Introducing the Riesling Spacer
Bear with me. I know it's not "real" wine. At least not in the traditional sense. But it might fool you in a blind tasting. Since 2016, Johannes Leitz has devoted serious time, energy, and resources to producing non-alcoholic wines that actually taste like wine. Not grape juice. Not flavored sparkling water. Not some vaguely wine-adjacent beverage. Actual wine that just happens to have the alcohol removed.
Leitz begins with real Riesling grown in Germany's Rheingau, one of the world's great wine regions. The wine is fermented exactly as you'd expect before the alcohol is gently removed under vacuum at low temperatures, preserving the delicate aromatics and freshness that make Riesling such a darling of the wine community in the first place.
What remains is remarkably convincing. Bright citrus, green apple, lime zest, white peach, and a touch of slate-like minerality all come through clearly. The acidity is crisp and refreshing, and while there's a hint of residual sweetness, it finishes far drier than most people expect from a non-alcoholic wine. It really does seem like a crushable Kabinett. It drinks like wine.
That's a bigger accomplishment than it sounds. The texture is there. The balance is there. The complexity is there. It scratches the same itch that a glass of Riesling normally would.
And here's where I think it gets particularly useful.
Many of us have embraced the concept of a water spacer during a long dinner, tasting, or summer barbecue. A glass of water between wines helps keep the palate fresh and the evening on track. But now, instead of a water spacer, let me introduce the Riesling spacer. Refreshing. Flavorful. Something that keeps you engaged in the experience without adding another dose of alcohol. Not wine, but not not wine.
The category has come a long way in the last decade. Most of it still isn't very good. Leitz is one of the few producers proving that non-alcoholic wine can be more than a compromise. It can actually be delicious.There are other NA wine alternatives that I enjoy, but this is the best still NA wine on the market. A genuinely enjoyable bottle that just happens to contain no alcohol.
