Very hard to imagine how wine would taste without the acidic, preservative and other characteristics of the alcohol in it. I don't drink near-beer so don't know if an analogy between it and alcoholic beer is appropriate. Am also curious if the purported health benefits of the drinks would bear out in non-alcoholic versions.

But back to the question. If the drink could taste like a well made version of a Bordeaux chateau, or the product from a first-rate California winery, etc., etc., then yes I would drink it. I would most likely not want to pay the same price as I currently pay, and, frankly, would miss the buzz and how that buzz contributes in a social context. In short, I could enjoy such juice, but not as much.

Sure I'd drink it, maybe mix it with a little vodka now and again but in all honesty when I'm sharing wine with friends I appreciate the alcohol for it's affects.

ouch, thats a fantastic, if brutal question!

I like the responses saying a dash of vodka would become a prerequisite. I'd still drink wine either way, but spicing it up would become an important part of the ritual.

GregT, yes I've been skeptical, too, about some of the supposed health-related benefits of alcohol. However, the studies do continue to trickle through, and beyond the benefits of wine we hear about those from beer, and even harder stuff. It's not always easy to tell who sponsors these studies, or their detailed methodology, since most of what I've seen is from the popular press and I haven't made a concerted effort to track things down to the originating journals in the so-called scientific press.

I have wondered, though, from my own personal experience about whether there might not be something to it. Japanese live perhaps the longest of any nation on earth, according to the statistics we're fed, yet it's definitely not because their mainstream medical system, emergency medical care, exercise-related mores and behaviors, or several other customs and practices are better than those in other countries.

Nearly two thousand years ago, a Chinese explorer/ambassador to one of the largest kingdoms in Japan at the time (on the island that nowadays is called Kyushu), reported back to the emperor of China that Japan had paid tribute and was thus now a colony (actually, all that had happened was that the queen and her court had merely returned gifts in response to gifts from the Chinese side). He also reported three distinctive characteristics and behaviors of the Japanese. One was that they were shorter in stature than other peoples he'd encountered in East Asia, another was that they put a lot of effort into fashion and makeup, and the third was that they drank a lot of alcohol. So much has changed over the last two millenia, but it seems several things have stayed the same.

I've often wondered if it wasn't the Sake drinking tradition in Japan, perhaps together with the other stress-relieving practice of Japanese-style baths, that has helped contribute to Japanese longevity.

The alcohol in the wine accentuates the flavors of the food. Same reason tomato sauces with a little wine added in will taste more like Tomato than sauces without it. It chemically reacts with our foods. I know I would never pure alcohol free wine into my Risotto.

Otherwise, the occasional buzz is nice.

I like wine for what it is, not just the favor.