Alan's views on NOLO! -'Zebra Striping??'

To get the best from this blog I respectfully suggest, if you have time, that you read this in conjunction with my ‘Drink Less, Drink Better’ blog which you’ll find under ‘Vee Knows Blogs’ /News on the drop down on the front page of our website.  Drink Less - Drink Better – Vino Fandango

I’m hoping my subject line caught your attention!? Do you know what it means? I didn’t, but that’s no surprise as I’m a salty old dog and that is a Gen Z (born 1994-2012) term. It describes a youngsters view of drinking alcohol, one day they do, the next they don’t etc. etc. I guess the term makes sense when you know?

The only reason I came across it was because I was asked to contribute my views on ‘NoLo’ Wines for a European research paper.
Last week I was visited and interviewed by 2 senior marketing lecturers from Dundee Business School, part of Abertay University - so I thought I better do some research before I proffered my views. I came across an article which suggested Gen Z’ers weren’t drinking wine. Turns out they are, just not as much or as frequently as previous generations. They are drinking more premium wines, but not as often, hence ‘Zebra Striping’. This relates to spirits, beers and all alcoholic drinks, not just wine.

 This generation are much more switched on to climate change, sustainability( mainly due to recycling & packaging concerns), and are also more health conscious, meaning they see too much alcohol as damaging to long term health(they’re not wrong), hence their move to drinking more premium, less often.

Which brings me on to alcohol free and low alcohol wines.
In my opinion the drinks industry has been lazy and lumped alcohol free and low alcohol drinks into one category, cited as NoLo.

I deem this as lazy because my experience tells me they are two very distinct & different categories.

Let’s take alcohol free or ‘zero’ first - my customers buy these products for one of 3 specific reasons, either there’s driving involved, they’re on medication or there’s a pregnancy involved. Wives doing the ‘right thing’ and husbands wanting to be supportive. Most of our zero alcohol wines are sold to event organisers, who want to offer a ‘zero’ alternative alongside an ‘alcoholic’ wine to allow guests to make their own decisions, but in my experience ‘alcoholic’ versions sell at least 6 to 1 versus an alcohol free version. Most consumers would either abstain from alcohol or drink a soft drink as ‘zero’ options just don’t hold the flavour complexities or profiles consumers expect from wines.

‘Low’ alcohol wines are a different category in my opinion. This category is mainly driven by consumers  who are watching their calorific intake. The marketeers of this category have latched on to this and now even list calorific content by the glass on front labels. You also see terms like ‘low alcohol, low calories’ and more confusing terms like zero sugar. The label designs are also more female led with attractive flowers etc.

Quite simply, alcohol is a carbohydrate, and is therefore, calorific. Lower alcohol wines are therefore, lower in calories - so I’m happy with that terminology. The sugar content of lower alcohol wines is a bit more complex. With wine, the process of fermentation is basically the yeast on the bloom on the outside of the grapes working on the sugars of the grape juice inside turning them into alcohol & carbon dioxide. Therefore, if the fermentation is stopped to reduce the alcohol, the natural grape sugars that remain may still be quite high - so terms like ‘sugar free’ or ‘low in sugar’ I’m more dubious about.

Although these wines are ‘lower ’ in alcohol, they still contain ‘some’ alcohol, generally between 5 & 10%, so they still manage to hold some structure, complexity and flavours.

This is why ‘low’ alcohol wines still hold some flavour and are generally ‘less dilute’ than their zero alc counterparts.

I often explain to customers in our wine hut that alcohol in a wine is like a spine in a body -it’s essential, so take it out and everything falls in and nothing is held up. Wine needs alcohol to give it complexity, balance, structure and to be able to hold aromas & flavours.

It’s fair to say I’m not a  huge fan of No and Low alcohol wines, however, I recognize their need in the marketplace for certain occasions and situations, and I also understand the principles of ‘zebra striping’ although I go about it in a different way from the Gen Z’ers. I’d much rather drink a better quality wine that holds its flavour and slows my drinking, abstaining 2-3 days a week as advised by The British Liver Trust. For more detail read my drink less, drink better blog here Drink Less - Drink Better – Vino Fandango

Happy drinking, drink less, drink better and stay healthy for longer.

Although not a fan of these wines personally, I see the need for NoLo as explained above, so to make it easier for you to judge for yourself, check these wines out here Alcohol Free Wine | Alcohol Free Spirits | Vino Fandango

Thank you for reading - Alan