I Jumped Into Non-Alcoholic Wine With No Clue What I Was Doing

The first time I bought non-alcoholic wine, I was standing in the wine aisle of my local grocery store staring at a display of bottles I had never seen before. It was a Loblaw's independent store, and the bottles were President's Choice house-brand wines. The labels were simple and not exactly inspiring. They reminded me of Monopoly money. I remember thinking, "Did President's Choice quietly start a winery?”

I looked closer. Chardonnay. Rosé. Merlot. Sauvignon Blanc. Cabernet Sauvignon. Sparkling Mousseux. Then I saw it on the label. 0% alcohol. “Were they bottles of non-alcoholic wine?"

At that point, I had no idea where to begin. I was new to all of this. I had been told to give up alcohol, and I was still feeling sorry for myself about it. I did not feel curious yet. I did not feel excited. I felt like something had been taken away from me, and now I was standing in a grocery store trying to figure out what was supposed to replace it.

So I bought a bottle.

I chose the Sauvignon Blanc. Not because I knew what I was doing, but because I noticed it had less sugar than the Chardonnay, and I am not that fond of Cabernet Sauvignon. That was the extent of my system. Sugar. Calories. White instead of red. Very scientific.

I had already heard people say that non-alcoholic wine tasted like grape juice, so my expectations were low. Very low. I went into it thinking I would probably have to settle. Maybe I would find something that sort of tasted like wine if I chilled it enough and lowered my standards.

Then I poured a glass and took my first sip.

It surprised me.

I was not sure what to think at first. It did not taste like the wine I was used to, but it was not bad. That first bottle did not make me fall in love with non-alcoholic wine, but it did make one thing clear. This category was not going away, and I was going to have to learn my way around it.

The problem was, I still did not know where else to look.

For some reason, it never occurred to me that the LCBO would carry non-alcoholic wine. Which now seems a bit ridiculous. Of course they would. But at the time, I was only thinking about what I saw in front of me. I live in a small town in Ontario. Our LCBO is tiny. Grocery stores felt like the obvious place to look, so that is what I did. I bought another grocery store bottle and kept going.

Back then, I was looking at sugar and calories. That was it. I was not paying attention to where the grapes came from. I was not paying attention to the percentage of alcohol. I assumed all non-alcoholic wine would be 0.0% alcohol, and I had not yet learned that some bottles say less than 0.5%. I was not reading labels with any confidence. I was buying with more hope than certainty.

That early stage was a lot of trial and error.

Some of the grocery store wines were decent enough. Some were sweeter than I like. Some were fine if I stopped comparing them to regular wine and simply accepted them for what they were. But I was still carrying around the feeling that this was all going to be one long compromise. A glorified grape juice phase of life.

Then I went to a larger LCBO in the city and bought a bottle of non-alcoholic Sauvignon Blanc from Chile.

That bottle changed something for me.

It tasted closer to wine than the others I had tried. It did not taste like grape juice. It was light and crisp and delightful, and I remember thinking, oh. There is hope here.

That was the bottle that made me realize I did not have to settle for something that only sort of tasted like wine. I might still be able to enjoy the experience. I might still be able to find bottles I would want with dinner. Bottles I would be happy to share with friends. Bottles I would not be embarrassed to bring to someone's house.

That matters more than people might think.

When you stop drinking alcohol, especially if it was part of your life for a long time, it is not only about changing what is in your glass. It is about all the little moments wrapped around it. Dinner with family. Sitting on the patio. Bringing a bottle to a friend's house. Being part of the ritual instead of sitting there with a glass of water while everyone else carries on as usual.

I did not want to feel deprived or to feel different. I definitely didn’t want to feel judged for not going along with everyone else. I did not want to be the odd one out.

What I wanted was simple. I wanted to enjoy wine again, even without the alcohol.

Somewhere along the way, my whole attitude shifted.

At first, I was down about the whole thing. I assumed all non-alcoholic wine would disappoint me. I thought I was entering a world of lowered expectations and expensive letdowns. But once I started trying different bottles and found a few that gave me real hope, I stopped dreading the process.

Then I started enjoying it.

When I began building this website and writing the blog and reviews, I realized this was becoming more than a search for a decent bottle of wine. It was turning into a real project and one that fit me in a way I had not expected. I am a web designer and developer. I am an artist. I love to cook. Suddenly, all of those parts of me had somewhere to meet.

That surprised me as much as the better bottles did.

I did not expect this to be fun. I did not expect to love working on it. I did not expect to feel excited about learning. But I do. The more I work on Modern Drinking, the more I feel like I am building something useful out of something that first felt like a loss.

I am still in the early stages. I still have a lot to learn. I am not standing here pretending I know exactly how to choose the perfect bottle every time. I do not. A lot of this is still trial and error. I am still learning what to look for. I am still learning which labels deserve a closer look and which ones are all promise and no payoff.

I have also learned that instinct matters.

I bought one rosé because I liked the look of it. I liked the label. I liked the colour in the bottle. It was a lovely pale coral colour, and even though I often find rosé too sweet, something about it told me to try it. I did, and it turned out to be delightful. Light, refreshing, and not too sweet. It was so inviting that I ended up making shrimp pasta with a rosé sauce to go with it.

That reminded me that this does not have to be approached like homework.

Some of it is reading the label. Some of it is noticing sugar and calories. Some of it is learning from mistakes. Some of it is discovering that a sale price may be trying to tell you something. Sometimes you get what you pay for. Sometimes a bottle surprises you. Sometimes one taste is enough to know you will never buy it again.

And sometimes a bottle gives you hope.

That is where I am now. Hopeful.

I did not know where to start, so I jumped in headfirst. I bought bottles. I made mistakes. I found a few bright spots. I trusted my instincts more than I trusted my expertise, because I did not have any expertise yet. Maybe I still do not. But I am not afraid to try.

That feels like progress to me.

I have hope that I will find what I am looking for. I have hope that I will enjoy non-alcoholic wine in a real and satisfying way. I have hope that I will not feel left out, deprived, or stuck with second-best forever.

And if you are standing where I was, in a grocery store aisle with no clue what you are doing, I hope this gives you some comfort.

You do not have to have it all figured out.

You can start the same way I did. Pick a bottle. Learn something. Trust your gut. Keep going.

I will share what I learn along the way.