Thomson and Scott Noughty Sparkling Chardonnay Alcohol Free

Thomson and Scott’s Noughty is a full-on marketing creation, melding wine fermented from Spanish Chardonnay grapes with Carl Jung’s pioneering (in 1908) German vaccum dealcolisation process (see our article), generous re-carbonisation and some first rate branding to produce a very decent zero alcohol “wine derived drink”.  It ticks lots of boxes – green credentials, vegan, organic, halal and only 14 calories/100 ml.  It looks great too, opens with a fine pop, fizzes merrily in the glass … but then slightly fizzles out.  Not much nose to savour and a rather watery medium dry taste.   I’m probably being harsh, as most on-line customers report themselves to have been pleasantly satisfied with this drink and Tamlyn Currin, writing on the Jancis Robison website, says “It is, hands down, the best alcohol-free sparkling wine I have ever tasted”.   But for me it’s not quite there as a satisfying 0% ABV sparkling and others have done better (see our 5-star choices).  And at under half the price, Nozeco (which we also rated 4-stars) or any of the supermarkets’ own label versions are strong alternatives.