Review: #DryJanuary No-alcohol wines - WineUncorked: Wine Reviews and Tips

Of the 25 no-alcohol wines tasted and reviewed, only two stand out as being worth while to drink and taste something like wine. Another two taste so unpleasant you should avoid them and the rest are there for you to try but really aren’t worth the bother.

So why is it so difficult to find an alcohol-free wine that doesn’t taste like weak and watery fruit juice with an aspirin dissolved in it?

Because when you make wine and then remove the alcohol you also remove what makes wine tastes nice (see No alcohol wines and spirits explained). Alcohol not only adds sweetness (so the higher the alcohol level the sweeter the taste) and it balances out the naturally occurring sharply-flavoured acids found in wine (citric, malic and tartaric). It also gives the wine a tongue-coating appeal (known as body) – so remove the alcohol and the wine’s body becomes less and it feels watery and thin when you drink it.

Alcohol-free wine makers try and get round this by adding back the body with a food additive called E414 (also known as gum arabic) or glycerine (which is sticky and sweet and also found in fondant icing and many sweets). Sweetness is replaced by adding in a dollop of grape juice to the alcohol-free wine, which if you’ve drunk grape juice you’ll know is sweet and grapey tasting – so another plus.

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Adding back the properties you’ve taken away never seems to work completely successfully (think of the taste and texture of fat-free mayonnaise, yoghurt or cottage cheese compared to the full-fat version) and it’s the same with wine. There’s also some flavourings and a preservative too (alcohol acts as a natural preservative) to help things along.

If that doesn’t work then there’s always the option of adding in some sparkle. Bubbling through carbon dioxide gas (like they do with carbonated soft drinks that come in cans) adds in some fizz and helps to disguise any slightly off flavours.

So why are we trying to find an alcohol-free version of wine at all?

Some of that’s down to Dry January – a successful campaign started by the charity Alcohol Change UK in 2013 which aims to promote the idea of abstaining from all alcohol for a month – but we can look further back to 1942 and Sober January with the Finnish government’s wartime campaign.

But possibly we just want to have our cake and eat it, so to speak. That is drink wine without the guilt of going too far and getting drunk. Well drinking less would have the same effect.

But if you want to drink alcohol-free wines then go for Aldi’s Zerozecco sparkling or Ariel Dealcoholised Cabernet Sauvignon. Or you could make a version of your own by adding tonic water to grape juice for a spritzer. Or just drink a pot of tea instead. Which isn’t ever going to taste like wine but it is awfully nice isn’t it?

Alcohol-free wine reviews by wineuncorked.co.uk

Aldi Zerozecco Sparkling wine 0.0% alcohol

£2.49 Aldi

four stars

 

A very pleasant fizz with flavours of lemon sherbet and grapes.

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Ariel Dealcoholised Cabernet Sauvignon 2018

£8.99 Dry Drink, Wise Bar Tender

three stars

 

One of the few dealcoholised wines that actually come close to tasting like wine. The flavour is initially sweet blackcurrant with some cocoa dryness but then some distinct citric acid creeps in at the end. It is rather thin of body but then you’d expect that as the usual method of adding body – the alcohol – is no longer there.

 

Tesco Low Alcohol Sauvignon Blanc Sparkling 2019

£2.75 Tesco

three stars

 

Flavours of pear, apple and vanilla sugar have a slight tannic edge that gets you at the back of the throat. A reasonable low alcohol wine.

 

Edenvale Sparkling Cuvee Non-alcoholic

£4.99 Laithwaites

three stars

 

Tastes lightly of apples and lemonade with a touch of the aspirin – which seems to pervade the non-alcoholic wine category. Drinkable but not exciting. Sparkling grape juice would do just as well.

 

Tesco Low Alcohol Sauvignon Blanc 2020

£2.75 Tesco

two stars

 

Just about drinkable with flavours of tinned pear and lemon that get overlaid with an odd tannic dryness and then an excessive sweetness. A glass of iced water with a slice of lemon is a better alternative.

 

Tesco Low Alcohol Garnacha Rosé 2020

£2.75 Tesco

three stars

 

With a colour more of a light red than a rosé, this dealcoholised Spanish vino doesn’t taste like a wine but its sweet strawberry and bubblegum flavours a quite pleasant.

 

Co-op Low Alcohol Sauvignon Blanc

£2.50 Co-op

one star

 

Flavours of watered-down apple juice with some sherbet dip added. Why bother?

 

Co-op Low Alcohol Garnacha Rosé 2020

£2.50 Co-op

one star

 

All the fruity flavours you'd expect in a wine are missing.

 

Co-op Low Alcohol Cabernet Tempranillo

£2.50 Co-op

one star

 

A vague aroma of over-cooked jam is met with a taste of tannin and a bit of sweetness. It's like the flavour you get after you've unexpectedly chewed on a fruit seed. Not good.

 

Co-op Irresistible Non-alcoholic Sparkling Chardonnay

£2.80 Co-op

one star

 

An aroma of used dishwater and a slightly sweet artificial taste.

 

M&S Alcohol Free Sparkling Muscat

£4 M&S, Ocado

one star

 

Think watered down Appletise.

 

Adnams 0.5 Sauvignon Blanc 2017

£4.99 Adnams

two stars

It tastes lightly sweet with honey, apple, lemon and lime flavours. Drinkable.

 

Adnams 0.5 Garnacha Rosé 2017

£4.99 Adnams

one star

 

The flavour is of oxidized apple juice. It's drinkable but has no flavour that seems like wine.

 

Adnams 0.5 Cabernet Tempranillo 2018

£4.99 Adnams

one star

 

Looks like wine with its deep purple colour but then the aroma of burnt plum and flavour of oxidized apple juice makes you realise it isn't.

 

Torres Natureo 0.0% Muscat 2018

£4.99 Waitrose, Ocado, £5.50 Sainsbury’s, £8.99 The Alcohol Free Co

one star

 

Promises well with pleasant floral and melon aromas but the watery melon flavour is further reduced by acid and tannin.

 

Torres Natureo 0.0% Cabernet Sauvignon Syrah Rosé 2018

£4.99 Waitrose, Ocado, £6,99 Fareham Winecellar, £8.99 Dry Drinker

one star

 

Unpleasant rubber aroma. The taste is disjointed with weak lemon juice and aspirin coming through with some vague strawberry.

 

Torres Natureo 0.0% Garnacha Syrah 2018

£4.99 Waitrose, Ocado, £6 Sainsbury’s, £8.99 Dry Drinker

one star

 

The rubber aroma is off-putting as well as the weak plum flavour that is backed with a tannin.

 

Vina Albali Dealcoholizado Cabernet Tempranillo 2019

£4.99 Majestic, £5.49 Virgin Wines

one star

 

The flavour is unpleasant – oxidised brown apple juice with plum juice.

 

Stippl Sparkling Alcohol Free Wine White

£3.33 Stippl

two stars

 

Tastes like sparkling grape juice.

 

Stippl Sparkling Alcohol Free Wine Rosé

£3.33 Stippl

two stars

 

Slightly sharper than the white version.

 

McGuigan Zero Chardonnay

£3.50 Morrisons, £3.99 Asda, £4 Ocado, £5 Virgin Wines

one star

 

The aroma is of cardboard followed by lemon and oak pencil and the taste is at best described as foul - it is a mix of sherbet lemon dab mixed with cardboard. This is drain cleaner and lucky to get one star rating - if I had a zero rating I would use it.

 

Nozeco Alcohol Free Sparkling

£3 Tesco, Morrisons, Asda, £3.50 Sainsbury’s

one star

 

Tastes like posh lemonade but the aroma is artificial and of lemon hand cream and Turkish Delight. Avoid.

 

Sangre de Toro 2018 Low Alcohol White

Not listed in UK stockists as of January 2022

one star

 

Tastes of little - very slight honeyish Muscat flavours quickly die away and replaced by an acidic finish.

 

Sangre de Toro 2018 Low Alcohol Rosé

Not listed in UK stockists as of January 2022

one star

 

Flavour is weak lemon juice followed by acid. Quite unpleasant.

 

Sangre de Toro 2018 Low Alcohol Red

Not listed in UK stockists as of January 2022

one star

 

Smells vaguely of sweeties with flavours of watered down plum and elderberry cordial.

 

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