Dry January, or Dryuary, is over! There are lots of people celebrating tonight, but I’m not one of them because I didn’t give up alcohol for the first month of the year. That doesn’t mean I didn’t have any dealcoholized wine in January. I did after becoming acquainted with non-alcoholic wine last summer and finding a few that I really liked.
First things first. With the sober curious population rapidly growing daily, so are producers of non-alcoholic, dealcoholized and alcohol-free wines, terms that beg for defining. This Town and Country article titled “15 Best Non-Alcoholic Wines to Drink Now” notes: Though they are considered non-alcoholic, dealcoholized and alcohol-removed wines can contain extremely low trace amounts of alcohol which survive the removal process. The FDA only allows the use of these terms for products that contain less than 0.5% alcohol by volume. The term “alcohol-free” can only be use by products with no detectable levels of alcohol.
Some people, especially in wine-soaked Napa Valley where I’ve taken alcohol-free and dealcoholized wine to house parties, wonder what’s the purpose of drinking wine with little to no alcohol. Why not just have sparkling water or one of the gazillion other beverage choices available these days instead of faux wine? A wine lover like me opts for it because some really do simulate the wine drinking experience in terms of taste, texture, appearance in a wine glass and enhancing food but without the alcohol.
I was introduced to non-alcoholic wine while at Thomas Keller’s fabulous Regiis Ova Caviar & Champagne Lounge in Yountville in July 2022. Because I had to abstain from exercise for 10 days following a minor medical procedure, I decided to do JJ Smith’s 10-day green smoothie cleanse after a friend told me she lost nearly 10 pounds doing it. What perfect timing!
When I joined a friend at our favorite neighborhood caviar and champagne lounge, I ordered the crudité plate and told our server that I wasn’t drinking. He recommended an alcohol-free sparkling beverage, Beskows Symfoni No. 2 Grace Rosé from Sweden, which I fell in love with. In appearance, you can’t tell the difference between my alcohol-free beverage and my friend’s Schramsberg Brut Rosé. As I sat enjoying jazz and fresh vegetables, I felt like I was drinking a sparkling wine and therefore had the complete experience I have had time and time again at RO.
After that, I became obsessed with finding the best non-alcoholic wine. First, I bought these four dealcoholized wines above that I found at Whole Foods Napa. From this quartet, the only one that tickled my fancy was Giesen’s dealcoholized Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, which I began stocking up on. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Ariel Cabernet Sauvignon was so unsatisfying that I poured it down the drain.
At Gary’s in St. Helena, I bought Spanish producer Bodega Aroa‘s Le Naturel Zero Zero Blanco made with white grenache and Le Naturel Zero Zero Tinto made with red grenache. I highly recommend the Blanco because of the flavor and texture but haven’t opened the Tinto yet since I forgot to record where I placed it in my wine fridge and now have to hunt for it. From what I understand, it’s difficult to make a dealcoholized red wine, but I hold out hope that the Tinto will satisfy — whenever I find it.
I was at Whole Foods Napa last Sunday and guess I shouldn’t have been surprised to see this massive display at the end of an aisle promoting dealcoholized wines. Having just finished my last bottle of Giesen’s dealcoholized Sauvignon Blanc two nights prior, I somehow resisted the urge to stock up on more. But I’m sure I will purchase more because from time to time, when I’m relaxing at home and want to act like I’m drinking wine, some non-alcoholic wines are a terrific alternative.
Having less alcohol in wine does not equate to paying less for wine. Several months ago, I accidentally purchased Giesen’s regular Sauvignon Blanc because I saw the price and thought it was on sale at Whole Foods. It wasn’t until I was home and tasted it that I looked at the bottle and noticed that it was the real thing. I guess removing the alcohol calls for its dealcoholized version to cost a few dollars more than the real deal.
Having purchased some duds, like these three above, I’m always looking for recommendations. Have you tried non-alcoholic or dealcoholized wines? What did you think of them? Can you recommend any? Thank you for commenting in the box below.
