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From 15 April, the world's first non-alcoholic Blanc de Blancs vintage semi-sparkling wine, Bloom La Cuvée 2022, will be available to buy at London's luxury department stores' Harrod's. At a price of 109 pounds (127 euros), it is the first non-alcoholic premium sparkling wine.
The Bloom brand was founded by Rodolphe Frèrejean-Taittinger, a member of the Taittinger Champagne family, and his wife Maggie Frèrejean-Taittinger. The idea of creating a non-alcoholic semi-sparkling wine that would taste like matured champagne was born in 2019 when Maggie was pregnant and "felt at a loss as to what to drink at customer dinners in Michelin-starred restaurants".
The project did not receive support from the Taittinger family, but from companies such as Petrus, Cointreau and Rémy Martin. Cognac also provided the inspiration for the appropriate base wine, as Rodolphe explains: "Our family's expertise in cognac production helped us here. We knew that we had to make a base wine that was perfectly suited to dealcoholisation. As we would lose 60 per cent of the aromas during the dealcoholisation process, we had to exaggerate all of its characteristics. Even the base wine of a Cognac made from Ugni Blanc grapes is undrinkable before distillation."
The organically grown Chardonnay grapes from hillside vineyards in Languedoc were harvested two weeks before the usual harvest date to guarantee high acidity. The wine was matured for six months in new French barriques. After additional acidification of the wine, the alcohol was removed in three stages using low-temperature vacuum distillation. As Maggie Frèrejean-Taittinger explains, without alcohol, the wine is not stable enough for longer storage, but still has the complex flavour of a mature vintage champagne.
Each bottle is delivered in a wooden crate. After the one-month exclusive contract with Harrod's expires, Bloom La Cuvée 2022 will be available in other countries. A total of 17,000 bottles were produced.
(al / source: harpers)