Look What We Invented! Real Life
Three women share the stories of their remarkable journeys
I INVENTED A NEW WAY TO MAKE WINE NON-ALCOHOLIC
ELLIE BRADSHAW, 49, FROM CORNWALL, INVENTED A PROCESS FOR MAKING WILD LIFE BOTANICALS TASTE BETTER THAN WINE.
As mum to Victoria, 19, I was always on speed dial as a mum taxi. Thinking about “designated driver” days and how there was little more than elderflower cordial for those choosing not to drink, I wanted to create an alcohol-free drink as delicious as wine, with no compromise on taste or flavour.
Passionate about the benefits of botanicals, I hoped to create a sparkling wine that was good for you: truly “bubbles with benefits”, a phrase I later trademarked. All the non-alcoholic wine I tried tasted sweet, thin and stripped of aroma. Figuring out a way for Wild Life to taste like wine was the biggest challenge, but my most fundamental success.
Traditionally there are two ways to remove alcohol from wine. Arrested fermentation, which leaves high residual sugar, or reverse osmosis, which loses the natural aromas and characteristics.
Through a patented process of spinning the wine and applying gentle heat, it is not stressed as the ethanol evaporates and is recaptured through distillation, then sold to other industries so there’s no waste. We’re left with the natural characteristics, tannins and flavours of wine while the alcohol by volume decreases. A leading medical herbalist helped me choose botancials and an oenologist (winemaker) helped establish which grapes work best with the elixir of herbs. The former Head of Innovation at Innocent Drinks helped add “speedbumps” so you sip Wild Life like champagne rather than glug it like a soft drink. Wild Life was the perfect name, because you can still have a wild life without alcohol.
When we launched in September 2019, we sold out of our first production run in weeks. Wild Life is now stocked in Harvey Nichols, Harrods, Daylesford Organics and many leading spas, restaurants and bars, as well as our website. The online community has been incredibly kind and sales have remained buoyant in lockdown as consumers used this time to nurture their well-being goals. I didn’t invent the magical formula all by myself, but I knew what I wanted and found the best team of experts to help me turn a dream into a reality. WILDLIFEBOTANICALS.CO.UK