Words Richard Hope
Young people aren’t drinking anymore. The numbers tell a striking story. Today’s teenagers drink 20% less than millennials and 47% of Gen Z (people born between 1997 and 2012) report no plans to start. By the time you are reading this, I will be one week into attempting not to drink for a month. It’s been a long campaign for my wife, who has repeatedly claimed I couldn’t make it. Like most people, I’m a casual drinker. I might drink (and share) a bottle of wine a week. Or maybe a few beers with some friends. The days of binge drinking a bottle of gin are long gone, and it seems society as a whole is drinking far, far less.
You may not have noticed yet, but the non-alcoholic section in your local liquor store is growing. What used to be a bottom shelf item has now grown to cover an entire section, and the fridge is full. Vessel Liquor in Victoria now has two sections dedicated to non-alcoholic products and it is spreading. While researching this article, I stumbled across two shops on Commercial Drive in Vancouver that specialize in selling non-alcoholic beverages, including wine, beer and spirits. How could we not resist some samples?
We tried a range of non-alcoholic cocktails; the negroni tasted like a negroni without any gin. The Mezcal tasted like Mezcal and the sparkling wine tasted like fizzy grape juice. They even had a heavy hitter of the non-alcoholic drinking world, Seedlip.
Launched back in 2014 as a harbinger of things to come, Seedlip remains the quintessential non-alcoholic “hard” liquor. Essentially a “distilled non-alcoholic spirit,” it primarily contains water, some botanicals, salt, lemon juice, and some very strong marketing. In fact, the label art is fantastic! It’s eye-catching and makes you curious about the contents. But then the crippling realization: this is non-alcoholic. Reading the back, you learn it’s supposed to be drunk with an “aromatic tonic” or “ginger top.” All the while, the price keeps going up and you’ve spent $50+ on a bottle of water and some fancy soft drinks.
Let’s be honest here: if you’re looking to take a break from drinking, non-alcoholic beer is actually quite good and (comparatively) easy to make. Manufacturers select yeasts that either slow or prevent fermentation, ensuring the beer is low alcohol whilst preserving the taste. In the world of wine, alas, things are remarkably different.
In order to “dealcoholize” wine, you can either boil it (no joke), put it in a centrifuge and essentially “spin” the alcohol out of it, or you can use osmosis. This seems to be the standard where a very thin membrane is used to essentially “pull” the alcohol out of the wine. Most alcohol-free wine products in shops use this method. And you will be reassured, as I was, that very high-quality wine was used to make this non-alcoholic product.
From the wine tastings, the white wine was better than the red. As you can imagine, it tasted like grape juice. The red was more in line with raspberry or blackcurrant juice. Both tasted like something was missing but retailed at roughly the same price as a bottle with alcohol in it.
We also tried Proxies, which are now widely available and identified by the New York Times as a top non-alcoholic wine of 2024. These have been described (rather uncharitably / accurately – depending on your point of view) as “vinegar forward.” It takes the idea of grape juice and builds layers of flavour to try and get the depth and structure of a typical red wine. This might include adding “tea, spices and complex ferments.” I wasn’t a fan.
Our research revealed that low-alcohol wines (5-10% alcohol) can be surprisingly enjoyable. Moscato d’Asti (5%), a beautiful sparkling wine, and German Kabinett Rieslings (8%) offer fresh, exciting flavours that pair excellently with seafood or creamy dishes. By drinking in moderation, individuals may find a more sustainable approach to drinking in 2025.
Richard Hope is immersed in the wine trade, specialising in helping wine lovers discover new favourites. Keep in touch: Kibo.rjhope@gmail.com
