While more of us than ever before are imbibing in that favorite glass of wine, a growing number of consumers would like to if it weren't for the alcohol-so they abstain. "We call them situational abstainers and I'm referring to people who are pregnant, who are designated drivers, and those who can't drink for medical or religious reasons, " said Steve Franchetti, brand manager for Sutter Home Winery.

To still enjoy that wine experience several companies produce non-alcoholic wines. Sutter Home of St. Helena, the folks that first brought you White Zinfandel, have been creating several varieties of non-alcoholic wine for more than a decade. They're appropriately called Sutter Home Fre and may be more like the real thing, thanks to a new technique that's used to create them. "All of our alcohol-free wines start out as Sutter Home varietal wines and what we do is we put them through a proprietary process known as the Spinning Cone Technology. It's a process that was developed in Australia,"
said Franchetti.

The so-called spinning cone removes the alcohol in a gentler way than other methods by doing it at low temperatures. The result is a beverage with less than 0.25 percent alcohol. "As far as the flavor is concerned, I mean let's face it, every time you remove alcohol from a product you're going to take a little bit of that mouth feel away from it. But what you are left with is the aroma and the essential flavor," Franchetti said.

In the beginning Sutter Home produced alcohol-free White Zinfandel, Sparkling Brut and Chardonnay. It's now expanded into Merlot and premium white and red. The winery's Chef Jeffery Star has even concocted a variety of tasty drinks and cocktails. Today Fre is the most successful nonalcoholic wine brand in the U.S., with 69 percent of the market share.
If you're a real wine connoisseur this may not be for you, but it's definitely an alternative that's finding an audience.

For more details, visit www.sutterhome.com.