Imagine sipping all the wine you like with dinner, and still being able drive home.
Australian researchers are working to make alcohol-free wine a reality.
“They are a lot better than they used to be. now that said, there is a long way to go,”Wes Pearson, wine researcher said.
Adelaide’s restaurant has five zero-wine options to meet the increasing demand of its customers.
“So people do call up or they’ll email to make sure that we do have those options and that actually influences where they will book a venue,” Charlotte Martin, manager of Shobosho, a restaurant that emphasizes Japanese yakitori and grilled food.
Consumer demand is driving this trend according to suppliers, especially among younger generations, who are keen to skip the hangover.
“A third of our consumers would choose low alcohol wine if they could find it and the flavor was at the quality level they expect,” Wolf Blass Chief Supply Office Kerrin Petty said. “So that’s really the chase for us to make sure the quality that we’re delivering is in line with our consumers’ expectation.”
Researchers developing zero wine say it’s no easy task, especially when it comes to matching the flavor of its alcoholic counterpart, but they’re determined to get it right.
“Pearson explained that it would be the “holy grail” to make a shiraz without alcohol and taste like a traditional Shiraz.
Thanks to science, the taste of Australia’s vineyards may soon be replicated sans booze.