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Non-alcoholic wine sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it? I mean, isn't that just juice? With beer it might be different, seeing as how I've never heard of anyone drinking hop-juice before, but wine is made from grapes. I'm confused (a common state for me).
Interestingly, one of the processes for making liquor is the same one used for making non-alcoholic wine, only in reverse. This is 'distillation'. When liquor is made, all of the liquid is heated and the alcohol which burns off is kept and then restored to liquid state. Whatever happens to the rest of the liquid doesn't matter, it can be boiled to tastelessness. In the case of non-alcoholic wine, though, the taste of the remaining liquid is critical. Hence, a 'vacuum' process is one method of separating alcohol from grape juice. The vacuum allows the liquid to boil at a lower temperature or without being heated, so that the flavors are not boiled away to nothing. Another process is 'reverse osmosis' in which the liquid is filtered through holes so small that 'only alcohol and water (and a few volatile acids) can pass through' writes Jason Horn. Then, distillation takes place.
One difference in taste between the finished product and the real thing is that regular wine is sweeter. There is more residual sugar resulting from the alcohol, and the 'mouth feel' is different. Non-alcoholic wine cannot compete with the latter, but more sugar is added to non-alcoholic wine to make up for its loss during distillation. Otherwise, Horn believes that the two are hard to tell apart. At the supermarket I noted that it can still be expensive to purchase the .5% variety of a Cabernet Sauvignon compared with the cost of, say, grape juice: roughly $10.00. Not horrifying by liquor-store standards, although one can purchase the real thing for around that cost. I guess choosing between them comes down to health concerns or being a designated driver. When bringing such a bottle to a friend's house as a gift, just remember that there is still some alcohol: kids will likely feel that (perhaps a good thing if it's bedtime), and they probably won't like the taste too much.
Look out for an upcoming article in which I will give my own opinion of the stuff. I'm working-up to it, since I drink at home and have no health concerns. I wonder if my wine cellar will give a creak of objection?

Labels: 108 bottle modular wine cellar, cabernet sauvignon, Discount Wine Cellars, non-alcoholic wine, wine cellars big bottle