Low No Alcohol: The Trend that’s Bigger than Dry January

2020 was a pivotal year for the low and no alcohol category, with many brands and producers upping their game, creating better quality products with far more variety. There is however still a long way to go, particularly in the wine world, as our Buying Director Andrew Baker explains in one of our recent video blogs. Here he sheds light on how spirits lead the way, shortly followed by beer, with wine now on the upwards trajectory as well. Skip to 1.30 to get straight to the low and no insight!

The low and no trend is something we’ve been aware of for a few years now here at Virgin Wines, with big plans for 2021 to introduce many new and exciting low and no products across the board of our range. We do already have some fantastic low and no alcohol wines, beers and spirits which we recommend trying out.

Younger people across the world are generally speaking a more health-conscious generation. It’s now fairly common knowledge that current youngsters are drinking on average less than their elders did at their age, which in turn has helped to fuel the shift in demand which producers are now responding to. Recent reports even go as far as suggesting that up to 23% of young people would now consider themselves to be teetotal, with one in three looking to cut down on alcohol consumption. This in turn has influenced older generations as the low and no trend becomes more prominent in the media as well as more visible in supermarket aisles and with online retailers.

Here is a selection of some of our most recent low and no alcohol products available to purchase on our website:

Throw into the mix a global health pandemic, and the topic of looking after ourselves, both physically and mentally, has rightly become increasingly important. As a result, we are becoming far more conscious when it comes to health with more of us actively planning routines such as alcohol-free weekdays and cutting back in other areas of our diet. A recent poll has revealed that 57% of people would now consider drinking low and no alcohol in pub, when the time comes, of course! This is no surprise given that the low and no alcohol industry saw a 32% rise in sales during the first lockdown in March and has continued to grow.

As we mentioned, wine still has a ground to make up, however that isn’t to say that great quality and tasting low and no alcohol wine doesn’t exist, because it certainly does! One winemaker who is building on an already sterling global reputation in this space is New Zealand’s Dr John Forrest. He is a pioneer of making premium low and no wines, including Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc we all know and love. Here he explains how it all began for him, and how he has perfected lower alcohol wines.

If you’d like more on how low alcohol wine is made, then check out our handy illustrated guide which you can find in our comprehensive new Wine Guide. Who knows, you could end up taking on Dr Forrest in a few years’ time!

To put it simply, the future for low and no alcohol looks very bright. Not only are we going to see more products across all categories from wines to beers, but we are also going to see huge innovation and product development by producers which ultimately will mean better products. That can only be described as a good thing!

In the meantime, there is plenty of great stuff out there already, so if you haven’t tried it yet, we recommend you do – you could be in for a very pleasant surprise. We’ve just put together our Top Low No Wines, Beers and Spirits for 2021 which is well worth a read for our latest hot picks.