Buzz-free wines for easy, sober evenings

Argentina's top winery, Bodega Catena Zapata, has embraced the NoLo trend with a range of options for sober curious drinkers

- Ruma Singh

Argentina's top winery, Bodega Catena Zapata, has embraced the NoLo trend with a range of options for sober-curious drinkers

(BLOOMBERG)

The way the world consumes beverages socially is transforming. Patterns are changing and sales are unpredictable, especially for the wine industry.

But in these times of impermanence, one category is holding its own: NoLo alcohol, or drinks with low or zero alcohol made to emulate traditional alcoholic beverages like spirits, beer or wine. NoLo developed on a “sober-curious” trend and health-driven movements like Dry January, and stabilised in the aftermath of the covid-19 pandemic.

While the NoLo space covers beer, spirits and wine, it is the third segment that has found it hardest to gain acceptance—early products were dismissed as being too unlike wine. But technological advancements have gradually changed that.

Increasingly, international wine producers have begun adding NoLo wines to their product portfolios, driven in part by flatlining sales of their traditional wines. In a recent development, Argentina’s Bodega Catena Zapata, named the world’s most admired wine brand 2024 by Drinks International, and a global standard bearer for quality Argentine wines, launched its own line of NoLo range, called Domaine EdeM. Its team is led by third generation Catena family member, Dante McDermott Catena, son of powerhouse physician-winemaker Dr Laura Catena and grandson of Nicolas Catena, Argentina's pioneering winemaker.

Dante is part of Gen Z, the cohort widely regarded as being the reason behind the global dip in wine sales.