Wine Spectator: Wine, With Or Without Alcohol?
A growing number of winemakers are moving into the category of de-alcoholized (DA) wines, and it appears the movement is here to stay, especially as the offerings continue to improve and grow. According to Impact Databank, wines without alcohol are selling at double-digit rates, outperforming other wine types. The total de-alcoholized wine market amounted to more than a million cases sold in the United States in 2024.
Napa vintners Aaron Pott and Stephanie Honig partnered together to create the Missing Thorn lineup of DA wines, including a red, rosé, and a sparkling all made from Barbera, and a white wine and sparkling offering made from Albariño. Pott is best known for his classic Napa wines, but with this new project he’s looking to put premium DA wines on the market.
“One of the trends you see is that people drink less, but drink better, right?,” says Honig. “They’re not drinking a bunch of crap. So they want [DA wines] to taste good. If you’re sitting there drinking something as an alternative that doesn’t taste good, what’s the point?”
In addition to startup producers, there are number of established wineries worldwide getting into the DA space, and growing. There’s Giesen in New Zealand, Torres in Spain, Mionetto from Italy, Washington’s Waterbrook, Wolffer in New York, among others. Even larger companies are getting to the game, such as LVMH and its new project, French Bloom. Wine Spectator has more.
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