RAISE A GLASS
I consider it my duty to keep you up to date with your chosen lifestyle. This month it could be Dry January.
Alcohol may not be part of your life (for now) but bubbles certainly can be.
I’ll point you in the direction of a couple of fizz choices.
Edenvale Sparkling
Cuvée (£4.99, Laithwaites) is crafted in Australia from chardonnay (mainly) with fiano and semillon grapes.
But it has 0% alcohol.
You don’t miss out on the giddy bubbles pouring into the glass; or the aroma which is fresh with green apples and citrus.
To taste, it is really juicy with fruit with a refreshing zing and acidity.
I joined a call with Laithwaites’ Australian buyer Daniel Parrott who explained he did a global tasting of low and no alcohol products.
The winery, outside Sydney, is a specialist in low and no alcohol wines and it was their drink, he said, that he was keen to include in the range.
The technology to remove the alcohol is pretty geeky.
But just know that the nature and aromatics of the grapes are still very much to be enjoyed. I certainly did.
It’s like the alcohol is still there and I didn’t feel like I was missing out. I don’t do Dry January.
Over at Aldi, there’s the aptly named sparkler
Zerozecco (£2.49). The name is clearly a play on prosecco – which it definitely is not – and zero alcohol – which it very much is.
The bubbles are just as giddy when poured into the glass as the Edenvale; and they tinkle for a little while.
The aromas and flavours edge towards pear, perhaps gooseberry. It’s not as refined a sip as Edenvale. But if you’re going “dry” in this dullest of grey months, and you want to pop a cork, then Zerozecco ticks a box.
Finally, if you’re a gin lover counting down the dry days to February, you can always clutch a bottle of Warner’s 0% Botanic Garden Spirits.
It comes in two variations, Juniper Double Dry and Pink Berry. Both available in 5cl from £3 or 50cl from £18, in a wide range of UK supermarkets.
Warners played with 53 different natural ingredients before settling on the 0%
Pink Berry recipe. It combines raspberries and blackcurrant sage with a kick from chilli, ginger and Szechuan pepper.
Jane is a member of the Circle of Wine Writers. Find her on social media and online as One Foot in the Grapes.