Zeno Viura: alcohol-free white wine review

Most alcohol-free wine fails at the same spot: the nose promises plenty, the palate delivers nothing. Zeno Viura does better than average, and it starts with a smart choice. Not yet another alcohol-free Sauvignon, but Viura, the Spanish white grape that also goes into real white Rioja.

Zeno calls itself “alcohol-liberated”, a marketing way of saying they make a real wine and then strip the alcohol out. Vineyard to glass, then dialled back to 0.3%. The result is a drink that starts as wine and wants to end as wine.

In the glass: pale gold, clear. Ripe apple, pear, a touch of citrus and that faint fennel note that marks Viura. The acidity is fresh and does a lot of work, because without alcohol the acid has to carry the structure. Dry, lively, with a finish shorter than wine but tidy enough.

Where the style wins, and where it stalls

The win is in the balance. A lot of alcohol-free white compensates for missing body with sugar, so you get lemonade in a wine bottle. Zeno keeps it dry and lets the acidity do the work. That’s the right call, and it lands.

But here is the unavoidable caveat: the mid-palate stays hollow. Alcohol gives wine weight, a roundness on the tongue, and you miss it. The Viura smells full and then tastes thin, with a gap between attack and finish where the body should be. That’s not Zeno’s fault, it’s the limit of the whole genre, but you feel it here.

Second point: drink it ice-cold and fresh. Without alcohol as a preservative, alcohol-free wine is fragile. Once opened, finish it within a few days, and serve it cold, or the aromatics fall apart fast.

When to pour the Zeno Viura

As an aperitif for someone who doesn’t drink but wants a grown-up glass, or as an alcohol-free option at a dinner where the rest drink wine. With light dishes, salads, white fish. Well chilled, around 7 degrees.

In the Netherlands, Zeno turns up at alcohol-free specialists and increasingly at better wine shops. If you want alcohol-free white that dares to be dry, this is one of the more honest choices.

Producer

Zeno

Wine

Zeno Viura (alcohol-free)

Country

Spain

Grape

Viura

Alcohol

0.3%

Bottle received as a press sample from Zeno. No payment, independent assessment.