Whisper it: non-alcoholic wine has arrived in France

In the vineyards of Bordeaux, the unspeakable has become drinkable. Non-alcoholic wine has arrived.

Yesterday’s heresy is now – thanks to science and the economic crisis – today’s opportunity.

Wine estates that would have burned their grapes before subjecting themselves to such ignominy are now openly contemplating the non-alcoholic bottle.

And developers are moving forward quickly, creating wines deliberately designed to get the best out of the dealcoholization process.

“When we started a few years ago, what we were doing was frankly nonsense,” says Bordeaux winemaker Frédéric Brochet, who helped create the Moderato range of non-alcoholic wines.

“But we have made great progress. And today we are getting closer and closer to our goal. I think it is going to be a revolution in the world of wine.”

Bordeaux has just seen the launch of its first cave – wine store – dedicated exclusively to non-alcoholic wines, reflecting a shift in perceptions that has taken many in the industry by surprise.

“We opened just four weeks ago and we are already getting winegrowers from the area coming and asking about the non-alcoholic market,” says Alexandre Kettaneh, who owns Les Belles Grappes with his wife Anne.

“They don’t know anything about how to do it, but they can see it coming and they want to be a part of it.”

Several things have happened to make the moment opportune.

First of all, the world of French wine is in serious difficulty. Domestic consumption continues to fall and the Chinese market is no longer what it was. The president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, threatens new taxes. Prized old vineyards are being uprooted across France.

Secondly, consumer habits are changing, especially among young people. Supermarkets now give more space to beer than wine. Most twenty-somethings have never had a wine habit and are also much more concerned about their health than their elders.

The alcohol-free lifestyle is spreading. Currently, 10% of the French beer market is non-alcoholic. In Spain it is 25%.

And third, technology has improved by leaps and bounds.

In the past – and still today in the case of cheaper brands – the method was simply to boil the alcohol and then add compensating flavors. The result, especially in the case of reds, is mediocre at best. These drinks cannot even be called wine, but rather “dealcoholized wine-based drinks.”

However, there are now new methods of low-temperature vacuum distillation and “capturing” aromas to reintroduce them into dealcoholized wine. The result is wines that can legally be called wines and that are beginning to stand out among the most demanding consumers.

“With reds, you need to be prepared for an experience that will not be the same as a traditional alcoholic wine. We cannot pretend that we can still replicate the full mouthfeel,” says Moderato’s Fabien Marchand-Cassagne. .

“But what you will get is an authentic wine moment. Bouquet, tannins, fruit, balance… it’s all there to enjoy.”

At the Clos De Bouard estate near Saint-Emilion, a third of sales now come from the castle’s two (soon three) non-alcoholic brands. Owner Coralie de Bouard first glimpsed the possibilities when she was asked in 2019 to develop a non-alcoholic wine for the Qatari owners of soccer club PSG.

“My family didn’t want to talk to me for a year, such was my ‘betrayal’. And even today I receive hate mail from winegrowers who say I’m ruining the market,” he says.

“But now my father congratulates me and says that I am the engine of the wine train. And if today we survive in these difficult times it is because we have pivoted towards the alcohol-free market.”

“For purists it has been very difficult to accept,” says Bernard Rabouy, winegrower at the Familias de Bordeaux cooperative.

“But we have to evolve. The fact is, customers are not where they used to be. So we have to go find them or they will go somewhere else.”

Promoters of non-alcoholic wine make much of the idea that it allows non-drinkers, who used to feel left out, to join in the wine banter. And it is true that the rituals of opening, sniffing, describing and comparing are now open to all.

“What we want to do is try to recapture the France of our youth, when everyone sat around the table and drank wine, and it was a real moment of sharing,” says Anne Kattaneh.

“And today the only way to achieve that is if non-alcoholic wines are part of the culture.”

“The idea that the world of wine was always the way it is now is nonsense,” says winemaker Brochet.

“Things evolve. There was a time when the barrel was an innovation. The cork was an innovation; grape varieties were an innovation. And now this is new, which could help save the industry and the wonderful landscape and the culture that accompany it.

“As (the poet) Paul Valéry said: what is tradition, if not an innovation that succeeded?”