The nonalcoholic yet adult-aimed beverage world continues to explode, with NA beers, alcohol-removed wines, and mocktail menus ever-more ever-present. Into this category comes Glasrose , a Santa Ynez Valley–grown brand of verjus launched by American opera singer Sara Hershkowitz and German writer-musician-winemaker Max Hoetzel.
Verjus is made from wine grapes that are picked at lower sugars with high acidities, and then Glasrose enhances that base with herbal, flower, spice, tea, and fruit elements. The current two releases are the white Yuzu & Elderflower, made from malvasia grapes and costarring green tea, white pepper, and pink Himalayan salt; and the pink Hibiscus Blood Orange, based on syrah and featuring black pepper, cardamom, and birch bark.
The aromas on each are incredibly powerful, and then the palate more deftly integrates the components into complex, smoothed out expressions. They don’t really compete with the sensory specifics of alcoholic wine as we know it, which tends to be more subtle. But they do serve a similar role as nuanced beverages to start conversations, pair with cuisine, and quench thirst in interesting ways.