Vervain & Quince – alcohol-free

Verbena & Quince non-alcoholic from the Wiesen house, tart and herbaceous

Von Wiesen Verbena & Quince non-alcoholic is a carbonated fruit juice beverage made from an infusion of verbena, direct-pressed quince juice, and lactic-acid-fermented celeriac. It is produced without alcoholic fermentation, meaning it never contained alcohol that would have needed to be removed later.

Verbena & Quince non-alcoholic is the best-selling of the two non-alcoholic drinks from the Bensheim-based manufactory Von Wiesen, and its official designation as a "carbonated quince fruit juice beverage" tells you very little about the tart, herbal character in the glass.

Verbena, quince, and a touch of hop bitterness

On the nose, verbena—also known as lemon verbena—takes the lead, being both lemony and herbaceous. Beneath it, the quince provides its fuzzy, slightly waxy sweetness, as one knows it from raw fruit flesh.

In the mouth, it sparkles finely and remains genuinely dry. The label indicates no more than 2.3 grams of sugar per 100 milliliters, and the hops provide a bitterness that immediately reins in the fruit sweetness. A pinch of salt pulls both sides together.

Baked eggplant with miso, a spicy papaya salad, and steamed dumplings find a perfect match here, as the drink does not shy away from salt or spice. A plate of pickled radish and cold sesame vegetables also pairs well with this herbal sharpness. A sweet dessert, however, is beyond its reach; it lacks the necessary roundness for that.

A drink that never fermented

Almost everything else on the shelf labeled as non-alcoholic sparkling wine started out as wine. It is fermented first, the alcohol is then removed, and because a significant portion of the aroma is lost in the process, it must subsequently be re-spiced.

Von Wiesen does not take this route at all. The process begins with infusions, extracts, and juices from herbs, fruits, and vegetables, which are blended into a cuvée and subsequently carbonated. Alcoholic fermentation never occurs; therefore, no alcohol is ever created that would have to disappear later.

What ends up in the glass here never needed to be "repaired," and that is exactly what you can taste in the individual ingredients. Those who choose not to drink, or cannot, on a given evening are not handed a substitute product, but a drink that stands on its own merits.

What the fermented celeriac does

The verbena infusion makes up 66.5 percent of the bottle, and the direct-pressed quince juice accounts for another 30 percent. These quinces grow along the Hessian Bergstraße, where the Quince Project in Weinheim maintains old high-trunk trees in meadow orchards—a landscape with diverse varieties that is becoming increasingly rare.

The smaller portions in the ingredient list, however, pack a punch. The 3 percent celeriac juice contains the real work, as fresh celeriac pieces were soaked in brine and lactic-acid fermented. This creates acidity rather than alcohol, appearing in the glass as a dark, broth-like depth behind the fruit.

Half a percent of lemon juice keeps this depth vibrant so the celeriac does not become heavy. The pressure in the bottle varies from batch to batch, which is why it should be chilled and opened slowly. As an aperitif, it holds its own at the table just as well as Blackberry Leaf & Apple from the same series. For a fermented quince option, there is the Ancestral Apple and Quince, and for something berry-forward, there is the Rosé Pure x Blackcurrant.