Ariel Vineyards

• January 2008

  The holidays are over….After multiple parties and dinners, perhaps you’ve indulged a bit too much on the food and drinks. Now you’ve made a New Year’s resolution to cut back a bit on the alcohol and get rid of that extra holiday weight. There’s only one problem - you love... Read moreThe holidays are over….After multiple parties and dinners, perhaps you’ve indulged a bit too much on the food and drinks. Now you’ve made a New Year’s resolution to cut back a bit on the alcohol and get rid of that extra holiday weight. There’s only one problem - you love wine and don’t want to give it up. What’s a wine lover to do with such a dilemma? I’ve got the solution - drink alcohol-free wine! According to Janet Cromley of winebusiness.com, alcohol-free wines have fewer calories, 15-25 for every 4oz glass, and provide the same health benefits that regular wine offers (like decreasing the risk of cardiovascular diseases). Fergus Clydesdale, head of the Department of Food Science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, claims that the same antioxidants found in regular wine are also found in alcohol-free wines; “If the same grapes were used, the wine would have the same kind of phenolics," (that basically that means chemistry). Alcohol-free wines are made by removing the alcohol during the filter or vacuum process, leaving the wine with less than 0.5% alcohol. That’s all well and good, but what wine lovers care most about is the taste factor. So, do alcohol-free wines taste the same as regular wines? Corie Brown, taste tester and wine writer, compared top alcohol-free wine brands and found that the one thing these wines lacked was ‘mouth-feel.’ Brown says that "alcohol knits a wine together and gives it weight. Without it, wine tastes thin and watery.” There is always a compromise, isn't there? Luckily, alcohol-free wine is pretty inexpensive, ranging from $4.99 for Sutter Home's Fre 2005 Premium Red to $8.99 for Ariel 2005 Chardonnay. If these wines are right up your alley, give some of these a try and let us know what you think!    (hide)

  Forum post in the topic Alcohol-free Wines by ahall

  
  

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