Review: Non Alcoholic Smoky Bay Shiraz, Australia

Smoky Bay Shiraz, Australia, $14 CDN

A new non alcoholic wine popped up on my radar recently called Smoky Bay from Eastern Australia and I really enjoyed it. It is the first non alcoholic wine that I’ve tasted that truly did not have the ‘cringe’ factor (or ick factor).

The origins of this brand are murky - it’s very hard to find out if there is actually a real Smoky Bay winery but there are full octane wines by Smoky Bay widely available in Canada. **Update: this wine is made using spinning cone technology in Australia, and imported and bottled in Quebec.

The colour is a deep ruby red, typical of a shiraz. The nose has some medicinal notes, almost like a cheap shiraz, which caused me to almost dread what it would taste like. The odd aroma actually dissipated very quickly after aerating and once I neutralized my nose with some coffee beans and tried again, I found the medicinal notes completely gone.

Drinkers of this wine may be alarmed by the white bubbly residue around the edge of the glass when you are swirling it, but don’t be. These are tartrates, otherwise known as tartaric acid, a common property in wine. It helps maintain a wine's PH level, which is a good thing in non alcoholic wine. They are harmless and don’t affect the flavour at all.

As far as structure, this wine has a medium to light body with a very nice mouthfeel, extremely close to the weight of a full booze wine. However, there is very little tannin or complexity and little to no length on the palette.

All that being said, this wine tastes very nice and has excellent balance. It has subtle notes of smokey strawberries balanced with some tart cherry. No strange chemical taste from dealcoholization is present which is always a WIN!

It’s an easy drinking wine and I definitely wanted to have a second glass. This wine would pair well with a hamburger or anything that doesn’t need tannin for breaking down. If you are eating this with steak, expect that it’s not going to deliver the same effect on your palette as a fully tannic wine.

If you’re looking to find this bottle, it’s available in Quebec through the SAQ and various retailers, and for the rest of Canada, you can order it through Upside Drinks and they ship nationwide.

I recommend this for your next Friday night dinner and a movie. Cheers!