Chardonnay
79/100
The short takeRecognizably Chardonnay. Apple and pear lead, a touch of vanilla sits under a soft, slightly sweet palate, and the finish stays clean. It is pleasant and easy to drink, but simple, and the gentle acidity cannot supply the depth or frame the grape usually brings.
Tasted Karl HillHow we score
Who it’s for A soft, simple Chardonnay when apple, pear, and a touch of vanilla are enough.
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TDS Wineprint
This pour · documented production
In the glass
- Nose
- Apple and pear come first, with light citrus behind them. The orchard fruit carries the aroma, and the citrus stays a light edge rather than a second theme.
- Palate
- Soft and slightly sweet, with gentle acidity and a touch of vanilla. The sweetness is modest and the acid does not push back hard, so the middle stays soft rather than bright. The Chardonnay character is clear. Depth and structure are the gaps: the fruit does not build, and the acidity is too gentle to frame the sip.
- Finish
- Simple, clean, and lightly fruity. The fruit fades out tidily and the close stays uncluttered. It does not add a new idea on the way out.
Structure and likeness Show Hide
Structure
- Sweetness
- Off-dry
- Acidity
- Soft acidity
How wine-like is it?
Separate from the score. A convincing resemblance is not a higher rating.
The grape reads clearly. Apple, pear, and vanilla sit in a Chardonnay register, but the structure is lighter than wine and the glass is simpler than the grape usually is.
The wine
This is a Chardonnay you recognize on the first sniff and finish thinking about very little. That is both the case for it and the limit of it.
Apple and pear set the tone, with a light line of citrus behind them. The aroma is orchard fruit, stated plainly, in the right register for the grape.
The sip is soft and slightly sweet. The acidity is gentle, so the sweetness is never checked hard, and the palate stays round and easy instead of bright. A touch of vanilla fills the middle and gives the wine a warmer, Chardonnay-shaped edge. That note does much of the work of making it read as the grape rather than as a generic white.
Balance holds, but at low stakes. Nothing overreaches, and nothing builds either. The fruit arrives, sits, and fades, with no second layer under it and no structure to carry it further. Depth is the missing piece, and it is what keeps the score in the high 70s.
It does not turn sticky, which a soft, slightly sweet wine can. It also leaves little behind.
It is pleasant, easy to drink, and clearly the grape it claims to be. Pour it when you want familiar Chardonnay character and are not asking much more of the glass.
79 is typical of the 29 dealcoholized Chardonnay bottles we've tasted.
The bottle
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Research notes
Total Wine artwork corroborates the exact Chardonnay identity. Current producer range pages omit Chardonnay, so the method remains retailer-verified rather than producer-verified.
Where to buy
- Van Loveren
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Checked 28 Sep 2026
- Package
750 mL
$14.99 (Total Wine; Mix 6 for $13.49 each)
- Also listed
- Almost Zero range — Van Loveren · Producer
- Availability
Total Wine & More, Chantilly, VA
Availability is market-specific; a producer link does not establish shipping to every country. Prices and availability are independently observed and may change. Retailer listings do not imply endorsement. A different package is labeled as a different format. Reader-service exceptions and commercial links are identified above; neither affects scores, rankings, classification, verification, or editorial coverage.
Product facts
- Producer
- Van Loveren Family Vineyards
- Origin
South Africa- Bottle / can
- 750 mL (single bottle)
Sources disagree on ABV and Product. Send a correction
Sources & verification
Show details
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Source links leave this site and open in a new tab.
Where sources disagree
Sources disagree on the following points.
- ABV: The public figure is the IWSC alcohol level, 0.3%, on the exact Almost Zero Chardonnay NV entry. The front label prints Alcohol Free and no percent. The Van Loveren range page’s 0.3% line names Sauvignon Blanc, Moscato Rosé and Merlot, not this Chardonnay.
- Product: Total Wine lists Almost Zero Non-Alcoholic Chardonnay. The living Van Loveren Almost Zero page does not. The purchased bottle’s front label does: Van Loveren, Alcohol Free, Almost Zero, White Wine, Chardonnay.
Evidence at a glance
- Secondary source2 facts
- Research sourced1 fact
- Retailer sourced5 facts
- Unverified2 facts
Production record
2 core facts remain to be documented or rechecked.
- Classification
- Not verified
- Method
- Named method
- ABV
- Exact declaration
- Origin
- Documented
- Record
- Has open discrepancy
Sources
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2 notes
- Producer
- The current range page does not name this Chardonnay.
- Country
- The page does not attach a country line to a Chardonnay SKU.
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Note
- Volume
- Unable to re-verify on 2026-10-03.
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Note
- Price
- Chantilly shelf price.
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Cited source Cited source
- Ingredients
- Barcode (EAN/GTIN)
Note
- Ingredients
- Unable to re-verify on 2026-10-03.
Additional sources
Product record history Sourced changes and open disagreements. Prior claims stay on the record when sources conflict.
- ReviewedReviewed and published.
- UpdatedCatalog record updated from sourced research.
- ABV verified · ABVCorrected from 0.3% to Undeclared. The range value was transferred to a Chardonnay SKU not named on that page. Restore the exact-SKU evidence boundary.
- Classification changed · ClassificationCorrected from dealcoholized to Unclassified. No exact-Chardonnay production statement or readable removal claim on the front label; the range statement does not establish its process.
- Method verified · MethodCorrected from Blend of traditional winemaking and modern de-alcoholization methods; specific technology not named (producer range page) to Undeclared. Remove the range-level method from this SKU; preserve it only as a research lead.
- ABV verified · ABVCorrected from Undeclared to 0.3%. Producer range page: Almost Zero holds a virtually alcohol-free content of 0.3%. Range-level claim applied to the Chardonnay SKU; no Chardonnay-specific page found.
- Classification changed · ClassificationCorrected from Unclassified to dealcoholized. Producer describes the range as achieved through a blend of traditional winemaking and modern de-alcoholization methods.
- Method verified · MethodCorrected from (empty) to Blend of traditional winemaking and modern de-alcoholization methods; specific technology not named (producer range page). Producer language recorded verbatim; the producer does not name the removal machine.
- ABV verified · ABVCorrected from Undeclared to 0.3%. Deep recheck 2026-10-10 found an exact-SKU IWSC 2026 result naming Chardonnay, South Africa, 750 ml and 0.3% alcohol.
- Classification changed · ClassificationCorrected from Unclassified to dealcoholized. Deep recheck 2026-10-10 found exact-SKU marketplace product data with a unique product UUID and explicit alcohol-removal process.
- Method verified · MethodCorrected from (empty) to Spinning cone process after traditional winemaking (exact-product retailer data; producer attribution unavailable). Deep exact-SKU recheck 2026-10-10.
- OpenDiscrepancyABV and Product.
Structure
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