Non-Alcoholic Wine: Three Questions

Sue and I continue exploring the world of non-alcoholic (or alcohol-removed) wines. NA wine is one of the few growing categories of wine (if it is wine — see below), so it makes sense to see what’s going on. That’s especially true since NA beer and spirits are booming, too. Here is our report, which examines NA wine from three perspectives.

On Trade: What Does an NA Wine Bar Look Like?

It has become easy to order non-alcoholic beer at a bar or restaurant — there is almost always at least one NA beer option available — and NA cocktails (a.k.a. mocktails) are ubiquitous. But NA wine remains hard to find (at least for us) in on-trade settings. I wonder what an NA wine bar would look like and who would go there?

I stumbled on the answer to this question a few weeks ago when I was researching French Bloom, the upscale line of NA wines that caught the eye of LVMH, the French luxury conglomerate. French Bloom is in limited distribution at this stage and the website features a map of the world to guide you to on- and off-trade points of sale. I was surprised to discover that one of the relatively few U.S. sellers was just a few miles from The Wine Economist world headquarters in Tacoma, Washington.

Soulberry Coffee House and Dry Speakeasy is located about mid-way between the University of Washington/Tacoma campus and the Tacoma Dome district. It is a warm, inviting space that sort of reminds me of a cross between the family pubs that we knew when we lived in England and the original Starbucks concept of the “third space” that’s neither home nor workplace. Soulberry bills itself as an “all-ages after-hours safe space” and that seems pretty accurate.

Soulberry’s owner, Terri Quintana-Jessen, says that she’s a coffee roaster, but Sue and I quickly noticed how much she talked about community and relationships. Coffee brings people together, which must be one of the reasons she is so interested in it. Wine brings people together, too, but alcohol can keep people apart.

Because NA wine is NA, selling and serving it doesn’t come with the burdens and regulations that must be considered for alcoholic beverages. Terri studied up on NA wine, spirits, and beer, and soon her coffee shop was also a bottle shop and “dry speakeasy” featuring a rotating selection of almost 40 NA cocktails. The French Bloom is popular as the base for Sunday mimosas and NA French 75s.

Soulberry is not alone. Dry wine and spirits bars and popping up much as natural wine bars did a few years ago. Is there a NA wine bar in your town? Maybe there is and, like me, you just didn’t know it.

Is NA Wine Really Wine?

Is non-alcoholic wine really wine? I know from previous columns that many readers believe that wine isn’t wine without alcohol. Studies have even shown that some consumers base their buying decisions on the amount of alcohol they can get for their money (more is better!). It is certainly the case that fermentation (which produces alcohol) is necessary for the transformation of juice into wine. But, once alcohol is removed, is the resulting product still wine?

Although opinions may vary, the use of the term “wine” is defined by regulations and therefore differs in different jurisdictions. Some producers are keen to call their NA products wine because they see a market opportunity. With sales of full-strength stagnant or falling, it makes sense to go after a share of the growing NA beverage market. But other producers think it important to defend the term “wine” from being debased or diluted, which might be a slippery slope.

It is interesting to observe the evolution of this debate in Italy, where it has been illegal to affix the name “wine” to anything with less than 8 percent abv. As Wein.plus reported a few weeks ago, The Italian Ministry of Agriculture has recently revised its regulations to allow de-alcoholized wines to use the term “wine,” but not for wines with protected designations. So you can have NA red wine from Tuscany, but not NA Chianti because Chianti is a protected appellation. This explains why the NA Mionetto wine that we found at Total Wine was labeled “sparkling non-alcoholic wine” and not “NA Prosecco.” Of course, the Mionetto brand is so closely connected to Prosecco that a mental association is almost impossible to avoid.

Before the new ruling, Italian winemakers could only call their NA products wine for export purposes. The use of “wine” was reserved for alcoholic wine at home. NA wine regulations are evolving with different interests pushing to liberalize the rules and others pushing back. But the question — is it really wine? — is ultimately up to you to decide.

That said, the OIV recently highlighted its work on dealcoholization of wine, which dates back to a 2012 resolution. The January 8, 2025, press release explains that,

Adopted in 2012 at the 35th World Congress of Vine and Wine in Izmir, Türkiye, OIV-OENO 394A-2012 “Dealcoholisation of wines” includes prescriptions to obtain vitivinicultural products with a reduced or low alcohol content through partial vacuum evaporation, membrane techniques, and distillation. It also specifies that this process must not be used on wines with any organoleptic defects and must be overseen by an oenologist or specialized technician.

The OIV’s framework for wine dealcoholisation provides producers with tools to innovate while navigating technical and market complexities. This progression supports the industry’s goal of quality and authenticity in a changing consumer landscape.

Can NA Wine Pass the “Second Glass Test”?

Sue and I have been trying NA wines and putting them to the “Second Glass Test.” We ask that NA wines (1) remind us of the wines that they represent and (2) be tasty enough that we would welcome a second glass. Our early research was full of failures. Either the wines didn’t remind us of the alcoholic version or they just weren’t to our taste. Often they were flat, lacking the fruit or aroma that were lost in the de-alcoholization process.

That Mionetto sparkler mentioned above did pretty well in the “Second Glass Test,” for example. It reminded us of Prosecco in a general way (could have done with a little more fruit and acidity), but was very nice to drink and was priced in the general range of Mionetto’s regular sparkling wines. We finished the bottle over dinner. The bubbles in NA sparkling wine come from carbonation, not the fermentation process, and in general we’ve found them to be more successful than still NA wines.

Recently Sue and I have been testing NA wines from Chavin Zéro, a French winery that has been in this business since 2010. The wines are being introduced in the U.S. market now by importer Kobrand. These NA wines were created to solve the same problem as French Bloom: what’s a wine lover to drink when she’s pregnant?

Pierre Chavin makes wines in France including a line of NA wines called Chavin Zèro. We focused on two still wines from Chavin Zéro, a Rosé and a Sauvignon Blanc. The Sauvignon Blanc came first and Sue declared it to be probably the best NA still wine we’ve tried so far even though it didn’t line up with our idea of Sauvignon Blanc. (To be fair, there is no universal definition of how a Sauvignon Blanc should taste and smell.) But it was very nice to drink and had better than average fruit and mouthfeel, probably because it contains 12 percent grape juice (concentrated grape must). We’ll add it to our list.

We were intrigued by the very pale pink Chavin Zèro Rosé, which features both an attractive bottle and an interesting blend of Cinsault, Syrah, and Grenache grapes. It was probably the most interesting and confusing wine we have tried so far. It was tasty for sure — no problem with the second glass. And it had the aromas, fruit, and mouthfeel that we have been looking for but seldom finding. But it didn’t taste like any Rosé we’ve ever had. The winery’s tasting note said to expect aromas of yellow fruit and white flowers. You don’t see “yellow fruit” very often in wine descriptions. Maybe the flavor was yellow plum? We couldn’t decide. Sue said it was more like wine, and likely was the best in terms of providing the complete package, but it didn’t remind us of Rosé or any other particular wine.

20 Years Behind Beer?

We finally opened the bottle of French Bloom sparkling wine that we bought at the Soulberry bottle shop. As we reported a few weeks ago, this wine has received a lot of press because of a connection to the Taittinger Champagne family and a highly-publicized recent investment by the LVMH wine, spirits, and luxury brands group. Terri at Soulberry said that her customers gave it high marks.

We shared our bottle of the sparkling blend of Chardonnay and a bit of Pinot Noir with two winemaker friends. Sue and I found the French Bloom to be dry and drinkable, but lacking some of the body, fruit, and aroma that we look for but often fail to find in NA wines. It would be a good base for the kinds of NA wine cocktails that Soulberrry serves.

I think we would have been more impressed by French Bloom when we started our research, but now we expect more, especially for the premium $40-plus price.

The NA wine, beer, and spirits category is growing (see graph), albeit from a low base, and there is a lot of research going on. A recent Economist article charts the market changes and suggests that, while NA wine might be 20 years behind the much more successful NA beer category, it might not take 20 years for it to catch up. Fingers crossed that NA wine drinkers (and producers) will find their respective sweet spots soon.

2025: Wine & the Age of Uncertainty

January 14, 2025 By Mike Veseth in economic crisis, Unified Wine & Grape Symposium, wine, wine markets 4 Comments

The Unified Wine & Grape Symposium, North America’s largest wine industry meeting and trade show, is only a few weeks away. I will be in Sacramento to moderate the State of the Industry session, which features an impressive lineup of wine industry experts:

Jeff Bitter, Allied Grape Growers
Glenn Proctor, The Ciatti Company
Stephen Rannekleiv, Rabobank
Danny Brager, Brager Beverage Alcohol Consulting

The panelists have decades of experience in the wine industry, which informs their analysis of current problems and future prospects. It is a tremendous opportunity to hear what the experts are thinking now and to talk about it with the other attendees.

There are many other sessions at the Unified covering all sorts of topics in winegrowing, winemaking, marketing, and business operations. I am particularly interested in the Thursday general session on Crafting a Positive Narrative: Promoting Wine in the Face of Challenges, which will be moderated by New York Times wine critic Eric Asimov. One of the biggest challenges, of course, is the rising anti-alcohol movement. Telling wine’s positive story is as difficult as it is important in the current environment.

There is something for everyone at the Unified (click here to view the complete program and click here to read the speaker bios). Sue especially appreciates the big trade show where more than 900 exhibitors will highlight what’s new in the wine industry from the biggest machines, smartest technology, and best products and services from vineyard to cellar to bottling line all the way to market.

Always the Age of Uncertainty?

I always start the State of the Industry session with a few remarks to set the stage and this year I have chosen a theme, the Age of Uncertainty. This is a time of great change in the wine industry and change makes people nervous.

Age of Uncertainty? I know what you are thinking. It is always the Age of Uncertainty in the wine business. Growing grapes is risky, making wine is risky, and selling wine is risky. There is no part of the wine business that does not have an uncertain component. Wine is a global business, too, and while global markets create opportunities they also introduce additional layers of risk.

I specialize in international and global wine markets, so I am especially concerned with how international economic policies add more layers of uncertainty to wine business today. We have been told to expect high tariffs (on wine and just about everything else) in 2025. Depending upon how they are structured, and how our trading partners react to them, tariffs can have a number of direct and indirect effects. There’s a lot at stake and the final outcome is difficult to predict.

Indeed, the International Monetary Fund recently identified the threat of tariffs as a major global economic concern. The possibility of tariffs has driven up long-term borrowing costs around the world, according to the IMF, which will release its new report on the global economy later this week.

And this week’s Economist newspaper highlights uncertainty about tariffs and other policies as a main cause of global instability.

It is easy to see why uncertainty has spread. Will Donald Trump deport millions of people? Nobody knows. But if he succeeds inflation could jump as employers lose workers. The story is similar for tariffs, which would also increase prices. At the same time, potential Chinese counter-measures in a trade war, such as a devaluation of the yuan, could prompt a global deflationary shock.

The rising perceived risk, according to the Economist, helps explain falling bond prices, rising mortgage interest rates, and many other current trends. They say that what you don’t know won’t hurt you, but uncertainty clearly has a cost.

Not by Wine Alone

I know many people who think a tariff on imported wine would benefit American growers and producers and others who strongly oppose the idea. But it is important to remember that we aren’t talking about tariffs just on wine. Although it is hard to know right now (that uncertainty thing), it looks like the new administration will impose tariffs on most imported products from many or most of our trading partners, with the highest tax rates on China, Mexico, and Canada, the countries with whom we trade the most.

Border taxes on such a long list of imports have different effects than a tax on a specific product category like wine. That’s part of the uncertainty problem. U.S. producers may gain from protection from imports but lose from higher costs for imported supplies, equipment, and technology. Labor costs, interest costs, and insurance costs would all likely be pushed higher by rising inflation.

And U.S. tariffs aren’t the end of the story. How will other countries react? Will European nations retaliate with tariffs on U.S. wine? Probably not. I think they’d focus on spirits, not wine. Would Canada target U.S. wine? Yes, I think they might and that’s a problem because Canada is a good market for U.S. wine exports.

The Dollar Also Rises

President Trump favors a falling dollar value on foreign exchange markets because that would reinforce his trade policy by discouraging imports and promoting exports. But tariffs tend to push the dollar higher as we have seen since the election results were announced. The dollar’s value rises when it sounds like tariffs will be used as a blunt weapon to keep out imports. The dollar falls, however, when the rhetoric suggests tariffs as targeted strategic tools to gain specific concessions. Which way will tariff policy lean in 2025? I don’t know, do you?

How are tariffs and the dollar related? Here’s one way. Tariffs tend to increase inflation, which forces the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates higher than they otherwise would be. This attracts foreign capital that boosts the dollar’s value, making imports cheaper in dollar terms and U.S. exports less competitive abroad.

Immigrant policies are the third element of the Age of Uncertainty for wine in my analysis. It is too soon to know how border controls and deportations might affect labor both generally and in industries such as agriculture and construction that are most exposed. So wine’s Age of Uncertainty is a complicated matter.What’s the bottom line? I’m saving that for the State of the Industry session.

Galbraith’s Uncertainty Principle

Why did I choose this theme for my remarks? The idea was inspired by an old book that strikes me as still relevant today. The Age of Uncertainty is the title of a 1977 BBC/KCTS television series and an accompanying book by the distinguished Harvard economist John Kenneth Galbraith. The book and videos, which survey two hundred years of economic history and the history of economics, were timed to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations.

People tend to remember Galbraith as the sophisticated author, public intellectual, and Harvard professor that he became, but his personal story is more complicated. He grew up on his family’s small Ontario farm and seemed set for a farming career, graduating from Ontario Agricultural College in 1931. But the 1930s were not the best of times for farming and Galbraith soon found himself doing PhD studies in agricultural economics at the University of California and then working for the U.S. federal government’s Agricultural Adjustment Agency (AAA) trying to prop up farm prices.

I don’t think that wine is mentioned even once in Galbraith’s book, but his agricultural background and experiences are easy to trace. The world has changed a lot in the almost 50 years since The Age of Uncertainty first appeared (and nearly 250 years since Wealth of Nations), but American winegrowers and agriculture generally can certainly relate to Galbraith’s story and the concerns he expressed in this book.

Shattering Stereotypes: High-Elevation California Wines

January 7, 2025 By Mike Veseth in Uncategorized 2 Comments

Stereotypes are powerful things because they shape the way we perceive reality even when we know they differ from what we see with our own eyes. That was the message of Saul Steinberg’s famous 1976 New Yorker magazine cover, “The View of the World from 9th Avenue.” It is important to have occasional attitude checks to make sure that stereotypes and prejudices haven’t seized control.

It is pretty easy to stereotype California wines. The Saul Steinburg picture (you might call it “The View from Highway 29”) would feature Napa Valley up front and in detail. And you know what the wines would be: bottles of big, bold Cabernet Sauvignon. Sonoma would be visible in the middle distance, but most of the other wine regions and most of their wines would pretty much disappear except for a few famous landmarks, the way that the rest of America disappears in the 9th Avenue view.

Steinberg’s image suggests that New Yorkers of his day didn’t understand America and probably didn’t understand New York, either. That’s how stereotypes work. The same rule holds for California and wine. So here are two California wineries that break the imaginary mold. What do they have in common? High elevation is one factor, but not the only one. We hope their stories will encourage us all to rethink the shorthand stereotypes we assign to California wines and to wines from everywhere else, too.

Mt. Veeder Renaissance: Sky Vineyards

If you’ve visited Napa Valley more than once there is a good chance you’ve driven up one of the winding roads on Mt. Veeder, probably to visit the historic Hess Collection winery (a top Napa tourist destination). You know that it is rugged territory and not the most obvious place to plant grapevines. The best locations are high enough up the mountainside to be above the fog line. Although it is the largest Napa sub-AVA by total area, the vineyard acreage and wine production numbers are small.

It is almost a miracle that someone could look at this region back in the 1970s (early days in modern Napa history) and imagine vineyards and a winery, but that’s what happened at Sky Vineyards, specializing in dry-framed Zinfandel and Syrah. It was an even bigger miracle that that vision survived the 2017 wildfires. But the Olds family rebuilt their home, replanted vineyards, and resolved to come back both stronger and also different (with Grenache, Riesling, and Chenin Blanc as well as signature Zinfandel).

We were fortunate to be able to sample both the new from Sky Vineyards (their 2022 Riesling) and the old (the Zinfandel from that 2017 vintage). Sue was surprised and impressed by the Riesling. This is the pure essence of Riesling, she said. A wonderful treat. But the Zinfandel was even better. So bright and complex and full of life. It was one of the most memorable wines we tasted in 2024.

A miracle that a wine like this could come from the vintage of the dreadful wildfires. The image of a phoenix rising from the ashes is a cliché, I know, but it really does seem to apply to Sky Vineyards and its wines.

Sky Vineyards shatters the stereotype you might have of Napa Valley and its wines. The view from Mt. Veeder looks a lot different than that Highway 29 perspective you might know best.

Lake County Surprise: Brassfield Estate

Lake County is a bit of a puzzle. Winegrowing is important, but the area might be better known to many for Clear Lake and its recreational appeal. You can find Clear Lake AVA on wine labels if you look closely, but a lot of the grapes disappear into California appellation blends. Quantity was the path to profits for many years simply because grape prices were low. Now it seems that rising quality is key. But it is hard to establish a reputation when you have famous wine neighbors such as Napa and Sonoma a short distance away.

Brassfield Estate winery is located in the High Valley AVA, a Lake County sub-appellation. High elevation and volcanic soils define the region, producing wines of power and elegance that demand close attention. The Cabernet Sauvignon, a multi-vineyard blend, was deep and complex and a terrific value, too.

The star of the tasting was the Brassfield Estate Pinot Noir, which came as a complete surprise to us. The winery describes the terroir this way:

These grapes are sourced from four vineyard blocks nestled within a westward-facing box canyon. Strategically positioned beneath a saddle in the ridge, the descent of cool coastal air from the west makes this the coolest vineyard site in High Valley. This vineyard thrives on soil formed from ancient lakeshore and alluvial deposits.

The wine tasted of rhubarb and pomegranate, with the balance of fruit and acidity that the description suggests. It wasn’t a Sonoma Pinot Noir and it wasn’t a Willamette Valley Pinot either. It was itself. That’s what we are always looking for. What a nice surprise to find it and in Lake County, of all places.

The Sky Vineyards and Brassfield Estate wines we tasted forced us to rethink stereotypes, which is always a good thing. If you think of Napa as the California standard, for example, Brassfield Estate will make you realize that wines of high quality can come from other parts of the state (and be purchased for much more affordable prices). And Sky Vineyards will make you question what you even mean by a Napa wine.

There’s a lot of research left to do if you want to shatter the stereotypes of California wine. Get started now!