amie non-alc 75cl
amie is the work of Will and Abbie Sandbach, who set the whole thing up during lockdown — a wine studio in Belgravia, the wine itself made down in the Languedoc. This is their non-alcoholic bottle, and it is a good deal better than the price suggests.
It starts as Grenache rosé from the south of France. The alcohol is removed by reverse osmosis, which is the gentler of the two methods in common use — it works at low temperature and keeps the aromatics largely intact rather than cooking them off. The result sits at 0.5% rather than a hard 0.0%, worth knowing if you're avoiding alcohol entirely rather than just cutting down.
What's left is genuinely zesty. Peach and melon on the nose, a light spritz of bubbles, and a dry finish with residual sugar kept low — the thing most non-alcoholic wine gets badly wrong. Seventeen calories a glass, which is roughly a fifth of the real thing.
Twelve pounds makes this an easy bottle to keep in the fridge for whoever isn't drinking. A pound from every order goes to charity: water, who have funded two wells in western Uganda off the back of it.
How to Serve
Serve it cold, 6–8°C, in a wine glass rather than a flute. Over ice with a slice of orange is no crime on a hot afternoon. Drink it young and fresh — this isn't a bottle to keep.
Where to Drink It
Dandy at Maltby Street, for small plates and no fuss. Planque near Haggerston. The River Cafe, if the weather is behaving and you're outside.
Food Pairings
A green salad with plenty of herbs, or a bowl of pasta with courgette and lemon. It's also a good match for spiced food, where its low alcohol and touch of sweetness handle chilli better than a real rosé would.
