Non-alcoholic products are up double digits,” said Jon Berg, vice president of BevAI thought leadership at NIQ, speaking to an audience at a Unified Wine & Grape Symposium panel on low- and no-alcohol wines January 28 in Sacramento.
“That 27% is driving what we think is going to be well over a billion dollars by the end of the year in retail takeaway,” he said, reminding the audience NIQ stats count only store purchases, not on-premise sales.
Who’s buying low- or no-alcohol wines? “93% of no-alcohol buyers are purchasing alcohol products,” he said, a pattern that the industry has nicknamed Zebra striping, or alternating purchase. “That’s what the consumers’ preference is, a pacing of moderate drinking.”
NIQ reports wine has only an 11% share of the no-alcohol market, up 27% over the previous year. The no-alcohol category is dominated by beer, with no-alcohol spirits trailing wine.
Berg’s data showed that Boomers and Millennials are buying the most no-alcohol purchases, with Generation X not far behind. Only 8% are Gen Z buyers.
Growing Market
“If you’re looking for work, the volume is in the no-alcohol space. Look no further than those people that are already consuming beer, wine and spirits,” Berg said.
In conclusion, he stated that no-alcohol buyers spend more on total alcohol, averaging a spend of $700 compared to $487 for those who solely buy alcohol.
His presentation kicked off the session titled, “No- and Low-Alcohol Winemaking: Market Insights, Chemical Dynamics and Industry Perspectives” at the Unified Symposium moderated by Steven Kukesh, director of winemaking research and development at Delicato Family Wines, with three panelists:
• Rita Hansen, senior director of distillation and beverage making for Gallo
• James Conery, innovation brewmaster at Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
• Jim Harbertson, associate professor of enology at Washington State University’s Wine Science Center in Richland
The session included several no-alcohol products that are popular in the current market, tasting both Gallo’s High Noon in kiwi and in pear flavors from (4.5% alcohol) as well as Sierra Nevada’s Trail Pass (0.5% alcohol) IPA and Brewveza.
Hansen noted alternative packaging for convenience was key, whether it was cans, tetra or PET. Panelists also said these products have shorter shelf-life spans.
What makes for success in making canned wine? “The most important compound for predicting can failure, corrosion and off aromas was the neutral or “molecular” form of sulfur dioxide (SO2),” she said. “The plastic lining of the can interior did not fully stop the interaction between molecular SO2 and aluminum, resulting in the production of hydrogen sulfide (H4S), the source of rotten egg smell.”
Missing the Taste of Alcohol Harbertson has been studying the role of alcohol in sensory and chemistry, working in the Washington wine industry back in a time when consumers wanted more alcohol.
“We wanted bigger mouth feel,” he said. “The industry wanted to know, ‘What’s the right time to pick? How do I get all those aspects of the wine so I can make the big alcohol wine with all the flavors that I’m really looking for?’
“We were essentially trying to cope with riper fruit because Washington got warmer and warmer and warmer… and so from 2013 to 2020, we were trying to understand, ‘What is the relationship between ripening and alcohol and what we get out of it at the end of it?’ We did a lot of experimentation, pre- and post-fermentation adjustments.
“We can see the strength of alcohol in terms of what it does for the body and the mouth feel and all the aromas and things… alcohol, in all these experiments, essentially was the dominant sensory attribute that pretty much covered all the bases. You had changed aromas, changes in mouthfeel and changes in taste… essentially, the removal of alcohol has extremely large sensory effects.”
No-Alcohol Requires a Rethink
“Opportunities for new products are going to require a rethink… you may be able to start with wine or grape aroma extracts and build products with controlled amounts of grape sugars and acids,” Harbertson said.
“You might try for a wine soda, otherwise piquette… I’m sure in the hands of some capable individuals out here, you guys will be able to make something that’s actually quite good.
“You might be able to combine fruit juices with similar flavor profiles to accent or improve the flavor profile of something, for instance, Sauvignon Blanc and grapefruit juice. I’ve always felt that those two things are pretty nicely paired to each other.”
He published his research findings in his paper titled, Comparison of pre-fermentation and post-fermentations alcohol adjustments on aromatic chemistry and sensory composition of Sauvignon Blanc wine.
Case Study: Winemaker Alisa Jacobson’s First Foray into No-Alcohol Wine
One of the two co-chairs leading the program development for the Unified Symposium, Turning Tides winemaker Alisa Jacobson, who was formerly vice president of winemaking at Joel Gott Wines, just released her first no-alcohol wine. In a post-conference Q&A with Grape & Wine Magazine, she shared her first experiences in the no-alcohol world
Q. How did you prepare to make your first no-alcohol wine?
I did a lot of upfront blending and mouth feel enhancement. I use vacuum distillation. But what happens is when you concentrate certain flavors, you also really strip out the mouth feel.
That’s one thing Jim Harbertson was trying to get across with his presentation: We like the flavor of alcohol. It really lifts aromatics. And so in order for us to kind of recreate it, I went really heavy up front on the aromatics.
I used a blend with 5% Viognier to try to have this kind of over-the-top aromatic wine, so when we de-alkalized it, and the aromatics aren’t as present, that there is still a lot of a base to start with.
Q. So, what’s the difference between having something leftover that you want to use vs being intentional and planning?
I think that’s what’s been sort of missing is that the people have been using [no-alcohol] kind of as a side note, like, “Oh, we have a little extra, let’s make nonalcoholic out of it.”
Starting very intentionally was the other thing we were trying to get across with Jim’s research. There’s a lot of things to be thinking about. It shouldn’t be an afterthought; it should be something that you plan up front.
I think you’re going to start with a softer, sweeter mouthfeel, not sweet sugar, but just like really good flavor profiles, good aromatics. So, sort of big, voluptuous. A Sauvignon Blanc blend is what I started with, with extra lees stirring. You get some of that viscosity from the lees, so you can really start out with a big, voluptuous wine that you’re going to have to take the alcohol out, which kind of dumbs down the aromatics.
Q. What kinds of bigger flavors work?
People are looking at starting with a bigger wine, but make sure you don’t have flavors that you don’t want to concentrate. So, some tannins will be concentrated, and acid will be concentrated, for example. If you start off with harsh tannins, you’re going to get even harsher tannins after the process. You want to make sure you have a nice, well-rounded mouthfeel ahead of time, and it’s not too sort of astringent as stringent tannins to start with.
Q. What other varieties might you try next?
My next thing I want to do is either a Grenache or a Pinot Noir, something that’s a lighter-style red. I think some of the more stringent reds are going to be a little tougher to mimic the true variety. I’ve de-alkalized Cabernet before, and it’s a little bit more tricky because you get some of the greenness that gets concentrated. You get some of the harsher tannins that get concentrated.
Q. Why do you think sparkling wines seem to do better?
That’s pretty simple; people are using the sugar and carbonation to cover up the lack of mouthfeel. People do enjoy those, but people need more options than just nonalcoholic sparkling wine, right?
Q. What kinds of products will be used to make no-alcohol wines?
The suppliers are going to try to promote yeast that adds extra body and extra aromatics. They’re also going to promote nano proteins, which essentially are just extracted from dead yeast cells, as a way to get more mouthfeel.
There’s definitely people that are looking at which oak products can help, too. A lot of it is about building the mouthfeel back.
Q. What was the labeling process like?
If you’re producing 0.5% alcohol wine, you’re subject to FDA rules, not TTB rules. FDA is totally different. It took me a while to get through all the FDA red tape and figure out what I’m supposed to put on the label.
I was actually shocked how few calories my [no-alcohol] wine had in it. One serving size of my wine was 12 calories. And of course, that’s going to change quite a bit if you add sugar to it, so not all these nonalcoholic wines have that because of the sugar.
I went to the wine shops to look at other nonalcoholic wines. Every label was different in terms of what they put on it. You can’t just look up, “Here’s what you’re supposed to put on the label.” There’s so much information on that back label now that it looks like a beverage instead of a wine.
It has to say, ‘Alcohol removed.’ That has to be on the front label. You have to put the exact percentage on the front label. You have to be very clear about your serving size and the whole nutritional panel. You have to actually list ingredients and figure out which ingredients need to be listed. You don’t need to list anything that’s not residual in the wine. You don’t need to list yeast, for example, because there’s no yeast left in the wine if you filtered it. So, it’s just a little different than what you would have to do if you were labeling for wine.
Q. What’s the future for no-alcohol wine? What should winemakers focus on?
I think it’s worthwhile for all of us winemakers to try to put the best products out there possible. Nonalcoholic wines have a kind of a negative reputation so far, and people are choosing nonalcoholic beer or mocktails. The more of us that are doing it better and better will be a rising tide that lifts us all.
