Sparkling wine is always amazing for celebrations, especially if you’re going for champagne. But, what if you want the experience without the alcohol? This is where non alcoholic champagne comes into play.
Now, we’re not talking about true champagne here, as alcohol free wine doesn’t meet the requirements to be classified as champagne (or even as wine, if you want to get technical). But, this isn’t grape juice either. Alcohol free wine goes through the same vinification processes as regular wine and then simply has the alcohol removed.
The approach gives you all the complexity of wine, with minimal alcohol. Most products still have some alcohol present, but this will always be less than 0.5%.
P.S. If these products aren’t for you, why not experiment with other types of non alcoholic drinks instead, including non alcoholic spirits and mocktails? There’s no shortage of options these days, including many delicious and nuanced drinks. You might even prefer some of these to their alcoholic counterparts.
Alcohol Free Champagne
St. Regis Secco and Sparkling Brut
St. Regis has two interesting alcohol free sparkling wines. The first is their Secco, which is a dealcoholized version of prosecco and has a light golden color and fine bubbles. The flavor is interesting, with a slight fruitiness that isn’t too overwhelming.
The second entry is their Brut. This is a particularly popular alcohol free bottle of bubbly that’s made entirely using chardonnay grapes. It is a little sweet compared to classic brut wines, but the sweetness is still lower than many other alcohol free products.
Leitz Eins Zwei Zero Sparkling Blanc de Blancs
Leitz is a German company that produces an interesting selection of wines. Most of these are regular alcoholic wines, but there are a few alcohol free versions in the mix too, including the Eins Zwei Zero Blanc de Blancs.
This expression has some unexpected notes, including lime, citrus, carambola, and even gooseberry. It’s also a surprisingly dry wine with a decent amount of acidity. Those are powerful features, given that so many other non alcoholic wines are sweet instead.
Leitz is also a popular company that gets surprisingly close to true wine. There are still some differences in the flavor profile, but you’d be hard pressed to find any sparkling wine that does a better job.
Chateau de Fleur Champagnette
Chateau de Fleur Champagnette has been designed to look as much like champagne as is possible. The bottle design is perfect and even the name is close. This is much better than brands that simply offer sparkling white wine in screw top bottles. The wine is produced by Weibel, which is an impressive Californian vineyard with plenty of other incredible products.
The appearance might even be why this is often rated as one of the best non alcoholic sparkling wines on the market.
The one catch is the sweetness. While most non alcoholic wines are sweeter than their alcoholic counterparts, this one appears to be sweeter than most. The sugar could easily be an issue if you prefer dry wines. But, if you lean towards sweet, Chateau de Fleur Champagnette could be perfect.
Sutter Home Fre Brut
Fre Wines is an impressive brand, with alcohol free versions of most the classics. Their Sparkling Brut is particularly stunning, as it really does recreate the classic experience of champagne.
The flavors are vibrant, the finish is dry, and there’s a perfect amount of fizz. It’s hard to get any better.
And, if you’re still not satisfied, try using this to make an alcohol free champagne cocktail. The other ingredients in your cocktail should mask any differences between this and alcoholic bubbly.
Thomson & Scott Noughty Sparkling Chardonnay
Thomson & Scott do alcohol free products well. They have a selection of different wines that all follow the classic fermentation and dealcoholization processes. The wines are also well designed, as they keep the flavors strong and the sugar content low.
Their Noughty Sparkling Chardonnay is one of their best products, with just 2.9 grams of sugar per hundred grams. This is lower than many other sparkling wines, so it’s easy to see why the beverage gets consistently good reviews.
The packaging design and bubbles are all on point too.
Classico Grande
Most companies on this list focus on producing regular wine or non alcoholic wine. Lyre’s is different. They produce a variety of non alcoholic spirits instead, including classics like gin, whiskey, and tequila, plus products inspired by famous liqueurs.
Their products are well-reviewed, showing they have become masters at replicating the flavor and mouthfeel of alcohol.
Lyre’s Classico Grande follows the style of an Italian prosecco, with a light and fruity aroma and surprising complexity. The bottle is even designed in traditional champagne style, complete with a foil wrapper, a cork, and wire.
This is one of the few alcohol free bubblies that gets things just right. It’s crisp and even tart, with just a little sweetness. In contrast, most other alcohol free wines are far too sweet, which makes them taste much like grape juice.
Many reviewers mention that this product tastes more like regular wine than any other they’ve found. There are some differences, but that’s to be expected, as precisely replicating wine is almost impossible.
Codorníu Zero
Codorníu is a renowned producer of Spanish cava sparkling wine, producing some of the most amazing and distinctive entries. While their products traditionally contain alcohol, there is also an alcohol free equivalent in the form of Codorníu Zero.
This light colored bubbly has citrus and tropical fruit flavor notes, with the perfect amount of fizz. The flavor is different than regular Codorníu cava and the drink is sweeter as well, but you still end up with a delicious drop.
Sparkling Verdejo
Studio Null offers an excellent Sparkling Verdejo. It’s a single varietal wine that relies on verdejo grapes from Spain. It’s an impressive product, partly because Studio Null focuses on quality and sources wines from small vineyards throughout Europe.
Sparkling Verdejo is a surprisingly dry sparkling white, making it a perfect alternative to dry champagne.
The other exciting thing is the choice of grapes. Most companies focus on familiar grape varieties, which minimizes the difference between products. It’s always nice to see a company that bucks the trend and creates something truly exciting.
Grüvi Dry Secco
Grüvi breaks the rules with their product, as they don’t use any fermentation at all. Instead, they’ve managed to produce a 50 calorie sparkling drink that is surprisingly close to real wine – all without using any booze.
It’s an impressive feat, especially if you need to avoid even trace amounts of alcohol. The dryness of the drink is impressive too. Alcohol free sparkling wine wines often end up being overly sweet, so it’s always good to find ones that are on the dry side.
Beyond this, Grüvi Dry Secco is simply an easy to drink bubbly white. It wouldn’t win awards for a stunning flavor profile, but it doesn’t need to either.
TÖST
TÖST is a little like Grüvi in that there’s no fermentation step, so the wine ends up being entirely alcohol free. But, Grüvi tries to get as close as possible to the flavor of sparkling white wine, TÖST does things very differently. You can even see this by looking at the bottle, as the wine is surprisingly yellow.
Interestingly, TÖST relies on white tea, ginger, and cranberry to create the flavor. There don’t even seem to be any grapes in the mix.
This approach isn’t a bad thing, as it has allowed TÖST to create a delicious and refreshing wine alternative, one that is just as nuanced as white wine. The drink also balances sweetness with a little spice and bitterness. The approach is fantastic and stops the wine from ending up excessively sweet.
The biggest catch is an expected one – this drink doesn’t really taste like champagne. It’s excellent if you’re looking for a delicious alternative to sparkling wine, but a poor choice if you want an exact match.
Lussory Sparkling Brut
Lussory offers this beautiful bottle of sparkling brut that tries to get as close to the real thing as possible. Not only are their products free from alcohol, but they’re even Halal certified and rely on organic ingredients.
The term brut suggests this is a dry wine and reviews indicate that it doesn’t disappoint. The flavor profile is similar to the real deal as well, which is always good to see. The biggest issue is the price, as the wine is much more expensive than grape juice. This isn’t surprising though, as making alcohol free wine is a convoluted process.
The brand also offers a second sparkling product – Lussory Gold 24K. This is an exciting one, as it is gold colored alcohol free wine that contains flakes of edible gold. While this style is familiar enough for regular wine, it’s incredibly unusual to see real gold included in alcohol free wine.
Does Alcohol Free Champagne Taste Like The Real Thing?
Honestly, no, it doesn’t. The alcohol in wine plays a strong role in the final flavor profile and removing this always messes things up. Manufacturers do everything they can to compensate for the difference, but the final result is never going to be perfect.
Most of the time, the non alcoholic version ends up being sweeter than true wine. It may also be a little vinegary, as it doesn’t have the same long-term stability as true wine.
Is Alcohol Free Champagne Worth It?
If you find a product you like, non alcoholic champagne gives you the same experience as drinking a glass of bubbles, just without the alcohol. From this perspective, it’s certainly worth the effort.
The problem is that the products tend to be expensive and they’re often not that much better than simply drinking sparkling grape juice. Sometimes you could even make your own alcohol free spritzer and enjoy it more than any of the items on this list.
Ultimately, whether these drinks are worth it depends on one thing – how close do you want to get to the real deal? If you’re set on a drink that looks and mostly tastes like champagne, products like these are the way to go. If not, there are countless other alcohol free options.
The Best Non Alcoholic Wine Brands On The Market
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