While we legally can't sell Non-Alcoholic wines, check out these lower-alcohol options if you just want a little break in the new year.
Let's start with a little lesson in winemaking: wine is made when yeast eats sugar and generates alcohol & carbon dioxide. That process of conversion means that if you want less alcohol, you're either going to have more sugar or there wasn't much sugar to start*, so a lot of these bottles will run the gamut from sweet to tart. By the same token, these are also lovely, super easy-to-drink, traditionally produced wines for when you'd like to have a glass but not a headache:
2024 Vietti, Moscato d'Asti 'Cascinetta', $18
ABV: 5%
Let's start with the classic, Moscato. These grapes have a ton of two things: sugar & aromatics. So yes it's sweet, but it's also extremely floral and bursting with bouquet.
Vinho Verde is made from grapes that don't have a lot of sugar to begin with, which explains why the finished wine is so crisp, dry, and with a buzzy acidity.
Here's a bubbly red that's nottoosweet, though we wouldn't call it dry either. Made from a blend of Gamay & Poulsard, this is an excellent Old World way to imbibe with a clear conscience.
Now for an orange wine, which brings a lot of funky nectarine & clementine notes atop a wild, naturally made, minimal intervention profile. This is juice with complexity.
Finishing with another wine on the sweeter side, this Mosel Kabinett Riesling presents some tropical guava on top of a slate serving stone. It's not super sweet, but definitely has some residual sugar.
This list is by no means comprehensive of our low-alcohol selection (we didn't even get into theciders!), but hopefully it gives you some ideas for bottles that are a little easier to justify finishing. We hope your year is off to a great start, and that we see you in the store soon!
*Non-alcoholic wine is usually not sugary, because they start with a traditionally made wine and then de-alcoholize it, usually through the use of vacuum distillation (heating it just enough to boil off the alcohol), or similar technologies.
