Top 8: The best white, still, and sparkling non-alcoholic wines
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It's impressive how responsible young people are in avoiding alcohol when driving, in charge of children, and before working or studying. They deserve a good alternative when barbecuing or celebrating. It’s best not to compare alcohol-free and regular wines. They are likely to be sweeter and without the depth or that satisfying, lasting alcohol tingle on the palate. But they have their own personality.
The percentage of alcohol in the bottle (alcohol by volume) may show non-alcoholic drinks to have a tiny percentage of alcohol — ‘under 0.5%’ is often stated. Whether or not this matters depends on why you are not drinking.
When I worked as a wine judge, one of the most important criteria in sparkling wine was ‘persistent bubbles’, so we watched how vibrant the bubbles were and how long they lasted. Most didn’t make our Top 8, especially the rosés. I bought just white, still, and sparkling. Red will come later.
Most zero-alcohol drinks are de-alcoholised — have the alcohol removed from regular wine by heating it (vacuum method).
Reverse osmosis (filtering) is also used. Some add grape concentrate to make up for lost flavour, adding to the sugar content.
Other zero ‘wines’ are fruit juices with fizz in the form of carbon dioxide added. The latter didn’t make our Top 8.
I was excited to try this one, enjoying many bottles of alcoholic albariño in Spain over the years.
This one with less than 0.5% alcohol made in Spain has de-alcoholised wine, grape extract with low sugars of 0.17%. Good, lasting bubbles, lively in the mouth and plenty of fruit flavours both in this and the still wine version, with a dry finish which makes them good with food. I bought in Dunnes.
Made by the famous Spanish Torres family, always a reliable label, this is a popular, widely available brand. It was at our tasting too. Muscat in alcoholic wines is usually quite sweet, but at 3.5% sugars, this was not. Aromatic and peachy, and tasting, guess what — of grapes! A pleasant drink as an aperitif and with spicy food, risotto, fish dishes. Abv 0.5%.
Irish history here with Bernardo O’Higgins whose father was born in Sligo, and who hid 120 of his men in Santa Rita cellars during the liberating of Chile from Spain, to become President of the new republic. De-alcoholised sauvignon blanc has fruity flavours, less gooseberry, more citrus, in a low fruit, not sweet, drink. A little petillant/fizzy at first which tasters liked. 2.9% sugars. 0.4% abv.
Widely available.
From Germany, this one word title belies a bit more complexity. Made from de-alcoholised wine with added grape must ( juice, skins and seeds), tasters like the pleasantly petillant feel and generally untypical Riesling fruity flavours. As a simply pleasant drink, this got some votes. Despite a high 5.1% sugars, not over sweet to have with Eastern, spicy, salty food, or as an aperitif. We bought in Dunnes.
Made in France from de-alcoholised wine (with less than 0.5% alcohol) with added sugar bringing sugars to 5%. This was an easy drinking tipple, not high on fruit flavour, a little sweet, but pleasant. Bubbles were light and frothy. Not bad value. Have with cake rather than savoury dishes. We bought in Dunnes.
Made from 10% non alcoholic fermented grape juice and 0.5% green tea added to carbonated water, tartaric, citric and ascorbic acids, natural flavouring. Sugars 4.9%. A little sweet for tasters liking, but a pleasant drink to have on its own in summer months. We didn’t detect the green tea. Frothy bubbles lasted about an hour.
This still wine appealed most to our two year old who viewed the tasting table with joy and picked out the amusing dog label. Produced in Australia from 96% de-alcoholised wine made from pinot grigio grapes with added grape juice concentrate, this was a pleasant, but not exciting, drink. With 3.1% sugars, it is sweet, but not oversweet, and tasters thought it deserved a place in the Top 8. We bought in Tesco.
An easy drinking glassful, not high in fruit, but with 4.4% sugars, still not too sweet. Chill well for an aperitif, or to drink all day in the sun. Good with tomato salads, Eastern dishes. We bought in O’Driscolls, Ballinlough where a decent selection of zero alcohol (and plenty of good alcoholic) wines can be found. Less than 0.5% abv.
