Would you drink zero alcohol wine

If wine tasted exactly the same but zero alcohol would you still drink ?

  • Yes
  • No

0 voters

During recent poll on which grape you drink when stressed a lot of replies implied that wine is not used for stress relief and that the alcohol was not a reason for wine drinking. I think that is totally bogus, i believe everyone drinks wine for the alcohol as well as the taste etc, anyone who says otherwise is kidding themselves. So as usual a poll is required.

Heck yes I would drink it. I would drink more of it! I don’t like the buzz all that much. It’s my least favorite part of wine/spirits.

“The second button is the key button.”

This topic has been addressed numbers of times before. As I said in another thread on it, as long as we’re talking about counter-factuals, what I would prefer was that wine gave me the alcoholic equivalent of one or two glasses and then stopped being alcoholic. That way I could get all I really wanted from the alcohol and still drink much more wine.

By the way, I think the people on the earlier thread who said they don’t drink wine for alcohol meant that if they wanted only an alcoholic hit, they drink something else, which is not the same as saying that they don’t appreciate the alcohol in wine.

Just wondering how a non alcoholic wine could taste exactly the same. Isn’t alcohol a part of the mouthfeel?

Taking the question at face value the answer is, trivially, Yes. But I doubt it’s actually possible. And any actual examples I’ve tried, admittedly very few, have been dire, to put it politely.

I´ve tasted it twice (blind) … useless for me, tastes like crap.
Before I drink that I take beer, mineral water, cider, spritzer (white wine with soda) or Almdudler instead.
Alc-free beer is an option, it´s acceptable - but wine - NO. Not that I need the alc. but it´s simply awful.

At tasting I usually spit (proof that I don´t need the alc.)

Are we talking about the “alcohol-free” wines on the market today, or wines that would taste and feel exactly the same, only without any of the the actual effects of alcohol? So I could have a, say, 1964 Produttori del Barbaresco without any alcohol, but it would taste exactly the same as the thing with alcohol?

If the first one, no way, they are basically undrinkable stuff. If the second one, hell yeah. I’d probably start collecting those kinds of wines instead of the alcohol ones.

Fortunately some of the modern non-alcohol beers are much more drinkable compared to the non-alc wines, but there’s still a lot to be done until they are starting to taste like real stuff. However, they’re getting close enough so when I want to have a beer just for thought-free refreshment, not to actually engage in semi-analytical beer savoring process, I actually might prefer the non-alc ones.

Well, that’s why it is a thought experiment. There is no way to produce the same drinking experience without the alcohol. If such a thing were possible, it would definitely mean I would drink more wine. Like David, I am not a huge fan of the alcohol buzz, and affirmatively dislike being drunk. If I could drink without that effect, I would be more inclined to drink on weeknights, would take multiple bottles to restaurants for dinner without fear of DUI, would be more inclined to drink over lunch . . . without question I would drink more despite Mr. People Don’t Like Me telling me my answer is “bogus.”

Want people to treat you better? Stop calling them liars.

It’s not just mouthfeel. Alcohol affects the solubility of many flavor compounds, and affects their release as aromas. At a certain point, it also makes a wine seem sweet even if it’s been fermented completely dry.

Jamie Goode has written about taste tests in a lab where alcohol is removed and added with the same wine base. He said that there was an optimal ABV level for each wine, depending on the flavor profile.

In NY state, and perhaps elsewhere, there are partically dealcoholized wines (e.g., Chateau Diana) that are around 7% – whatever it takes to make it legal to sell them in food stores, along with beer. (In NY, wine and liquor are sold only in liquor/wine stores, and beer is sold only in food stores.) The one time I tried one, it was crap. But, of course, they probably don’t bother to buy the best grapes for those.

My answer to the original question is that it depends on the circumstance. Wine’s alcohol can spur sociability and relaxation, and that can be a pleasure. Being tipsy can be fun.

But I rarely drink wine apart from food, and sometimes I crave wine at a meal where I’ll be driving or need to work and I’d prefer not to suffer alcohol’s affects. In those cases, I abstain, with regrets. Example: I was at a birthday party last night that was a 45-minute drive away. If there had been alcohol-free wine that tasted good, I would have drunk more. (I should have brought some Kabinett!)

This.

And certainly nobody would ever call me a wallflower; hmm, perhaps the wine actually sedates me and my hyperactivity!

I enjoy the entire pleasure spectrum of wine.

I’d certainly drink a lot more wine if it had less alcohol.

Non alcohol beer works as the carbohydrates give the beverage mouth feel. It’s a hoppy soft drink.
JLohr makes non alcohol wine, which is primarily sold in Scandinavian countries where the law mandates restaurants etc carry it.
Without the richness from the alcohol non alc wine is very sharp because of the acidity. If you add sweetness then you might as well drink grape juice.

No.

If wine could be dealcoholised and also be dehydrated to make roll ups, how many would you eat each day?

If your favorite wine could have the alcohol removed and made into an everlasting gobstopper in the form of a pacifier, would you ever take it out of your mouth?

Now, that calls for a poll, I think!

If you could have the otherwise identical smell and taste, without alcohol (I know this isn’t possible, but if it were possible), I would love it, at least some of the time.

Many of us may enjoy the buzz, but almost none of us WBers drink the wines we drink just to get a buzz. If you just cared about the buzz, you could buy inexpensive vodka and mix it with fruit juice, at <$1 a serving. Nobody would pay $100+ a bottle just to get 6 servings worth of booze you could get for $5.

This is why the attempted equivalency of wine to pot is a complete fail. The only purpose of pot is the high. If you had pot that didn’t make you high, nobody would smoke it. If you had DRC that magically had no alcohol, it would be prized, savored, worth a lot of money.

As many have said, if it was an identical beverage in every aspect, yes.

I’d actually drink more if it had zero alcohol on it and everything else was kept equal. Lower the calories to 0 and I’d drink even more.

Wine by definition is an alcoholic drink. The camaraderie, good fellowship and social aspects, are the results of the alcohol. Otherwise it is just another way to quench thirst. No alcohol kills the point.
Going too far likely, but getting drunk on occasion is not a horrible thing. I’m not talking about driving or black-out levels, but sometimes getting loose and finding your limits is educational. Following the blossoming of a few bottles over an evening can be wonderful with friends the glow of the buzz is part of the experience.
No alcohol, no drink. But that is just me.

This.

Those asking “how” and if the OP is asking about no-alcohol wines currently available are missing the point. This is a hypothetical: if the wine magically tasted the same and was organoleptically identical in every way but had no alcohol, would you drink it?

There are many times when I would drink more if there were no alcohol. And there are times when I would prefer wine with alcohol for the disinhibition in social circumstances.