Why don’t winemakers produce non-alcoholic wines?

They do. It’s called grape juice. Wine, by definition, is the fermented juice of the grape, vitis vinifera. And when it ferments, alcohol is formed naturally by the reaction between yeast and sugars.

By this definition, a non-alcoholic wine would not be a wine at all. Alcohol acts as a preservative, which is why wine can be kept for years in the bottle without spoiling. For those who don’t want to drink alcohol, there are literally thousands of non-alcoholic drinks on the market. Here’s even a better idea: buy yourself a copy of the book, Mocktails, written by Wine-of-the-Month Club panellist David Biggs and published by New Holland. It contains 80 recipes for non-alcoholic cocktails that are delicious enough to divert attention away from the missing alcohol.

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