Anthony Bourdain once said something like this about non-alcoholic wine: "It's like decaffeinated coffee or a vegetarian steak - trying to be something it's not." He was never afraid to say what he thought, and the sacred cow of the drinking world was no exception.
"Maybe not alcohol... but damn good."
For a long time, this view, voiced by Bourdain, was also shared by many top sommeliers and restaurant professionals. Non-alcoholic wines were seen as compromises at best - and mostly as disappointments. And no wonder, because until recent years the quality was frankly abysmal. A large proportion of sommeliers were not interested in the whole thing: "you offer juices, the customers don't need the taste of wine."
But now we have witnessed something else.
Since we opened our sales to restaurants, we have organised tastings with some of Finland's top sommeliers and restaurant experts - people who know how good wine feels, tastes and smells, and how it behaves in the glass. Many of them came with scepticism. Several said out loud: "I've never tasted a non-alcoholic wine that was really good."
But, like almost all of our core shop customers, the restaurant industry's top professionals have become convinced that good products do exist, and in surprisingly large numbers.
After pouring our best-selling non-alcoholic sparkling wine from Italy, the tasting table is suddenly quiet. The silence is followed by a smile - and finally the words we already know we're waiting for:
"This is really good."
One taster aptly stated, "If this had been my first non-alcoholic, my whole perception would have been different from the start."
We are not claiming that non-alcoholic wines are a substitute for alcohol. They are their own category, their own world, and they deserve to be judged on quality, taste and experience, not just percentage - as part of the wine world.
If Bourdain were still with us, he might still raise his eyebrows, lean back in his chair in his usual relaxed position and spit in the glass - or he might say so - as many of his colleagues do:
"Maybe not alcohol... but this will pass."
