Can Enjoyment Work Without Alcohol?

Let’s be honest: alcohol-free wine sounds about as appealing as decaf coffee—what’s the point? Alcohol isn’t just a mood-setter; it’s an essential flavor carrier. Without it, you lose depth, complexity, and magic. Or do you?

During the festive season, I ventured into the world of alcohol-free alternatives. Amidst many lackluster disappointments, two stood out. First, Flein Fizz by Gross & Gross: sparkling, fresh, and authentic. Second, Be Rizzi Traubensecco from the young winery J.J. Berizzi: crisp, with a precise balance of sweetness and acidity. Both showed me that alcohol-free beverages can work—when they’re designed that way from the start.

Here’s the Issue
De-alcoholized wine? It just doesn’t make sense to me. Why create a drink, enrich it with alcohol, only to painstakingly remove it? What’s left is a shadow of its former self—flat, unbalanced, and soulless.

If we’re going alcohol-free, let’s do it properly. Traubenseccos like Flein Fizz or Be Rizzi prove that enjoyment without alcohol can stand on its own, without trying to mimic traditional wine.

Who’s It For?

The target audience is clear: people making conscious choices. The generation counting calories, embracing Dry January, and seeking guilt-free indulgence. It’s a growing niche, and it deserves its space.

But will a passionate wine lover ever switch to a de-alcoholized Riesling? Never. Why would they? A wine’s essence lies in its story—its terroir, complexity, and depth. All of that is stripped away when alcohol is removed, leaving behind a bland imitation that pleases no one.

Competition? Hardly.

Alcohol-free alternatives aren’t a threat to traditional wine. Anyone who sees them as such has misunderstood what wine is about. Traubenseccos and alcohol-free drinks don’t compete with classic wine—they operate in a completely different space.

It’s not about substitution, but supplementation. A glass of Flein Fizz on game night when you want to keep a clear head. A Be Rizzi for the expectant mother who doesn’t want to miss out on the toast.

My Take

De-alcoholized wine is a dead end. For me, it’s an underdeveloped idea that does more harm than good to wine as a whole. If you want to enjoy alcohol-free, go for genuine alternatives like Traubensecco—drinks that are authentically alcohol-free from the start and don’t aspire to be a soulless copy of something else.

Will this ever replace traditional wine? Never. Wine will always be what it is: culture and craftsmanship. But Traubenseccos and similar drinks create something new—and in a world that craves diversity, that’s exciting.
So, glass or bottle—the choice is yours. But if you’re going alcohol-free, make it count. De-alcoholized wine? You can keep it.