Eight delicious low-alcohol wines that could spare you a hangover

Completing Dry January is commendable, but exiting a period of abstinence can be just as tricky as going without.

If I’m having a dry month, I often spend the first week thinking about how I’ll break the fast. But by the time week three or four rolls around, things get confusing. Old habits have been tested and, often, broken. But I still want to enjoy a drink.

Thankfully, there’s a new sipping style in our midst, designed to help drinkers transition from dry January to damp February without one hell of a hangover: enter “mid-strength” wine.

While traditional wines typically range between 11 per cent and 14 per cent ABV, mid-strength might include anything from 3 per cent to 9.5 per cent or even 10 per cent ABV (the strength of the alcohol by volume). These wines taste great and don’t pretend to be alcohol-free, but the lower alcohol levels mean you can enjoy a few glasses without fearing a hangover.

There are a number of ways to reduce the levels of alcohol in any wine. With recent arrivals like mid-strength sauvignons, producers have carefully adapted both how the grapes ripen and the fermentation process. A second way is to de-alcoholise the wine, literally making a typical wine then extracting the alcohol by sucking it out with a vacuum.

Then, some wines are naturally lower in alcohol, like certain German Rieslings, which sit at around 8 per cent ABV.

“Naturally lower ABV wines are often Riesling and Vinho Verde,” explains a wine buyer from Majestic. “Wines from cooler climates tend to have a lower ABV due to less ripe grapes and lower sugar levels, which means less sugar to convert to alcohol.”

Many natural wines, such as pétillant naturel, are also great low ABV options. So are sweeter wines like Moscato, a semi-sweet, lightly fizzy and delicately floral wine that’s a refreshing alternative to traditional dessert wines, as well as a tasty aperitif.

As consumers, we now expect to see “no” and “lo” sections on drinks menus and in retailers. Prepare to start seeing “mid” more and more, as manufacturers and retailers report a growing market for lower strength wines, while supermarkets including Sainsbury’s unveil dedicated aisles to the emerging sector.

“The mid-strength market is experiencing notable growth,” explains Shauna Clark Fitzpatrick, Ocado’s buying manager for low, no and mid-strength Alcohola who has expanded Ocado’s range by 416 per cent in a year, in part because of so much innovation within the category. “We’ve got a dedicated aisle on site for mid-strength drinks and we stock 32 mid-strength drinks on site.”

“We’ve seen a significant increase in customers searching for moderate alcohol wines on Ocado over the last year,” she continues. “Searches for ‘mid strength wine’ increased over 3,000 per cent year on year.”

“We’re certainly seeing a trend across the industry for more mid-strength and ‘lower alcohol’ options on shelves,” says Joseph Arthur, senior wine buyer for M&S Food. “Our sales of Portuguese white wine have soared by over 90 per cent in the past year.”

Sainsbury’s is also focusing on mid-strength, with dedicated space in some stores to help shoppers find new lines. Last year it launched a “Taste the Difference” mid-strength Val de Loire at 8.5 per cent and a Marlborough Sauvignon at 9.5 per cent.

But the growth of this space isn’t an entirely altruistic gesture from the wine industry. Conveniently, setting us up with a new drinking category also aligns with incoming tax rises. From February 1, stronger wines will be subject to higher duty, following alcohol reforms during Rishi Sunak’s chancellorship that aimed to tax bottles based on strength. Until 1 February, £2.67 is charged on each bottle between 11.5 per cent and 14.5 per cent ABV. From then on, there are 30 different tax bands to apply. A bottle at 12.5 per cent will go up by 10p, 13.5 per cent by 32p, and 14.5 per cent by 54p.

The sector is also being sold to the wellness crowd as a “healthier” option given mid-strength wines are usually lower in calories as well as alcohol, but it’s not yet booming in the way we’ve seen alcohol-free beer win over hearts, minds and pub-goers. “The mid-strength wine market is still relatively small and growing more slowly compared to the wider no-low category,” explains Pierpaolo Petrassi, head of trading at Waitrose. “There are many factors, and a key reason is due to alcohol reduction technology being relatively expensive and typically an extra process with additional costs.”

Petrassi also notes that, from the reactions he’s seen on social media, not all wine drinkers accustomed to higher strength bottles are keen to adapt to these new options, which is a polite way of acknowledging that you can’t replace thousands of years of wine-making with a bit of clever technology.

That said, we’ve trawled the aisles for the best mid-strength bottles to ease your passage from dry January to a relaxing and gently boozy February. Cheers!

1. Varzea Do Marano Vinho Verde Rosé, 8.5 per cent
   £7, Ocado.com
   Vinho Verde is a great place to start experimenting with mid-strength wines as they’re naturally low in alcohol. This rosé is dry with delicate fruit and much cheaper than a French counterpart as well as fewer units.
2. Forrest Wines The Doctors Sauvignon Blanc 2022, 9.5 per cent
   £11.99/£8.99 Mix Six, Majestic
   At 9.5 per cent this Marlborough Sauvignon is at the higher end of the “mid” sector, but its intense, tropical notes stand up to the full-strength New Zealand Sauvignons that are so popular with British drinkers and come in around 13 per cent ABV. A reliable crowd pleaser and a bestseller in the category for Majestic, and also available in Waitrose.
3. Chill Bill Spritzy Red, 9.5 per cent
   £9.50, Ocado.com
   There aren’t a huge number of red wines in the mid-strength space, but this vibrant red, intended to be drunk chilled, has a winning combo of ripe red fruit flavours and light fizz. “An underground hit with critics and customers alike, and a brilliant example of the kind of innovation making the moderate alcohol space feel very exciting right now,” says Ocado buyer Shauna Clark Fitzpatrick.
4. Definition by Majestic Mosel Riesling Kabinett, 8 per cent
   £13.99/£11.99 Mix Six, Majestic
   A really special bottle made by some of Germany’s most experienced winemakers. Riesling is a grape to look out for if you’re trying out lower-strength styles, known for its balance of sweet notes such as floral, apple and stone fruit, as well as good acidity, making it a great match for sharp cheeses and spicy foods like Indian and Thai.
5. Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Mid-Strength Val de Loire, 8.5 per cent
   £7.75, Sainsbury’s
   A dry and aromatic wine made from a grape called Grolleau Gris, mostly found in the Loire Valley. This easy-drinking white speaks of the long summer lunches ahead but will make an excellent partner to pasta and chicken throughout the winter.
6. Davenport Pet Nat, 9.5 per cent
   £20.50, Davenport
   If you can splash out after a careful January, make damp February major on quality over quantity and indulge in this stunning and slightly cloudy natural wine from Sussex.
7. Portal do Minho Vinho Verde DOC, 10 per cent
   £4.99, Lidl
   At the higher end in terms of alcohol content, but brilliant value for a ripe and rounded dry white with lots of apple as well as light peach and floral flavours.
8. Moderato Merlot, 0.5 per cent
   £13.99/11.99 mix six, Majestic
   If you’re not ready to crack open a “real” bottle just yet, this alcohol-free option might tide you over. It’s the first I’ve tried at this ABV that I’d honestly recommend. The alcohol has been taken out, so there are some pleasingly juicy grape notes and aromas, just none of the expected buzz.