Not Guilty Alcohol-free Wine
Summary
Drink – Not Guilty Wine
Type – non-alcoholic red wine
Alcohol content – 0.0%
Rating– 57/100
Review – Not Guilty Alcohol-free Wine is a good attempt at de-alcoholising wine but there is just too much of a sour background to make this a favourite of mine. Still a decent alcohol-free red wine to try out.
It’s been some time since I reviewed my last alcohol-free wine (by Three Spirit) so it was with trepidation but also intrigue when I came across a bottle of Not Guilty’s alcohol-free wine.
I hadn’t come across Not Guilty before and researching more found they are actually quite common in certain supermarkets such as Asda and Tesco. Not Guilty themselves are a new wine company based in the UK that now offers three different full bodied zero alcohol wines including a rose, pinot grigio and the red one I tried today.
To make their wines Not Guity crushes and de-stems the fruit before adding to oak fermenters. The produce is fermented at a low temperature to allow the full fruit flavours to come out and then they use spinning cone technology to gently remove the alcohol
Although this particular alcohol-free wine won Gold at the World Alcohol Free Awards 2023 I still need to ask my traditional question – is it one worthy of the glass or one destined for the sink? Well, you’ll just need to read my review below to find out.
Is Not Guilty wine any good?
Taste
Well, the good news is that alcohol-free wine has become a lot better over the years. Not Guilty isn’t an alcohol-free wine destined for the sink, it is drinkable, but I could only manage a small glass and that’s due to the background sour, vinegar taste that simply didn’t dissipate. Don’t get me wrong, when you take your first sip you are confronted with classic red wine flavours – bold red fruit with tannins but the sour edge starts to negatively hamper the enjoyment over the course of drinking it.
Aroma & Appearance
Familiar red wine aromas flood your nostril when you take off the screw cap. In the glass, as you can see, it pours with a dark ruby purple colour.
Bonus points
Three Spirit really do care what goes into their drinks and make sure as many people can enjoy them. This is the reason their collection of Blurred Vines wines are low in sugar, have no alcohol, are vegan, suitable for gluten-free drinkers and use ethically sourced ingredients from regenerative farming.
Buy Not Guilty Wine
At the time of writing, you can buy this non-alcoholic wine from the leading stockist below (or check Not Guilty’s site itself).
Wise Bartender is a very well-respected alcohol-free retailer with a great selection of booze-free drinks and an easy-to-use site.
COST (at time of publication) – £6
Key information
– per 100ml
Type – red wine
Producer – Not Guilty
Country – UK
Alcohol content – 0.0%
Ingredients – De-Alcoholised Wine (96%), Grape Juice Concentrate, Carbon Dioxide, Preservatives (E220, E224), Thickener (E414)
Calories – 29
Vegan friendly? – yes
Gluten-free? – yes
Availability UK/ EU – medium
Availability US/ CAN – hard
“Drunkenness is nothing but voluntary madness.”
-Seneca, AD 50 BC
