In the vineyards of Bordeaux, the unspeakable becomes drinkable. Non-alcoholic wine arrived.

Thanks to scientific and economic crises, yesterday’s heresies are now today’s opportunities.

Wine estates that would rather burn their grapes than endure the indignity are now openly considering launching non-alcoholic bottles.

Developers are moving quickly to engineer wines to get the best results from the dealcoholization process.

“When we first started a few years ago, what we were producing was absolute rubbish,” says Bordeaux winemaker Frédéric Brochet, who helped create the Moderato line of non-alcoholic wines.

“But we have made huge progress. Today we are getting closer to our goal. I think this will be a revolution in the wine world.”

Bordeaux has just launched its first cave – The Wine Shop – which specializes in non-alcoholic wines, reflects a shift in perception that has surprised many in the industry.

“We’ve only been open four weeks and we’re already getting winegrowers from the region coming in asking about the non-alcoholic market,” said Alexandre Kettaneh, who co-owns Les Belles Grappes with his wife Anne.

“They don’t know how to do it, but they can see it’s coming and want to be a part of it.”

Several things happened to make the timing perfect.

First, the French wine world is in deep trouble. Domestic consumption continues to decline, and the Chinese market is not what it used to be. US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened new taxes. Prized old vineyards across France are being cleared.

Secondly, consumption habits are changing, especially those of young people. Supermarkets now offer more space to beer than to wine. Most 20-somethings have never had a drinking habit, and they are also more health-conscious than their elders.

The alcohol-free lifestyle is spreading. Currently, 10% of the French beer market is non-alcoholic beer. In Spain, the figure is 25%.

Third, technology has advanced by leaps and bounds.

In the past, and still true today with cheaper brands, the method was simply to boil off the alcohol and add compensating flavours. The results – especially for red wine – were mediocre at best. This drink can’t even call itself alcohol, but rather a “dealcoholized alcohol-based drink.”

Now, though, there are new methods of cryogenic vacuum distillation and “capturing” aromas to put back into dealcoholized wine. As a result, wine could legitimately be called wine and began to gain ground among discerning consumers.

“With red wine, you need to be prepared to have a different experience than traditional alcoholic wines. We can’t pretend we can replicate the full taste,” says Moderato’s Fabien Marchand-Cassagne.

“But what you’re going to get is a real wine moment. The aroma, the tannins, the fruit, the balance – it’s all worth enjoying.”

At the Clos De Bouard estate near Saint-Emilion, a third of sales currently come from the property’s two (soon to be three) non-alcoholic brands. Owner Coralie de Bouard first saw the possibility in 2019, when she was asked to develop a non-alcoholic wine for Paris Saint-Germain’s Qatari owners.

“My family didn’t speak to me for a year and that was my ‘treason’. Even today I get hate mail from wine growers saying I’m ruining the market,” she said.

“But now my father congratulates me and says I am the locomotive on the wine train. If we survive today in these difficult times, it is because we have moved to an alcohol-free market.”

“For purists, it’s hard to accept,” said Bernard Rabouy, a grape grower at the Bordeaux Family Cooperative.

“But we have to evolve. The fact is, customers are no longer where they were before. So we have to attract them, or they’re going to go somewhere else.”

Promoters of alcohol-free wine tout the idea that it allows non-drinkers — those who have felt left out in the past — to join in on the wine fun. Indeed, the ritual of opening, sniffing, describing and comparing is now open to all.

Anne Kattaneh said: “What we want to do is try to bring back the France of our youth – when everyone was sitting around the table drinking wine and it was a real moment of sharing.”

“Today, the only way we can do that is by making alcohol-free wine part of the culture.”

“The idea that the wine world has always been the way it is now is rubbish,” says winemaker Brochet.

“Things move on. Once upon a time, barrels were an innovation. Cork was an innovation; grape varieties were an innovation. Now this is a new one – and it could help save the industry and the wonderful landscape that comes with it and culture.”

“As (poet) Paul Valery said – what is tradition but successful innovation?”