The domain of this Domaine: A rich French heritage & Palette In This Non-Alcoholic Cabernet Sauvignon

Photo Copyright Some Good Clean Fun, 2023

When you think about French wine, no doubt you’re envisioning a stone chateau surrounded by miles of old-growth vineyards producing premium wine. This was never an image someone would associate with non-alcoholic wine, which up until fairly recently was only available in low-quality grocery store brands. It’s starting to be more and more frequent though to see non-alcoholic wine being produced by established vineyards across Europe. Domaine La Colombette, and famille Pugibet, have been producing wine in the Beziers region of France since 1870. While it’s incredible to see the disruption of the old establishment by new non-alcoholic brands like Noughty and Oddbird, it’s not often you can talk about the provenance of a non-alcoholic brand. Famille Pugibet is no stranger to disrupting established norms. They’ve been fierce defenders of low-alcohol wine for two decades, and it is said that La Colombette is the winery that’s shaking up France with their new 5% ABV wines.

The winery has now also released two styles of 0.0% ABV non-alcoholic wine, a cabernet sauvignon and a chardonnay, with the goal of preserving the taste and legacy of the vineyards light, elegant wines.

Review: La Colombette Non-Alcoholic Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet sauvignon is not a traditional grape in the IGP region Pays D’Oc in the south of France. It was brought in and planted by forward-thinking vineyards like Domaine La Colombette in the 1970s.

The nose on the La Colombette Alcohol-free Cabernet Sauvignon is juicy and has nice jammy blackberry and current notes.

On the palette, this wine is a surprise. There’s an incredible lack of ‘grape juice’ flavour which so many non-alcoholic wines have. It’s rare for non-alcoholic reds to be completely free of overly ‘grapey’ flavours but this is one of those gems.

Additionally, La Colombette has somehow managed to preserve the experience of a wine that has been lying down for a decade and softened until the tannins are broken down. Many North American wine drinkers are used to young or artificially aged wine with very astringent tannins. To enjoy La Colombette cabernet sauvignon, it’s to appreciate the softness of the taste profile, the silky texture and the sophisticated palette reminiscent of an older vintage.

It’s gently dry with nice ripe black fruit notes, and a shadow of what was probably more prominent violet and leather notes in the parent cabernet sauvignon.

A low-sugar non-alcoholic red wine

It’s also very low in sugar. At 2.7g of sugar per 125ml, it’s possibly the non-alcoholic wine with the lowest amount of sugar of all the non-alcoholic red wines we’ve reviewed.

This is not a non-alcoholic wine that’s going to bite back, or hit you over the head with flavour (which can be added back into n/a wine via unfermented juice or aroma distillates after dealcoholization). It’s a very sophisticated elegant non-alcoholic wine that pairs nicely with roast beef, roasted root vegetables and grilled fish.

An added note is that this wine also stood up to a day in the refrigerator without oxidizing too much. A glass was still enjoyable the next day!

You can find La Colombette Cabernet Sauvignon through Shop Soft Crush ($18.99) and AFBev.ca ($19.99). If you’re in Vancouver you can pick it up at DRNK Mocktail & Smoothie Bar (ordering via AFBev.ca). In Ontario, Neoni also has it for $19.99 (here is the direct link).

**Soft Crush and AFBev vendors are located in Western Canada and weather conditions may affect the ability to ship non-alcoholic products which can freeze and explode; check shipping information before you purchase!