The Ultrapremium Non-alcoholic Wine Offering a Sober Take on Critical Praise
Zeronimo elevates the non-alcoholic wine segment in its native Austria and beyond.
Dry January may be over, but the desire for complex non-alcoholic alternatives to boozy wine, beer, and spirits remains. Increasingly, consumers are opting for no- and low-alcohol options instead of their buzz-giving cousins throughout the year, and with this rise in demand, the quality of the product has also increased. However, it is only in the last few years that non-alcoholic wine has started to take a stab at the soaring heights of the experience made possible by the real thing, with one pioneering Austrian brand taking aim at the highest echelons of all.
Launched in 2023 by members of the eponymous family behind Weingut Heribert Bayer, Zeronimo has its sights set on pioneering the ultrapremium non-alcoholic wine segment in its native Austria and around the world. According to Katja Bernegger, who founded the brand alongside her partner Patrick Bayer, the complexity needed to pair wine with food was lacking in the non-alcoholic segment. “When I looked more closely at non-alcoholic alternatives during my pregnancy, I realized there were no options satisfying for my wine palate,” she says. “Nor did I have any stunning pairing partners for great dishes. So I thought to myself, ‘Can it be done differently?’”
The key to Zeronimo’s aromatic profile and palate structure lies in the innovative dealcoholization process in which a patented aroma recovery method follows that traditional vacuum distillation. “Ultimately, with alcohol-removed wines, you have the naked truth in your glass,” Bayer says. Traditional dealcoholization processes often strip wines of their body and texture, and so enhanced aromatics are a way to counteract the decrease in overall complexity. Another significant element that differentiates Zeronimo from other producers of non-alcoholic wine is that it vintage dates every single one of its wines. Because Zeronimo is able to retrieve aroma and flavour via its proprietary methods, each wine bears the marks of the weather that marked the production year, and so vintage variation is possible, making dating—a practice not often employed in the non-alcoholic segment—necessary.
Zeronimo’s standout cuvée is undoubtedly its Leonis Blend, whose base wine is Weingut Heribert Bayer’s In Signo Leonis, a blend of blaufränkisch (60 per cent), zweigelt (20 per cent), and cabernet sauvignon (20 per cent) that has itself been awarded seriously high scores from wine critics vintage after vintage. Unlike many non-alcoholic red wines, which can sometimes taste and feel rather insipid, Leonis Blend features defining tannin and acid profiles that buoy the dark red fruit and herbal flavours of the wine. The other high point on Zeronimo’s portfolio is its Sparkling Select, an elegant non-alcoholic sparkling wine made from sauvignon blanc, pinot blanc, and chardonnay.
Whether thanks to these or any of Zeronimo’s other show stopping wines, an alcohol-free evening has never been so close to the halcyon highs of the real thing.
Zeronimo wines are now available online in Canada at Søbr Market.
Four Zeronimo wines to try:
Zeronimo Grüner Veltliner 2023
Zeronimo Sparkling Select 2023
Photographs by Monika Jungwirth from Karma + Pitch.
