Nine Elms No. 18: Exploring the 'zero-alcohol' trend

A couple of weeks ago, I dipped into the realm of zero alcohol beverages. I’m not talking about apple juice or Coca-Cola, not even ‘grown-up soft drinks’, like Shloer. I wanted to look at drinks for adults that can stand-in for wine in an after-work setting, or a dinner setting or a party setting. (Or an after-work dinner party setting?)

Why would I want to do that, you might think? I love wine! I would probably drink it all day every day if there weren’t some consequences to that. Here are just a few: being drunk; being hungover; lack of productivity; alcohol-related disease; bloating. I mean, it’s really down to the last one, let’s be honest.

But seriously, I know I am not alone in wanting to set aside some alcohol-free days. Many people who are just getting to drinking age aren’t interested in drinking at all! It’s amazing really, as I couldn’t wait until I could drink legally (and didn’t - come on, neither did you...). Low and no-alcohol drinks are a trend and I think it’s a trend that will stay, as we become more and more interested in living healthy, full lives. It doesn’t spell the death of wine in any way at all - in fact, I predict that we will spend more on better wine and drink it a little less often. What this might do is push cheap, highly-processed wines out of the market. You never know...

So, I was super intrigued to try Nine Elms No. 18 when a sample arrived for me in the post. My first impression was that it was packaged beautifully in a sleek black presentation box: this was a premium product. The bottle itself had a great weight to it - it felt heavy and special, as I smoothed my thumb over the cool little engravings. I loved the design: it appeared to be black, but on closer inspection, the bottle was green glass (the dark liquid inside gave the black appearance). It was a cross between a spirits bottle and a wine bottle, which made sense when I read more about the product.

Nine Elms No. 18’s ‘straight pour’ is as a “wine”, to enjoy with food. The team behind Nine Elms insist that it has not been designed to emulate wine, but to compliment food - so it does have acidity, tannins and a long finish. Pretty complex for a soft drink, hey?

Does this mean it’s got tons of chemicals in it to achieve this complexity? It appears not - the depth of flavour is created by blending four different types of berry (Aronia, Black Cherry, Blackcurrant, Red Grape) along with the botanical infusions of twenty different flowers, herbs and spices.

It really poured beautifully into my large red wine glass and it certainly looked the part. I would have been forgiven for thinking it could be a young Pinot Noir. After a swirl, some lovely berry aromas jumped out of the glass (I got blackberries and black cherries, with some floral notes too, such as rose and violets) and it showed some body with a viscous appearance, leaving some tears around the glass.

I was so surprised by the taste! It had acidity (it made my mouth water) and though it was fruity, it was dry, with a very slight grippiness from the tannin. I couldn’t believe its structure - similar to an unoaked Pinot Noir, Gamay or Grenache. Granted, there was no alcoholic heat or spice from any oak, but it did taste like wine, with a pleasant herbaceous finish. The best thing was that it tasted natural, rather than synthetic, and it had body, rather than being thin and watery. I tried it with some fatty Parmigiano and it cut through the cheese perfectly.

Later on, I decided to make one of their suggested cocktails. I had the perfect glass for The Olson and all of the ingredients, apart from the pink grapefruit. It worked really well - the tonic water brought out Nine Elms No. 18’s herbal notes - it would have been ideal at Aperitivo Time, in the place of a Negroni or a Spritz.

I think Nine Elms have cracked it. For a drink with lunch or dinner, it complimented the food well, just as a wine would, and it made for a refreshing, sophisticated cocktail too. For teetotallers or for people who are choosing not to drink alcohol for whatever reason, it would be prefect for situations where they might have previously felt left out of the celebration. I’m definitely getting a bottle for my pregnant friend and would love to hear what she thinks.

I’m really interested to hear your thoughts on the the zero alcohol trend. Let me know in the comments below! I hope the wine world doesn’t get too tribal about it because I think there is room for both types of product - as long as quality is paramount - just as there is room in our lives for drinking when we feel like it and not drinking when we feel like it. And long live all of us for it! I think both of those kinds of days are going to get me through lockdown and over the horizon.

Find out more about Nine Elms No. 18 here.