Villa à la Mer Alcohol-Removed Sparkling Brut
63/100 How we score
Verdict
Editorial VerdictLightly sparkling, nearly blank, and gone almost as soon as you swallow. A soft bead, and almost no flavor.
Verified facts
Evidence: Documented · 5 sources
- Sourced ABV <0.5% Bottle
- Sourced Classification Dealcoholized Producer documentation
- Sourced Method Vacuum distillation Producer documentation
- Sourced Origin France Producer documentation
At a glance
- Structure
- No tannin
- Very light
- Short finish
- Thin
- Soft bead
- Mouthfeel
Light and thin, with a soft bead and no weight where the alcohol was.
- What stands out
A gentle bead, and a blanc de blancs that tastes like almost nothing.
- How wine-like is it?
It is built as removed wine. It does not taste like blanc de blancs, or like much wine at all.
- Perfect for
A cold aperitif only if a gentle bead is the whole request.
Tasting notes
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Nose
Quiet to the point of absence. A faint, neutral smell, with nothing bready, nothing floral, and nothing you could name as fruit. A cold glass makes it easier to miss.
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Palate
Light, with a soft bead and a middle that does not arrive. Sweetness does not announce itself, and neither does acid. There is no fruit to separate from the bubble. The house says the process keeps acidity and mouthfeel. This pour does not show either. What you get is a short, nearly empty sip.
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Finish
The bead ticks and stops. Nothing bitter follows, nothing mineral, nothing that would tell you which grape was in the tank. The end is the lack of one.
The wine
A dealcoholized sparkling white with a gentle bead. The process is not the tasting. The tasting is how little is in the glass.
The nose is quiet to the point of absence. A faint, neutral smell, with nothing bready, nothing floral, and nothing you could name as fruit. A cold glass makes it easier to miss. Warming it does not unlock a Chardonnay note that was hiding.
The palate is light, with a soft bead and a middle that does not arrive. Sweetness does not announce itself, and neither does acid. There is no fruit to separate from the bubble. Mouthfeel is thin, with no weight where the alcohol was. The bead is the only texture, and it is a small one. It keeps the sip from being still water. It does not make it wine.
The bead ticks and stops. Nothing bitter follows, nothing mineral, nothing that would tell you which grape was in the tank. The end is the lack of one. Serve it chilled. An open bottle wants the fridge, and it will not improve with air.
It does not taste like blanc de blancs, or like much wine at all. The bubble is real. The flavor is not. Cold is the only way to pour it, and even then the bead is doing nearly all the work.
How to drink it
Chilled. The producer says to refrigerate an open bottle and finish it within 48 hours.
How it was made
Classification Dealcoholized
Evidence status Documented
Sources disagree on the following points.
- Base_beverage: Serendipity’s “Sparkling Non Alc NV” listing and Vivino’s page for Blanc de Blancs Brut both name Chardonnay, Vin de France. On villa-a-la-mer.com the still white is Chardonnay and the sparkling-white heading is followed by Souvignier Gris, with apple-and-flower copy that matches the Chardonnay paragraph. The bottle in this review is labeled Blanc de Blancs Brut. Chardonnay is the SKU-specific trade identification. Souvignier Gris stays on the record as the house site’s sparkling-white grape, not as a second resolved cuvée.
- Sugar: The site says the wines have no added sugar and only the sugars of the grape juice. The label says Brut. No grams per liter are published, so Brut is unverified.
Product record history
Sourced changes and open disagreements. Prior claims stay on the record when sources conflict.
Product record history
- Reviewed and published.
- Open Base_beverage — Serendipity’s “Sparkling Non Alc NV” listing and Vivino’s page for Blanc de Blancs Brut both name Chardonnay, Vin de France. On villa-a-la-mer.com the still white is Chardonnay and the sparkling-white heading is followed by Souvignier Gris, with apple-and-flower copy that matches the Chardonnay paragraph. The bottle in this review is labeled Blanc de Blancs Brut. Chardonnay is the SKU-specific trade identification. Souvignier Gris stays on the record as the house site’s sparkling-white grape, not as a second resolved cuvée.
- Open Sugar — The site says the wines have no added sugar and only the sugars of the grape juice. The label says Brut. No grams per liter are published, so Brut is unverified.
Sources
Product facts are only as strong as their sources. Editorial tasting notes are opinion.
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Bottle / can label
Back label of the tasted bottle prints less than 0.5% alcohol. The producer site says alcohol-free and does not print the figure.
Verified facts -
Verified facts
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Chardonnay on the sparkling SKU at Serendipity, corroborated by Vivino. See discrepancies for Souvignier Gris on the producer site.
Verified facts -
Verified facts
Additional citations & background
Keep tasting
Other Sparkling
63/100 How we score