Though you can find excellent alcohol-free beers and spirits now, we’ve never found a truly good white wine replacement. Which is a shame as it is Emily’s favourite drink, and she’d love a convincing no-alcohol swap-out. Alcohol-free wines do exist, but they are either very disappointing or extremely expensive. And most other wine-like options are just too sweet. So we decided to try making one. And – drum roll – we think we may have smashed it!
Our special formula pairs a white grape juice drink with white tea. Served really cold with just with these two elements, you get a perfectly refreshing drink – the bitter tannins in the tea temper the sweetness of the juice. But it lacks the depth of wine, and also the ‘heat’ that alcohol brings, and that is so satisfying on the palate.
Adding lemon juice helped – but then, a revelation! We added a small splash of a ginger based alcohol-free spirit. The taste was getting close. We played with the proportions of all four ingredients but still couldn’t quite hit it – and then we thought of red Tabasco. We added just a tiny splash – and bingo, it tasted like wine! OK, not 100% identical, but definitely close enough to be very enjoyable, both as a solo drink and with food. And better than anything we’ve found before – we’re so excited to share the recipe!
To make the ‘wine’, start by brewing some white tea. This can be tricky to find, and many varieties can be pricey, but this organic white tea is both widely available in large supermarkets (and online) and inexpensive – especially when on offer, as ours was today.
Plan ahead – you want ice-cold tea for this recipe, so allow time for it both to come to room temperature from boiling (about 45 minutes) and to chill in the fridge (circa 1 hour or more). First brew the tea with freshly boiled water, steeping it for little longer than you would for hot tea. The packet instructions say 1 to 3 minutes, but we find brewing for just under 5 minutes allows the tannins to develop enough to be tasted in the final drink.
We use a ratio of two bags to 500ml boiling water; this makes more than you need for the recipe batch quantity below but gives an easy ratio, and extra tea to allow for spills and liquid loss.
Jake sticks his nose in
If you can’t find white tea, use a really delicate black tea like Darjeeling, and brew for a little less long.
Push the bags down in the water to really allow the flavour to come out into the tea. When the steeping time is up, remove the bags and allow the tea to cool to room temperature, then transfer to the fridge. You need everything to be really cold for a good result in this recipe. Allow at least an hour for the tea to cool down from room temperature to fridge-cold.
Also keep the grape juice drink in the fridge until ready to use. We used a white grape, pear & apple drink, which is much lower sugar – and also lighter-flavoured and less sweet – than pure white grape juice (which is also hard to find). When ready to mix, assemble all the ingredients and add the grape juice to a large jug.
Now add the cold tea. We find a ratio of 2:1 juice:tea works best. Adding more tea makes the ‘wine’ dryer, and therefore arguably more wine-like. 1:1 gives quite a dry result if you prefer this. However, we find it lacks the depth and fruitiness of the 2:1 ratio. Adding more juice makes it fruitier, which makes a very pleasant drink, but it will be sweeter and more like a fruit cocktail than wine. But one the beauties of this recipe is that you can play around with the blend of all five key ingredients to find the balance and profile you like best – just like real wine!
Now add your flavourings. To get the acidity of white wine, you need to be generous with the lemon juice. But don’t be heavy handed with the ginger spirit or the Tabasco. For 600ml of finished ‘wine’ we use 2 generous tablespoons of lemon; 2 scant tablespoons of ginger; and 1/2 a scant teaspoon of Tabasco.
The alcohol-free ginger spirit we used is called Mother Root, and available in large supermarkets and online. It is heavy with ginger, but also includes apple cider vinegar and honey, and gives a great depth to the final drink. It’s quite expensive, but you only need a little per batch – a bottle should last about 12 to 15 batches. And we’re sure any other heavily flavoured ginger drink or flavouring will give a similar result – for example, a 0% ginger wine, ginger cordial or ginger shot. You might just need to play with the lemon and Tabasco to get the right balance of acidity and ‘kick’.
Stir well. For a really fine, clear result you can strain the drink through a fine sieve or muslin to remove any impurities from the tea. But this definitely isn’t necessary! Chill in the fridge until ready to serve.
Pour and enjoy! Not only is this drink great-tasting and 0% alcohol, it has less than a quarter of the calories of a glass of wine too. (A 150ml glass of wine has 100 to 130 calories; we estimate this has about 25). We really think it is the best no-alcohol white wine swap-out ever! We really hope you like it.
The best ever 0% alcohol white wine swap-out
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- First brew the white tea in freshly boiled water. We use 2 teabags per 500ml, and steep for just under 5 minutes. Allow to cool to room temperature (about 45 minutes) than chill in the fridge until really cold – we allow an hour. Also chill the grape juice drink well.
- When the juice and tea are ice cold, and you are ready to mix, assemble the other ingredients and a large jug. Pour 400ml grape juice into the jug, then add 200ml of the cold tea.
- Now add the flavourings. Be generous with the lemon juice, and taste until you like the acidity, about 2 generous tablespoons for a 600ml batch. Don't be heavy handed with the ginger or Tabasco – we add about 2 scant tablespoons of ginger, and ½ a scant teaspoon of Tabasco per batch. You can always add more to taste, if liked.
- Stir well. Strain through a sieve or muslin if you want a really clear result, but this is not at all essential. Chill in the fridge until you are ready to serve.
- Enjoy!