What’s the difference between non and low alcohol wine?

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This question is a great example of where the industry has served to shoot itself in the foot, causing confusion amongst consumers, something that is further complicated by the use of “No & Low” to broadly describe a category that encompasses beers, wines, ciders, spirits and more.


Focusing on wine, we’re able to draw a clearer distinction between non alcoholic and alcohol free wines and low strength wines. Low strength wines typically range from 5 - 11% with the interpretation of low strength varying depending on who you’re speaking to. Beers, for context, are categorised as “low strength” when less than 3.5%.


As for non-alcoholic or alcohol-free, it’s anything below 0.5% ABV. Yes, that does mean there is still some alcohol in the bulk of these products (some are 0.0%), however, this is akin to the alcohol content of a ripe banana or a glass of orange juice (yes, really).