The Next Round: What happens after you change your drinking?
The Next Round: What happens after you change your drinking?
Finding alcohol-free wines that you enjoy can be a challenge. Removing alcohol from wine does mean you can lose a lot of flavour, or damage the flavour that has been created with fermentation (you can listen to our podcast with some of our favourite wine experts to understand more about this). When we are looking for a drink to replace the wine moment, we don’t just look for alcohol-free wines, we also look for other drink styles that might give us a similar drinking experience. For example, if you enjoy natural wines that often have a little more funk and acidity, a good kombucha may tick more boxes than an alcohol-free wine. Or there may be an alcohol-free spirit that better meets the flavour profile you’re looking for. Below are just some of the products we’ve tasted that we think could make a good wine replacement for you.
BLÅ has the delicate aromas of Jasmine, chamomile, and citrus. It has a round taste from the careful selection of white teas, backed by complexity and depth from the green teas. It ends in a long finish joined by comfortable tannins created by the Darjeeling First Flush. The color is light green with a tinge of yellow.
Belle & Co’s vegan sparkling wine is a refreshing non-alcoholic drink combining sparkling fermented grape juice blended with premium green tea. It has a slight sweetness, but this is countered by the savoury notes of the green tea.
Binary Botanical is actually a beer, but it has a tropical aroma, prosecco-like taste, and a clean finish from the infusion of organic hop leaves and wine yeast. It is a flavourful beer brewed to be enjoyed with food.
Originating in Kyoto in the 1920s as a way of utilising leftover leaves, stems, stalks, and twigs, Hojicha is a roasted green tea from Japan. The tea has a deep umami character and notes of nori seaweed, roasted hazelnut, and delicate smoke, with dry and woody tannins.
Real Kombucha makes a small selection of premium kombuchas. Their Royal Flush is produced from fragrant First Flush Darjeeling, picked by hand as the first tips of tea emerge in spring. The Indian city of Darjeeling itself is known as Queen of the Hills and its First Flush is known as the Champagne of Teas. This is fragrant, fresh, and floral with notes of rhubarb, white peach, and a touch of blackcurrant. The fruit and spice flavours round out the acids to make this kombucha soft and delicate.
Mighty Brew Heritage kombucha with Liz Earle MBE and is specially matured to enhance its Prosecco-like qualities, for a sophisticated sensory experience. It even has a cork top so you can enjoy a celebratory ‘pop’! Heritage Blush Rose is an alcohol-free pink bubbly with delicate colour and expressive bouquet. The Heritage Elderflower Sec with its citrusy floral notes and dry taste is the quintessential alcohol-free fizz.
La Kombucha have released a range a sparkling Kombuchas for the moments when only a glass of fizz will do. Their Sparkling English Rose is a blend of Assam and White Monkey tea kombucha infused with organic white rose petals and wild elderflower. Crisp complexity balances a fresh zesty acidity and floral notes with a dry finish, a drink reminiscent of wildflower champagne.
Oddbird produces two lovely sparkling wines, one is a white made with Glera from the Italian province of Treviso, commonly known as the Prosecco region. The other is a well-balanced rosé made with a blend of Chardonnay white wine and Pinot Noir red wine from the French region of Languedoc-Roussillon.
Thomson & Scott Noughty is produced with 100% organic Chardonnay grapes. This delicious sparkling wine is similar in structure to alcohol-free Prosecco and is dealcoholised using a patented method that avoids adding unnecessary sugar or artificial aromas to the bottle. Works wonderfully on its own or in cocktails that call for sparkling wine.
A crisp and refreshing non-alcoholic sparkling white wine made with 100% Chardonnay grapes from sandy and calcareous soils in southern Spain. Crisp acidity and strong effervescence with hints of green apples & citrus peel and a floral aroma. Alt extra dry sparkling wine is perfect with food or on its own.
Vinada Sparking Gold is a lively bright yellow colour with an abundance of white fruity taste sensations in both smell and taste followed by a soft, crisp mouth and a dry finish.
Wild Life Botanicals sparkling drinks are packed full of vitamins and minerals. The sparkling rose boasts juicy, wild strawberry aromas, followed by a rounded, mineral palate evoking rosehip tea, strawberries and cream, and Cornish orchard fruits.
Ish Sparkling White has a honey-forward nose and notes of citrus, green apple, pear, and peach. The Sparkling Rose is a pale salmon colour with plum, strawberry, and raspberry flavors derived from a blend of Merlot and Pinot Noir grapes. Both are available in sharing bottles and cans.
Lyre’s Classico is lightly coloured with notes of fresh peach and granny smith apple skin on the nose. Appealing floral and musk tones bring complexity to this sparkling wine alternative, available in large bottles or single-serve cans.
Made from a blend of sun-ripened Cabernet Sauvignon and Tempranillo, this wine from Adnams is full of ripe, red berry fruit flavours with a hint of spice. Pairs beautifully with tomato-based dishes.
Using Australian Grapes this beautiful vibrant red Shiraz boasts plush ripe berry fruit supported by soft tannins and sweet vanilla oak, providing length and structure.
Oddbird Domaine De La Prade Organic is an organic non-alcoholic red wine. It is made from a blend of Merlot and Shiraz from the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France. Aged for 12 months, this wine has notes of blackberry, cherry, plum, and caramel.
Jukes Cordialites are organic apple cider vinegar-based drinks made with all-natural ingredients. Jukes No 6 is dark and rich with blackcurrant and blackberries leading the way. Layers of complexity are introduced thanks to the raspberries, strawberries and plums which give an extra dimension and depth of flavour.
Taking its name from the book of verses by Omār Khàyyám, Rubàyyát is a vibrant red, medium-bodied, lightly oaked with dark fruits and spice notes. Instead of dealcoholising the wine, Sharab uses a gentle secondary fermentation to convert alcohol into acetic acid. This is then balanced with grape must and botanicals to create a desirable structure, intensity, and aroma.
Nuala is a beautiful red wine, and the brand itself is complex, juicy, and fresh but with real poise. Aromas of red berries are met with a hint of forest, a slight tartness, and a layered palate with gentle tannins.
Three Spirit Social Elixir is a dark herbal elixir that is the ultimate social companion and mood elevator. Natural, blissful feeling with lion’s mane mushroom, yerba mate, and damiana. Full-bodied and bittersweet with a curious savoury bite.
Nine Elms No.18 is an award-winning ruby velven – a new type of sophisticated non-alcoholic drink, designed to complement good food. It is made from an intricate blend of natural berry juices aromatised with 20 botanicals. This has herbal notes with warmly-spiced red and black fruit, gentle acidity, and soft tannins.
If you’re looking for a holiday moment, Mocktails Sevilla Red Sansgria could be the perfect tipple. They use French, Italian, and Spanish wine grapes, spices, and botanicals to create a sophisticated take on Sangria that transports you to Sevilla.
This Sauvignon Blanc is bursting with zesty citrus fruit flavours with a refreshing key lime bite. Enjoy served chilled on its own or paired with grilled fish and chicken salads.
Using Australian Grapes this beautifully fresh aromatic white shows hints of sweet musk, rose, and spice. The subtle sweetness of this Reisling lends itself well to being alcohol-free.
Oddbird Domaine de la Prade Chardonnay is a dry white wine made from 100% Chardonnay from Southern France. It has tones of fresh apple and mild citrus fruits with a touch of pear rounded off with just a hint of butter. With less than 20 calories per 100ml, this wine is also lighter than traditional chardonnay. The dry white wine is aged for up to twelve months in a terroir of limestone.
Jukes Cordialites are organic apple cider vinegar-based drinks made with all-natural ingredients. Jukes 5 pours green/white. The main flavour themes are built on precise blending of lemon, pear, green apple, cucumber, gooseberry and grapefruit and with the addition of carefully selected vegetables, fragrant herbs and flowers. There is also a discreet level of spice.
Màsnavvī is named after a poem by Jalāluddìn Rumí. It is a medium-bodied white, off-dry lightly oaked with notes of tropical fruits and herbs. Sharab use clever fermentations and blending of grape must and botanicals to create complex wine alternative.
Have we missed your favourite? If you have tried any alcohol-free wines that really hit the spot, we’d love to hear about them, do let us know.
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