Dear Drink To That Reader,
It’s been an exciting week for me so far in terms of learning about new drink stories and brands that I’ll be bringing you in future editions of the newsletter.
But first, it was an unexpected surprise to find out my copywriting business Stoic Athenaeum has been shortlisted for North West Creative Startup of the Year for the StartUp Awards in the UK.
Secondly, I’ve been exploring some interesting food and drink experiences at the Northern Restaurant & Bar Show in Manchester (more on these takeaways next week)
Thirdly, I’ve got an interview to share with a pretty awesome guy called Luke Hemsley.
Founder of Wednesday’s Domaine, an upcoming non-alcoholic wine brand, Luke shared his expertise on exactly what makes this category so exciting and how no and low companies can continue to innovate.
Also remember that you can subscribe to The Premium Serve for £5 per month or an annual membership of £30 to get the most out of the newsletter (especially if you work in the off and on trade)
Best,
Jamie
Exploring Non-Alcoholic Wine With Luke Hemsley
What inspired you to create Wednesday’s Domaine and how has the brand developed since you first started?
There are two elements. The first is I wanted to set up my own business so spent some time looking at brands I admired and to work out what they had in common. I realised what they had in common was physical products and delightful customer experiences.
During COVID, I was also spending a lot of time with my parents and we had a drink most evenings. This struck me as unsustainable.
I went to the supermarket and checked out non-alcoholic options and was amazed at what I saw with beer and spirits. The growth and quality of these products was enormous, but the same wasn’t true of wine. I couldn't find anything I enjoyed drinking or anything I'd be proud to tell my friends about.
So, with Wednesday's Domaine, we’ve aimed to create a great-tasting, beautifully branded wine and our ambition is to become people's midweek wine alternative.
In regards to how we’ve evolved, we’ve become clearer in who we’re for and where we’re going but there’s still a lot of work to do. It’s still in the early days of non-alcoholic wine developing into a category consumer take seriously.
It does sound like a unique category with plenty of opportunity to innovate and I imagine that comes down to ingredients and process.
What are your core products and how do you source the ingredients?
We started by working with a liquid development agency to bring the wines to life and that helped me get a better understanding of how the supply chain could work. It was through this process that we found a supplier for both of our products.
Our wine supplier works with Spanish growers that produce the wine and dealcoholise it before bringing it into the UK. We then blend the wines with natural flavours and ingredients to create the unique flavour experiences that characterise our wines.
It’s been incredibly valuable working with a specialist non-alcoholic bottling partner. They’ve helped to produce the product in a certain way, including allowing us to develop a distinct aesthetic for the products.
A good example is having a bottle with a wax top. A lot of people told me that wasn’t possible with non-alcoholic wine but our partner made it work without any issues.
Do you feel terroir is as important with non-alcoholic wine as it with alcoholic wine?
Terroir is a massive part of alcoholic wine but it’s not so much a focus with non-alcoholic. I think we’re getting there and it’s one of the next phases of evolution within the space.
The reason for it not being a major focus is that non-alcoholic wine still represents a tiny proportion of the wine volume being produced and a tiny proportion of investment put into the space.
The next phase would be to explore different varietals and their appropriateness for de-alcoholisation. Then in time, we’ll see the element or terroir come through.
That’s really interesting. There is a lot of excitement about the no and low category right now and why do you think there’s been an increase in popularity?
I think it’s a happy confluence of supply and demand that characterises any market that’s growing.
You have consumers that are becoming more conscious of what goes into their bodies and how they spend their time. Then you have producers who’re responding to that increased interest and generating higher-quality products. As a result, you have a flywheel effect where things continue to grow from both sides.
The majority of growth in the market is being driven by people moderating. It’s not people saying ‘I don’t want to drink anymore.’ It’s people saying ‘there are certain times where I don’t want to drink but I don’t want to compromise on flavour or experience.’
On the other side of the coin, there are several challenges that no and low brands are facing e.g. high price points and consumers not knowing enough about ingredients to understand why they should buy these products.
What are some ways that these challenges can be overcome?
Price is definitely a big challenge. There’s a narrative that pushes the idea that there’s no point paying premium pricing for a drink that doesn’t contain any alcohol.
What’s important to understand is that a lot of no and low brands are small producers that haven’t yet reached the economies of scale that larger, traditional producers enjoy. To make their products viable, they need to charge a higher price point.
I’d also say that to develop a certain flavour profile you need to use more ingredients because there isn’t any alcohol to provide the backbone of the flavour, which also adds to the cost to produce these liquids.
Improving flavour is key to bringing more people into the category because they’ll realise they can have a similar experience to drinking an alcoholic beverage. So, as quality improves that will help brands to scale and in time that’ll bring price points down.
There’s also an interesting evolution of the narrative within the space. More consumers are realising that no and low have a place in their lives from a moderation perspective.
It’s an outdated narrative to say that people aren’t drinking because they’re driving, giving up alcohol, for religious reasons etc.
What’re your thoughts about creativity in the space and how it relates to branding and messaging?
Ultimately, most no and low brands have similar messaging i.e. allowing people to do more with their time and I think that messaging will become more creative over time.
The good news is that because we’re seeing more interest in the space, there’s increased creativity around activation and sampling, whether through running dinners, turning up at events or supporting certain causes.
There are also some great crossover opportunities with a lot of no and low brands looking at drinks from a lifestyle perspective and not a pure drinks perspective.
Another big trend in the drinks space is sustainability.
What are your thoughts on greenwashing and how can drink brands that claim to be sustainable practice what they preach?
If you’re a brand that claims to have made certain sustainability commitments then you clearly have to back it up. It’s interesting how businesses approach it in different ways and one way is to make it a pillar of the company from day one.
The other way is to look at the support you can get. All businesses start out having to put out a million different fires and seeing how you can find practical support in those specialist areas is useful for making small steps.
You don’t automatically have to reach for B-Corp status. There are smaller organisations that offer advice, community and practical guidelines when it comes to making your business more sustainable.
Where would you like to see Wednesday’s Domaine in 5 - 10 years?
We want to be known as the category defining alcohol-free wine alternative. Historically, no and low wine has been an afterthought because people don’t know enough about it or haven’t seen any high-quality players in the space.
We’re still figuring it out one step at a time but we can see multiple products being distributed across different geographies and moving along the ABV scale as we grow.