Wine Enthusiast has introduced a formal review framework for non-alcoholic and low-ABV products: a dedicated NoLow blind-tasting program with its own five-star rating system covering wines, spirits and ready-to-drink cocktails. It gives a fast-growing category something it has largely lacked, a credible, independent, blind-tasted assessment from a publication that built its reputation grading traditional wine and spirits.
The word that matters is blind. Tasting these products without the label removes both the novelty halo and the skepticism, and judges them on what is in the glass. A structured five-star scale also lets a shopper and a buyer compare across the category, separating the genuinely well-made from the merely well-marketed, the same way star ratings have long done for wine.
The Cr(af)ted Take
This is what maturity actually looks like, and it is more meaningful than any single sales figure. For years the alcohol-free drink lived in a strange space: graded on a curve, praised for being surprisingly good rather than simply good. A blind five-star program ends the curve. It says these drinks are ready to be measured against a real standard, with no allowance for the handicap of having no alcohol, which is exactly the standard we think they should be held to.
It also raises the stakes for makers in a healthy way. When a respected critic can give your bottle two stars in a blind lineup, flavor stops being optional and marketing stops being enough. That pressure is good for everyone who drinks this stuff, because the fastest way to kill the afterthought reputation is to let serious critics tell the truth about which products have earned it.
Original reporting: Wine Enthusiast →