Non-alcoholic wine, also known as “de-alcoholized” wine, does not have a good reputation. These wines are commonly described as “overly sweet,” “tastes like grape juice,” and “don’t bother.” So when I read about St. Regis–which allegedly isn’t terrible–I wanted to give it a try.

St. Regis de-alcoholized Chardonnay uses the vacuum distillation method of removing alcohol. Of the three primary brands of non-alcoholic wine, St. Regis is the only one to use that method. The other two leading brands–Fre and Ariel–use the reverse osmosis method. This may explain why St. Regis maintains more of its “wine” flavor than the other brands.

• 

• 

The St. Regis has a pale yellow straw color. On the nose there’s not much, just a hint of apricot and meyer lemon. On the palate, granny smith apple dominates–tart, crisp, and just a bit sweet. There’s a bit of oak, but it’s that manipulated, somewhat fake-tasting oak that’s common in many mass-produced, inexpensive wines. (I call those “airline” wines.)

So, is this wine terrible? No, it’s not terrible. But it has too much residual sugar for me. In an attempt to overcome that, I tried an experiment–I added a few drops of Angostura bitters to the glass. It actually did make a difference, as the bitter helped offset the sweet. Also, this wine definitely tasted better with food.

In the end, St. Regis Chardonnay isn’t a bad option if you enjoy wine rather than other beverages with food, and you want a non-alcoholic option. Just be prepared for “airline wine.” If you’re looking for a non-alcoholic red wine instead of white, St. Regis also makes a Cabernet Sauvignon–I’ll review that one next, stay tuned.