Does low-alcohol wine taste as good?
Not surprisingly, Johnston thinks his does. “We spent seven or eight years developing ways to remove alcohol without affecting the flavour,” he says. If he’s right and it is as pleasing to the palette as regular wine, then low-alcohol wine may be the future, especially for drinking in the home. “The market research tells us that as long as it tastes the same as normal wine, people would be very happy to drink lower-alcohol varieties,” Johnston says. Cutting back the booze • Watch your pour. One standard drink is 100ml wine that’s only five tablespoons! The average glass of wine in a restaurant or bar is 150ml; the home pour is usually more than this again. • Choose lower alcohol varieties of wine. If you’re a purist and not convinced of the modern low-alcohol wines, choose grape varieties that are naturally lower in alcohol. • Go half and half. If wine drinking is habit rather than hobby, serve a wine spritzer made with soda water. You’ll still get the feel of the glass in your hand an
