Romain des Grottes is the sort of vigneron who farms with the utmost sensitivity, who sells important oils from his herb farm alongside his pure wines, who improvises at his piano with a concert-level depth. What he isn’t, I’m assured to attest, is the kind of winemaker to chase a pattern. And but, his wildest success just isn’t his beloved Beaujolais, however an unfermented N/A wine referred to as “L’Antidote.”
For the European pure wine set, L’Antidote has develop into the N/A wine of alternative—a frequent sight on tables throughout Paris, Copenhagen, London. Romain conceived of it in 2010, approach earlier than the present race towards N/A. After I requested him what impressed its creation, his reply was easy: “I discovered it a compelling thought to mix the juice with the native flora.” He additionally wished to create a nonalcoholic drink for when he wanted to remain clear-headed, one that would additionally double as one thing particular to share along with his children. He by no means anticipated it to be a success.
To make L’Antidote, he blends apple and his personal gamay juice, then aromatizes it with herbs, flowers and artemisias that sprout in his untamed vineyards. He then applies his winemaker mind to stability the acidity, sweetness and bitter elements and turns the entire thing glou-glou with the addition of bubbles. The ultimate step is “tunnel” pasteurization, a course of typically utilized by craft beer people, by which the bottled product, as a substitute of the uncovered juice, is heated to stabilize it; he finds this preserves L’Antidote’s delicate aromas.
Demand, nevertheless, has not been delicate. Simply 4 years in the past, in 2020, he produced 10,000 bottles. As of 2024, 87,000. Pushed by pure demand, this isn’t solely a quantum leap, however an outpacing of his Beaujolais manufacturing by nearly 9 occasions.
U.Ok. importer Joel Wright says he zips by 9 to 10 pallets (greater than 6,000 bottles) yearly. The share of that allocation is consumed not solely by the pure wine neighborhood, however at extra conventional spots—just like the Noble Rot eating places in London, the place it’s served for £6 ($8) a glass. Throughout the Channel, in Paris, Nathan Ratapu owns a petite tenth arrondissement e-book and wine store, Rerenga. L’Antidote is by far its blockbuster. “One of many appeals,” he says, “is classic variations. In 2023, they had been herbaceous. In 2024, they really feel a lot lighter on their ft and barely extra fruit-forward.” If the drinker’s alternative is pure, this different works with that ideology. As he notes, “It’s not some mass-produced soda or some brand-oriented alcohol different or wine with the alcohol stripped out.”
One other pure wine hub, Copenhagen, has additionally embraced the drink. Solfinn Danielsen, who sells it at Rødder & Vin, a preferred caviste and pure wine bar, calls it “the gamay model of a root beer.” He typically shares a glass along with his son, one thing Romain would approve of; he believes that his L’Antidote (and its new sibling, L’Antelope, with elevated bitterness and 50 % much less residual sugar) can work as coaching wheels for a younger palate. “We will present a baby the complexities and marvel of wine, with out there truly being wine,” says Romain. (That is, after all, a wine different speaking level that might give the present prohibitionists hives.)
For all its success with the Gen Z set in Europe, at the moment you may’t discover L’Antidote within the U.S. Chris Terrell, who had beforehand been Romain’s importer, advised me that with its 2018 debut, prospects would order after which return it “once they realized it wasn’t wine.” The error was comprehensible; the bottle is analogous in form and label to the vigneron’s Beaujolais. There’s a rumor that one other U.S.-based importer is poised to carry it again, however for now, stateside drinkers should be content material to easily place it on their European procuring checklist.
As for Romain, he stays bewildered by L’Antidote’s ascendency. Final spring, at a hybrid wine tasting within the Jura, he reached beneath the desk and pulled out his latest classic of L’Antidote—it was natural and juicy, like a twig- and thyme-wrapped raspberry refresher. After I requested about its success, he shook his head in mirthful shock. “I simply can’t consider it.”