summary. It goes into quite a lot of detail about the effects of different nutrient chemicals, for example (what they call Bioactive Compounds). For wine and health, they evaluate the epidemiological data concerning low-to-moderate wine consumption and: Cardiovascular Diseases, Type 2 Diabetes, Neurodegenerative Diseases, Cancer, and Longevity. However, their simple conclusion is clear, concerning the benefits of what they call The Mediterranean Way of Drinking: Wine in Moderation.

Their ultimate conclusion is this:

Wine is actually an alchemy of unique properties, with a rich and original composition in terms of polyphenols and antioxidants, and a protective association between low-to- moderate wine consumption and cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes and neurological disorders. There is therefore strong scientific evidence from Mediterranean and non-Mediterranean countries that moderate wine consumption increases longevity, reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, and does not appreciably influence the overall risk of cancer (even though it has to be underlined that not drinking alcohol is better for cancer prevention).

This is in complete contradiction to the WHO. However, even better, in addition to all of the above, there is another, quite unrelated, report specifically about the effect of wine alcohol on our stomachs (How does alcohol affect the gut microbiome?):

What does alcohol do to the trillions of microbes living in your gut? ... It’s clear that happy microbes are essential for proper digestion, immune function and intestinal health ... Researchers found that those who drank red wine — or to a lesser extent, white wine — had greater gut microbial diversity than those who did not. No such link was found with beer or liquor. The researchers hypothesized that polyphenols, compounds found in grape skins that are in high concentrations in red wines, might explain their results.

So, these accumulating facts that wine is consistently different from both beer and spirits is a serious business. The World Health Organization currently has an extensive campaign against all alcohol, and yet it appears that wine should not be dumped into the same bag as the other forms. This difference matters to quite a few of us, who are regular wine drinkers! It should also matter to the wine industry as a whole. *

What are the general public supposed to make of this? We are being given seriously contradictory messages from different parts of the official media, regarding the consumption of alcohol, particularly in the form of wine. **

All of this type of conflicting information has, in the past, created confusion among the bureaucrats in the USA, for example. At different times they have gone from prohibiting the production, sale and commercial consumption of alcohol (1920—1933), to endorsing an average level of 1—2 drinks per day (Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010). Since then, the recommendation has been reduced to a maximum of 1 drink per day. This series of changes has been discussed in some detail online (The perpetual pendulum of US drinking guidelines). The recommendation may soon be revised to 2 drinks per week for all adults, in response to the pressure from what are referred to as the Neo-Prohibitionists.  ***

Well, I am too old to change myself now. I will continue to drink wine in the same way that I always have: my wife and I share a bottle of good wine whenever we feel like it. In practice, this does turn out to be an average of no more than one drink per day, anyway. It is reported that other old people feel the same way (Results of consumer survey on U.S. wine market trends and challenges).

The Mediterranean diet is generally recognized as a healthy-eating plan, being focused on plants not meats, as described by the Mayo Clinic: Mediterranean diet for heart health. It has even been suggested that: “adhering to a healthy diet, in particular a traditional Mediterranean diet ... appears to confer some protection against depression” (Healthy dietary indices and risk of depressive outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. Molecular Psychiatry 2019 24: 965–986). So, go for it!

You can also read about The Mediterranean Diet Wine Guide here or here. However, you should note that the evidence regarding this diet is actually pretty much the same as that for alcohol (see The hidden hitches in Dry January / Mediterranean diet plans).

Also, always remember what Eduardo Galeano once said: “We are all mortal until the first kiss and the second glass of wine.” And, of course, for what it is worth, the first attributed miracle of Jesus of Nazareth was turning water into wine for a wedding at Cana of Galilee (see The Mondavi Defense).

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* The recent WHO pronouncements quite clearly treat alcohol as a toxin, just like most drugs (both legal and illegal). However, it is worth pointing out here that “alcohol is not best described as ‘a toxin’. It can act as a drug and have toxic effects, but it is first and foremost a macronutrient” (Alcohol’s surprising role in your health and longevity). It is thus metabolized like any other nutrient, by a natural biochemical pathway in our bodies.

** In 2021, Rob McMillan (of the Silicon Valley Bank Wine Division) apparently tried to establish an organization called WineRamp that, among other things, could counter misleading health-related data in a way that individual US wineries cannot. But he abandoned the effort last year because of a lack of industry support (Wine leaves a bad taste for younger drinkers).

*** It is worth noting here that the guidelines always talk about ‘daily standard drinks’ as some sort of average — but what time period do we average it over? If I drink like a fish for three years and then go cold turkey for another three, does the six-year average count? I doubt it! Medical people, in general, are interested in weekly averages or fortnightly averages, at most. That is, any potentially negative effects of alcohol can occur quite quickly, in the big scheme of things. [Thanks to Sandy Hathaway for raising this point.]