BBCIn the vineyards of Bordeaux, the unspeakable has become drinkable. Wine without alcohol has arrived.
Yesterday's fad is now – thanks to science and the economic crisis – today's opportunity.
Wine farms that would have burned their grapes rather than submit to such disgrace are now openly contemplating the empty bottle.
Developers are moving forward quickly, creating wines intentionally designed to get the best from the alcohol removal process.
“When we started a few years ago, what we were making was frankly rubbish,” says Frédéric Brochet, a Bordeaux oenologist who helped create the Moderato range of non-alcoholic wines.
“But we have made great progress. Today we are getting closer and closer to our goal. I believe it will be a revolution in the world of wine.”
Bordeaux has just seen the launch of its first ever product cave – The Wine Shop – is dedicated only to non-alcoholic wines, reflecting a shift in perceptions that has surprised many in the industry.
“We only opened our shop four weeks ago, and we're already getting wine growers from the region asking about the non-alcoholic market,” says Alexandre Kataneh, who owns Les Belles Grappes with his wife, Anne.
“They don't know anything about how to do it, but they can see it's coming and they want to be a part of it.”
Many things have happened to make this moment appropriate.
First of all, the world of French wine is facing great difficulty. Domestic consumption continues to decline, and the Chinese market is not what it used to be. US President-elect Donald Trump threatens to impose new tariffs. Precious old vines are being uprooted all over France.
Second, consumption habits are changing, especially among young people. Supermarkets now offer more space for beer than for wine. Most people in their 20s have never used to drink wine – and they are also more health conscious than older people.
An alcohol-free lifestyle is spreading. Currently 10% of the French beer market is alcohol-free. In Spain, it reaches 25%.
And third – technology has improved by leaps and bounds.
In the past – and even today for cheaper brands – the method was simply to boil the alcohol and then add compensating flavours. The result – especially for the Reds – was mediocre at best. Such drinks cannot even call themselves wine, but rather “drinks based on non-alcoholic wine”.
However, there are now new methods of low-temperature vacuum distillation, “capturing” aromas to return them to non-alcoholic wine. The result is a wine that can legally call itself a wine, and begins to maintain its status among discerning consumers.
“With red, you have to be prepared for an experience that won't be like a traditional wine with alcohol,” says Fabien Marchand-Cassani of Moderato. “We can't pretend we can replicate the entire mouthfeel.”
“But what you get is a real wine moment. Floral bouquet, tannins, fruit, balance – all to enjoy.”
At the Clos de Board estate near Saint-Emilion, a full third of sales are now from the chateau's two — soon to be three — non-alcoholic brands. Owner Coralie DeBoard first hinted at the possibilities when she was asked in 2019 to develop a non-alcoholic wine for the Qatari owners of the Paris Saint-Germain football club.
“My family didn’t talk to me for a year, and that was my betrayal,” she says. “Even today I receive hate messages from wine growers saying I am destroying the market.”
“But now my father congratulates me and says I am the locomotive of the wine train. If we are alive today in these difficult times, it is because we have shifted towards the alcohol-free market.”
“For the fundamentalists, it was very difficult to accept,” says Bernard Rabouille, a winegrower with the Bordeaux Families cooperative.
“But we have to evolve. The reality is that customers are not where they used to be. So we have to go and get them or they will go somewhere else.”
Promoters of non-alcoholic wine are interested in the idea that it allows non-wine drinkers – who are accustomed to feeling excluded – to join in on the wine banter. It is true that the rituals of opening, smelling, describing and comparing are now open to everyone.
“What we want to do is try to reclaim the France of our youth – when everyone was sitting around the dinner table and drinking wine, and that was a moment of real sharing,” says Anne Kataneh.
“And these days the only way we'll be able to do that is if non-alcoholic wine is part of the culture.”
“The idea that the wine world has always been the same as it is now is nonsense,” says wine scientist Brochet.
“Things are evolving. Once upon a time the barrel was an innovation. The cork was an innovation; grape varieties were an innovation. Now this is a new innovation – one that could help save the industry and the magnificent landscape and culture that goes with it. . . .
“As (the poet) Paul Valéry said – what is imitation, but innovation that has succeeded?”
