Low alcohol wines don't have to taste awful. Try these…

Can a wine be a wine without alcohol? Not according to the European Union it can’t. Who knows what will happen to legal definitions in the UK once the definitive break with the continent is finally made, but for now, with one or two exceptions, fermented grape juice must reach at least 8.5% abv if it’s to qualify to have the word wine on the label.

But the question isn’t just a legalistic one. For those of us looking to cut down on booze, it’s more urgently about aesthetics: can a wine without alcohol ever really taste, in any meaningful sense, like wine?

My own experience suggests not. A wine without alcohol is missing other elements besides the buzz. Dr John Forrest, a New Zealand winemaker who makes a successful range of lower-alcohol wines, stresses the importance of alcohol’s ability “to add a sweetness to the aroma, ripeness to the fruit flavours and weight and ‘oily’ mouthfeel”.

Forrest reckons the very best you can do is drop around 5% abv to the EU minimum level – as he does in his own The Doctors’ wines – before you lose that texture and the effects of what he calls the “secondary chemical interactions” of alcohol in wine, from the feel of the tannins to the complexity of its aromas.

This helps explain why almost all 0% alcohol “wines”, which have had their alcohol – I’m tempted to say their “soul” – removed by a range of not at all gentle techniques, from centrifuges to organic solvents, taste so thin and simple. But it doesn’t quite account for the fact that alcohol-free beers taste so much more convincing, with a genuinely beer-like mouthfeel and depth of flavour.

Forrest says that’s a slight illusion. Brewers too have managed to extract 4-5% abv. It’s just that they’re already starting from a position that is much closer to zero. As for the comparably fuller texture, for the most part, Forrest says, a compensating dose of sugar does the mouth-filling work.

The Doctors’ wines, by contrast, stand out by maintaining a voluptuous mouthfeel at sub-10% abv without recourse to excessive sugar. This is thanks to intensive work controlling leaf growth in the vineyard.

But, if we’re looking to cut down on alcohol but not on wine, we shouldn’t get too hung up on sugar. Indeed, the EU’s exceptions on minimum alcohol include a style of wine that naturally clocks in at as little as 7.5% abv, but, thanks to its steely acidity, carries its sugar without really feeling sweet. Here’s a more rational (or, at least, more enticing) response to Christmas’s excess: rather than a dry January, here’s to more of a month of off-dry German riesling.

Six of the best low-alcohol wines

Torres Natureo Dealcoholised Muscat, Spain 2018 (£5.99, Morrisons; Waitrose)
The Natureo range from Spain’s Torres family has been my go-to as the most convincing and palatable of the 0% wines for some time now, with the muscat, which retains its natural floral-grapey aromas, the fragrant pick of the bunch.

Vale dos Pombos Vinho Verde, Portugal 2018 (£6, The Co-op)
From Portugal’s cooler, greener north, vinho verde is a useful style to get to know if you’re looking for lower alcohol: this example clocks in at 9.5%, and its slight spritz and exuberant orange citrus and tropical fruit tang is moreishly refreshing.

Forrest The Doctors’ Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand 2018 (£8.99, Waitrose; Tesco)
Thanks to clever work in the vineyard, the alcohol in this typical Marlborough sauvignon is down to 9.5%, but the gooseberry and passion-fruit flavours are no less vividly intense than you’d find in a wine of several degrees more abv.

Les Nivières Saumur, Loire, France 2018 (£9.49, Waitrose)
Until quite recently, an alcohol of 12.5% would have been considered about average for a red wine. Now it’s very much on the lighter side, although there’s no lack of graphite-etched red- and blackcurranty fruit in this cabernet franc.

Fritz Müller Zero Alcohol Frizzante, Germany 2017 (£10.99, Virgin Wines)
If one way of compensating for the lack of mouthfeel in non-alcoholic wines is to add sugar, another is to have bubbles. This well-made alkohol-frei has both, but its foaming sweetness is freshened with acidity making it more than adult pop.

BEST BUY: Dr Loosen Graacher Himmelreich Spätlese, Mosel, Germany 2018 (£24.99, or £21.99 as part of a mix six, majestic.co.uk)
Regularly clocking in below 8%, the best off-dry and medium-sweet German rieslings are among the world’s finest white wines. This gorgeous, tingling, finely detailed example has a spicy mandarin and mineral zip.