Would you spend €112 on non-alcoholic wine?
WE’VE all heard tales of vintage wines or 30-yearold whiskies being sold for eye-watering sums. Yet last month, the world of wine saw the launch of its first ever non-alcoholic fizz to smash the ¤100 mark.
French Bloom’s La Cuvée Vintage 2022 will set you back a punchy ¤111.75 a bottle.
Four years and millions of euro have been sunk into its research and development.
But can this fact alone justify the lofty price to consumers? After all, if you’re going to cough up that much cash, you’d at least hope a glass or two of your new acquisition would help you forget the impact on your bank balance. This fizz won’t even get you tipsy.
La Cuvée is the third wine from this luxury, non-alcoholic brand, created by Michelin Guide director Maggie Frerejean-Taittinger and model Constance Jablonski.
The pair, great pals, were sick of a lack of genuinely interesting, non-alcoholic options when they went out to dinner.
Their first sparkling releases, Le Blanc and Le Rosé, raised eyebrows with an ambitious £35-a-bottle price tag.
But even cynics agreed that in a sea of disappointing, booze-free wine alternatives, these were as close as you could get to the real thing — not just some sweet, Prosecco-style fizz, but a deliciously complex Crémant, or even Champagne.
If ¤45 is eye-watering though, how on earth can one justify ¤112?
Clearly, that sum is in part owing to the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into creating La Cuvée 2022.
Maggie and husband Rodolphe Frerejean-Taittinger have spent years of trial and error trying to devise a unique winemaking process, which includes low-temperature vacuum distillation to remove alcohol gently.
‘Just because you have a fabulous, fine wine to start with, does not mean it’s going to taste good when you remove the alcohol,’ Rodolphe, also chief executive of Champagne Frerejean Frères, explains.
He goes on to say that normal dealcoholisation techniques often ‘leave a wine tasting unfresh, unbalanced and tired’.
Indeed, most of the nonalcoholic fizz on our shelves is made by taking the alcohol out of normal wine using various techniques such as reverse osmosis or vacuum distillation, then adding a lot of sugar and flavours back, in a bid to restore that balance. This rarely works well.
The French Bloom team has instead created a completely different kind of wine, using Chardonnay grapes from the warmer Languedoc region in southern France that are picked even earlier than they might be for normal fizz.
Early picking means that the grapes give the wine the structure, fruit and acidity to better withstand the dealcoholisation process.
In short, unlike others, it’s a wine made to be dealcoholised.
There is flavour and texture coming from new oak and a teensy pinch of a natural wine yeast element to add complexity to the flavour profile. The result is non-alcoholic fizz that tastes nothing like anything you will have tried before.
‘Don’t look at it as “wine minus something”,’ says Maggie. ‘Look at it as “wine plus plus”.’
Here is my verdict on the new Rolls-Royce of no-booze bubbles, plus four more premium nonalcoholic fizzes . . .
CHAMPAGNE WITHOUT THE KICK
French Bloom La Cuvée Vintage 2022 (pictured right, 0.0 per cent alcohol by volume), €111.75. LA CUVÉE aims squarely to deliver a similar flavour and texture profile to seriously aged, vintage Champagne — no mean feat for a two-year-old, low-calorie, carbonated wine without sulphites. Amazingly, it succeeds. Mid-caramel in colour with fine bubbles and pronounced flavours of brioche and nuts with a toffee-apple note, La Cuvée has an impressive texture, body and balance. A great gastro wine — but can someone else buy it for me? 4/5
BEWARE HIDDEN SUGAR
Wild Idol Non-Alcoholic Sparkling White (0.0 per cent ABV), €36.95
THE first premium non-alcoholic fizz available, Wild Idol does a decent job. Very crisp, with refreshing citrus, apple and floral notes.
However the balance isn’t quite perfect and there are lots of hidden extras such as sugar and preservatives. 2/5
ROSÉ THAT RIVALS MOËT
French Bloom Le Rosé (0.0 per cent ABV), €34.85, frenchbloom.com
FROM French Bloom’s more accessible range, this is a fabulously crisp and dry rosé with notes of white peach, rose and subtle strawberry. With its saline core, it’s the best nonalcoholic rosé fizz I’ve tried.
Properly premium — a serious Moët alternative. 5/5
BUBBLES WITH BENEFITS
Wildlife Botanicals Blush Rosé (pictured below, 0.5 per cent ABV), €16.80
I’m A big fan of these Spanish bubbles with a splash of sweetness and mood-boosting botanical additions, including ashwagandha, which is said to have calming properties, lower blood pressure and inflammation, and boost the immune system; and damiana, a wild shrub said to boost mental and physical stamina as well as acting as an aphrodisiac.
Each glass also claims to include at least 15 per cent of your daily intake of vitamins and minerals. That said, this won’t be for everyone, but it’s perfect with afternoon tea when you need to drive home. 3/5
GOOD VALUE FIZZ
The Ivy Collection, Kolonne Null Non-Alcoholic (0.14 per cent ABV) Cuvée Blanc Sparkling White Wine, €20.50, THIS posh German fizz has riper notes of pear and yellow plum. The touch of residual sweetness means it will pair nicely with salty cheese and less sweet desserts. Of a style, but a decent gastro option and good value. 3/5