10 Bottles Liked By Major Wine Critic (plus my picks)
Eric Asimov is one of the biggest voices in the wine world, as the critic for the NY Times. He recently published a piece listing 10 NA wines that he actually enjoyed!
Funny enough, the Times chose to headline the article, "Why Is It So Hard To Find Good Non-Alcoholic Wine?" (I learned years ago that the journalist doesn't get to choose the headline). I would argue that an equally accurate headline could be, "Winemakers Make Rapid Progress With Latest NA Wines Pleasing Even Picky Oenophiles!"
(Before I get too far, I think the Times did a disservice with the headline about NA "Wines." Several on this list are blended beverages -- yes, sophisticated and delightful with a meal, but not wine -- which means true wine devotees can be disappointed when they order something and it tastes more like a delicate beautiful kombucha or verjus shrub than a wine).
BUT, the point is that one of the world's top critics named 10 bottlings he genuinely liked! It’s quite a big deal when someone whose palate is 100% oriented to regular alcoholic wine can point to an NA they would “happily drink” if not imbibing for the night. And yet it was clearly not an exhaustive study. There are a few on his list that I can guarantee you that a dozen other wines are easily at that same level. And he didn't even try one of my absolute favorites, the sparkling rosé from Joyus, because if he had, it would be on this list. (This is the one that I poured for my birthday for a very skeptical wine business executive who loved it and asked for multiple glasses). And for sure Noughty and Sovi deserve to be on his list.
There's one that I am able to get in France (pictured above) for $15/bottle that when my husband and I took it to the apartment of our chic, fun neighbors Arnaud and Gasparo, they helped us drain the bottle and took photos of the label so they could run out to buy more.
Starting in the 60s, it took the Oregon wine pioneers 30 years to realize that they had planted the wrong clone of Chardonnay to make the best wines. Only through trial and error, vintage after vintage, did the winemakers of my region come to make world-class Chardonnay. And yet, here, in a matter of five years, winemakers around the globe are "cracking the code" on delightful NA wines or wine proxies.
If you are new to NA wines, just know that yes, some of the offerings are not good at all. But, some are lovely. So it is now possible to have the experience of a sommelier pouring a beautiful beverage into a fine crystal glass....one that draws you in with the expression on the nose and invites conversation and inspiration and complements the meal. Some of those are fully vinified wines that have been dealcoholized and some are intriguing blends of juices, teas and botanicals made by sommeliers and chefs, like this one or this range from masters of fermentation in Copenhagen, where I'll be traveling next month -- and can't wait to share those discoveries with you soon!
Based on my experience as a winery owner and French wine importer, here are the bottlings that I recommend to my clients again and again: