4.5 Stars From The Sun is Great But There's a Bigger Debate Around Non-Alcoholic Wine
Like any brand, we were delighted to see a 4.5 star review in today's The Sun newspaper. But we also noted that some other wines at lower price points got higher marks... here's why that's something for concern if you want to know what you're drinking.
As a brand we only ever focus on what we are and we only ever want to lift others up. For this reason, we never critique others directly or comment on other n/a wines - there’s room for us all.
That said, we are acutely aware of a trend in n/a wine which we were no strangers to when we had a successful Champagne and Prosecco brand before transitioning to non-alcoholic wine.
It’s the focus on driving prices down by “tricking” up the wine with sugar and chemicals to essentially create moreish taste, exactly like processed food.
Making good alcoholic wine is tough. Making good non-alcoholic wine is arguably tougher.
This is why while we are delighted that today’s The Sun in the UK rates Noughty highly saying: “Similar to Champagne, I really enjoyed the dry taste of this. However it wasn’t as good as some of the cheaper bottles of fizz I tried.”
The issue here isn’t that the reviewer didn’t love us the most - though we admit to being hugely competitive - but that we are comparing apples with pears.
Noughty as a brand strives for top quality non-alcoholic wine, without tricking up the liquid with sugar and chemicals. We very early became know as the brand who lifted the lid on ingredients and was always striving for transparency as to what was in the bottle and on the label.
We always pointed out that everyone is obsessed with what goes into their food but very few asked what was in their wine bottle. The answer is often alot of what you wouldn't expect, and not in a good way.
"We urge anyone debating a bottle of non-alcoholic wine to ask yourself if you want to switch alcohol for excess sugar and/or chemicals," says Noughty Founder and CEO Amanda Thomson. "Or may they even be worse for your health than the alcohol you may be choosing to lessen?
"Beware of cheap prices in wine, non-alcoholic or otherwise in the market. Just like processed food, there’s a reason they’re cheap. Quality ingredients - our organic grapes - are not cheap.
"Making top quality wine for wine lovers is not a cheap process. It takes qualitative measures throughout the whole process to make good wine great."
Noughty hasn’t set out to be the lowest sugar level though we are told we are - we set out for balance and purity in our wine. Good liquid simply doesn’t need the imperfections masked.
We analysed the non-alcoholic beer market, which has parity in price with alcoholic beer. Ask yourself how non-alcoholic wine should be any different if the focus is on quality liquid and sustainable production.
Click HERE to read The Sun's List of Best Non-Alcoholic Wine