What Is the Best Non-Alcoholic Wine That Actually Tastes Like Wine?
There’s no substitute for tradition. The feeling that you get when you perform a beloved ritual, from gathering with friends at weekly trivia nights to toasting your best friend at their wedding, simply can’t be replicated.
When something in a tradition is off, you feel it. It affects every sense and makes it harder to feel all those feelings you typically get with the ritual. The movement toward non-alcoholic living has brought about a new way to experience beloved traditions, but it can be challenging to fully embrace this movement when your new wine just doesn’t taste like wine. How can you find the best non-alcoholic wine that actually tastes like wine?
Why Do Some Non-Alcoholic Wines Not Taste Like Wine?
We’ve heard the joke before: “Non-alcoholic wine? Isn’t that just grape juice?”
While we have to say a hearty “No!”, we also have to admit that we understand where the joke comes from. Some non-alcoholic wines do indeed taste like they have more in common with grape juice than they do with wine. So, why is that?
It has to do with two factors: fermentation and de-alcoholization.
Some products labeled as non-alcoholic wine actually never go through the fermentation process that wines typically go through. As such, the alcohol content of the wine never develops. Typically, these non-alcoholic wines taste a lot more like sweetened grape juice with additional flavorings mixed in. It would be challenging to find a non-alcoholic wine that tastes like wine if that “wine” was never fermented.
The other way that you get non-alcoholic wine is through de-alcoholization. De-alcoholization is a series of processes that remove alcohol from wine. In this case, the soon-to-be non-alcoholic wine starts its life the same way fully alcoholized wine does. It’s fermented, which allows the flavor to develop more fully into what we associate with wine.
However, that fermentation process is what causes the alcohol level to develop. That’s where de-alcoholization comes in. Through de-alcoholization, a winemaker can control the alcohol level and (sometimes) the flavor of the non-alcoholic wine.
How to Find Non-Alcoholic Wines That Taste Like Wine
Unfermented non-alcoholic wine is most likely to taste more like grape juice, but not all de-alcoholized wines are created equal, either. To find the best non-alcoholic wine that tastes like wine, take a look at the wine’s de-alcoholization method.
There are benefits and drawbacks to the different methods of de-alcoholization. For instance, some winemakers use the pervaporation method to remove alcohol content from wine, which uses vaporization and nonporous membranes to extract a permeate and condense it into an alcohol-reduced wine. This process has proven to be effective at reducing the alcohol content, but most of the wine’s aroma compounds are lost during this process.
Smell and taste are inherently linked. A wine not embodying the aromas we expect from wine can affect our experience with the taste.
Another method, reverse osmosis, uses porous membranes to extract the alcohol. This method can eventually reduce the alcohol content of wine, but it takes several passes through the membrane and generally can’t result in a fully de-alcoholized wine with a 0% ABV, though it could still be classified as a non-alcoholic wine if it reaches an ABV of less than 0.5%.
Even without reaching 0% ABV, using reverse osmosis still results in a loss of flavors and aromas. Some note that there’s a consistency change between the fully alcoholized wine that goes in and the non-alcoholic wine that comes out. In this case, the non-alcoholic wine may not smell, taste, or feel like wine.
What de-alcoholization methods should you look for if you want the best wine that tastes like wine? One tried-and-true method that’s been embraced by many storied winemakers who are now making non-alcoholic wines is the vacuum distillation technique.
Winemakers start by placing the wine in a vacuum chamber. The pressure then decreases, which makes the boiling point of alcohol drop significantly. Due to this dip, the alcohol evaporates at much lower temperatures, which helps the wine retain its flavor. Not only does it retain its flavor, but research has found that vacuum distillation results in a greater reduction of alcohol while actually increasing the concentration of other essential components for wine, such as flavonoids.
A non-alcoholic wine that was fermented and has gone through the vacuum distillation de-alcoholization process is most likely to actually taste like wine. That’s why BEAU VIVA uses vacuum distillation to make our alcohol-free wine. Our award-winning vintners set out to create a non-alcoholic wine that matches the taste and integrity of the wine that they’ve been making for generations, and vacuum distillation was the clear winner.
Discover the Best Non-Alcoholic Wine That Tastes Like Wine
Simply seeing the word “non-alcoholic” on a wine label doesn’t paint a full picture of what’s inside. Some non-alcoholic wines are never really wines at all, while others become wine before having the alcohol content extracted. The type of non-alcoholic wine you choose, as well as how the alcohol was removed if it fermented first, will affect whether or not the wine you buy really tastes like wine.
BEAU VIVA is the best non-alcoholic wine that tastes like wine because it is 100% wine—just with a 0% ABV. We allow our wine to fully develop its rich flavor first, bursting with bright red berries and pops of citrus. From there, our vacuum distillation process lets us carefully control the alcohol content to create a true 0% ABV while also maintaining the delicacy of the wine's taste and aromas.
The result? An alcohol-free wine that everyone will love and can enjoy together.
Discover the best non-alcoholic wine that tastes like wine: BEAU VIVA
