The colour is medium purple. On the nose artificial cranberry. In the mouth artificial red fruits kind of flavours. The aftertaste is very short (fortunately).
Overall, a horrible experience!
Both my wife and my 13 years old son agreed. I therefore poured this bottle down the sink. In my opinion, a beverage like this should not even be allowed to be called wine.
This de-alcoholised wine is made by Bodega Torres, one of the largest wine producers of Spain. In 2022 it was voted The World’s Most Admired Wine Brand by professionals of the wine sector.
Natureo is the result of much research done by Torres, who made its first de-alcoholised white wine back in 2008. They added a red wine in 2013.
This exemplar is made from Garnacha and Syrah grapes. The wine is fermented and oak aged before the alcohol is removed.
The alcohol is removed with the help of spinning cone columns, which are used in a form of low temperature vacuum steam distillation to gently extract volatile chemicals from liquid foodstuffs.
In the case of de-alcoholising wine, the wine is passed through the column once to distill out the most volatile aroma compounds which are then put on the side while the wine goes through the column a second time at a higher temperature to extract the alcohol. The aroma compounds are then mixed back into the wine.
Unsurprisingly, the process compromises the flavour.
I bought this bottle at Coop for 6.65 CHF, 30% off the original price of 9.50 CHF.
NB: Alcohol-free wine is allowed by law to contain up to 0.5% alcohol by volume. However, this is less alcohol than in a very ripe banana.
Country: Spain
Region: Penedès
Grapes: Grenache/Garnacha, Syrah
Type: Red
Vintage: 2021
Producer: Torres
Price range: Economic (<15 US$)
Pascal’s Enjoyment Index: 0/5