I tested alcohol-free fizz for Christmas – a budget bottle beats Freixenet on taste and price
MORE than a third of Brits steer clear of the booze at Christmas, with even more of us looking to cut down on how much we drink.
If you’re avoiding alcohol this festive season, there are plenty of alternatives to festive favourites like prosecco, sparkling wine and champagne.
We tried some of the most popular no or low-alcohol fizz alternatives sold in the supermarkets – and tested which were the best value for money.
For each, we rated how drinkable it was and how it compared with the real thing, giving it a score out of 10 for taste.
We also compared how much each bottle cost, giving a score out of 10 for value for money based on the price of a 75cl bottle.
Here’s how they all scored out of 20 overall...
Read more taste tests
Freixenet 0.0% Alcohol Free Sparkling
- £4.75 for 75cl (Tesco)
Despite its weird plastic smell, this was the most authentic alcohol-free sparkling wine we tasted – but it was also the most expensive.
It had a dry taste, similar to champagne, so it would be a great replacement for the real thing at Christmas or New Year celebrations.
De-alcoholised wine made up 90% of the ingredients, which meant not too many others had been added in.
If you’re looking for a like-for-like replacement for champagne, this is probably the closest you’ll get.
But if you prefer sweeter, lighter drinks, it’s definitely not one for you.
- Taste: 7/10
- Value: 5/10
- Total: 12/20
Asda Extra Special Sparkling Sauvignon Blanc Low Alcohol Wine
- £4 for 75cl
Asda’s low-alcohol fizz was based on Sauvignon Blanc and had the highest declared wine content of all the products which tested, at 91%.
But disappointingly, it tasted weak. We felt it was similar to a watered-down fizzy apple drink, like Appletiser.
At £4 a bottle, it was one of the most expensive products we tried and didn’t feel worth the money.
- Taste: 6/10
- Value: 5/10
- Total: 12/20
Nozeco Spumante Alcohol Free
- £3.50 for 75cl (Asda)
The Nozeco had a strong flowery, botanical smell and tasted citrusy and floral.
It was a bit overwhelming - and nothing like alcoholic sparkling wine.
You could try this as a soft drink, but if you’re looking for something to replace prosecco or champagne, this isn’t it.
At £3.50 per bottle, it’s middle-of-the-range on price.
- Taste: 4/10
- Value: 6/10
- Total: 10/20
Sainsbury’s Sparkling Alcohol Free
- £3.25 for 75cl
This sparkling drink from Sainsbury’s was like a fizzy grape juice. It was drinkable – but it wasn’t much like sparkling wine.
Bizarrely, it also had almost no smell.
At £3.25 per bottle, this was one of the cheaper ones we tried. And it contained a decent 89.5% real wine in its ingredients.
- Taste: 6/10
- Value: 7/10
- Total: 13/20
Aldi Zerozecco Sparkling White Alcohol Free
- 2.99 for 75cl
The Aldi prosecco was the cheapest we tried at just £2.99 per bottle – but unfortunately it showed.
The drink had an artificial taste of grapes but also a strong tropical flavour. It wasn’t that different from tropical soft drinks like Lilt.
Wine only made up 70% of the ingredients – the lowest declared wine content of all the bottles we tried.
We would drink this as a soft drink, but it wasn’t a good replacement for the alcoholic version.
- Taste: 5/10
- Value: 7/10
- Total: 12/20
Tesco Low Alcohol Sparkling Wine
- £3.25 for 75cl
The Tesco version was really drinkable. It was quite sweet and fizzy but overall was like drinking a posh sparkling grape juice.
There was no wine content declared on the label but the drink is made from Sauvignon Blanc.
This means it is more authentic than some other alcohol-free drinks which are flavoured to taste like wine.
This was one of the cheaper bottles we tried, at £3.25, and we felt it was good value for money].
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Along with the taste, it meant that Tesco came out the winner.
- Taste: 8/10
- Value: 8/10
- Total: 16/20