Imagine: you’re in the store looking for a nice bottle for tonight. You want something without alcohol, but with a bit of that je ne sais quoi of wine. You pick up a bottle and read: “Dealcoholized wine”. Nice. A little further on you see a bottle with a hip label that says something like “botanical alternative to wine”, also called not wine. Huh? Is that wine too? Well… no. Alcohol-free, but not the same. Time to clarify the difference.
What is dealcoholized wine?
Dealcoholized wine starts out as a regular wine. The grapes are pressed, fermented, and a wine is created as we know it, only at a later stage the alcohol is removed. This is done with techniques such as vacuum distillation or filtration. The result? A wine that still has the structure, aroma and acidity of wine, but without the alcohol.
For those looking for a familiar taste experience, this is often the best choice. You can taste that it was once wine and that is exactly the intention.
And 'not wine'? That's a whole other story.
Not wines are non-alcoholic drinks that are inspired by wine, but do not involve any winemaking process. Think combinations of grape juice, tea infusions, botanicals, acids or even a bit of fermentation. These drinks are creatively composed to offer complexity and depth, without the rules of the traditional wine world.
They are not intended to imitate wine, but to be a fully-fledged alternative for those who want to drink something special with their meal or at a special moment.
When do you choose what?
Are you looking for something that stays as close to the taste of wine as possible? Then dealcoholized wine is your match. Brands like Cognato , Winzer Krems , Giesen and ME.JS excel in this.
If you are curious about new worlds of taste, then not wines like Gnista French and Italian Style, Tempera orAmbijus offer a surprising alternative. Not wine, but complex, stylish and alcohol-free.
