Drinking for Two

A (Pregnant) Consumer’s Case for Better Non-Alcoholic Wine

The cat’s out of the bag, I guess.

There is a bun in the oven. We’re coming around the mountain. I am with child.

Which means, of course, I haven’t been drinking since late June. And while that hasn’t been nearly as hard as I imagined, considering the fact that I work in wine, it has made me especially grateful for how many non-alcoholic and alcohol-removed options exist today.

St. Buena Vida: One of the few NA wines I’ve enjoyed.

Even before I was pregnant, I was dipping my toesies into the NA space. Sometimes it was out of pure curiosity; I like to taste what options are out there as a means of being more rounded in my education.

But also, it’s nice as someone who gets carsick and so often opts to be the designated driver to have options other than soda and sparkling water when out to dinner or when hitting up the local pub.

So today’s article is a little different from our usual discussions. I thought I’d talk a bit about some of my favorite NA options (so far) and what I’d like to see more of in this space.

Beer and Cider Have It Fairly Dialed In

I feel like beer (for the most part) has NA pretty figured out. A lot of breweries seem to have a solid NA option that still tastes like beer rather than a watered-down, sad version of itself: Firestone Walker makes their 8ZERO5, Deschutes makes six non-alcoholic options, Sierra Nevada has a huge variety, including a sparkling hop water.

And even when a local brewery hasn’t made their own NA, they often partner with NA-dedicated breweries like Athletic Brewing, the unparalleled G.O.A.T. at NA, to offer options for visitors to their brewpubs.

And more NA beer options are popping up by the moment. I wrote about BERO, the NA beer brand by Tom Holland, in my article Content that Worked on Me in 2024. Even classic big brands like Guinness, Corona, and Peroni now offer delicious options that are almost identical to their originals. I had a NA Corona right before the Mariners game I went to when I first found out I was pregnant, and am looking forward to NA Guinness now that the weather has chilled t.f. out.

And breweries aren’t the only ones that have started to dial in their NA options. One of my favorite cideries from my time in Oregon, Two Towns Cider, has a couple of NA Ciders I’ve been loving for over a year now.

Sadly, Wine Isn’t Quite There Yet

Wine is sadly lagging behind in this space. Although I’ve enjoyed some NA wines, most don't quite match the quality I’m seeing in the beer and cider space. Many alcohol removed wines are flat, unbalanced, and kind of make me sad. They rarely deliver on the texture, balance, or complexity that makes wine feel like wine (vs weird grape juice). They are also almost never available on restaurant or bar menus, even when there are often three or more NA beers available.

I think part of this lack of diversity and “good” options is because there are still too many voices who frame abstaining as “anti-wine” or “neoprohibitionist.” But that ignores the reality that people choose not to drink for a variety of reasons, many of which are temporary (pregnancy) and far from hostile (just wanting a break, man).

Where It’s Working

Interestingly, a lot of the best NA wine options have come from Germany. My friend Warner of Confidence Uncorked, talked about this in a video in August, that I really enjoyed. She’s right in her assertion that a lot of the cultivars grown in Germany have a ton of aromatics and great acidity—two things that often get lost or thrown out of balance during the de-alcoholization process.

I first tried an NA wine from Eins Zwei Zero when I was the designated driver for my friend Kristin’s birthday at a local restaurant. I liked that it came in a can, so I didn’t have to commit to a whole bottle if I ended up not liking it (although, this particular restaurant we were at, Bar Le Cote, is known for their great beverage selection, so I probably would have trusted them even if they only had a 750-mL bottle)

I also recently picked up a wine from Whole Foods (though I have since seen it at Trader Joe’s as well) from Wölffer Estate called Spring in a Bottle that was quite enjoyable.

Another wine I loved was gifted to me by a new brand called St. Buena Vida. They currently make a Non-Alcoholic Sparkling white wine made from Spanish grapes.

So far, every NA wine that I’ve liked is a sparkling wine. I haven’t found a still NA wine (yet) that I’ve found palatable. As mentioned, they are often unbalanced: either overly sweet or overly acidic (nay, SOUR… like sour candy but without the sweetness to balance it out). And that’s super unfortunate.

I think sparkling wines do well as NA in general because, by their very nature, they have to be balanced. Sparkling wines are often harvested at higher acidity, and then sometimes a semi-sweet dosage is added after the first bottle fermentation. That dosage brings back a little more complexity, and if the base wine was lacking in texture, the bubbles can sometimes mask that.

What I’d Love to See Next

The beer and cider industries have proven that non-alcoholic bevs can be delicious. Wine could take some cues here and invest more in R&D, normalize having NA options on tasting menus, and stop treating non-drinkers like they’re weird or unwelcome.

If the goal is to make wine more inclusive and accessible, yadda yadda, ignoring folks who are choosing not to drink for whatever reason is a missed opportunity.

And as someone who’s still showing up to winery events despite my uterus coming down with a baby, I want to see this industry evolve to meet more people where they are, because I am truly, madly, deeply in love with wine.

If you make NA wine, please send me some! I’d love to try yours and, if I like it, I’ll tell everyone about it!

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