If you were given the choice between your favourite wine and an alternative that provided all the gustatory pleasure but with none of the alcohol, which would you choose? Sadly, for any wine lover who, for whatever reason, can’t or doesn’t drink alcohol, this question has always been hypothetical, since no- and low-alcohol wine has overwhelmingly tended to be, to use a technical term, crap.
The problem, which so far no amount of costly research and development and clever technology has managed to solve, is that alcohol is responsible for bringing so much more than buzz. It contributes to flavour, of course, although not, in the best bottles, in an obviously boozy way. Equally importantly, it’s what helps provide compelling texture, or mouthfeel, and plays a crucial role in a wine developing in the bottle over time. Take away the alcohol and, even if you were somehow able to replicate its mental and physical effects, something would still be missing.
