The medal-winners from The Global Low And No Alcohol Wine Masters

With beer and spirits leading the way in the low- and no-alcohol sector there is great potential for wine producers to shoulder their way in to this increasingly lucrative field, writes Patrick Schmitt MW.

In a first for the Global Wine Masters, late last year we took our usual and unique approach to blind-tasting drinks to an up-and-coming category: low- and no-alcohol wines. Gathering a team of respected palates, we set about assessing all the major products on the market without any knowledge as to what we were drinking, except for a loose indication of style (sparkling, red, white, etc), and the price band. The results were intriguing, and below I’ve listed 10 things I’ve learnt about the no- and low-alcohol wine category based on this inaugural but comprehensive competition.

1. Removing even a small amount of alcohol from a wine has a dramatic impact on its mouthfeel, with a 9%-ABV wine feeling light, even hollow, compared with a standard-strength alternative.

2. Sweetness only goes some way to replacing the lost body from lowering or stripping out the alcohol from a wine, and needs to be compensated by adding acidity (or early-picked greener fruit for white wines).

3. Making a palatable red wine with lower or no alcohol is harder than for a white wine due to the presence of tannins, which seem harder and drier without alcohol, and even when sugar is present.

4. Warm-climate Shiraz seems best suited to lower- or no-alcohol reds, providing rich, soft berry fruit, in contrast to Cabernet Sauvignon, which has too much tannin.

5. The most successful low- and no-alcohol wines were whites with aromatic grapes: Sauvignon Blanc, and Muscat.

6. A surprisingly good source of low- and no-alcohol whites was Chardonnay, with some of the wines delivering its typical combination of butterscotch and peach flavours. However, such products could not replicate the rich texture of a ‘full-strength’ barrel-fermented style.

7. The best low- and no-alcohol wines are sparkling, with the fizz helping to add texture to wines with lower ABV, and freshness where high levels of residual sugar are present.

8. In terms of sources, Australia was the star performer, picking up most of the Gold and Silver medals in the competition, although New Zealand also showed well.

9. The bigger wine producers seem to have the technology to make the best examples in this category, with the topscoring wines hailing from Accolade Wines, McGuigan, Pernod Ricard, and Oxford Landing.

10. The lower-alcohol products, as one might expect, showed more wine-like characters, while the no-alcohol examples were more like fruity drinks, rather than being especially vinous.

In conclusion, this tasting showed that modern viticultural techniques and state-of-the-art technology can be employed to create palatable lower- and no-alcohol wines. But the competition also showed that such products fail to deliver the satisfying sensation of standard ABV wines because the lower-ABV drinks lack textural appeal – the whites seem a touch hollow, and the reds taste somewhat grainy.

Nevertheless, should one want to experience the flavours of drinking full strength wine without the effects of alcohol, then there are products on the market that will take you close to the real thing. In other words, the low- and no-alcohol wine category has come a long way in a short space of time.

Scroll down to see all the medalists from the competition, and to find out more about the competition, and click here to see a review of the top 10 highest-scoring samples from the tasting. And please click here to read our analysis of the low and no alcohol market. 

About the competition

With high-quality judges and a unique sampling process, The Global Low and No Alcohol Wine Masters provides a chance for your wines to star. The 2022 competition was judged on 7 December at Alma’s Room in The Hippodrome, London, employing experienced judges – who are pictured below.

The top wines were awarded Gold, Silver, or Bronze medals according to their result. Please visit the Global Masters website for more information, or, to enter future competitions – giving you the chance to feature online and in print – please call: +44 (0) 20 7803 2420 or email Sophie Raichura at: sophie@thedrinksbusiness.com

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