Exploring a Dealcoholized Wine

So as the New Year begins I, as I'm sure many of you, think about taking better care of myself.  I work out several times a week, I walk daily, and I try to eat healthily for the most part.  But I DO like my wine and that wine turns immediately to sugar and belly fat.

I had been seeing and hearing more and more about non-alcohol and dealcoholized wines and decided to do some tasting research on my own.

I queried the others in our Combined Wine Writers group to see if there were any interest in making this the topic for this month.  I received mixed reviews.  Further discussion had us settling on the theme "Wine Topics of Interest for 2025".  The titles sent to me are very intriguing and I look forward to reading the articles by the others.  Here are the links if you, too, are interested in learning about the topics chosen.....

• Terri of Our Good Life explores The Unveiling of Red Wine's Hidden Health Benefits and the Surgeon General's No-Alcohol Stance
• Gwendolyn of wine predator is Celebrating the New Year the Armenian Way: Ghapama and Lamb Kebabs Paired with Areni Wine from Yacoubian-Hobbs
• Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm is Exploring a Dealcoholized Wine 
• Camilla of Culinary Cam discusses From Xers to Zoomers: Exploring the Decline in Wine Consumption  + Our Thanksgiving Wines from Tablas Creek
• Jeff of Food Wine Click! explores Hot Topics: A Zero Alcohol Primer
• Jennifer of Vino Travels showcases The Alcohol Removed Wines of Starla
• Linda of My Full Wine Glass asks Non-Alcoholic wine: What's all the hubbub? 
• Robin of  Crushed Grape Chronicles explains Wine and Food Pairings – exploring the logic and the science

I was reading an article at Healthline.com that compared a glass of red table wine with an equal amount of a red table wine that had the alocohol removed after the fruit was made into wine.  What they found is that a 5 oz. pour of the red table wine contained 125 calories and 3.84 gram of carbs as opposed to 9 calories and 1.6 grams of carbs once the alocohol was removed.

Healthline summarized: "Dealcoholized wine contains many of the same healthy polyphenols found in regular wine. Plus, it’s often lower in calories and carbs."

That's all well and good BUT.....how does the taste compare?  This is what I set about discovering.  

I picked up two bottles of Luminara Dealcoholized Wine, a red and a white and placed them in my wine fridge before Christmas.  When I went to retrieve them for this tasting I could not find the white.  I can only assume that it had gotten opened at one of the many holiday parties we hosted and served to unsuspecting guests.

I have no idea if they enjoyed it.  I didn't find any half full glasses when cleaning up after any of the parties nor any half full bottles of wine left in the refrigerator so they either enjoyed it or were too polite to say anything.

Now, I was even more anxious to try the wine I did have to see if I enjoyed the wine as much once the alcohol was removed. 

According to the Luminara website:

Illuminating the idea of what fine wine can be, Luminara is the first exquisitely crafted, Napa Valley appellated alcohol-removed wine. With lush fruit, full flavors and delicate aromas, our Chardonnay and Red Blend offer a true fine wine experience without the alcohol. Sophisticated sippability for when you want to enjoy fine wine without the alcohol.

I paid $22 for the red blend that I am sharing with you today.  I served it with a dinner of Venison Meatballs and Tomatoes, Steamed Ginger Rice, and Blistered Green Beans. 

As is my custom, I poured a glass to sip while I was preparing dinner.  It looked like wine.  It smelled lightly of wine but perhaps a bit fruitier.  It is light bodied and slightly tart but sweeter than most red blends that I have had from Napa.  It did not taste of Grape juice as I have found with non-alcohol wines but it didn't really taste like wine either.  It was more like a cross between the two.  

The meatballs were tender and delicious, the tomatoes savory and comforting.  The wine was lighter than I would normally serve with venison.  It was drinkable and there was nothing off-putting in the pairing.  

I guess that what I learned from this experiment is that I will keep a bottle or two of dealcoholized wine on hand for when I am entertaining guests that choose not to imbibe but would like a glass of wine with dinner.  As for myself, I will stick to the high octane version and should I not want to drink alcohol I would prefer water with dinner.

Entrees, Venison, Meatballs, Tomatoes,

Entrees

Mediterranean

Yield: 8-10

Author: Wendy Klik

Venison Meatballs with Tomatoes

These delicious meatballs are made with venison but would be just as good made with beef, pork, chicken, or turkey. They are tender and moist. The garlic and cheese topped broiled tomatoes are the perfect accompaniment.

Prep time: 20 MinCook time: 25 MinTotal time: 45 Min

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. ground venison (or meat of choice)
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 c. water
• 1/2 c. plain panko bread crumbs
• 5 cloves garlic, minced, divided
• 2 c. (packed) baby spinach, chopped
• 1 c. Parmesan cheese, divided
• 1 t. dried oregano
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 lbs. Compari tomatoes
• 2 T. olive oil

Instructions

1. Whisk together the panko, eggs, 4 cloves of the garlic (minced), and water. Set aside until liquid is absorbed.
2. Add the spinach and 1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheese to the panko. Season with the oregano, mix to combine.
3. Add the ground meat, salt, and pepper. Using clean hands, mix until combined thoroughly. Use a small cookie scoop to portion out meatballs onto 2 baking sheets. I ended up with about 50 small meatballs.
4. Bake in a preheated 450* oven for about 20 minutes.
5. While meatballs are baking, cut each tomato in half and place onto a baking sheet.
6. Combine the remaining cheese, garlic and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon a dollop onto each of the tomatoes. When the Meatballs are finished, place the tomatoes into the hot oven, turn on the broiler and bake until the topping is starting to brown a bit, 3 or 4 minutes.
7. Arrange the meatballs and tomatoes onto a platter and serve.

Notes

Adapted from a recipe found in Good Housekeeping Mediterranean Diet Made Easy.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

314

Fat (grams)

16 g

Sat. Fat (grams)

7 g

Carbs (grams)

9 g

Fiber (grams)

2 g

Net carbs

7 g

Sugar (grams)

3 g

Protein (grams)

32 g

Sodium (milligrams)

365 mg

Cholesterol (grams)

140 mg

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