No & Low-alcohol Wines

Everyone in the on-trade can agree that no and low is a Big Thing at the moment. Equally, most would be of the same opinion regarding the quality: namely, that it isn’t up to much, for the most part.

This was the first time we’ve created a no- and low-alcohol section in SWA, and our tasters wanted to like these wines, really they did. But at this stage the quality just isn’t there. We’d really like to see producers raising their game in this category next year.

From the Tasting Teams

‘It’s an important part of the market, and they need to try harder. They’re probably shooting too low with the prices. They want to raise the prices a bit and start with something better. There’s definitely a place in the on-trade for low and no.’ Dave Cushley, Prestonfield House

‘It’s very difficult to make low- or no-alcohol wine, and I think the category overall is interesting, but not the ones we had. There’s definitely space for them on restaurant wine lists. In the UK market it has more and more influence.’ Chiara Sieni, MM Grocery