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George Nordahl's avatar

Very good write up! Enjoyed it a lot. There is however one overarching problem that I have yet to hear a good answer to when it comes to non-alcoholic wine, and that is how you maintain body in the wine. You can no doubt get flavour and terroir expression, but the 13 or so percent of alcohol in a normal wine contributes a huge amount of mouthfeel, without which it would come across as thin and lacking. I say this as someone who enjoys a fair amount of non-alcoholic beer, which suffers from the same issue, but to a less noticeable extent. You’re either left with a different expression altogether that feels far removed from any regular wine, or you try to emulate the effects of alcohol on body through additives. Neither is super appealing in my book. It’s not enough to be nonalcoholic for its own sake, it still needs to be good, and (and I’m happy to be proven wrong) I doubt we are there yet. Kombucha is great though, so maybe that’s one avenue to explore?

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Liz Mendez's avatar

David, love to see more wine folks talking about this important topic. As a former wine bar owner and award winning sommelier I’ve spent the last three years studying, tasting and pairing de-alc wine as it has resonated with me in a way to a more lasting future for our industry. I wrote a piece at the end of October about some of the topics you mention - I’d love to share it in thread, with permission to continue the conversation.

Also - highly recommend Leitz as a producer. As Josi has been one of the best German and Riesling producers of a generation, his line of Eins Zwei Zero were early to this movement. His whites and sparkling wines are on level with some of his best alc wines

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