Non-alcoholic wine gains ground as drinkers cut back

Non-alcoholic wine is moving from the margins of the drinks business into a more visible place in restaurants, retail shelves and producer strategy, even as traditional wine sales continue to soften. The shift reflects a broader change in how consumers drink in 2026: more moderation, more flexibility and less willingness to treat alcohol as a default part of every social occasion.

The trend is gaining force at a time when the U.S. wine market is under pressure. According to Silicon Valley Bank’s 2026 State of the U.S. Wine Industry Report, U.S. wine volume fell to about 329 million cases in 2025 from 335.9 million in 2024, while total value slipped to roughly $74.3 billion from $75.5 billion. Sales declined 2.0% by cases and 1.6% by dollars. That does not amount to a collapse, but it does show that wine can no longer rely on steady demand.

Against that backdrop, non-alcoholic wine has become one of the few parts of the category with a credible growth story. It is still small compared with the overall wine market, and it still faces questions about taste and positioning. But it is drawing attention because it fits where many consumers are headed.

Non-alcoholic wine is usually made as wine first and then dealcoholized, leaving it with less than 0.5% alcohol by volume in many markets. That separates it from grape juice and gives it a stronger claim to wine culture, food pairing and adult drinking occasions. The terminology remains messy, with labels such as non-alcoholic, alcohol-free, dealcoholized and low-alcohol often used interchangeably even when they do not mean the same thing.

Amy Mundwiler, national director of wine and beverage at Maple Hospitality Group, said the category has improved because producers are taking it more seriously and technology has advanced.

“Technology, combined with a real need and a passion for the product, always leads to innovation,” she said.

Susie Streelman, founder of Zeroproof Experiences, said she has seen the same change through alcohol-free events and travel experiences.

“Fast forward to now, and it’s a completely different experience,” Streelman said. “The quality has improved so much, and you can feel it in how people respond. More curiosity, more enthusiasm.”

That credibility gap has long been the category’s biggest obstacle. Awareness was never really the problem; trust was.

The broader non-alcohol market has already shown momentum. NielsenIQ reported in August 2025 that U.S. off-premise sales of non-alcoholic beer, wine and spirits reached $925 million, up 22% from a year earlier, and were on track to pass $1 billion by the end of 2025. NielsenIQ also found that 92% of non-alcohol buyers also purchase alcoholic products, suggesting that many consumers are not abandoning drinking altogether but shifting between formats depending on the occasion.

That pattern is visible in restaurants as well. Mundwiler said demand is coming not only from abstainers but from traditional wine drinkers who want more control over how much they consume.

“From what I am seeing, it’s a traditional wine drinker wanting to moderate their intake,” she said. “I think the days of zero consumption, black-and-white thinking are a thing of the past.”

Streelman described a similar shift among consumers who still want the ritual of wine without always wanting alcohol.

“From the consumer side, I’m seeing growing interest not just from non-drinkers in our community, but from traditional wine drinkers who want to moderate without giving up the experience of wine,” she said.

That flexibility may be the category’s strongest selling point. A consumer can start an evening with a non-alcoholic sparkling wine and later move to an alcoholic glass with dinner, or choose an alcohol-free bottle on a weeknight while keeping conventional wine for another occasion.

IWSR’s January 2026 data points in the same direction. Global no-alcohol analogue volume grew an estimated 9% in 2025 and is forecast to grow 36% between 2024 and 2029. Among no-alcohol wine and spirits buyers, 40% said health was one reason they bought the category.

Health matters, but it is not the whole story. Many consumers still want the bottle on the table, stemware in hand and something that feels like a proper toast. What they increasingly do not want is alcohol attached to every version of that moment.

The generational picture helps explain why. Wine Market Council research released in 2025 found that Millennials made up 31% of wine drinkers, ahead of Baby Boomers at 26%, while Gen Z accounted for 14%. The same research showed that wine is increasingly viewed as a special-occasion beverage rather than an everyday habit. It also found that 24% of Gen Z drinkers and 21% of Millennials said they changed the type or amount of alcohol they consumed in the past year to improve mood, sleep or energy.

Mundwiler pointed to sober curiosity, GLP-1 use and pandemic-era drinking habits as part of that shift.

“I think the category is growing due to people being sober curious, people being on GLP-1s, and people that went hard during COVID realizing they need to cut way back but still want to be social,” she said.

For wineries and retailers, that creates an opening. Non-alcoholic wine can keep consumers inside wine culture even when they are choosing not to drink alcohol every time they sit down for dinner or go out with friends.

The trade is paying attention. The ProWein Business Report 2026 found that 61% of producers and 54% of trade respondents expect zero- and non-alcoholic wines to perform well over the next two years.

Still, there are limits to how far the category can go on momentum alone. The first is scale. Even if sales rise quickly, non-alcoholic wine remains tiny compared with conventional wine.

“I think saying that this category is thriving while the broader market struggles is a bit misleading,” Mundwiler said. “You’re talking about a market that is minuscule compared to the wine market. NA wine can double its sales, but it’s still a fraction of what the wine industry does as a whole.”

The second limit is quality. Alcohol contributes body, aroma delivery and structure in wine, especially in still reds. When it is removed, some wines can taste thinner or shorter on the finish.

That matters because trial does not always lead to repeat purchases.

“A lot of people try non-alcoholic wine once, often paying $10 to $15 for a glass, and if it doesn’t meet expectations, they don’t come back,” Streelman said. “If the product isn’t good, the category doesn’t move forward.”

Mundwiler said one common mistake is expecting non-alcoholic wine to taste exactly like conventional wine.

“There is still a lot of work to do for that to happen,” she said. “When you remove the alcohol, you remove a textural component that is important to the overall structure of the wine.”

She added that her own reaction often reflects that missing element.

“Every time I taste an NA wine, I’m always left with a feeling of ‘something is missing,’” she said. “It’s the alcohol, of course.”

Even so, some restaurants are beginning to treat non-alcoholic wines as part of their beverage programs rather than as an afterthought. Maple Hospitality Group pours Odd Bird sparkling non-alcoholic wine, which Mundwiler described as “a hit,” though she stopped short of saying there was enough demand yet for full pairing menus built around it.

Asked whether non-alcoholic wine had reached true food-pairing credibility, she said: “Almost.”

Streelman said producers abroad have been investing for years in dealcoholization methods and flavor preservation.

“Would you be shocked to hear this winery offered our group not one, not two, but twelve varietals of non-alcoholic wine? And it was good,” she said after a recent trip to Germany.

For now, non-alcoholic wine appears most likely to grow by fitting into more occasions rather than replacing conventional bottles outright: weekday dinners, wellness periods, work-related meals and social events where some guests want alcohol and others do not

The question facing wineries in 2026 is no longer whether non-alcoholic wine exists at all or whether consumers know about it; it is whether producers can improve quality fast enough and position it clearly enough before competitors claim more shelf space and more restaurant attention