Non-alcohol wines?

Occasionally we would like to have a non-alcohol wine, preferably red, but the selection is very scarse. We've found St. Regis , Cabernet Sauvignon (alcohol removed to less than 0.5%), St. Regis Vineyards, Madera, California. But it takes imagination to taste it as a red Wine. There's too much sweetness, and the cabernet is very vaguely present.

One would imagine that there might be alternatives giving a more wine-like experience, since one of the recent Masters of Wine, Tuomas Meriluoto - http://www.mastersofwine.org/en/about/meet-the-masters/profile/index.cfm/id/2714253D-8CFF-4F3D-9A0C81E5B81F0C5C - made history by becoming the holder of that esteemed degree with a work on non-alcohol wines(!)

I know that his company imports at least one non-alcohol wine, but unfortunately I have not found it selling anywhere, and have not yet contacted him for more information.

But I would like to read if any of you WLDG members have more international experience on non-alcohol wines to share. I do know that wine without alcohol, or with a very minimum of it, is almost an absurdity, but...

[David M. Bueker]

I have not yet found a non-alcoholic wine worth truly drinking, but I've had a few non-alcoholic ciders that were darned tasty (local products unfortunately for your case).

I will say that I wish non-alcoholic wine could be as good as the real thing. If it really was I am not sure I would drink anything else.

Like David, never found one remotely worth ingesting.

If there's no alcohol in it...it just doesn't seem to be wine.

[Jenise]

I have not yet found a non-alcoholic wine worth truly drinking, but I've had a few non-alcoholic ciders that were darned tasty (local products unfortunately for your case).

I will say that I wish non-alcoholic wine could be as good as the real thing. If it really was I am not sure I would drink anything else.

Now there's an interesting poll question.

[David M. Bueker]

Imagine if you will - a beverage as delicious as 1990 Chateaux Margaux but with zero consequences! It would be like gold!!

I have not yet found a non-alcoholic wine worth truly drinking, but I've had a few non-alcoholic ciders that were darned tasty (local products unfortunately for your case).

I will say that I wish non-alcoholic wine could be as good as the real thing. If it really was I am not sure I would drink anything else.

Can I first joke with you?
Non-alcoholic wines sounds terribly funny to someone whose native tongue is not English. Is that really correct? The connotation makes one afraid

We've found beers that are very close in taste to a normal beer. One fine example is our Sinebrychoff's Nikolai. It comes both as a light and a dark version. Both giving much a beer-like experience, and the dark one being our favourite when mixed with a normal ale to produce a low-alcohol beverage that gives more to the palate than a normal ale after sauna.

[David M. Bueker]

I'm not sure what connotation you refer to, but non-alcoholic is the correct term in English.

I'm not sure what connotation you refer to, but non-alcoholic is the correct term in English.

I used that term first but proofread it because of the connotation: an alcoholic. Doesn't that imply that people drinking wine containing alcohol are by definition alcoholics?

[David M. Bueker]

I used that term first but proofread it because of the connotation: an alcoholic. Doesn't that imply that people drinking wine containing alcohol are by definition alcoholics?

Not commonly. Don't tell anyone else though. People in the USA are always looking for new ways to be offended by words!

People in the USA are always looking for new ways to be offended by words!

That seems to be universal. But it is nevertheless sometimes fun to play with words. And they are the precisest instrument we have to convey thoughts.

[Jenise]

Imagine if you will - a beverage as delicious as 1990 Chateaux Margaux but with zero consequences! It would be like gold!!

I'm thinking, actually, that most people wouldn't want zero consequences. Maybe yes, sometimes as an option so you could have wine with lunch or a meal out without worrying about driving, but in the privacy of their own homes would most wine lovers choose that option? I don't think so even though most people I've talked to about it (including myself, btw) would be happier with much lower numbers, say 7%, if the identical taste to a 13.5% alcohol wine were possible.

[David M. Bueker]

If the aroma & taste were identical I would definitely opt for a non-alcoholic version of a great wine at least some of the time, probably most of the time.

Of course the opposite is sometimes true after a really crappy day at work: grab that 25% alcohol Margauxmonster double alcohol beast (if I could find one).

[Jenise]

If the aroma & taste were identical I would definitely opt for a non-alcoholic version of a great wine at least some of the time, probably most of the time.

Of course the opposite is sometimes true after a really crappy day at work: grab that 25% alcohol Margauxmonster double alcohol beast (if I could find one).

True, but that's why God made Scotch.

True, if it were alcoholic buzz I am looking for, I would resort to scotch, gin or something like that. But, wouldn't non-alcoholic wine be no different than tart grape juice? Me thinks that alcohol (in moderation) does lend an angle to wine's flavor and nose.

If the aroma & taste were identical I would definitely opt for a non-alcoholic version of a great wine at least some of the time, probably most of the time.

Of course the opposite is sometimes true after a really crappy day at work: grab that 25% alcohol Margauxmonster double alcohol beast (if I could find one).

True, but that's why God made Scotch.

How true it is!

[David M. Bueker]

True, if it were alcoholic buzz I am looking for, I would resort to scotch, gin or something like that. But, wouldn't non-alcoholic wine be no different than tart grape juice? Me thinks that alcohol (in moderation) does lend an angle to wine's flavor and nose.

Yes it does which is why I qualified my comment with the taste and smell being identical which I know could never happen.

Wine, by definition, is the product of fermented grape juice. The purpose of fermentation is to create alcohol in a beverage. A product with no alcohol cannot, by definition, be wine ... even if that beverage was made as traditional wine and then relied on reverse osmosis to remove the alcohol. De-alcoholized Cabernet Sauvignon is no more a wine than might be a plate of borscht.

As to the byproduct - not necessarily a buzz (I don't very often seek a buzz from wine) but the interaction between the brain, the rest of the body and the ensuing physical and intellectual pleasures that are offered.

Like several others here, I have yet to find a non-alcoholic wine or beer that has offered satisfaction. I will admit, however that on airplanes I occasionally enjoy drinking a Virgin Mary.

Best
Rogov

Like several others here, I have yet to find a non-alcoholic wine or beer that has offered satisfaction.

Best
Rogov

Rogov,
I agree with you totally on the real definition of wine. I was hoping to get examples of non-alcoholic "winelike juices" that give less dissatisfaction the the St.Regis I've mentioned. But they seem to be hard to get.

There are many times that I have wished I could drink more wine without getting (as) drunk. But I agree with the other folks that these kinds of dreams are not to be realized on this earth.