Chicago Restaurant Week begins Friday. As a guy who really, really likes to tuck into a plate of excellent chow at one of Chicago’s quality eating establishments, I’m going to depart from my habit of nimbly flitting from one topic to another. Instead, I’d like to pull a thread left dangling after Wednesday’s column on Go Brewing and the rise of nonalcoholic beer to ask a question that has long puzzled me:
What’s with NA wine? You can order nonalcoholic beer at almost any bar or restaurant. But I’ve never seen NA wine on a menu. Not once. Why?
”From a wine perspective, we’re a little behind,” said Serafin Alvarado, master sommelier and Illinois wine education director for Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits, the largest distributor in the United States. “In all these beverage trends, wine is the last to join the party. It’s very traditional, very hesitant, not only from producers’, but from the consumers’ point of view.”
Restaurateurs agree.“We don’t currently have any nonalcoholic wine,” said Grant DePorter, CEO of Harry Caray’s Restaurant Group. ”There’s no market for it.”
A pity. My go-to NA vino at home is Sutter Home’s Fre. (An ugly name that looks like a typo. They’d have been better off calling it “Home Free”). To me, Fre is soft and round and red, quite winelike and a nice complement to cheese. Connoisseurs disagree. In 2021, the New Yorker’s John Seabrook slagged the NA wine segment in general and Fre in particular.
”Nonalcoholic wines make dreadful placebos,” he wrote. “No wine drinker ... would confuse the nonalcoholic Cabernets made by Fre and Ariel, two widely distributed U.S. brands, for the nectar of the gods. ... A vineyard can’t add a lot of other flavors to make up for the absence of alcohol. You’re left with twenty-dollar grape juice that tastes like a kids’ drink.”
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I've never been a drinker. The sole time I had a beer was when I was about 12 & my father thought it was a good prank to pull on me when I left the table & a glass of Coke to switch it out for a beer, even though he also wasn't a drinker. What happened then was I took a gulp & spat it all out over him!
ReplyDeleteI just don't like the taste of any alcoholic beverage other than the very sweet creme de menth & creme de cacao.What I have found is that the expensive kosher grape juices, made from Concord grapes are far better than any of the name brand grape juices.
So I occasionally have a glass or two of that.
Another fascinating column. The point about the taste of NA Wine and your comment about Sprite somehow brought a good turn of phrase to my views of Pepsi. It reminds one of Coke…. but doesn’t taste like it.
ReplyDeleteIt was my 21st birthday when I discovered that champagne was wine, the very same substance that for me came up as quickly as it went down, a reaction that I think saved me not only from a life of alcoholism, but also from a life of anti-alcoholism. Lucky me.
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Just last night I started looking into NA red wines and like you, couldn't find many. I did find a brand called 'Yours' that claims to be not vinegar or grape juice tasting. Going to order a few bottles to just see.
ReplyDeleteI got gambling and booze out of my system very early...when still in my teens. Played a lot of poker and found out that I didn't like losing. Got stinking drunk one Saturday at 14. Puked my guts out in a very public place, in front of many witnesses, and was picked up by the cops.
ReplyDeleteThey had to babysit me until my father arrived. I was still too young to be tossed into a cell to sleep it off. A juvenile officer told my old man: "You need to be a pal to your son." Yeah, right. He was so pissed that he just ignored me for a while and wouldn't even speak to me. My whole high school...a big one...knew about me by Monday. ("Yup, that's him...he's that dumb freshman boozer!"). Took me weeks to live it down.
My teen-age escapade cured me of any further taste for the hard stuff...quite literally. Even now, six decades later, just the smell of whiskey makes me feel queasy. Oh, I drank my share of the world's liquor in college...and long afterward, during my Lincoln Avenue and Wrigleyville days, in the 70s and 80s. But not in the bleachers. Beer and sun were not a good mix.
Aging brings on changes in body chemistry. By my mid-forties, alcohol began to give me headaches. I rarely touch the stuff now. Unfortunately, a number of my friends and relatives kept on boozing, right into geezerhood. I don't see much of them anymore.
If they don't sell it on the menu, how can I buy it?
ReplyDeleteStores.
DeleteThe first time I quit drinking I was 21. Had been hitting it hard for nearly 10 years. stayed sober for 5. The next time I was 33, the plan was to abstain til 50. Made it to 51. never got drunk , just a bottle of beer or a shot of jack Daniels now and then. Like regular people. Lasted a couple years til I went back to abstinence again. mentioned recently I started to imbibe once again about half way through the pandemic. have returned to plain water again and have a few days under my belt . haven't been drunk since '91. never tried anything NA except for root and ginger beer. Like the carbonation and sugar.
ReplyDeleteIf I hadn't found a path away from drunkeness and drugs I'd surly have killed someone or myself. I'm grateful every goddamn day for not having done so. Have lost many friends and family members to the ravages of alcohol. A damn shame
I met you at a book signing in Evergreen Park Public Library in 2016 for "Out of the Wreck I Rise" just when I made the choice to stop drinking. I've been making that same choice every day now for over six years. Thank you for that book and for that talk.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations — I'm coming back to Evergreen Park for the new book this spring.
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